Car Insurance low value vehicle

yymoney

This week a vehicle has run into the back of mine.

The issue now is my car is low value.

Therefore if i claim they will write the car off and i will have a low value cheque and have to put some of my money towards getting a new car.

Also have no one to take me to view other cars so it will be a real hassle finding a car to replace it with.

I need my car to get me to work and without it again will cause huge issues.

What i am trying to get my head around is i consider the damage to be to the bodywork and although it has ruined the appearance of the car i would rather have an ugly car than the troubles of finding a new one.

The police were at the scene and i asked if it was legal to drive the car and they said yes so i am going to visit a local garage to get them to look it over but if they say it is roadworthy am i then ok not to make a claim and keep the car with the ugly damage.

Or do i need to get another MOT just to satisfy the insurance company?

Or is it a complete no no?

Also if i were to go ahead with a claim and they do as i suspect write my car off if i were to buy it back with agreement from the insurance company with a reduction in my payout. Could i then re insure and use that car with the cosmetic damage.

I have reported the accident to insurer i did that straight away.

Also appreciate it if someone knows if you are ok to put in personal injury claim without claiming for the car.

lazer

who are you insured with - some policies offer to replace the car for you - direct line is one of them i think.

I think you can refuse to accept there offer and take the car back if they declare it a write-off

Quentin

Your injury claim is not affected if you don't claim for anything else

InsideInsurance

yymoney wrote: »

Or do i need to get another MOT just to satisfy the insurance company?

Or is it a complete no no?

Also if i were to go ahead with a claim and they do as i suspect write my car off if i were to buy it back with agreement from the insurance company with a reduction in my payout. Could i then re insure and use that car with the cosmetic damage.

I have reported the accident to insurer i did that straight away.

Also appreciate it if someone knows if you are ok to put in personal injury claim without claiming for the car.

There is no need to get an MOT to continue driving a car with crash damage

There is no need to claim for the car to claim for the injury either though it may raise questions but you're perfectly entitled to reduce your claim by not including certain elements if you want.

What do you estimate the value of your car at?
What do you think a back street bodyshop will charge to fix it with scrap yard parts etc where appropriate?
What is your policy excess?

Depending on how the above two balance off there may be options for you. Claiming off your own policy is probably an automatic no if the numbers are really small because of the excess eradicating the settlement but your insurer MAY waive the excess.

You do have a couple of options though:

1) Claim for the damage to your vehicle, have it declared a total loss but retain the salvage

2) Ask them to consider a cash in lieu settlement instead of a total loss

3) If claiming directly from the TPI you could claim for the diminution in value of the vehicle caused by the damage rather than the cost of repairing the vehicle

Even with option 1 you can still keep the car on the road etc but would need to speak to your insurers on what you need to do to get them to continue comprehensive cover on the vehicle. Some will require the car to have a VIC test before they will do this.

yymoney

InsideInsurance wrote: »

There is no need to get an MOT to continue driving a car with crash damage

There is no need to claim for the car to claim for the injury either though it may raise questions but you're perfectly entitled to reduce your claim by not including certain elements if you want.

What do you estimate the value of your car at?
What do you think a back street bodyshop will charge to fix it with scrap yard parts etc where appropriate?
What is your policy excess?

Depending on how the above two balance off there may be options for you. Claiming off your own policy is probably an automatic no if the numbers are really small because of the excess eradicating the settlement but your insurer MAY waive the excess.

You do have a couple of options though:

1) Claim for the damage to your vehicle, have it declared a total loss but retain the salvage

2) Ask them to consider a cash in lieu settlement instead of a total loss

3) If claiming directly from the TPI you could claim for the diminution in value of the vehicle caused by the damage rather than the cost of repairing the vehicle

Even with option 1 you can still keep the car on the road etc but would need to speak to your insurers on what you need to do to get them to continue comprehensive cover on the vehicle. Some will require the car to have a VIC test before they will do this.

I don't get how you can still keep driving with no check. Would there not be the slightest chance more damage has been done below where you can't judge from the rear.

The car will be worth around £500 maybe at a push.

The excess is £300 though this could be wavered.

You can get replacement parts for cheap enough so it's a heck of a lot cheaper than they think.

If i claim for diminution in value do i have to do that or will the insurance.

Another quickie it seems clear that the driver who hit me was at fault but how can i find out if they have or will accept liability??

Is that something my insurance will do??

Can i talk to the insurers and then decide whether to go ahead or not?

At what point have i gone too far and it's then up to them is it when they have assessed the car?

I am all new to this although driver was at fault i have heard nothing and do not know how to confirm what's going on.

I was also thinking would they try and claim against me? although it was clearly them at fault.

InsideInsurance

yymoney wrote: »

I don't get how you can still keep driving with no check. Would there not be the slightest chance more damage has been done below where you can't judge from the rear.

Legally you are required to ensure your vehicle is safe at all times, the MOT is just a once a year spot check but most people dont do anything else beyond that.

Insurers just follow the law and dont add any additional requirements on top of this.

If i claim for diminution in value do i have to do that or will the insurance

Diminution is an uninsured loss so your own insurance wouldnt help. If you have legal expenses cover then they will instruct someone to help you do this or alternatively you can deal with the third party insurer directly yourself.

If you speak to a no win no fee solicitor for the PI or go via your Legal Expenses cover then they will deal with it but you'd need to speak to them about wanting to avoid a total loss at all cost. Certainly "living with the damage" and claiming just diminution isnt common and whoever the lawyers are they will be keen to try and get you down the credit repair/ hire route as they get a healthy kickback (or your insurers do) as a referral fee but you can stand your ground.

Another quickie it seems clear that the driver who hit me was at fault but how can i find out if they have or will accept liability??

Speak to their insurers and ask or speak to your insurers and see if they have spoken to the TPI yet.

Until you start the process of claiming for your own damage most insurers wont do anything and will be in defence mode only as they have no outlay to recover. If you've only informed them for information purposes so far they probably wont have spoken or written to the TPI yet.


Assuming the TP does accept liability quickly then it is probably best to claim directly from the TP insurer given the circumstances rather than involving your insurers in the vehicular damage

yymoney

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Legally you are required to ensure your vehicle is safe at all times, the MOT is just a once a year spot check but most people dont do anything else beyond that.

Insurers just follow the law and dont add any additional requirements on top of this.



Diminution is an uninsured loss so your own insurance wouldnt help. If you have legal expenses cover then they will instruct someone to help you do this or alternatively you can deal with the third party insurer directly yourself.

If you speak to a no win no fee solicitor for the PI or go via your Legal Expenses cover then they will deal with it but you'd need to speak to them about wanting to avoid a total loss at all cost. Certainly "living with the damage" and claiming just diminution isnt common and whoever the lawyers are they will be keen to try and get you down the credit repair/ hire route as they get a healthy kickback (or your insurers do) as a referral fee but you can stand your ground.



Speak to their insurers and ask or speak to your insurers and see if they have spoken to the TPI yet.

Until you start the process of claiming for your own damage most insurers wont do anything and will be in defence mode only as they have no outlay to recover. If you've only informed them for information purposes so far they probably wont have spoken or written to the TPI yet.


Assuming the TP does accept liability quickly then it is probably best to claim directly from the TP insurer given the circumstances rather than involving your insurers in the vehicular damage

Given the value of the car circa £500

Would it not just be best to get the ok that it's roadworthy and just drive with the damage.

Going through my insurer would i assume be a no no as it is such low value.

Talking to their insurers how would i do that thing is they gave me name reg and not insurance details. My insurer said this will be fine they will get in touch with them as i have reg number. But how do i get to contact the insurer?

Captaincodpiece

You could get it from askmib.com

Captaincodpiece

yymoney wrote: »

Given the value of the car circa £500

Would it not just be best to get the ok that it's roadworthy and just drive with the damage.

Going through my insurer would i assume be a no no as it is such low value.

Talking to their insurers how would i do that thing is they gave me name reg and not insurance details. My insurer said this will be fine they will get in touch with them as i have reg number. But how do i get to contact the insurer?

Www.askmid.com

InsideInsurance

yymoney wrote: »

Given the value of the car circa £500

Would it not just be best to get the ok that it's roadworthy and just drive with the damage.

Going through my insurer would i assume be a no no as it is such low value.

Talking to their insurers how would i do that thing is they gave me name reg and not insurance details. My insurer said this will be fine they will get in touch with them as i have reg number. But how do i get to contact the insurer?

Its certainly an option, I was just suggesting some others.

As to finding out the TPI details either:

1) Ask the third party
2) Ask your insurers to bring up the details from the MID
3) Pay a couple of quid to the AskMID website and get them yourself

As to how do you contact them after you've got the details. Just phone them and explain you are an innocent third party, their insured is to blame for the accident and you need assistance dealing with the damage and would rather deal directly than go via an accident management company

thenudeone

if you view askmid.com from a mobile device (or a browser with an extra add-on which pretends it's a mobile browser), there is no charge to obtain the details, although it will probably only give the current insurer, not the insurer when the accident happened, which might just be different.