Vehicle write off question

FarmerGilesUK

Hi.

We've had a crash in our car and the insurance co. want to write it off category B. I've had a mechanic look at it and he says no way is it a cat B write off.

Insurance company are refusing to budge.

Apart from withdrawing the claim is there anything I can do?

Regards

AdrianC

Not really, no.

Were you planning on taking the payout, less salvage value, and returning the car to the road? Because, if not, then it's irrelevant.

FarmerGilesUK

I was indeed.

I've had the car from new, just spent £800 doing it up and some maniac drives into it at 60mph and writes it off for us. No witnesses either so it'll probably go knock for knock, although from the marks on the road and verges you can get a pretty good idea who was at fault.

I want it back more for sentimental reasons than financial good sense.

dacouch

When you say your "mechanic" is he a mechanic or someone who specialises in bodywork repairs?

FarmerGilesUK

He is a mechanic, but the worst of the damage is to the suspension, wheel, front sub-frame etc.

There is no doubt that it is write off cost wise, but he's quite adamant that it could be safely put back on the road. It'll cost me, but I'm prepared to pay the extra on top of what I get from the claim.

We wanted to restore it back to showroom condition, money no object (almost!).

Its a limited edition Mazda MX-5

dacouch

https://www.abi.org.uk/~/media/Files/Documents/Publications/Public/Migrated/Motor/Code%20of%20practice%20for%20disposal%20of%20motor%20vehicle%20salvage.ashx

FarmerGilesUK

@dacouch

The flowchart says "Can/should the vehicle be repaired? *"

* See Engineer Technical Sub-committee Guidelines

My mechanic says in his opinion the vehicle can certainly be repaired.

It seems that the ABI cannot offer advice to "end-users". Who can I contact to mediate?

AdrianC

And the subframe-body mounts? Inner wing? Crush members? You can't tell until it's dismantled - and, by that point, cost has been incurred for an insurer. They don't do sentiment - they do decisions based on risk and sums.

They view the risk if this car is returned to the road as high. It's not a cost decision, because that's the CatC/CatD border. They view this car as too substantially damaged to be returned to the road safely, at any cost. It's a decision taken by their assessor, who they view as more of an expert than a random spanner-wielder.

I doubt the financial ombudsman service will get involved, because this isn't a financial question - there's no dispute over the value of the payout, I presume? The ABI ETS guidelines are going to be an internal document, not public. After all, there's no need for the public to see them.

FarmerGilesUK

@AdrianC - Can I insist on a second opinion by another independent assessor?

dacouch

FarmerGilesUK wrote: »

@AdrianC - Can I insist on a second opinion by another independent assessor?

At your own cost

EdGasket

FarmerGilesUK wrote: »

It'll cost me, but I'm prepared to pay the extra on top of what I get from the claim.

If you want to keep the car, you'll have to drop the claim and so won't get anything 'from the claim'.

A neighbour had their car run into years ago and had to drop the claim because the insurer would only write it off; they are still driving it with the same dent in the wing. Admittedly this one was not cat B, more like cat D.