Car accident - buying back the salvage

Jowster

Hi. I was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago. Was stationary in traffic and car crashed into the back. Car has now been assessed as a cat c write off. I am buying the car back as salvage and having it repaired as the damage is minor. This has been agreed through the insurance and today the car should have been released for us to collect.
However, before we can collect the car they have asked us to sign a disclaimer that if any additional damage has happened since it was taken from us on the tow truck, during the damage assessment and whilst in storage we will not hold them liable .
We have asked if we can view the car before we sign this disclaimer, to be sure that if any other damage has been done we can reject buying it back. We have been told we can't do this and need to sign the form first. Surely as it still our car we have a right to see it before. Can anyone offer any help on where we stand with this. Worried that if we sign the form we could end up with more damage than the crash caused having to be repaired

dacouch

The car is your property until they have paid you...

"16. salvage of the "written-off" vehicle and contents

When a vehicle is “written off”, the insurer becomes the owner of the salvage once the consumer accepts payment of the full market value. If the consumer asks to keep the salvage, the insurer is entitled to deduct what it would have been able to sell the salvage for – though this is usually not very much.

Consumers sometimes complain that the insurer (or its agent) disposed of the salvage before paying the full market-value. At this stage, the vehicle still belongs to the consumer, so we look to see if the insurer asked the consumer’s to the settlement of the claim – even if the insurer says it was only acting in the public interest by keeping a badly-damaged vehicle off the road.

If we find the insurer disposed of the vehicle without the consumer’s consent and there were items belonging to the consumer inside, we are likely to tell the insurer to pay the cost of replacing these – usually on a like-for-like (rather than a new-for-old) basis.

If we think that the policyholder was unfairly deprived of the salvage, we may tell the insurer to pay compensation for any financial loss or distress and inconvenience we think the consumer has experienced"

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html