How can I obtain the salvage value of my car?

Idomeneus

In June 2015, a car ran into the back of ours at a road junction in France. My insurance company decided that a repair was uneconomical and so offered me the market value of the car less the salvage value, which I accepted. The salvage value was deemed to be £468. As the damage was relatively minor and the car was perfectly usable, we decided to keep the car until we bought a new one. Basically, it was a Category C insurance write-off.

We are due to collect our new car within the next few days and so I have been investigating how to dispose of our existing car. I have tried our local automotive recycling specialist and a number of Web sites, including webuyanycar.com. However, the most any of these are willing to offer for the car is only in the range £45 - £60. Does anyone know how to obtain the salvage value of a car as determined by an insurance company, or anything reasonably near the salvage value? Or has my insurance company pulled a fast one on me?

AdrianC

The salvage value is how much the insurer is willing to sell you the car for, as a damaged-but-otherwise-roadworthy repairable vehicle. At the time, you clearly agreed that was a reasonable value, because you paid it - and you've had a year's use from the car since.

You are now phoning around asking for scrap value.

If you think the car is still damaged-but-otherwise-roadworthy and repairable, then list it on eBay, and see if anybody agrees with you.

BeenThroughItAll

You're confusing scrap and salvage. Insurance salvage values are the total value of a car to a buyer - normally a backstreet repair and sell outfit, or a salvage yard.

They will pay what they think the car as a whole is worth taking into account its ability to be resold - so a salvage yard selling off parts will easily make 4-500 quid off a Cat C depending on the car age, spec, condition pre-accident.

A recycler will pay the basic value of the weight of metal, which isn't much, and whilst they may sell off usable parts, essentially they buy the car to crush, shred, and sell on as raw recycled steel, aluminium, etc.

bigjl

So you had your car written off over a year ago? And have been using it ever since?

The salvage value would have been calculated at the time it was written off and is not a guaranteed price that the car will be worth.

The Insurance has basically sold you back your car for £468. As when it was written off the car belonged to your Insurance Company.

If you had turned down the offer the car would have been sent to a Salvage Auction and disposed of.

It's difficult to say wether he salvage value was good or bad as you have provided no details of the vehicle, the value at the time of the collision and the amount of your Insurance settlement, being a Cat C would indicate the damage repair cost was fairly large in comparison to the value of the vehicle.

force_ten

if you sell it for scrap you will get nothing for it as you have found, determine what you think the car is worth and advertise it for sale

put together an advert list all the damage caused by the accident declare it as a cat C and see if you get any interest from somebody looking to repair it or use it as a parts car

arcon5

What car year mileage fuel type

mcjordi

Scrap is based on the weight of the vehicle around where i am its circa £35 a ton.
If its still running and driveable stick it on ebay or gumtree with any faults listed you should see a bit more than scrap value for it

foxy-stoat

If its a 04' Honda Jazz then you can pick them up for £500 - you said that 2 years ago it had a part exchange value of £1200 with a list of faults and damage.

If you paid £468 for the salvage and continued to drive to and got a pay out then I would guess you received over the part exchange value in cash after your accident so the car techincally owes you nothing now - and you have got another years use out of it.

If you get any money for it by a sprap yard or selling on ebay for minimum start bid you are winning, so well done.

Good lucks !

Idomeneus

My thanks to all those who have replied.

Yes, I half suspected that I was never going to get the salvage value unless I was prepared to break up the car myself and sell off all the usable parts individually!

I've never sold anything, let alone a car, on eBay or gumtree before, but both my daughters have. So I think it is time for a word with them.

For those who have asked, the car is a 2004 Honda Jazz SE Automatic (CVT) (therefore a petrol engine). It has now done 153,000 miles. It passed its last MOT in January 2016 and has a full service history. It has had only two owners: Leaseplan (with me as the company car driver), and then I bought it from Leaseplan when the lease ended.

The damage is a dented tailgate door and a hole in the rear bumper. But the tailgate door still closes, is lockable and waterproof. So there was no problem using it until we decided on our new car (yes, it took over a year to do that!).

The insurance company valued the car at £1,800 in June 2015. They arranged for a quotation to repair it and I requested one separately from a different repairer. Both quotations came to around £1,900, so it was clearly uneconomical to repair.

foxy-stoat

Just advertise it on ebay, classified advert for 30 days at £14.99 - price £250 - spares or repair cat C in the title, take lots of photos and give an honest discription. Someone will buy it for £100.

Idomeneus

foxy-stoat wrote: »

...

If you get any money for it by a sprap yard or selling on ebay for minimum start bid you are winning, so well done.

Good lucks !

Yes, I'm coming round to that opinion. I'll see what my daughters say say about selling on eBay or gumtree but, in the end, I might take the easy way out and accept the £60 or so from a scrap yard.