Write off: dealing with salvage experts

mike004

02 Toyota Yaris
Just been shunted from behind and it looks like it will be a total write off. More expensive to repair than to to scrap it.
Privilege have dealt with my call today. It was all no fuss. They have arranged a free hire car and will arrange for salvage experts to assess the car and take it away if required.

Question: I expect the insurers will offer me a cash value for the write off. How do I play this? Just take the first offer, or try to haggle?
The car was low mileage and good condition. But I expect that does not affect things for a 2002 car.

mike004

Insurers said that the car was category A. That is a definite write off, as I understand.

Fat_Walt

Cat A means it's going to be scrapped and none of the parts can be reused.

mike004

I suppose with a car of this value (under £1k), there is no point in haggling with the insurers.

Richard53

There's always a point in haggling! Do your research - find adverts for the same car with similar mileage, condition etc, screenshot them all, and use that as a basis for discussion (bearing in mind that most cars won't sell for the advertised price but a bit lower). If the offer you receive is low, you can present this back to them as evidence that they need to offer more. They should be returning you to the position you were in before the accident, so you need enough cash to be able to go out and buy a similar vehicle.


I'm surprised they have given it Cat A. Older cars are usually uneconomic repairs and Cat C or D. Cat A is reserved for cars with major damage, such that they cannot be returned to the road or even broken for spares. This usually means flood damage, a serious fire, or the presence of human remains. I doubt if a simple rear shunt was as bad as that.

AdrianC

Richard53 wrote: »

I'm surprised they have given it Cat A.

It's academic, really. Nobody's going to be paying much at a salvage auction for it, even as a breaker, and there's no way it's going to be repaired. So it might as well just completely bypass the auction and be crushed.