Car accident write off questions & concerns

gazzaman28

Hi all,

I had an accident recently, the driver of a parked car opened their door whilst I was driving past and made a mess of the side of our car. Our insurer agreed that this should be claimed on the 3rd party's insurance.
We have a hire car at the moment whilst our car is being assessed. They are currently waiting for the other insurer to sort out some things but we've been told that it's likely that our car will be written off. I asked for the repair quote which they sent to me, it's for £3000. I sent the quote to the garage who normally service my car and they say they could do the work for around £2400 so it sounds like labour costs have been increased by the repair centre!

I've done a few online evaluations of our car's value, which put it somewhere between £4500 (as a low end trade-in) and £6000 (decent condition sale on Autotrader). I've been told by the accident company our insurers have put in charge of dealing with everything that in the event of a write-off, I will be offered a cash amount equaling the market value minus the salvage value of my car and will then be given my car back. I asked how easy it was to actually sell it on so I have enough to buy a new car, I honestly can't remember what this response was unfortunately so I'll need to check that again next time I speak to them.
I explained that this sounded like a complete hassle if I didn't want to get the repairs done myself, they agreed but said this was out of their control. Is this in any way normal? Surely if it's a write off then they should dispose of my car for me and give me enough to buy another one. I'm now really concerned that they will offer a very low value of my car (which I guess I can at least try to contest with auto trader ads) and an expensive salvage value (how on earth do I contest this?)

Any advice on how I handle conversations once they offer me money (which is likely to happen some time next week) and I need to try negotiating something more in my favour. Ultimately if I can get more than £2500 off them then I'll be able to get it repaired and be happy, but my cynical side is really doubtful that I'll be offered anywhere near that.

FutureGirl

Just tell the insurers you don't want to keep the vehicle, and they will then dispose of the vehicle and give you the market value.

If you want it repaired, get a written quote from your garage and advise the insurers of the quote (you may have to send it in), they might then agree to pay that amount, especially if it's lower than the total loss value they'd give you.

dacouch

I think they are either miss leading you or you have miss understood them.

When retaining the salvage is compulsory, it normally means that you are not claiming from your own insurers but are claiming directly from the third parties Insurer.

Sometimes they will dispose of the car for you if you ask them.

Alternatively you may find the local garage you spoke of may be willing to buy the cat off you as they may be able to repair it and sell it on for a profit

millie84

I wrote a car off last year, and the insurance company arranged to collect it. They paid my partner the market value of the car, which covered what he'd paid for it and the excess. The car would have been repairable, but the parts would be expensive, meaning it wasn't viable to buy it back. It still drove fine, we were using it for a week before they collected it.

gazzaman28

Thanks for answers so far.

So legally speaking, do they have to give me the salvage value of my car in cash rather than just dumping it back on me should I decide I don't want to repair it myself?