Car Insurance - Total Loss Settlement

narika

Hello wonderful people,

I recently had met with an accident where I was not at fault (yet to be proven as the other party did not bother reporting to their insurance at all), car was taken away by the insurers for damage assessment and they came back as the cost of repair is more than the worth of the vehicle. Car had been categorized as Cat C write-off. Insurance company offered me x amount that is 20% less than the like for like vehicles on sale that i can find on Auto trader website. then i was adviced by a friend that it is easy to get a Cat c car repaired and re-used (my car is in immaculate condition and not sure i can find another car in the same price point that is problem free) with a new insurance policy. Upon contacting insurers i had been told that my vehicle would cost me £495 to be bought off them. that sounded ridiculous how come a £2k worth car before the incident be still worth £495 salvage costs. My idea was to buy the car get that repaired and Re-MOT'd ( i hope that is all needed to be done??please correct me if i am wrong....complete noob here) and use it as long as it lasts and after saving more monies then go for a nice used car again.
i would really appreciate if someone can help me wiht the following

1. For a cat c vehicle, is it just about getting the car repaired and re-MOT'd....is that all or anything else need to be done?

2. For a Cat C re-MOT'd vehicle does insurance really shoot up?

3. £495 on a £2k car seems to be ridiculous and i can see insurance company wants to squeeze maximum out of me. Any tips on how to get them reduce that money? Or you think they are charging me correct? anyone in similar situation please help?

4. Also the settlement price offered was 20 - 25% less than adverts from my nearby area on auto trader, how can i get them to match that? the reason being i had been to two traders taht got like for like car for sales (both reputed garages) and they are not budging on the price. They say they sell cars pretty fast .....they are true as one car i had seen yesterday was already sold....how can i make the insurance company up their settlement price. A genuine question from a single parent who is struggling to make ends meet and someone's carelessness is causing me more than issues in my life....

thanks for patience and thanks in advance for your answers.
Narika.

Aretnap

(1) You don't even need to get an MOT - just get it repaired, get it insured (unless the old policy is still in force) and you can drive it. In fact you don't necessarily have to get it repaired; if the damage is cosmetic and doesn't affect the car's safety (eg dents in the panelling) then there's nothing to stop you just putting up with the damage.

Of course you should have an idea of what it will cost to repair before you buy it back - there's no point buying it then finding out that it will cost five grand to do the repairs. And the fact that it's a cat C means that it is impossible to repair to the standard you would expect of an insurer for less than the car's value. So to fix it economically at the very least you will have to be prepared to take some short cuts, such as using second hand parts, getting someone you know to do the work at mates rates, or maybe putting up with some dents and/or an imperfect colour match.

(2) Most insurers don't even ask at the quote stage if it's been previously written off, so no, not generally. The main difference it would make is that if it gets written off again the payout would be reduced, because a cat C marker tend to reduce the value of the car, even if the repairs have been done well.

(3) The buy back proce should be in line with what the insurer would expect to be able to sell the salvage for. It's impossible to say whether £495 is in the right ballpark without knowing anything about the car, the nature of the damage etc. If the damage is concentrated in one place and there are plenty of salvageable parts, or if repairing it and getting it back in the road is a relatively straightforward job the it might not be excessive. OTOH if it's a burnt out shell then they're taking the mick... but if to was a burnt out shell then it wouldn't be cat c.

In any event you don't have a RIGHT to buy the salvage - it's up to the insurer and some insurers won't sell it back to you at all so there's an element of "take it or leave it" about their offer.

If you're not happy with the valuation you can make a complaint to the insurer (the complaints procedure should be outlined in the policy documents) and if you're not happy with their response then you can complain to the financial ombudsman. There is no cost (to you) for using the ombudsman, but do be aware that the ombudsman does not generally regard adverts for similar vehicles as good evidence of a car's value. The trade guides, which are based on actual selling prices, carry more weight. For more information see here.

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

narika

Thanks for your response Aretnap. much appreciated.
in terms of damage it is really minimal.....Just the rear bumper has a dent and a small crack.....does not cause an issue to drive as damage is purely cosmetic....

but was really gobsmacked by their estimates to repair.
i know a local garage and will try to see if they can source a same coloured bumper to replace this at worse Eurocarparts is selling the bumper for around £400....so could get that to fix this....
basically dont want to shell more money to replace it with similar type of car.....rather like to keep this cat c car for as long as it lasts and then replace it once upon needed.

it is really assuring that i dont have a fresh MOT. Also my policy still has got 5 months left so will continue to use it.

narika

Insurance company sent mail that " retaining the vehicle is against their recommendation"
Is that a problem?
Can anyone please advise?

I intend to get it repaired and reMOTd anyway.

Aretnap

narika wrote: »

Insurance company sent mail that " retaining the vehicle is against their recommendation"
Is that a problem?

It shouldn't be. It sounds like they're covering themselves, in case the damage to the car turns out to be worse than you think, and you spend £3000 on repairs and it still doesn't work properly. So if you come back and complain to them they can say "it's not our problem - we did warn you that it was a bad idea".

narika

Aretnap wrote: »

It shouldn't be. It sounds like they're covering themselves, in case the damage to the car turns out to be worse than you think, and you spend £3000 on repairs and it still doesn't work properly. So if you come back and complain to them they can say "it's not our problem - we did warn you that it was a bad idea".

Many Thanks Aretnap once again for a quick response.
I have now agreed to buy my car back.... Will get body shop to recover the vehicle..... They quote it costs around £500 for repair.... Will have the repairs and MOT ( for peace of mind as mine runs out in 40 days anyway)..... Will continue to use the vehicle.... The sun quoted for repair by dealer is just outrageous.....