van repairs and insurance

theSNEW

On New Years day my van was crashed into while parked on the street near my flat. Unfortunately the person drove off, without leaving a note.

It’s a pretty significant bit of damage but luckily it’s only cosmetic, the van still drives fine. At the time I opted not to inform my insurance company as my premium was already sky-high since a few years back when i had an attempted theft, vandalism, and a windscreen crack all within the space of a year. Seeing as you legally have to bring these up when applying for new policys for 5 years afterwards I didn’t think it was worth it to add another..

I have been working away from home since and have only had the chance to get quotes for repair this week. Unfortunately it looks like the cost of repair is more than the van is worth. Now I don’t know what to do - Do i carry on putting money into it, insuring, taxing, servicing and MOTing it? Or do i sell it for scrap? Would it be worth pursuing the insurance company for repairs?

davidwood681

Old vans get to a point were they aren't worth repairing. Their value is so low that to MOT it usually costs more that that value plus you look like a bit of a cowboy rolling up to jobs in an old clapped out van.

Can you afford something a bit newer?

theSNEW

well I'm umming and arring about getting a lease van but I was really hoping to keep this one for a couple more years at least. it's a 2007 Nissan Primastar and still worth about £3k so the MOT value is a long way off I'd hope.

forgotmyname

Your insurance will wonder why it took you nearly 2 months to declare this incident.

when they inspect the vehicle any other damage could open a can of worms as to what damage was caused by this accident and what damage was already there prior or happened since.

Excess applies to each claim.

Why is it suddenly scrap with just cosmetic damage?

AdrianC

So there's more than £3k of damage to it...?

Are you sure it's still driveable?

Herzlos

What's the damage?

If it's just cosmetic it'll be worth a lot more than scrap - someone will buy it to bodge it up.

Unless you're worried about image I'd just keep it until something serious fails.

theSNEW

forgotmyname wrote: »

Your insurance will wonder why it took you nearly 2 months to declare this incident.

Why is it suddenly scrap with just cosmetic damage?

I thought that might be the case, tbh i’m very reticent to phone the insurance company. when i phoned about the vandalism, it turned out the repairs would be cheaper than the excess so i covered them myself, however they still registered the incident on my policy and put up the premium significantly.

I guess it wouldn’t necessarily be scrap but I certainly wouldn’t want to continue using it for business use much longer, so i will definitely try and sell it before it comes to renewing the insurance.

AdrianC wrote: »

So there's more than £3k of damage to it...?

Are you sure it's still driveable?

according to a one of the bodywork places i took it to it would cost several thousands due to the position of the damage. It would require replacing two panels as well as repainting a third and fixing some internal damage where the impact was most severe. there are other smaller bits of damage needed addressing too.

one more place said they couldn’t fix it and i’m waiting for a quote from another.

AdrianC

Let's see some pics.