Car now an insurance write off 21 December 2022 at 1:40PM in Motoring 17 replies 662 views

bolo

Hi,

So our car was hit from behind. the bumper was dented, leading to structural damage to the back (the book didn't close properly without force). Anyway not our fault, but the other driver's insurance company wrote off and paid a small amount for the car. We still have the car but it is a structural write off. i was wondering, what do we need to do to continue using this car? This car also has a personalised number plate so not sure if this complicates things.

We have had the car repaired ourselves and it has repassed MOT. But can anyone help with providing info about what to do with the log book, our own insurance company etc.

Thanks

DullGreyGuy

Speak to your own insurers re them continuing to provide cover... some will want a new mot or similar for continuation of cover but only they can advise their requirement. 

bolo

Thanks. I was more looking at what needs to be done with respect to DVLA 

ontheroad1970

bolo said:

Thanks. I was more looking at what needs to be done with respect to DVLA 

You would be able to put the number plate back on retention to use on a new vehicle if need be

facade

bolo said:

Thanks. I was more looking at what needs to be done with respect to DVLA 

Nothing. The insurance that paid out as a total loss did everything required.

As you have the V5 it must be CAT N. You don't even need to get a new MOT as the original stays valid until its expiry date. It will now have a CAT N marker that will show in a HPI check. When you sell it you have to tell the prospective purchaser.

If it was CAT S the insurance company would have kept the V5 and sent it back to DVLA as part of the declaration process. Then you would simply MOT it and apply for a replacement V5 (you get a new one that has a note about it being CAT S).

AFAIK, CAT N does not show on a V5 anyway.

DullGreyGuy

bolo said:

Thanks. I was more looking at what needs to be done with respect to DVLA 

Nothing, the insurer loads the total loss via MIAFTR which then feeds into the DVLA

tifo

facade said:

bolo said:

Thanks. I was more looking at what needs to be done with respect to DVLA 

Nothing. The insurance that paid out as a total loss did everything required.

As you have the V5 it must be CAT N. You don't even need to get a new MOT as the original stays valid until its expiry date. It will now have a CAT N marker that will show in a HPI check. When you sell it you have to tell the prospective purchaser.

If it was CAT S the insurance company would have kept the V5 and sent it back to DVLA as part of the declaration process. Then you would simply MOT it and apply for a replacement V5 (you get a new one that has a note about it being CAT S).

AFAIK, CAT N does not show on a V5 anyway.

If it's a Cat S then you may need to re-register it with DVLA and get a new MOT. The form is V62 with a £25 fee. If Cat N then you don't need to do anything. You'd have to make sure the DVLA know that the private reg is staying on the car.

Many insurance companies don't ask for the V5 log book if you're keeping the car as salvage, to be repaired as you've done.

This is info I came across:

If you do decide to buy an unregistered Cat S car, or if you had the car repaired yourself, you need to re-register the car with the DVLA before you can get it back on the road. You don’t need to go through an inspection process, you can just register the car as a used car.

You’ll need to fill out a V62 form to re-register a Cat S car and get a new V5 logbook. It’s pretty easy to do, you just need to provide a few details about the car, including the registration number and the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). It costs £25 to register and your new logbook should take around 6 weeks to arrive.

Nobbie1967

There seems to be a lot of confusion on this subject, but from reading the DVLA website, you only need to apply for a duplicate V5 if the insurance company have been sent the original as part of the claim process. This is simply a duplicate which will have been updated with the cat S status, not a re-registration.

https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/insurance-writeoffs

If you still have the V5, there is no requirement to ‘re-register’, I think this used to be a requirement to prevent stolen cars being ringed, but was discontinued years ago.

I’m going through a similar process at the moment. The 3rd party insurer have paid out and will be noting the cat S marker with DVLA. The insurer just said I need to declare when selling as my V5 will not be updated with the cat S marker until the next change of ownership.

Like you, I’ll be getting a new MOT just to be on the safe side. I haven’t checked with my insurer yet, but assume this will satisfy them that the car is safe. I’ll be taking plenty of photos as I repair it to show the full extent of damage. They seem to have made it a cat S as without dismantling they can’t tell the extent of the damage.

facade

tifo said:

facade said:

bolo said:

Thanks. I was more looking at what needs to be done with respect to DVLA 

Nothing. The insurance that paid out as a total loss did everything required.

As you have the V5 it must be CAT N. You don't even need to get a new MOT as the original stays valid until its expiry date. It will now have a CAT N marker that will show in a HPI check. When you sell it you have to tell the prospective purchaser.

If it was CAT S the insurance company would have kept the V5 and sent it back to DVLA as part of the declaration process. Then you would simply MOT it and apply for a replacement V5 (you get a new one that has a note about it being CAT S).

AFAIK, CAT N does not show on a V5 anyway.

If it's a Cat S then you may need to re-register it with DVLA and get a new MOT. The form is V62 with a £25 fee. If Cat N then you don't need to do anything. You'd have to make sure the DVLA know that the private reg is staying on the car.

Many insurance companies don't ask for the V5 log book if you're keeping the car as salvage, to be repaired as you've done.

This is info I came across:

If you do decide to buy an unregistered Cat S car, or if you had the car repaired yourself, you need to re-register the car with the DVLA before you can get it back on the road. You don’t need to go through an inspection process, you can just register the car as a used car.

You’ll need to fill out a V62 form to re-register a Cat S car and get a new V5 logbook. It’s pretty easy to do, you just need to provide a few details about the car, including the registration number and the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). It costs £25 to register and your new logbook should take around 6 weeks to arrive.

Do you have a source for that info?

With CAT S, there is no re-registering.

You just apply for a V5 using form V62. I can't see why you can't apply online, but the (usually hopelessly wrong) dot gov dot uk website says to use the form maybe because it is free and the online portal can't deal with free.- I'd believe them over some random car review site.

https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/insurance-writeoffs

Keeping the vehicle

If you want to keep a vehicle in category C, D, N or S, the insurance company will give you an insurance payout and sell the vehicle back to you.

To keep a category C or S vehicle, you also need to:

• send the complete log book to your insurance company
• apply for a free duplicate log book using form V62

DVLA will record the vehicle’s category in the log book.

You can keep the log book if you want to keep a category D or N vehicle.

tifo

facade said:

Do you have a source for that info?

With CAT S, there is no re-registering.

You just apply for a V5 using form V62. I can't see why you can't apply online, but the (usually hopelessly wrong) dot gov dot uk website says to use the form maybe because it is free and the online portal can't deal with free.- I'd believe them over some random car review site.

https://myurbanjungle.com/explore/blog/what-is-a-cat-s-car/#:~:text=Does a Cat S car,before you can drive it.

bolo

Thanks for the replies. I agree with the confusion hence my post. Its a Cat S job!

Nobbie, the insurance companies now just can't be arsed with repair, adding to the waste of resources etc. Our car's engine is still super smooth and our car (from brand new) has done below average miles. It was nuts that they choose to scrap it. The damage did mess up the boot and now it doesn't close snuggly but its nothing that can't be fixed.

Thanks for the V5 info. As we are not planning on selling the car (properly scrap it when the correct time comes!) seems there will be no need to update the v5. The DLVA / GOV website goes on about having to buy back the number plate but didn't make the distinction between a complete write off and our case, where we are keeping the car. It is just written badly!