Do I claim on my car insurance or take the hit? Voices of reason needed!

Jimby509

400ixl said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

paul_c123 said:

I can't believe you wrote off the car in an incident at that speed, yet the van is undamaged. Pics please.

OP - that £770 is auto-populated by many insurers when you fill in the proposal, based on their guide prices and what you've told them it is. The time to query that was when you got the quote. By buying the policy, you agreed that was the value.

They have not agreed that was the value at all. Please don't pedal that myth, seen it a few times recently and there is no fixed value, minimum or maximum from that figure. It is a guide figure for underwriting purposes for the quote. Nothing more.

The value of the vehicle is the market value at the time of the claim.

Cheers.  So the £770 is not the definitive price or max the insurer would pay?  From what I can see for me to replace the car like for like would be between £1200-£1900.  Lets say £1500.  But then factor in the Cat C status, rust on body work ect and it still would not be much.  I could probably get a few hundred for the child car seats being replaced but at the end it does not seem worth it.

400ixl

They won't offer anything for the car seats as the accident does not justify replacing them.

From what you describe of the car and its general condition then it is not worth much. Condition at the time of the accident is taken into consideration, the CAT C marker will also reduce the value. If the good condition retail value is as much as £1500 then you would probably see half at best for a CAT C car with external body rust.

Mildly_Miffed

400ixl said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

paul_c123 said:

I can't believe you wrote off the car in an incident at that speed, yet the van is undamaged. Pics please.

OP - that £770 is auto-populated by many insurers when you fill in the proposal, based on their guide prices and what you've told them it is. The time to query that was when you got the quote. By buying the policy, you agreed that was the value.

They have not agreed that was the value at all. Please don't pedal that myth, seen it a few times recently and there is no fixed value, minimum or maximum from that figure. It is a guide figure for underwriting purposes for the quote. Nothing more.

The value of the vehicle is the market value at the time of the claim.

...or the declared value, whichever is lower.

400ixl

Mildly_Miffed said:

400ixl said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

paul_c123 said:

I can't believe you wrote off the car in an incident at that speed, yet the van is undamaged. Pics please.

OP - that £770 is auto-populated by many insurers when you fill in the proposal, based on their guide prices and what you've told them it is. The time to query that was when you got the quote. By buying the policy, you agreed that was the value.

They have not agreed that was the value at all. Please don't pedal that myth, seen it a few times recently and there is no fixed value, minimum or maximum from that figure. It is a guide figure for underwriting purposes for the quote. Nothing more.

The value of the vehicle is the market value at the time of the claim.

...or the declared value, whichever is lower.

No, that is not the case at all.

If the market value is higher than the value that was part of the quotation, the market value is what gets paid. It is not restricted to that value on the quotation system. That value is for underwriting quote pricing only and does not limit any payout. 

paul_c123

Do the doors still open and close as before? I am assuming yes.

It would be an "economic" write off from the insurance company's point of view, if you chose to claim the damage. But you don't need to claim the damage. I don't know why you have protected NCB, I am assuming you are paying for it. I can understand why you'd have comprehensive cover over TPFT, its probably cheaper.

If the vehicle needs work for its MoT then you need to decide if its worth spending the money to get it another year (really you should be keeping the vehicle roadworthy at all times.......especially if you're transporting your kids around in it...) or whether you cut the losses on this car and find another. Another different car bought for a similar price (I can guess your budget) will have issues too, just different ones.

If you do keep it, it would be worth getting some paint on the rusty areas and the metalwork exposed with the scratch.

Jimby509

paul_c123 said:

Do the doors still open and close as before? I am assuming yes.

It would be an "economic" write off from the insurance company's point of view, if you chose to claim the damage. But you don't need to claim the damage. I don't know why you have protected NCB, I am assuming you are paying for it. I can understand why you'd have comprehensive cover over TPFT, its probably cheaper.

If the vehicle needs work for its MoT then you need to decide if its worth spending the money to get it another year (really you should be keeping the vehicle roadworthy at all times.......especially if you're transporting your kids around in it...) or whether you cut the losses on this car and find another. Another different car bought for a similar price (I can guess your budget) will have issues too, just different ones.

If you do keep it, it would be worth getting some paint on the rusty areas and the metalwork exposed with the scratch.

Yes.  The doors still open and close.

I have protected NCB as it only added £35 to the year policy and it seemed like a potentially beneficial thing to do.

Thanks Paul.  you have summed up my thought on it after reading the input on here.  I won't claim or report but will scrap it before the MoT as I am convinced it has a quite a few issues:-

Bad bodywork corrosion in a few patches.

Central locking not working

Wheel bearing noisy and kocking sound when turning.

Seized caliper that I keep having to take a look at

Minor oil leak that seems to be getting heavier from the look of my drive!

2 Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint covers severly deteriorated 

Needs 2 new tyres

And that is just what I know about.

Just yesterday I noticed the acceleration drop out of nowhere when doing 50mph.  It has had previous issues with the EGR valve that I managed to replace.

Time to say goodbye and scrap.  I will be looking for another VW Touran though.  It has been the best car and feels very safe with kids in.

Thanks for the input.

lincroft1710

All the problems are basically consumables (oil leak possibly excepted). Might be worth getting a quote to repair. Body damage - it's an 18 yr old car - so forget it.