Car insurance write off help

danieljnolan

Hello,

I will try to keep this as succinct as possible.

I bought a car (Mazda 2, 2011, 1.3L petrol manual, ~42k miles) about two weeks ago. I drove it home, used it one other time, and the next time I found it the driver side window was smashed in and plastic panels around the ignition had been slightly lifted. Some tool marks around the ignition and dash.

Anyway I called police and insurer; latter said because of the ignition being messed with they had to treat it as an attempted theft and wanted to take it in to an approved garage to check it over. I deemed this a better option than organising a tow myself etc so let them take it in.

The car was deemed a total loss (uneconomical to repair) a few days later and there was talk of a new steering column, new trim on the door and dash, new ignition barrel etc.

I was gutted and told my insurer I would talk directly to the garage to get some answers.

They denied it needs a new steering column and said the repairs mainly pertain to replacing the ignition barrel and sorting the window (taking the door apart, replacing bits of trim as well as the glass, etc).

I asked them to reappraise and they have done so: they said they will offer the insurer a new quote of about 2.3k and gave me a personal quote of about 1.3k (VAT inc) to do the bare minimum to get it road worthy (I.e. sort the window and ignition but perhaps leave the old battle scarred plastic trim on)

As yet I haven't heard back from the insurer but I am confident they will reject the new quote - they surely won't think the car is even worth 2.3k although I did pay 3.1k for it only a couple of weeks ago.

When they do probably reject the reappraised repair price, I am wondering what I should do. I can prove what I paid (a 'low price' according to Autotrader, due to the mileage I suppose) but am prepared to be low-balled and try to work this up.

Since the car is already at an approved repairer would you:

- Accept the write-off, get as much as you can, then use that money to pay for the repairs at the current garage after buying as salvage

- Do the above but get it taken to a different garage after comparing quotes

- Demand they don't write it off and try to get a cash payout to pay the current/other garage for a lower quote that doesn't include full repairs?

- Tell the insurer and garage that I've had enough and get quotes from other garages and have it towed elsewhere for a repair - cancelling my claim with the insurer? (Is this even possible now?)

- Some other option?

The car means a lot - it's my first and I literally drove it twice - so whatever happens I want to keep it. Especially since the damage is essentially cosmetic besides whatever they've found wrong with the ignition. But seems to be several ways this could be settled and as yet am not convinced the insurer and garage are doing their best to help (shock!)

Thanks in advance

Dan

cw8825

The insurer will insist on using approved new parts. 

Either withdraw the claim and repair yourself from own money
let them write it off, buy it back as salvage then use the remainder to pay for the repairs 

Most damage to a 14 year old car will end in a write off

Brie

The insurance could come back with a payout for the damage which is sufficient for you to get it repaired. If they offer too little counter with examples of what it would take to buy the same car again - basically what you paid 2 weeks back.  

chrisw

I would let them write it off and buy back the salvage. Even £1.3k is well over the top. Find someone in a small back street garage who will fix it using second hand parts, I'm guessing most of the parts are the same as the Fiesta so should be plentiful and cheap.

DullGreyGuy

Make sure your insurers claims team know when you bought it and for how much, yes you'll have said when you took the policy out etc but often Claims and Sales use different systems and it may not be something they automatically check. 

Mildly_Miffed

"Uneconomical to repair" simply means that the insurance think it's better value for money to buy it off you than pay to repair it.

They owe you the fair market value of the car immediately prior to the damage occurring. It's a 13yo car. It's not worth much. There's no way they're going to be repairing it using brand new parts and paying for a hire car while it's being done. Don't even waste your breath trying to convince them.

Because you bought it so recently (you don't say how much for), you've got a very good starting point for that negotiation - what did you declare as the value when getting the insurance quote?

You can then choose to buy it back, if they allow you to, in return for a proportion of the value. Then it's up to you to fix it in whatever way you wish.

danieljnolan

Thanks for your responses.
It was purchased for £3,180 from a small dealer once haggled down. Stripping away the costs associated with not buying privately (warranty etc) I listed its price on the policy as £3,000.
An HPI report I paid for at the time confirmed that this was about right.
Realistically I only expect to get about £2,500 maximum minus the salvage cost but as long as I'm not out of pocket on repairs and resuming my policy that is fine by me.
I assume writing it off will be the better option since I at least get some cash back but did think about cancelling the claim and having it towed back to me - I'm not sure how or if that works although presumably helps me avoid a Cat N mark against the car (?!)
Insurer and garage increasingly tedious to deal with so will try to just get the best valuation I can, I think, and get my car back and into another garage once purchased as salvage.
Thanks all and cross fingers..

Mildly_Miffed

If they write it off, and pay you the value, it WILL be cat N. That's the category of write-off.

The only way you can avoid that is for it not to be written off...
Either you don't claim (no payout), or the insurer repairs (very unlikely), or the insurer pay in lieu of writing off (unlikely).

Does the CatN really matter, in the long run?

As for resuming the policy - some insurers say the policy ends on a write-off claim, some allow you to insure a replacement car on the policy. I doubt any will continue to insure that same car on the same policy.

danieljnolan

Far as I understand I can:
- Write off, Cat N, payout, salvage, repair
- Discontinue claim, no write off, no Cat N, but no payout, repair. And quite possibly continue my current policy if I can prove satisfactory repairs.
As it stands I haven't accepted the write off so it's still my car. But I will probably accept the write off.
The category isn't too important to me, I am starting to realise, as the car is older and I will keep it until it runs no more!

danieljnolan

I was also advised by the insurer that if I do write it off I should get the unused part of my premium back so that's a factor here too

DullGreyGuy

danieljnolan said:

I was also advised by the insurer that if I do write it off I should get the unused part of my premium back so that's a factor here too

That would be unusual, who's the insurer?