Car insurance write off

yebaws

What's the situation re. insuring a car that has previously been written off (cat N, cosmetic damage only)? My understanding is that it will need to have a new MOT, but what about getting insurance? When getting a quote, there is nowhere to declare a previous write off, or does the system just find this automatically from the reg?

yebaws

So far, I'm finding that so long as you answer all the questions truthfully, you're covered. But being the little s**ts that they are the insurance company will dig it up if you ever need to claim (and no doubt use it to reduce the payout)

cw8825

As long as repaired it won’t impact you getting insured 

it will be worth less in the event of a total loss claim

Aretnap

If the insurer doesn't ask (or mention it in the assumptions - a handful of insurers do that so read them carefully) then you don't have to declare it. You can assume either that they don't care, or that if they do care they'll check for themselves.

This is true by the way about any fact that you're not sure whether you have to tell your insurance about - if they want you to tell them about something, the onus is on them to ask you about it. 

In practice you will probably find that a car being Cat N makes little of any difference to the quotes you get or the number of insurers willing to cover you. It's just not something instead tend to see as a big deal. The main thing to be aware of is that if it were to be written of again the instead would be entitled to reduce the valuation a bit as a car with a Cat N marker typically sells for less than one without.

Aretnap

yebaws said:
So far, I'm finding that so long as you answer all the questions truthfully, you're covered. But being the little s**ts that they are the insurance company will dig it up if you ever need to claim (and no doubt use it to reduce the payout)

Yes, they'll pay more for a more valuable car and less for a less valuable one. Not sure how that makes then little s**ts but each to his own I guess.

yebaws

Aretnap said:

yebaws said:
So far, I'm finding that so long as you answer all the questions truthfully, you're covered. But being the little s**ts that they are the insurance company will dig it up if you ever need to claim (and no doubt use it to reduce the payout)

Yes, they'll pay more for a more valuable car and less for a less valuable one. Not sure how that makes then little s**ts but each to his own I guess.

They have just written off my sons car (valued at buyanycar.com at 3.6k, they will value it lower, but the lowest market equivalent I can find is at least 3K). He was rear ended (not at fault) and the car needs a new bumper and tailgate. The writ off was made just by looking at photos - no visit to a body shop.  Even at the sky high prices that insurance companies have to pay for repairs that would be less that 1K to do the work as confirmed by a local coachworks.

 Writing it off means that he is immediately not insured and doesn't get any courtesy car because it's not getting repaired. So no fault claim, perfectly drivable car but because he reported the accident to the insurance as you're supposed to he now doesn't have a car to drive and no payout yet. Oh and the rest of the insurance term is cancelled without a refund (still 10 months to run). That is why they are s**ts. Just looking at the feasibility of "buying back" the car from the insurance to get him on the road again. But all of that depends on them answering the phone.

cw8825

yebaws said:

Aretnap said:

yebaws said:
So far, I'm finding that so long as you answer all the questions truthfully, you're covered. But being the little s**ts that they are the insurance company will dig it up if you ever need to claim (and no doubt use it to reduce the payout)

Yes, they'll pay more for a more valuable car and less for a less valuable one. Not sure how that makes then little s**ts but each to his own I guess.

They have just written off my sons car (valued at buyanycar.com at 3.6k, they will value it lower, but the lowest market equivalent I can find is at least 3K). He was rear ended (not at fault) and the car needs a new bumper and tailgate. The writ off was made just by looking at photos - no visit to a body shop.  Even at the sky high prices that insurance companies have to pay for repairs that would be less that 1K to do the work as confirmed by a local coachworks.

 Writing it off means that he is immediately not insured and doesn't get any courtesy car because it's not getting repaired. So no fault claim, perfectly drivable car but because he reported the accident to the insurance as you're supposed to he now doesn't have a car to drive and no payout yet. Oh and the rest of the insurance term is cancelled without a refund (still 10 months to run). That is why they are s**ts. Just looking at the feasibility of "buying back" the car from the insurance to get him on the road again. But all of that depends on them answering the phone.

The insurance company won’t use local coach works. 

They price work on new parts from the manufacturer with set rates and includes the cost of the courtesy car. And a lot of garages will charge more once they know the insurance company is paying anyway. 

Unfortunately any bump to a car of that value will likely be a total loss. 

If he still has the car he should still be insured. Not sure the process you have been through. It’s quite rare for the policy to be cancelled when it a total loss as they usually leave it open for a new car to go on the policy. 

If he’s not getting a refund that would also suggest it’s currently a fault claim open with his insurers

DullGreyGuy

CIDRA legislation means you only need to answer the questions they ask, not offer up additional information you weren't asked for. They also cannot ask vague other questions about "other relevant matters". 

They can check MIAFTA if they wanted to check if its already been a write off but a Cat N is not worth as much as a car thats never been written off and so in principle the price should be lower so them not asking is technically a negative thing. 

yebaws

If he still has the car he should still be insured. Not sure the process you have been through. It’s quite rare for the policy to be cancelled when it a total loss as they usually leave it open for a new car to go on the policy. 

If he’s not getting a refund that would also suggest it’s currently a fault claim open with his insurers

There is basically a complete lack of communication from Hastings Direct at the moment and they are completely uncontactable, which is why I'm having to jump to conclusions..

The bit about the refund was what I had understood from what I've read on legal / insurance advice sites. One thing they have told him is that he is not at fault and won't lose his NCD. Maybe there is hope still.

And again, the bit about the insurance cover is also from what I've read. I had initially assumed the same as you're suggesting - that he's still covered whilst he has the car (indeed in his app it says that the insurance is "active") - but then I read that as soon as a car is written off there is no cover. And without being able to get any confirmation, what can we do apart from play safe?

Aretnap

He has a policy which is in force, and it remains in force unless and until the insurer tells him that it is cancelled. If they haven't told him whether it has ended or not, it's because it hasn't yet.

Normally this would happen when the insurance company actually pays him for the car and takes possession of it. Not just when someone has a look at a picture of the car and decides that it's probably not worth repairing. Basically insurance is a legal contract. There are formal mechanisms for an insurer to cancel a legal contract: telepathy, articles on random websites and "just expecting you to know these things" are not suitable mechanisms.

As for the future it's true that once a claim has been made,* he won't get any refund if the policy is cancelled or ended due to the car no longer being in his possession. However the insurer should give him the option of transferring the remaining months of the policy to a replacement car, assuming that he gets a replacement in a reasonable timeframe, and the replacement being a car that they would normally be willing to insure him to drive. This would also extend to continuing cover if he does buy the salvage back and get the repairs done himself.

* May not apply if his insurer eventually recovers all of its costs from the third party,v which is likely if someone drive into the back of him. But that prices can take months so isn't much use in the short term.