How much of your car do you need to hand over in a write off claim?

sheramber

When my husband asked if her could take the towing bracket  off the car they said take anything you want as it is just going to be scrapped. 

He removed towing bracket and the spare wheel, which we had bought as an extra. 

duggan1

"Sir, as you have modified your car without informin us, we have voided your policy." 

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

When my husband asked if her could take the towing bracket  off the car they said take anything you want as it is just going to be scrapped. 

He removed towing bracket and the spare wheel, which we had bought as an extra. 

Which is the right way to do things, ask and you may well get a sensible answer. Just to take them without asking is inviting problems.

B0bbyEwing

Arunmor said:

Why not buy the salvage back and repair?

LEDs in a car not built for them is not a great idea

Why is it not a great idea? If we were talking headlights then I agree with you but I said interior bulbs so I'm curious what's so bad about my map reading light for example or my foot well light being an LED bulb? 

To maybe clear up some things... 

The insurance haven't yet been contacted. As it has a full tank of fuel I'm currently running that down as for now it runs.

It has front end damage, both bumper & bonnet & I've found it has a slight coolant leak. Not constant. I checked cardboard I put down about 3-4 hours after I'd parked on my drive last night and it was dry as a bone but when I checked this morning there were a couple spots. So it's there, just slow for now. 

When I said about the wheel I was thinking since it has alloy wheels and they do actually sell, even if I just get like £50 for it, was to pick the tyre with the best tread/the alloy that was in the best condition & switch this for the spare wheel.

Repair ourselves is not looking like an option after inspecting the damage closer, so buy back is looking like a no go. 

Arunmor

B0bbyEwing said:

Arunmor said:

Why not buy the salvage back and repair?

LEDs in a car not built for them is not a great idea

Why is it not a great idea? If we were talking headlights then I agree with you but I said interior bulbs so I'm curious what's so bad about my map reading light for example or my foot well light being an LED bulb? 

 

Sorry I missed that bit.  I changed my daughter's number plate bulbs to LED and of course that threw a yellow light, took me ages to find out how to re-code the car due to the Wattage change.  It was a real palaver.

B0bbyEwing

Also to put in a different post so the question doesn't get lost in with everything else - 

Is there a way (website or whatever) of getting a good idea of what the insurance would pay out if I went to them & had it written off? (plus since this is own fault damage do they take off your excess from the car value - so say they give 500 for the car but your excess is 300 you only pocket 200)?

The answer can't be a case of hop on the adverts & see what similar cars are selling for either. 

I say that because the previous car was a Volkswagen. At the time it was walloped from the rear we were actually looking to get rid anyway because it had running issues. It was only worth about 600-800 at the time, even if it was running OK. The insurance ended up offering 1300. We took their arm off with that offer! 

Reason I ask this is because if I can get a good idea of what they'll pay out and I can get more by selling the car as spares or repair (but need to take the whole car) then I'd obviously do that as it also avoids a stain on the insurance by having to declare a bump for 5 years. 

And to those who never do any wrong in life, yes I know you're 'supposed' to tell them immediately of any incident but if it can be avoided then it can be avoided & I'd say most would do the same. Nobody else & no other persons property was involved. 

400ixl

Yes, for an at fault claim you will have to pay your excess.

Somewhere like webuyanycar or motorway will give you an idea of what you may get for it.

As for parts, removing interior bulbs would probably go unnoticed. Putting a space saver in place of an alloy will get noticed and likely trigger action. Removing the space saver itself to sell (which for many cars is worth more than a single alloy with the jack etc) would likely not raise any flags.

B0bbyEwing

Thanks for the feedback. 

I'll probably keep it minimal on the removing of things then. 

I don't want to lose a full tank of fuel but at the same time I don't know at what rate it's losing coolant, plus the bonnet now wont open after the bump. I'm considering cutting a hole in the bonnet right above the coolant tank, just to check/keep topped up but then when this goes the insurance route they'd probably question why there's a hole in the bonnet. 

I don't trust WBAC etc since they always seem to offer about 5% of what a car is actually worth. I'm not expecting much on this car but then I wasn't expecting much with the Volkswagen. Maybe that's just the benefits of owning a German car though, which wont be the case this time round.

I'll take a look at what various spares/repair ads are up at and go from there. Thanks.

DullGreyGuy

B0bbyEwing said:

Also to put in a different post so the question doesn't get lost in with everything else - 

Is there a way (website or whatever) of getting a good idea of what the insurance would pay out if I went to them & had it written off? (plus since this is own fault damage do they take off your excess from the car value - so say they give 500 for the car but your excess is 300 you only pocket 200)?

The answer can't be a case of hop on the adverts & see what similar cars are selling for either. 

I say that because the previous car was a Volkswagen. At the time it was walloped from the rear we were actually looking to get rid anyway because it had running issues. It was only worth about 600-800 at the time, even if it was running OK. The insurance ended up offering 1300. We took their arm off with that offer! 

Reason I ask this is because if I can get a good idea of what they'll pay out and I can get more by selling the car as spares or repair (but need to take the whole car) then I'd obviously do that as it also avoids a stain on the insurance by having to declare a bump for 5 years. 

And to those who never do any wrong in life, yes I know you're 'supposed' to tell them immediately of any incident but if it can be avoided then it can be avoided & I'd say most would do the same. Nobody else & no other persons property was involved. 

You have to declare the bump irrespective of if you claim or not. 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs

The above is the ombudsman's direction to insurers on how to value vehicles, it includes the names of the motor trade "books" (arent books any more but the names stuck) that they recognise etc. Some of these have a consumer facing valuation tool for a one off fee but arent necessarily identical to the trade tools they offer.

Irrespective of fault the excess is payable, in the event of a total loss it'll be deducted from the settlement. So if they offer you £1,300 for the car and you have a £300 excess then the cheque/transfer would be for £1,000. However you can potentially buy the salvage off them too so if they say the scrap is worth £250 you could choose to get a £750 cheque and keep the car. Note that if you are paying by instalments then the insurer may also take the remaining payments off the settlement too. 

B0bbyEwing

With your opening - it's that you're supposed to tell them. Not that you have to. 

I won't die if I don't tell them. I won't go to jail. If I scrap it then nobody knows. If I sell as spares or repair then nobody knows. 

There's a lot of supposeds to in the world. Keeping it motoring we're supposed to not go beyond the speed limit but I'd argue that everyone reading this breaks it at some point. It's just whether you get caught or not.