Car insurance write off rip off, can I do anything?

sheramber

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

When our car was written off my husband asked if he could take the tow bar off.

He was told he could take anything he wanted as it was going to be scrapped. 

A tow bar is often argued to devalue a vehicle not add value so it's not going to make any difference. A scrap merchant thats paid 66% of the value of the vehicle is going to have issues if it turns up with no engine etc. 

Also took spare wheel

The car was going to be crushed.

As in it was a Cat A total loss or you are assuming it was going to be crushed?

Only cat As I ever dealt with were fire damage but then most won't be walking away from a cat A causing accident so would have exceeded my claim handling limit on bodily injury

Insurance company told us it was being crushed.

The car skidded on icy road, glided into the kerb, bounced off the lien and crossed the road to hit opposite kerb and topple  over into a deep ditch/ highland road.


All down very gracefully , at slow speed. 

It landed upside down , with only the wheels showing above the ground. But it landed on a concrete drain access. 

The only way out of the car was through the driver’s window. 

The only bit of the car that was not damaged was the back bumper. 

It is a weird sensation sitting in a car that is turning upside down  and ending up hanging from the roof by your seat belt. 

Mildly_Miffed

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

When our car was written off my husband asked if he could take the tow bar off.

He was told he could take anything he wanted as it was going to be scrapped. 

A tow bar is often argued to devalue a vehicle not add value so it's not going to make any difference. A scrap merchant thats paid 66% of the value of the vehicle is going to have issues if it turns up with no engine etc. 

Also took spare wheel

The car was going to be crushed.

As in it was a Cat A total loss or you are assuming it was going to be crushed?

Only cat As I ever dealt with were fire damage but then most won't be walking away from a cat A causing accident so would have exceeded my claim handling limit on bodily injury

Insurance company told us it was being crushed.

The car skidded on icy road, glided into the kerb, bounced off the lien and crossed the road to hit opposite kerb and topple  over into a deep ditch/ highland road.


All down very gracefully , at slow speed. 

It landed upside down , with only the wheels showing above the ground. But it landed on a concrete drain access. 

The only way out of the car was through the driver’s window. 

The only bit of the car that was not damaged was the back bumper. 

It is a weird sensation sitting in a car that is turning upside down  and ending up hanging from the roof by your seat belt. 

So (assuming this was vaguely recent) quite likely Cat B. Shell so badly damaged as to be unrepairable and fit only to be crushed, but can be sold to an authorised breaker and parts removed for sale.

If it was an older, low-value car they may not have bothered with auction and just sent it straight to a scrappy.

MyRealNameToo

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

When our car was written off my husband asked if he could take the tow bar off.

He was told he could take anything he wanted as it was going to be scrapped. 

A tow bar is often argued to devalue a vehicle not add value so it's not going to make any difference. A scrap merchant thats paid 66% of the value of the vehicle is going to have issues if it turns up with no engine etc. 

Also took spare wheel

The car was going to be crushed.

As in it was a Cat A total loss or you are assuming it was going to be crushed?

Only cat As I ever dealt with were fire damage but then most won't be walking away from a cat A causing accident so would have exceeded my claim handling limit on bodily injury

Insurance company told us it was being crushed.

The car skidded on icy road, glided into the kerb, bounced off the lien and crossed the road to hit opposite kerb and topple  over into a deep ditch/ highland road.


All down very gracefully , at slow speed. 

It landed upside down , with only the wheels showing above the ground. But it landed on a concrete drain access. 

The only way out of the car was through the driver’s window. 

The only bit of the car that was not damaged was the back bumper. 

It is a weird sensation sitting in a car that is turning upside down  and ending up hanging from the roof by your seat belt. 

Insurer doesnt decide what happens to the car outside of the category. They typically sell them to firms like Copart who decide what to do with them. Have had to deal with several complaints over the years where a customer was told my an agent that it was going to go to a salvage merchant and likely crushed and then 6 months later the policyholder has seen their old car back on the road again.

Cat A has to be crushed, the whole thing
Cat B can be broken for parts but the chassis has to be crushed
Cat C, D, N, S can be put back on the road but its uneconomical for the insurer to do so

Have seen exceptionally heavily damaged cars getting a cat C but a jig can straighten the chassis and they are safe to put back on the road. Had the car been newer they'd potentially have been economical to repair. Certainly had some cases where policyholders didnt want their car back because of the extent of the damage but it was deemed repairable and so it was theirs to sell after we fixed it. 

sheramber

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

MyRealNameToo said:

sheramber said:

When our car was written off my husband asked if he could take the tow bar off.

He was told he could take anything he wanted as it was going to be scrapped. 

A tow bar is often argued to devalue a vehicle not add value so it's not going to make any difference. A scrap merchant thats paid 66% of the value of the vehicle is going to have issues if it turns up with no engine etc. 

Also took spare wheel

The car was going to be crushed.

As in it was a Cat A total loss or you are assuming it was going to be crushed?

Only cat As I ever dealt with were fire damage but then most won't be walking away from a cat A causing accident so would have exceeded my claim handling limit on bodily injury

Insurance company told us it was being crushed.

The car skidded on icy road, glided into the kerb, bounced off the lien and crossed the road to hit opposite kerb and topple  over into a deep ditch/ highland road.


All down very gracefully , at slow speed. 

It landed upside down , with only the wheels showing above the ground. But it landed on a concrete drain access. 

The only way out of the car was through the driver’s window. 

The only bit of the car that was not damaged was the back bumper. 

It is a weird sensation sitting in a car that is turning upside down  and ending up hanging from the roof by your seat belt. 

Insurer doesnt decide what happens to the car outside of the category. They typically sell them to firms like Copart who decide what to do with them. Have had to deal with several complaints over the years where a customer was told my an agent that it was going to go to a salvage merchant and likely crushed and then 6 months later the policyholder has seen their old car back on the road again.

Cat A has to be crushed, the whole thing
Cat B can be broken for parts but the chassis has to be crushed
Cat C, D, N, S can be put back on the road but its uneconomical for the insurer to do so

Have seen exceptionally heavily damaged cars getting a cat C but a jig can straighten the chassis and they are safe to put back on the road. Had the car been newer they'd potentially have been economical to repair. Certainly had some cases where policyholders didnt want their car back because of the extent of the damage but it was deemed repairable and so it was theirs to sell after we fixed it. 

I can only go by what insurance told us and what we did. Nobody came back to us about it.