Advice On Car Write Off

chateauneufdupape

My mother in law has badly damaged the driver's side door on her 10 year old Peugeot 106. The insurance company has said that it was beyond economic repair. They have not yet offered her a settlement figure. If she wishes to keep the car and have the door repaired privately, can she do this and how does she do it. Will she then have trouble insuring the car again? Any other problems?

Also, the car has a private number plate. If the car is scrapped how does she go about keeping the number plate?

cyclonebri1

First thing first

The reg must be retained before the car is handed over as a result of the claim, if at worst that is what happens. IE if the plate is valued do not sign untill you have the agreement of the insurer and then deal with the transfer before relinquishing the car.


But this should not happen

Buy the time a new door frame or skim or whatever is needed is sorted fitted and painted the cast will probably be about £650 at a guess. I think insurers as a whole work on something like if repairs equate to around 66% of the vehicle value, in this case something under £1k, it would be a total loss.

This is no problem if the quotes state the damage is isolated to the door as you can obtain a complete door from a breakers for around £75 max and have it painted and blown in for around £250.

Provided the amout you claim plus the salvage value is less than around the 66% I mentioned, they will go with the cheapest.

The one thing to remember is that it is both your car and your reg. If you want to keep them it's your right.

Reinsuring after this would not be a problem with non structural damage such as this. Even if it was provided in is not classed as Class* or ** IE has to be crushed or broken, an engineers report costinbg circa £110 will keep the insurers happy.

If you have a complete write off the policy is classed as fully paid out for the year and you pay a new premium.
:beer:

Edited to add provided you do not hand over the reg document, you still own the plate or at least till the mot runs out if its not on retainer. In anycase it is far easier to swap plates before transfer of ownership rather than afterwards.

chateauneufdupape

cyclonebri1,

Thanks for the detailed response. The garage has told my MIL that the chasis is damaged and that it is a Category B write off. Consequently, the MIL has decided not to keep the car. She will transfer the number plate before handing over the reg document.

cyclonebri1

In view of that, a wise desicision. All the best.

flutterbyuk25

For your info to do Retention she needs the following:

- form V778/1 (downloadable from direct.gov.uk)
- V5C registration certificate
- MOT cert
- Serial no/expiry date of tax disc
- £105 fee
- letter from insurance company stating that they have no interest in plate.

Submit that all to her local DVLA office (address on direct.gov.uk or phone book).

The plate should be retained within 7-10 working days, it may take longer if DVLA need to get a copy of engineers report from insurance company (DVLA liaise with ins co for it). Then your MIL will receive new V5C registration certificate and V778 Retention certificate 2-4 weeks after this.

She can then use V778 to put on new car in future, it's valid for 12 months and can be renewed every year for £25.

HTH

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