Car Insurance- write off?

pippamannequin

Hi, I recently had my first ever accident :rolleyes: in which i hit the back of a van that had stopped to turn right..
Anyway, this was on the 4th April, my cars insured for 2k and the garage has given a quote for 'labour and paints' of £845 NOT including the parts yet (a new bonnet and front bumper also needed) which will be roughly about the same again.

Are they likely to write off my car and if so how long does it take and what do i need to prepare myself for (my mot and tax is due for renewal end of April) so am kind of hoping that they make a decision before i go and spend a fortune on an mot as well!
Thanks in advance

raskazz

Firstly, unless you have an 'agreed value' policy such as some classic car policies, your car is not insured for £2000. It is insured for the market value of the vehicle immediately prior to the loss or damage.

Usually a car is a write-off if the cost of repair is greater than 60% of the pre-accident value.

So going on the figures quoted - and assuming that your car is actually worth £2k - the total cost of repair is approx £1690 and this clearly exceeds the 60% figure of £1200. So it's likely to be written off as uneconomical to repair.

Best thing you can do IMO is to make sure you have all the relevant documents to send to the insurer when they request them, including things like the service history, so that you can hopefully quickly negotiate a satisfactory settlement.