Write off???

cjm26

my partner had her car stolen 3 weeks ago, an L reg Rover 170K on the clock but a car that will run & run until the end of the world.

It was recovered 16 days ago- the garage it was recoevered to said that the door lock is knackered and so is the steering lock/poss. column but otherwise it looed fine.
The insurance company (Nat West) have messed us around for the last 2 weeks and have now, finally, told us that the engineer has written the car off.

I called the company asking what the price would be to purchase the vehicle back from them only to be told that engineer has pased the car as 'Catagory B- unfit to drive'. I asked for a copy of the engineers inspection report but was told that it was company policy not to reveal these details. Without getting into an argument, I suggested that it was my partners right to know, as a customer, what exactly was wrong with the car- as she was still, in law, the owner of the vehicle. he said he would try and find out but that it may be difficult to speak with the engineer. It all seem a bit secretive. Why is that?

And does anyone have any ideas what Catagory B means Do we have rights as the vehicle owner? Do our rights allow us to see reports?

Perhaps I'm being a bit paranoid here but the car may well be fixable and if it is then we want at least have the opportunity to get a quote for it. Why should the insurance company withold this info? and what are our rights.

thanks in advance

soolin

My father had his car vandalised last year and the Insurance company wrote it off as it was old and was not worth even basic repairs.

At that time we took advice on a couple of legal groups about asking for the car back rather than a cheque but was warned that the DVLA would be informed that the car was written off and my father would never be able to get any reasonable insurance again on it.

The way it was described to us is that the car was worth less than a couple of hundred pounds, which means that basically any work at all, just replacing a lock and some edging with labour would cost more than the car was worth therefore the car would be a write off by default.

Soo

soolin

I also found this explanation of the different categories of write off to be useful:

http://www.car-crime.com/write-off.htm

It states that "'A' and 'B' category salvage should never be returned to the road"

Plus this one:

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/carclub/sf010501.htm


Soo

ltlmiles5

I got third party fire and theft insurance today, but am wondering about what would happen if ever my car got involved in an incident.

I bought my N registered Proton Persona GLSI automatic 3 years ago for £1995. A free rough estimate from https://www.parkers.com for a similar P registered car was £400 for a private sale if it was in good condition. (I would have had to pay for an accurate estimate for my car, as it was older than that provided free on the website).

I estimate then that my car is worth about $400. DOes that mean that when asked about the value of the car, I should say £400, instead of £1995?

My insurance cost me £314, with an excess of £100. Should my car get stolen, and gets written off (which won't be difficult seeing as it's worth so little now), will I get only £300 back?

That would seem harsh seeing as it's so reliable and I have no problems with it. Gets me where I want. £300 won't even buy me a decent car!

soolin

When my father's car was written off after it was vandalised he got nothing back as his excess was more than the estimated value of the car!

Soo

lisyloo

will I get only £300 back?

Unfortunately yes.

That would seem harsh seeing as it's so reliable and I have no problems with it. Gets me where I want. £300 won't even buy me a decent car!

You are in the situation where your car is worth more to you on the road than it's actual financial value.
Insurance companies only work with the financial value.

The only things you can do about this are
1) Try to do everything you can to stop your car getting stolen.
2) Maybe start to save for a newer one as you now know this is a possibility.

There isn't a lot else you can do.

Annie_SW

I am surprised that Cat B has been allocated - that's usually used for cars that are beyond repair. From the damage you've described I would expect Cat C, which means that the cost of repairs would exceed the cars value. Cat C cars can be returned to the road after repair and a Vehicle Identity check.

If I was the OP I would be asking for a further explanation.

cjm26

the inspection engineer called me this afternoon and explained.....

the damage caused to our car was in excess of £1800, "300% more than the value", plus he also told me that whilst we could repair it his advice was to right it off due to the fact that we had no idea what had actually happened to it when it was stolen.

thanks for all the ideas & thoughts- yes, our beloved rover is worth more to us than it is actually financially worth. oh well, motor auctions here we come