Hit and run damaged my parked car: foreign lorry and total loss: PLEASE HELP ME

Afrapp88 · 17 September 2019 at 2:46PM

Hi everyone,

I am utterly ignorant in this matter and I will get straight to the point: my car, a 9 year-old but perfectly well kept and working Vauxhall Corsa, bought one year ago for about £4,000, got hit by a lorry driver who smashed off my rear-view mirror and left some scratch and indentation on the driver door and on the panel above the front-right wheel. I have two witnesses and a picture of the registration plate, which seems non-UK but still EU. I have a comprehensive insurance with Admiral. On the phone, the agent told me it might be that, based on the description of the damages I gave her, the car will be deemed a total loss. I moved in the UK one year and a half ago, and I am utterly ignorant in this matter. Here are my questions, if you would be so nice to help me out understand where I stand:

1 - The agent told me it might take a lot of time to get hold of the third-party insurance because of the fact it's foreign. Is that really so?

2 - I have been told that if the car is deemed total loss, they will offer me a sum for it. I guess I will have to negotiate. What I don't understand is, the only critical repair is replacing the rear view mirror. I can keep the scratches and indents, I don't care. How can replacing a rear view mirror cost that much? Can't they just repair the mirror? I can't believe it would cost more than £1000.

3 - If they deem the car a total loss, what are my options? She mentioned something about the car being categorised. In this case, the damage is not structural as the chassis and structural parts are intact, it's just a repairable damage. What can I do?

Please, help me out. My girlfriend and I took a long time before we found this amazing car, and we cannot believe it can get destroyed for such a minor damage and we cannot afford another one so well kept (we had also just put new all-season tyres on which cost a bit).

Thank you so much for any help

Best,
Andrew

bigisi · 17 September 2019 at 3:26PM

Not much to say other than £4k on a nine year old Corsa? :eek:

Afrapp88 · 17 September 2019 at 3:35PM

@ bigisi roughly £3,900 for a 2009 automatic Corsa with 49k miles very well maintained with no scratch and nice MOT history. Checked and the price was similar to its market value. Now it's value would be around £3000 according to AutoTrader. This is not the point of my question though.

sal_III · 17 September 2019 at 3:55PM

1 - Likely so, the only impact is that your insurance premium might jump if you are up fro renewal until Admiral can claim from the 3rd party insurer and finalise it as a "no fault" claim on your end.

2 - The insurer must reinstate the vehicle to the state it was prior to the accident, that means fixing all damage, not just the critical. They will assess the cost and if it's over 70%ish of the value will consider it a write off and pay out for a replacement vehicle, which will end up cheaper for them rather than handling/evaluating repairs etc. In that case they will keep the vehicle and sell it/dispose of it. You will be offered an option to payback part of of the insurance payout and keep it. Sounds like you want this option so enquire about it and see if the math is in your favour.

On the other hand get rid of it while you can. The automatic gear box on these is abysmal, prone to failure and expensive to fix.

Afrapp88 · 17 September 2019 at 4:23PM

Thank you @sal_III.

It's not clear to me what "You will be offered an option to payback part of of the insurance payout and keep it" means. Until I accept their write-off offer, the car will still be mine. Why would I need to pay them back? Theoretically speaking (independently of the fact whether it's worth it or not), can I just repair it myself and not claim anything from the insurance? I just cannot believe I have to dispose of an otherwise perfectly functioning car for some scratches. All this logic is just new to me.

kingstreet · 17 September 2019 at 4:33PM

Let's say you are offered £2,000 in full and final settlement, or £1,500 plus the return of the vehicle. That's what sal is alluding to...

The Category of the write-off applied by the insurer will determine what repairs you have to have done and the certification process for returning the vehicle to the road after that.

Afrapp88 · 17 September 2019 at 4:37PM

@kingstreet so if I decline the write off, in your example they would offer me £1500 and retain the ownership of the vehicle? With that money, theoretically speaking, I could repair the bloody rear view mirror and keep the scratches that are merely cosmetic? I'm really terribly sorry if I don't understand right away, please have mercy

this is all completely new to me.

kingstreet · 17 September 2019 at 4:43PM

Yes. That's the principle.

The amounts are obviously just examples.

Afrapp88 · 17 September 2019 at 4:48PM

"The amounts are obviously just examples"

Of course, I got that at least

I guess I will wait for them to contact me back. I'm pretty sure that if it's gonna be written off it'll be in category N or maybe S (it's not clear to me what "structural damage" means...I assume the rearview mirror is not a structural part of the car but still a damage that makes it unsafe to drive).

Afrapp88 · 18 September 2019 at 5:21PM

@kingstreet whait, if the insurer buys my car for £2000 but I can buy it back as salvage retention and get £1500 instead, for instance, isn't it better for them as they'd have to pay me less money? Also, is salvage retention a universal right or only depends on the insurance? I can't find anything about salvage retention in my Admiral policy.

kingstreet wrote: »

Yes. That's the principle.

The amounts are obviously just examples.

lisyloo · 18 September 2019 at 5:28PM

This all seem theorectical to me (the write-off).

Can you confirm that two panels are damaged plus one mirror?
Any bumpers damaged?
Is it metallic paint or matt?

Is the mirror heated, movable remotely by buttons or is it one you just move by hand?

Obviously we can only go on what youve said but it doesn't seem to me this would be a write-off.
You could of course take it somewhere and get a quote within 20-30 mins.

Hit and run damaged my parked car: foreign lorry and total loss: PLEASE HELP ME

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