possible write-off ... how do i get the car and keep the cash

[Oldtax 10]

Came home today to find a note saying sorry for clipping my wing mirror and a number. However the damage is much worse: car up on kerb, front wheels turned, and driver side wheel pushed forward so its touching the front of the arch. i cant turn the wheel at all.

 

i suspect they will write the car off ... but im not sure how it works from there. can i keep the car and the cash?

 

its been hard enough maintaining!

 

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated,

jon

[Dox 22]

Pics?

[Oldtax 10]

here's a pic

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lw91l4ribk0b2lp/2014-02-09%2014.32.37.jpg

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zz9t2z29u9rbqg0/2014-02-09%2014.31.28.jpg

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d4xyal3pti7awtl/2014-02-09%2014.31.14.jpg

 

 

 

the car is only valued at £1500.

 

thanks for looking.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Oldtax

[Dox 22]

Has the wishbone deformed or snapped?

[Goldie 2]

IS it worth asking if the person who hit it would like to pay you outside of insurance?

[Oldtax 10]

Dox, i have no idea to be honest. all i know is that i cant move the wheels!

 

Goldie, my concern is that he might agree to it, i get the work done, and he doesn't pay up or disputes the work done. bearing in mind he still thinks its a clipped wing mirror!

 

i think i'm right in thinking that i would have to get the car back off the insurance company at a cost after they have deemed it a write off.

 

this is all rather painful!

[Goldie 2]

I mean you say the car is worth x, you'll take the cash and thats the end of the matter. You can then repair, reshell, sell for parts as you see fit..

 

Have insurance companies already been contacted?

[Oldtax 10]

ah, i see ;) Sorry.

 

i have no idea but would you think that's £1500 worth of damage?

 

not spoken to the 'hitter' yet. he's calling at 6.

 

thanks again.

[Dox 22]

The wishbones are designed to bend to prevent damage to the shell / subframe. The rack may be damaged too

 

If it goes through insurance and they allow a buy back (some don't) typical buy back cost would be 10-20% of pre accident value

[v46m4n 10]

I would go down the insurance route,

let them decide value of car against cost of repair. I suspect beyond economical repair

they should offer you a settlement figure, then ask if you can buy back the salvage,

most insurance companies allow you to, a few won't

[Oldtax 10]

This is really helpful thanks. Just spoke to the bloke - who admitted fault.

 

My hesitation in going through the insurance route is that this might cost me more in the long run if written off:

Cat D? (i dont really understand all that) but it's currently not driveable - DVLA costs?

potentially re MOTing,

towing back from wherever they take it

repairs

loss of money paid for years insurance. i only took the policy out January but it would appear admiral cancel the policy because car doesnt exist on paper and therefore nothing to insure etc and do not give a refund

£250 excess

 

i really wish this hadn't bloody happened!

[v46m4n 10]

It should end up cat d which means beyond economical repair due to age basically,

Don't let anyone remove the car to a repairers etc as once there you won't get it back, once they start charging storage thats it!

The ins company will assess the damage, then should make you an offer,you then ask about buying the salvage.

They will cancel insurance and you will have to get VIC check once MOT'd

I can't see you ending up out of pocket though!

[clumpy1 11]

You seem to be worrying about if's and but's mate Admiral will not cancel your policy it is not your fault the other guy has admitted liability his insurance company will pay out your policy will be transferable to what ever car you have next.All costs will not have to be met by you they will be billed to the Numpty who drove into your car if that had been me I would have been straight onto the phone to the police as the driver may have been under the influence from the night before by the sound's of it.

[Rorgasm 10]

Sorry to see this mate. Would you like me to pop round during the week & give you some idea of the damage? Might help you make a decision on what route to take. Have lost your number but if you still have mine give me a text.

 

Rory

[Stonejag 10]

Keep that bit of paper, it's your get out of jail free card! I would ask a couple of local garages to have a look - or give a finger-in-the-air estimate if they won't come out to see it. Don't tow it anywhere, leave it in situ. Once you have a rough idea of the cost to put it right, let him know the number and see if he pays up - personally I'd only get the police involved if he refuses. Open and shut if you go through his insurance since you have his admission of liability but it depends on whether you were planning to keep the car or not whether you'd want it written off as cat D since it will affect the value / be harder to sell later on. Your premiums will also most likely go up next year - yes, I know this is stupid.

 

Shame when this happens, especially to the best colour! ;) Good luck getting it sorted quickly.

 

Stone

[clumpy1 11]

^^^^This^^^^

[Portent 0]

Take photos before moving the car.

[tonytiger 0]

I'd try to deal direct with the other guys insurance, do NOT go with your own insurance unless necessary. For a start, this should help keep their costs down so they're likely to be a bit more helpful with what you want. Also, as said earlier, don't let it be moved to storage somewhere as this will rack up storage costs. If the you don't seem to be getting anywhere dealing direct with the other insurers, then you're probably dealing with a muppet, so try to get to a manager - or even try to contact the company boss. Point out that you're trying to get a fair settlement (that you're entitled to), while keeping costs to a minimum.

 

Depending upon the level of damage (it's hard to tell from the pictures - it might look worse than it is), the other option may be getting repair quotes using secondhand parts (if you're happy with that) but even that might not keep the cost down enough.

 

You've said it's valued at £1500, but that might not be a hard limit when claiming from a 3rd party - you should be looking for the cost of repair or the cost of replacing it (regardless of what you valued it at) - in theory you're not supposed to end up out of pocket.

 

Regarding policy cancellation, I don't think it should work like that - no, you can't claim money back because you've only had 2 months of cover, but if you get another car the policy should be transferable to the new one with a possible adjustment amount payable. Not 100% sure on this, but that's my understanding.

 

Sorry to hear about this, but good luck getting it sorted.

[EJ Taylor 22]

This is really helpful thanks. Just spoke to the bloke - who admitted fault.

 

My hesitation in going through the insurance route is that this might cost me more in the long run if written off:

Cat D? (i dont really understand all that) but it's currently not driveable - DVLA costs?

potentially re MOTing,

towing back from wherever they take it

repairs

loss of money paid for years insurance. i only took the policy out January but it would appear admiral cancel the policy because car doesnt exist on paper and therefore nothing to insure etc and do not give a refund

£250 excess

 

i really wish this hadn't bloody happened!

 

It should end up cat d which means beyond economical repair due to age basically,

Don't let anyone remove the car to a repairers etc as once there you won't get it back, once they start charging storage thats it!

The ins company will assess the damage, then should make you an offer,you then ask about buying the salvage.

They will cancel insurance and you will have to get VIC check once MOT'd

I can't see you ending up out of pocket though!

 

not necessarily true.

Mine was written of last year. And basically the assessor will value your car based on what similar condition models are going for on line (prior to his visit clean the car like you've never cleaned it before!!!!) then if the damage is deemed of grater value than the cars worth they will give you a settlement figure for the estimated value of your vehicle (and the vehicle is yours, it must be an older person thing this whole "keeping the car" **** but when i mentioned it to the insurance company about being able to keep the car they had no idea what i was going on about)the cars yours, written off or not, and no1 can take it from you! if its a C or worse write of you will need to VIC check and MOT it, if its a cat D then you need not do anything, as soon as its able to drive on the road you can drive it. look on the thread i had a very similar accident to you as far as damage is concerned so it may help you. i just eneded up replacing the lower arm and track rod/rod end and just drove it about with ****ed cosmetics for a month or 2.

Hope it all goes well!

[Oldtax 10]

Thank you all very much - this has been really helpful.

 

The guy who hit me has informed his insurance (insure the box) about the incident and said that he was at fault. They have left me an answerphone message saying, "give us a call to see how we can help with the cost of repairs and a courtesy car" - but i'm a little suspicious and naive about these things.

 

Then my insurers - admiral - have left a message asking me to call them to discuss ... i guess insure the box contacted them.

 

So, from reading all of your responses the general consensus seems to be contact his insurance and dont contact mine? It seems to late to do a deal with the guy who hit me because he appears to wont to go down the insurance route ... plus i think he's quite young so paying for it himself might be a problem.

 

Also, will his insurance company want to take it away and estimate repair costs ... ultimately leaving me with the buy back issues etc? I want to keep my car! Or will admiral now say they need to do that.

 

Got a lift to work today in a fiat cinquecento ... imagine my shame!

[v46m4n 10]

Don't let the car be towed away, you will have less chance of getting it back!

if it is written off it will be recorded as cat d possibly c but i doubt it.

once written off the insurance co then pay you out an agreed value, the car then becomes their property, you then need to ask to buy the salvage from them.

They will usually sell on to a salvage company , hence why salvage companies exist.

I would personally communicate through your company at first, thats what you pay your premium for, their services!

Whats that old saying…. 'The best person to buy your car is an insurance company!'

If you feel their valuation is too low, collect any paperwork you have for recent expenditure and any evidence of similar cars for sale.

At the end of the day it's not your fault, why should you suffer any loss

[Dox 22]

You'll just have to follow the process now set out by your insurance co, they share info between themselves so don't try and cover anything up would be recommendation.

 

Cat A = crush only (flood water fire or very heavily damaged beyond recognition)

 

Cat B = is break only (the only way around this is to export and reimport in due course)

 

Cat C = uneconomical repair using new parts, the MOT is normally void and will need a Vehicle Identity Check "VIC", its not a check of roadworthiness, its a check to ensure the car hasn't been cloned or repaired using stolen parts (keep all receipts of parts and work done to prove the repairs are legit).

 

Cat D = uneconomical repair using new parts or labour - paintwork alone can cause a car of low value to be an uneconomical repair, no need for a VIC or to re mot.

 

I suspect yours will be classed at Cat C

[Oldtax 10]

So... I've just spoken to my insurers who said that due to the age of the car it will be considered an uneconomical repair and they will look to salvage etc. Evemn cosmetic damage on an older car would likely incur this. However, she stated that the value of corrados are increasing (dont tell anyone!) but not enough to make a difference to me! she did say they would send someone out to do an estimate of repair free of charge if wanted.

 

Fascists!

[Rorgasm 10]

Just a quick update on this thread. The Corrado was given a cat D in the end & I have bought it of Oldtax with the intention of replacing damaged part & getting the old girl back on the rd. I will do a build thread so you can all see what I find but I wont be keeping this one, apparently 3 Corrados is too many

[Rorgasm 10]

Build thread for who ever is interested :geek:

 

http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=88373