[Misc] Buying a write off and having a smash

[Bry Nylon]

That'll probably polish out tbh





PS - good to hear your wife and her friend are ok, although still a little shaken I should imagine. Best wishes.

 

[Madafwo]

If repairs are over circa 60% of the market value then yes, it will be written off. Delays on parts coming from the EU post brexit mean people are in hire vehicles longer thus pushing up the cost of claims. Some parts are just not available so the insurer has no choice but to write off.


Third Party insurers are always keen to get there first so they can control the costs. They’re nice and likeable at the outset but they have their own interests in mind. Your insurers will get you a better deal as they won’t have to worry about the outlay as it should be recoverable.

I had a small accident in my car in April last year, somebody rear ended me and dented the boot, smashed some plastics and bent the exhaust. It cost about £4.5k to fix the damage on it.

While my car was being repaired I was offered a hire car, the first one was unsuitable (I drive an estate, they provided a convertible) and I never accepted it, they just put the keys through my door first thing in the morning and left me to discover it when I woke up, instantly phoned them to say I wasn't accepting it and they can collect it.

Another week went by and they finally sorted out an estate for me, at which point they collected the unsuitable car, I had this second car for another week.

I've now got to go to court because the third party are refusing to pay out for the hire cars, which apparently cost over £14k.

 

[schmunk]

In the interests of a picture tells a story

View attachment 198232View attachment 198233

 

[Iggle Piggle]

That'll probably polish out tbh





PS - good to hear your wife and her friend are ok, although still a little shaken I should imagine. Best wishes.

She's at Cheltenham. She sounds absolutely smashed to be fair.

 

[zeemeeuw]

In the interests of a picture tells a story

View attachment 198232View attachment 198233

If you were French, you'd just drive it round like that.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Another week went by and they finally sorted out an estate for me, at which point they collected the unsuitable car, I had this second car for another week.

I've now got to go to court because the third party are refusing to pay out for the hire cars, which apparently cost over £14k.

Bottom line, the rental bill ended up being £9k! You can see why what you describe, happens.

This led to a court case of Hastings v Enterprise, I was asked to be a witness, at Bristol County Court of all places. Settled the day before, thank goodness.

Not a victimless malarkey, premiums are higher.

Mrs Wz had exactly the same. Our daughter wrote off Mrs Wz's car and we were supplied a courtesy car (we believed direct from her insurer Admiral) until they settled and paid us the money for the write off a couple of weeks later and we thought no more of it.

Months later we get a letter that they want Mrs Wz to sign to say she would appear in court over the huge car hire bill and at that point, discovered that Admiral had outsourced their car hire to a third party who were now in dispute with the other insurers over the cost of the hire car. I told Admiral that our contract was with them and not a third party and they could get stuffed. It appeared not, and was somewhere in their small print.

Again, they settled the week before the court case, but from reading up, this now seems increasingly common

Oh, and 5 minute job with a bit of T-Cut

 

[dadams2k11]

New door, new mirror, new rear quarter, new air bags. Sorted.

 

[METALMICKY]

I had a driver go into the back of me at a roundabout. My car hardly looked dented, so he wanted to pay it himself, but I took it to my garage, where it turned out the boot floor had buckled.
We had exchanged details, and I‘d told my insurance company, and claimed off of his.

Had very similar situation with young bloke who nudged into the back of me at a roundabout. He got a little shirty when I declined the offer of him paying for it once his ' mate ' had a looked at it. I insisted we go through the insurance and lo and behold there was less obvious damage underneath than perhaps suggested by the small dent in the bumper.

Sadly about 6 months later a young bloke in a works van decided to ram into the back of it whilst my wife was driving. The whole experience was a mess thanks to a company called Kindertons who were the accident management company my insurers use. Initially I was overjoyed when they said car was fixable particularly as whilst it was 10 years old it was immaculate with only 30k on the clock. However, a week later they did a u turn and decided it should be written off as not economical to repair. Their initial offer was ridiculous but after much debate the amount was above normal book particularly because of the low mileage and condition.

Despite it being classified as a write off a quick MOT check on the gov site indicates that it was salvaged, repaired and is back out there.

 

[Cotton Socks]

In the interests of a picture tells a story

View attachment 198232View attachment 198233

I'm no expert but that's f**ked. It looks like the airbags have gone off as well.

Simple question.... if those 'dents' were knocked out would you feel 100% confident that the structure of the car would withstand another similar accident?

Don't take their 1st offer, as others have said & also take the advice about what others have said about hire cars etc.

I wouldn't even consider doing a 'buy back', not that I think it's in a state to have that option. It's not a small donk in a carpark. That's what 'buy backs' are for, not side impact like that.

Glad Mrs IP & friend are ok.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I'm glad I fixed the Aircon a few weeks ago in readiness for the summer.

Getting organised is over rated.

Anyone got a mini for sale?

 

[Cotton Socks]

I'm glad I fixed the Aircon a few weeks ago in readiness for the summer.

Getting organised is over rated.

Anyone got a mini for sale?

It could be worse, you could've actually paid for and topped up with 'coolant' if you were that organised.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I'm no expert but that's f**ked.

That’s such a fantastically versatile and uniquely British turn of phrase that can be used for everything from a photocopier with a flashing red light, right up to and including that tanker ship in the North Sea.

 

[alanfp]

Agree with all of the above. Defo don't try to repair it yourself.
The fact that the airbags have gone off means that 1. you'll have to replace the airbags (and the wiring and the sensors and the roof-lining and re-programme the BCM) - that's not going to be cheap! and 2. it was a BIG impact, probably damaging stuff you can't see.
The door mirror alone is probably £400+ unless you're lucky enough to find a second hand one .

 

[B-right-on]

In the interests of a picture tells a story

View attachment 198232View attachment 198233

That fits the very NSC definition of a 5 min job. Hammer, pollyfiller and a can of black paint
Sorted.

 

[B-right-on]

6 years ago a car ploughed into my 4 week old car. The idiot's insurers Hastings were onto me straight away offering their courtesy cars, I declined and stuck with LV. LV/a middleman management company/Enterprise Rent A Car arranged for me to have a Volvo XC60 for 6 weeks .... I hadn't been bothered what I had.

Bottom line, the rental bill ended up being £9k! You can see why what you describe, happens.

This led to a court case of Hastings v Enterprise, I was asked to be a witness, at Bristol County Court of all places. Settled the day before, thank goodness.

Not a victimless malarkey, premiums are higher.

I just checked Enterprise website, to hire an XC60 for 6 weeks is £2,309 and with all the extra bells and whistles on £4,100. It sounds like Enterprise (probably along with every other hire company) extracts the urine when it's an insurance hire. Garage's and repairs are the same.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Just had a text from a random phone number. Mrs IP lost her phone at Cheltenham yesterday.

To revise my earlier statement, Does anyone have a Mini and an iPhone for sale?

 

[Affy]

Just had a text from a random phone number. Mrs IP lost her phone at Cheltenham yesterday.

To revise my earlier statement, Does anyone have a Mini and an iPhone for sale?

There is a common denominator. Not my business but rather than a new car, new phone, new whatever next; maybe a new Mes Ip would be cheaper

 

[Iggle Piggle]

There is a common denominator. Not my business but rather than a new car, new phone, new whatever next; maybe a new Mes Ip would be cheaper

I know a few people who have found out the hard way that a new wife is NEVER the cheap option.

Besides, the kids seem to like her.

 

[Brian Potter]

Glad to hear all ok.

I work in insurance so feel free to DM if you need to.

In answer to above:
1. Write offs have various levels. A and B are structural and can’t be repaired. They either have to be scrapped or “broken”. C, D and S are “uneconomical to repair” meaning they can do but the. Cost to the insurer isn’t worth it against the car value.
You can ask to purchase the salvage but will need to ensure it is road worthy and all fixed correctly. Not all insurers will offer cover and the value significantly decreases. Never worth it in my opinion.

2. You need to establish market value. Research on autotrader, private ads, eBay etc the same make and model, year and mileage. Insurers will try to lowball you in the first instance. You will need to provide evidence of why they are wrong. The more examples you have the stronger your case is.

3. If the other driver left the scene it is a criminal offence. If you have uninsured loss recovery then you can ask them
To peruse if you have the reg etc.
Sounds like you got a good guy in the recovery. Find out who he works for and give the boss a call and big him up.

Afraid to say if your insurers can’t make a recovery from the third party you will be “at fault”. It isn’t the correct expression any more. It really should be “recovered or unrecovered”. Unrecovered may well affect your no claims.

No such thing as Cats C and D any more. They went out a few years ago. .Cat A - Scrap / Cat B - Breaker / Cat s - Structural damage / Cat N - Non Structural damage.