Accident. Not good news... End of the road?

[dave lincs]

Originally Posted by AndyN01

Thanks for the reply.

Absolutely do NOT let anyone take the car away. It will "vanish" and then the only "discussion" shall be about money.

Sounds like Admiral have decided that it's definitely a 3rd party 100% liability so are not interested in putting any time or effort into it. This is probably a great result for you.

Be prepared to have an "interesting" discussion with Hastings or whoever they have appointed about the "value" of the car. Get as much info as you can (Reebs pulled an ace out of the pack for the history of mine ) look at actual sale prices etc. etc and I sure you've got a shed load of history/invoices etc. to back up your value.

All the best with it.

Andy.

Very true and always a good idea to print off adverts of cars the same for sale and if they say the car is only worth £700 suggest they find and deliver you one

The most likely outcome will be an offer of money in lieu of repairs

[Cable Tie]

Hi Andy pm sent re tailgate in brg

[john116]

Surely just easier to pay someone to fix it, and forget insurance. In Australia, based on the fact the car is more or less worthless, I refuse to pay for insurance. If it gets damaged, the money I save on not having insurance, I can just use to pay to fix it. It's SO difficult to get anyone to pay up, insurance is more or less useless.

[Matt_75]

Originally Posted by john116

Surely just easier to pay someone to fix it, and forget insurance. In Australia, based on the fact the car is more or less worthless, I refuse to pay for insurance. If it gets damaged, the money I save on not having insurance, I can just use to pay to fix it. It's SO difficult to get anyone to pay up, insurance is more or less useless.

Insurance is a legal requirement in the UK, you can't drive on the public roads without it. Agree on the difficulties of getting these companies to pay out / pay a fair amount. I'm sure if I wrote of my 75 they would offer a derisory amount.

What happens in Australia if you hit a 3rd party? Presumably you're personally liable for their repair costs? In the UK you can get 3rd party insurance (i.e. insurance that only pays out for the other party) but it's often not much cheaper than fully comprehensive insurance.

[Vossy]

My last car was written off with only a broken headlight it was 15 years ago now and the insurance company was Saga, Vectra estate that I had owned for many years, the insurance company wrote it off without looking at it. It was the third parties fault, she pulled out of a side road and into me, she admitted fault.
I kept my car and a small wedge of cash, but I had to take it to DSVA to be checked after replacing the headlight and a new MOT, my MOT was only a month old then.
Strangely, since then Saga have always refused to quote me for any car insurance even though the other insurance company fully funded the claim

I was looking at Footman James next to get a guaranteed valuation. I did check, and it wasn't much more than my renewal.

[Andy_with_a_screwdriver]

Since my last post things have changed a bit.
Two Fridays ago we contacted Admiral to find out what was going on and what the next step is.
Turns out Auxilis should have looked at it and estimated, damage cost of repair etc, but didn't. Admiral instructed them to do so, but seeing as it was the weekend it would be early last week.
We were told an Assessor (engineer) would be visiting to check the vehicle, which turned out we had to send photos, which my wife did.
Last Friday she was contacted on the phone by Auxulis to say the assessor was going to declare it a category B write off. The Assessor's were now shut for the bank holiday and we would be contacted this week to discuss value and the next steps in salvage if we needed it.
Auxulis wrote to say it is a 'total loss' claim and that it would be registered as such with HPI & MIATFR & DVLA.
They tried phoning today but both of us were working and unable to take the calls.
After investigation I learned that category B means the car is deemed only fit to break for parts and then must be crushed, never to return to the road....
I'm not sure how this can all be decided without a so called engineer even getting near the vehicle.
I'm at home tomorrow so will have to call them to find out what's going on, my insurance policy is due for renewal in 4 days, and they've also emailed to tell me that due to 'an incident' on the policy it has now increased by another £45! so much for not being at fault!

[Andy_with_a_screwdriver]

I've spoken to the Assessors, who without actually looking at the vehicle only our photos, have decided that the rear panel is damaged as well as the bumper and tailgate. I asked how he was so sure of this, and he said it is usually what happens 99 times in a 100, and he has 25 years experience of this etc etc...
I asked that if this could be the 100th time and he's wrong, to which there was no real answer.

His estimated cost of repair is £4700, and apparently he's done his best to keep it low, because it is a no fault claim they will only use new parts, and the rear panel isn't available anymore...

Because of this they 'have a duty of care' to recommend the vehicle as class 'B catastrophic damage' which means it should be removed from the road stripped of parts and then crushed.
And it's got quite a lot of quite new parts in it...

They valued it at £1450 and they would only consider a repair up to 200% of the value or £2900. If this was doable then the vehicle wouldn't be B but instead classed as 'S structural damage' and therefore repairable and following inspection suitable to return to the road.

I've told them I'm going to consider getting a second opinion. And so far agreed to nothing and trying to work out what to do. If we cancel the claim the report doesn't get sent anywhere and just disappears.

I've not yet seen any diesel 75 tourers connoisseurs available to buy for £1450.

In the meantime I've had to renew the road tax from 1st May and then last week renew the insurance, as a gesture of goodwill the removed £25 of the £45 they added on.

Our new special order rear number plate has also arrived, which is looking like another £25 well spent

[sln8458]

Just a thought, but as you already have a replacement rear door/tailgate.
Would you be able to fit the tailgate to confirm it closes properly and there are no undue gaps. If it does fit properly then it is unlikely that there is any panel damage.
As I say, just a thought, but would also strengthen your position for a second opinion.

[Matt_75]

I'm struggling to understand the assessor's rationale for making it a Cat B write off instead of Cat S. Is it because some repair panels are not available brand new and therefore a satisfactory repair (to the insurers standard) isn't possible?

If you can push them to make it a Cat S, you could buy the car back from the insurer and repair it.

My Dad had a similar situation a year or two ago and was offered a derisory figure for his car. With some haggling and providing evidence of other similar cars (age, mileage, spec) for sale, he was able to agree a better valuation, although he still wasn't 100% happy with it.

What a huge pain in the backside, you have my sympathy. I fear this sort of thing happening to one of our cars, sentimental value doesn't factor into the insurers equation unfortunately.

[Andy_with_a_screwdriver]

Originally Posted by sln8458

Just a thought, but as you already have a replacement rear door/tailgate.
Would you be able to fit the tailgate to confirm it closes properly and there are no undue gaps. If it does fit properly then it is unlikely that there is any panel damage.
As I say, just a thought, but would also strengthen your position for a second opinion.

I've been contemplating this myself, didn't want to waste my time but I think it'll help prove one thing or another, weather is good tomorrow so I'm going to have a go.

Originally Posted by Matt_75

I'm struggling to understand the assessor's rationale for making it a Cat B write off instead of Cat S. Is it because some repair panels are not available brand new and therefore a satisfactory repair (to the insurers standard) isn't possible?

Essentially that's it, he said they would only quote for new parts on a no fault claim. The bumper would need to be painted all adding to the cost, and allegedly the rear panel is now obsolete so I assume it would have to be fabricated hence the cost, at a quoted labour rate of £80 per hour!
I spoke to a mechanic who's now a welder last week and he explained the process of removing all the spot welds etc and then refitting, so I understand it's not straight forward. What's annoying me the most is the assumption it is bent without anyone looking at it properly.
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If you can push them to make it a Cat S, you could buy the car back from the insurer and repair it.

My Dad had a similar situation a year or two ago and was offered a derisory figure for his car. With some haggling and providing evidence of other similar cars (age, mileage, spec) for sale, he was able to agree a better valuation, although he still wasn't 100% happy with it.

What a huge pain in the backside, you have my sympathy. I fear this sort of thing happening to one of our cars, sentimental value doesn't factor into the insurers equation unfortunately.

I work colleague of mine reckons the government have an agenda to get rid of old vehicles off the road asap, and are pushing insurance companies to get stuff written off, to supposedly help top the emissions targets by getting rid of the old 'dirty' stuff.

Ironically if it had been our other car, the 1.9CDTi Zafira, that was damaged with it's dodgy gearbox, oil leaks and knackered air con, I think it would already be in the breakers for £1450.