Dented pride

Alan Surrey

Member
Messages
990
Thank you Cheshire Maserati. That is just what I needed to read. I now have to digest it, get accustomed to the reality, and hope they fix the car rather than write it off and Cat X it.
This is its third day at the body shop, so I should hear from them soon.
 

rs48635

Member
Messages
3,181
Thank you Cheshire Maserati. That is just what I needed to read. I now have to digest it, get accustomed to the reality, and hope they fix the car rather than write it off and Cat X it.
This is its third day at the body shop, so I should hear from them soon.
Fingers crossed for you. Was it still driving? Certainly looks like it should have been.
 
Messages
1,117
^^^ very illuminating. Is there additional cost to buy back the "write off" from copart or whoever? Is that the 20-30% discount in the value?

Selling any QP seems to be quite an undertaking these days - let alone one with "a rating". Personally I worry about that at some point in the future, but mine is definitely a keeper. If you kept the car and got it repaired leaving an amount of ££££ then surely you are no worse off. You have the future price reduction in your pocket.
I was told if I wanted to buy the Micra wreck, I would be liable to pay Copart's collection cost when they collected it under instruction from the insurer, pay storage charges and Copart transportation cost to return the wreck to my premises (as these costs are borne by the insurer) as well as any costs that Copart applies.

The discount in the value of payment you would receive if you elected to buy back your wreck is essentially the price the insurer would have obtained to dispose of the wreck. That is, their 'loss' if they don't keep your wreck that you have to indemnify them against. Put another way, their write off offer only costs them 80% or 70% or in-between of their offer because of what they recover from disposing of your wreck.

These links give some general guidance:
https://www.finder.com/uk/car-insurance-write-off

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/c...-insurance-if-the-accident-wasn-t-your-fault/

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2018/11/what-is-an-insurance-write-off-know-the-facts.html
 
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Messages
1,117
Thank you Cheshire Maserati. That is just what I needed to read. I now have to digest it, get accustomed to the reality, and hope they fix the car rather than write it off and Cat X it.
This is its third day at the body shop, so I should hear from them soon.
You are welcome. There is a lot of misunderstanding on various aspects of insurance. I am glad my lengthy explanation with examples has been helpful. Just remember, IF (double underlined IF) they write it off, if you challenge their offer you might find yourself being offered one last final offer that may or may not be much different (if any different) to their first offer. That will put you under pressure because it will be time defined - 24 or 48 hrs from that response. As I had a rear shunt, my insurer arranged for a rental car runabout that will be charged to 3rd party insurer. They dont want to prolong costs once the offer and decision is made. I was paid total loss value within 36 hrs and by 48 hrs the rental car was collected - before we had a chance to buy a replacement vehicle. I used to negotiate professionally in my corporate life and I always considered a challenge to a decision, reviewed it and made ONE final offer - take it or leave it, pointing out it was a fair offer and their acceptance was required by close of play in writing in 48 hrs, after which we deem they rejected the offer and reminded them that they could litigate. Brutal maybe. But i along with insurers dealt with a cross section of customers and the climate is more like this than going back and forth several times wasting everybody's time.
 

ratbag

Member
Messages
135
A dozy woman ran into the back of my sons little Punto turbo last year. Needed a new rear bumper and work on osr quarter panel. Pretty minor. DirectLine "approved garage" quoted £3500. Value of car £2500. I did not want to write it off so got "Freds Panelbeaters" down a sidestreet to take a look- £1200 to repair. Direct Line agreed, car repaired less excess nothing recorded...
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
A dozy woman ran into the back of my sons little Punto turbo last year. Needed a new rear bumper and work on osr quarter panel. Pretty minor. DirectLine "approved garage" quoted £3500. Value of car £2500. I did not want to write it off so got "Freds Panelbeaters" down a sidestreet to take a look- £1200 to repair. Direct Line agreed, car repaired less excess nothing recorded...
THIS.?<>
Its a well worn path, the 'approved' status of preferred business partners with their premium rates.
There's more than one way to skin a cat !
 
Messages
1,117
Clearly, most insurers will offer low, ie trade value, for a total loss in the first instance.
I don’t know the legal details regarding what an offer has to be but it usually states you should be able to replace the car with similar.

Maybe a few for sale ads of similar cars would come in handy, plus obviously the invoice he just paid!

Anyway, let’s hope it gets fixed so it won’t be an issue.

Problem is, wasn’t there a guy with a very low miles GTS (a 30k car) a while back who was hit on the rear wing, side on, at quite a low speed (15mph or so) with no structural damage that was quoted 22k to repair it due to it needing specialist aluminium repair?
That was written off. Tragic!

To try and answer/clarify your points:
Most insurers have to offer retail (forecourt) price unless you are in the trade - because if you are not in the trade that is the price for a similar replacement - not the trade price (the price the dealer paid for it)

Quoting For Sale ads for similar cars just does not wash - I tried that with the Micra. Their response is (a) sale prices and realised actual prices differ significantly, and often the sticker price in the ads allows for downwards adjustment for negotiation and (b) the insurer uses only the trade Masonic Bible on prices.

Re: The GTS example. I don't know that case. But specialist repairs involving aluminium or carbon fibre tubs ramps up repair costs and can result in a write off decision pretty quickly. In lower end cars often used as runabouts (5 year old Golf and R32 or similar etc), I know of examples written off automatically if the air bags have been deployed. No ifs, no buts - just straight write off. Apparently it costs a shed load of money to purchase and replace the airbag(s)

When the guy from Copart came to collect my wife's Micra he had a 3 year old Toyota mid-range car on the transporter - absolutely no damage visible. I asked him what is happening about that? he replied "write off mate". I said "how? I cant see any damage?"
He took me over to the car, showed me a small 2" dent on the rear of the sill on the passenger side. He said to repair that it is all the rear panel, the top of the roof and rear pillar all the sill and going into the wing at the front plus a complete re-spray on one side and blend on other panels at rear and front as well as the roof (spraying the door shut panel on the roof. "Over the top mate" he stated. "It is easier to write it off than repair it".

I asked was the owner sad? he said not at all - he got more than what they would have given him as a part-ex on another replacement car!
 
Messages
1,117
THIS.?<>
Its a well worn path, the 'approved' status of preferred business partners with their premium rates.
There's more than one way to skin a cat !
You intercepted that one in good time - the clock starts ticking when they have to notify their body of a write off decision which is why they put a lot of pressure to gain agreement to a write off decision if that is what they have decided. Your son's car would not have been CAT X listed or notified because of mutual agreement BEFORE they notified their body. Once notified, it is not possible to reverse or reassign the Cat X status. If there had been structural damage they would not change the status and notify of it and then it would have been Cat X from that point onwards.

As someone ran into the back of the car, did you pay for repairs and then send a legal notice on the third party to pay up to avoid their insurer getting involved? If they handed the bill to their insurer, they would not get involved as it was mutual agreement between your insurer and the third party insurer that you will repair at your own cost. And if the other person doesn't have the funds, it would be a challenge to litigate even if through the Small Claims Court if they dont have funds.
 

Alan Surrey

Member
Messages
990
I've just had my first email from the body shop. It says that after 4 days they are still waiting for prices for parts. Seems odd to me.
 

Motorsport3

Member
Messages
868
I was told if I wanted to buy the Micra wreck, I would be liable to pay Copart's collection cost when they collected it under instruction from the insurer, pay storage charges and Copart transportation cost to return the wreck to my premises (as these costs are borne by the insurer) as well as any costs that Copart applies.

The discount in the value of payment you would receive if you elected to buy back your wreck is essentially the price the insurer would have obtained to dispose of the wreck. That is, their 'loss' if they don't keep your wreck that you have to indemnify them against. Put another way, their write off offer only costs them 80% or 70% or in-between of their offer because of what they recover from disposing of your wreck.

These links give some general guidance:
https://www.finder.com/uk/car-insurance-write-off

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/c...-insurance-if-the-accident-wasn-t-your-fault/

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2018/11/what-is-an-insurance-write-off-know-the-facts.html
Its interesting that what you would think cost the same for a 2k micra or a 20k Maserati is actually calculated as a (nearly) fixed percentage for the purpose of recovery.