Explain the "write off" decision for me...
Discussion
Genuine question. My wife has just had a minor accident, her fault ran into the back of someone else.
Her car is a 2008 Citroen C5 100k miles....not everyones taste, but a nice car, and slightly rare as it's a fully loaded diesel estate, bought from the main agent about 4 years ago.
So damage is headlight/bumper/front of bonnet/sidelight/poss wing etc.
It is looking to be written of and she'll get 4k....which I think is reasonable, as the bodyshop have quoted almost that much for a repair, with the cost of the parts being the main reason for the price.
So...on our quote they have £600 for a bonnet, £300 for a headlight, £150 for a sidelight...etc, but a quick google shows me these parts from genuine panel dealers (new) at e.g. £140 for a bonnet, £40 for a sidelight, £100 for a headlight.....and at these prices may be the difference between a Cat D right off, or just being fixed.
So is this just a way of the crash repair guys making money...quoting original parts prices, then buying aftermarket or do they genuinely go to their local Citroen agent and buy everything.
Either way seems an off two tier pricing strategy and helps push our premiums up.
We will probably take the settlement, buy the salvage back and get it repaired and painted easily for under a grand....she can put the rest to the higher premiums next year.
Her car is a 2008 Citroen C5 100k miles....not everyones taste, but a nice car, and slightly rare as it's a fully loaded diesel estate, bought from the main agent about 4 years ago.
So damage is headlight/bumper/front of bonnet/sidelight/poss wing etc.
It is looking to be written of and she'll get 4k....which I think is reasonable, as the bodyshop have quoted almost that much for a repair, with the cost of the parts being the main reason for the price.
So...on our quote they have £600 for a bonnet, £300 for a headlight, £150 for a sidelight...etc, but a quick google shows me these parts from genuine panel dealers (new) at e.g. £140 for a bonnet, £40 for a sidelight, £100 for a headlight.....and at these prices may be the difference between a Cat D right off, or just being fixed.
So is this just a way of the crash repair guys making money...quoting original parts prices, then buying aftermarket or do they genuinely go to their local Citroen agent and buy everything.
Either way seems an off two tier pricing strategy and helps push our premiums up.
We will probably take the settlement, buy the salvage back and get it repaired and painted easily for under a grand....she can put the rest to the higher premiums next year.
Well, let me give you a little bit of my own experience.
2012 Leon FR+ rear ended. Huge damage, the total cost of repair was 80% of the car. I had 4 brand new wheels as each wheel was damaged beyond repair. £500 a wheel. 1 year later, each wheel top coat is peeling and bubbling. Make of that what you will.
2012 Leon FR+ rear ended. Huge damage, the total cost of repair was 80% of the car. I had 4 brand new wheels as each wheel was damaged beyond repair. £500 a wheel. 1 year later, each wheel top coat is peeling and bubbling. Make of that what you will.
rswift said:
Her car is a 2008 Citroen C5 100k miles...
Old shape or new?rswift said:
It is looking to be written of and she'll get 4k...
Bite their flamin' hands off!rswift said:
So...on our quote they have £600 for a bonnet, £300 for a headlight, £150 for a sidelight...etc, but a quick google shows me these parts from genuine panel dealers (new) at e.g. £140 for a bonnet, £40 for a sidelight, £100 for a headlight.....and at these prices may be the difference between a Cat D right off, or just being fixed.
Insurance repair quotes will always use dealer-supply prices for the estimation. Supply is predictable, and they know it's OEM quality (so saving fettling time to fit, and saving on complaints about shoddy pattern parts or used parts). Of course, they'll get a discount which may well not be taken into account - that's part of the body shop's margin.rswift said:
We will probably take the settlement, buy the salvage back and get it repaired and painted easily for under a grand...
Seems to be a no-brainer.It's a new shape, and yes I agree....it's a bit more hassle (for me)....but it's a nice old truck and had all the expensive mechanical bits done......so happy to keep it, the fact it will be a CAT D when we sell it is fairly academic as in 2 or 3 years it will be in shed territory anyway, and worth a grand tops.....
This is what a 4K accident looks like BTW....there's no hidden damage, just what you can see.
This is what a 4K accident looks like BTW....there's no hidden damage, just what you can see.
rswift said:
It's a new shape, and yes I agree....it's a bit more hassle (for me)....but it's a nice old truck and had all the expensive mechanical bits done......so happy to keep it, the fact it will be a CAT D when we sell it is fairly academic as in 2 or 3 years it will be in shed territory anyway, and worth a grand tops.....
This is what a 4K accident looks like BTW....there's no hidden damage, just what you can see.
So that's the before shot, where's the after...?This is what a 4K accident looks like BTW....there's no hidden damage, just what you can see.
I've heard that on older, lower value vehicles, they use aftermarket (eg Veng) panels to keep the cost down. As you say it makes the difference between a CatD and a repair. On newer vehicles they are obliged to use dealer sounced genuine panels as it devalues the car. Would you pay top dollar for a 2014 Porsche if it had had a front end and was fitted with pattern parts?
If they will write it off and you like it, then why not salvage it as a CatD for 35p, get it sorted in a normal bodyshop for 2k or whatever and run it into the ground? A former colleague of mine once did this on a car and then again 2 years later, by the end of the process the 2 x writeoff figures was more than he'd spent on the car from the outset so he had a working car that he'd been paid to own!
If they will write it off and you like it, then why not salvage it as a CatD for 35p, get it sorted in a normal bodyshop for 2k or whatever and run it into the ground? A former colleague of mine once did this on a car and then again 2 years later, by the end of the process the 2 x writeoff figures was more than he'd spent on the car from the outset so he had a working car that he'd been paid to own!
jamieduff1981 said:
To be honest I wouldn't even claim your damages for that. Save the NCD loss, but there's nothing you can do about the 3rd party claim against you.
Pointless now he's reported it to the insurance. Still goes down as an accident.Take the payout. Buy it back fix it yourself. Flog it.
GroundEffect said:
Does their costs include fitting labour, overheads + markup?
Very different to just buying some parts online...
Yes of course it covers all the labour etc, but my main question was the parts issue....but even assuming I'll but new and spend max £1k on parts (most unlikely), I can't see 3k worth of labour in fitting up and painting 2 panels.Very different to just buying some parts online...
Either way, found a headlight for £50, so that will keep it on the road whilst we sort out the rest...very happy to keep it, she does a lot of miles and it's a perfect motorway cruiser......she's normally run a variety of various Peugeot & Citroen diesels over the years up to about 200k miles....by which point they're still all driving perfectly but most of the electronics have packed in and a myriad of annoying ting faults have appeared.
I decided to re-arrange a fence after a corner a while ago, insurance wanted to write the car off and pay me 2.7k (2006 focus, 125k miles).
I phoned up and said I would like to keep the car as is, and to change the info they had on the crash to "information only"
a new tyre at 100 quid (ok, 200 for a pair) was my most expensive layout, "new" bumper came from a scrappie, pre-painted to the correct colour and pre-scratched with people parallel parking too close behind.
I still have a car without any CAT marker.
I phoned up and said I would like to keep the car as is, and to change the info they had on the crash to "information only"
a new tyre at 100 quid (ok, 200 for a pair) was my most expensive layout, "new" bumper came from a scrappie, pre-painted to the correct colour and pre-scratched with people parallel parking too close behind.
I still have a car without any CAT marker.
xjay1337 said:
Pointless now he's reported it to the insurance. Still goes down as an accident.
Take the payout. Buy it back fix it yourself. Flog it.
Yes it has to go via the insurance, as she ran into the back of some poor bloke sitting in a traffic jam minding his own business......no pointing in selling though, we'd only replace it with the same car.....and a high spec diesel Autos are like Rocking Horse sTake the payout. Buy it back fix it yourself. Flog it.
t !Just one thought, if we haggle the settlement charge up (due to the fact I can't find the same spec/mileage car for under £5k.....I assume the increase is also reflected in the cost of the Salvage/car as we buy it back from the insurance company.
rswift said:
xjay1337 said:
Pointless now he's reported it to the insurance. Still goes down as an accident.
Take the payout. Buy it back fix it yourself. Flog it.
Yes it has to go via the insurance, as she ran into the back of some poor bloke sitting in a traffic jam minding his own business......no pointing in selling though, we'd only replace it with the same car.....and a high spec diesel Autos are like Rocking Horse sTake the payout. Buy it back fix it yourself. Flog it.
t !Just one thought, if we haggle the settlement charge up (due to the fact I can't find the same spec/mileage car for under £5k.....I assume the increase is also reflected in the cost of the Salvage/car as we buy it back from the insurance company.
My understanding of the new parts situation is that the insurance company has to use genuine parts so that there is a like for like repair done to the car - particularly with the likes of cars under manufacturers warranty and bearing in mind cars can have 10 year paint warranties.
And imagine the furore there'd be if someones P&J BMW for example was repaired with cheap pattern parts.
I know for a fact a lot of the big insurance companies are now auditing these body shops to ensure they are putting the parts in that they say they are. Basically they retrospectively pull up all the work that a body shop has done over say the last two years then get them to produce all the receipts for the parts they said they bought. No receipts and the insurance company takes legal action to recover the amount and / or you dont get any future work from them.
And imagine the furore there'd be if someones P&J BMW for example was repaired with cheap pattern parts.
I know for a fact a lot of the big insurance companies are now auditing these body shops to ensure they are putting the parts in that they say they are. Basically they retrospectively pull up all the work that a body shop has done over say the last two years then get them to produce all the receipts for the parts they said they bought. No receipts and the insurance company takes legal action to recover the amount and / or you dont get any future work from them.
So £4K for the Citroen, and let's assume another £4K for the bloke she hit.
An £8K claim?
They will get their money back from you in increased premiums in the coming years.
I'd be looking to minimise the claim and leaving the Citroen out of it. Run it as is. Like you say in a few years it'll be a shed anyway. The dent will serve as a subtle daily reminder to your wife to pay more attention.
A £4K lumper might sound appealing but insurance companies don't give out £4,000 for free. Over the next 10 years you'll pay it back plus interest.
An £8K claim?
They will get their money back from you in increased premiums in the coming years.
I'd be looking to minimise the claim and leaving the Citroen out of it. Run it as is. Like you say in a few years it'll be a shed anyway. The dent will serve as a subtle daily reminder to your wife to pay more attention.
A £4K lumper might sound appealing but insurance companies don't give out £4,000 for free. Over the next 10 years you'll pay it back plus interest.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff