Car bumped - will insurers write off? Is that good / bad

Car bumped - will insurers write off? Is that good / bad

Author
Discussion

torqueofthedevil

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

176 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
Girlfriends car was bumped. Not particularly bad damage. Cracked rear bumper etc. very much doubt anything structural or engine will be damaged.

They said on the phone - the exhausts stick out a bit and so they could have been shunted so it might be undrivable.

Since then a woman had ring her saying - yeah because of the age of the car (02 plate) and its undrivable, it'll probably be written off. I'm understandably livid at hearing this. The car is worth to us at least 5k. Doubt we will get this back.

But...is it a bad thing being written off? How does it work? Could we be paid out and get to keep car as a class D? Would that be economically better?

I think it only needs a new bumper. Cars are going for 5.5k on autotrader - same spec. To be honest I'd be happy if they just put a new bumper on and have me it back.

It's annoying how much it feels like we are losing out just because somebody drove into the back of her. They have already advised that the other party might lie to claim they weren't at fault.

catman

2,490 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
If the other party rear-ended you, the Insurer would take a lot of convincing that it wasn't their fault. Any witnesses?

Tim

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
torqueofthedevil said:
They said on the phone - the exhausts stick out a bit and so they could have been shunted so it might be undrivable.
Who said that? Is the exhaust blowing?

torqueofthedevil said:
The car is worth to us at least 5k.
If it's really worth £5k, they won't write it off for a bumper and an exhaust. Not unless parts prices are silly.

Mr SFJ

4,076 posts

121 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
If it does get written off, It'll probably be a cat D. Meaning that you can buy the car back for peanuts, repair it and carry on driving it. Come sale time, it will drop the value considerably, but whether it outweighs the cheque you got, I cannot tell you.

Cliftonite

8,406 posts

137 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
£5000? You will surely get at least this from the claims for whiplash from your girlfriend and her eight passengers?

(Or did I spend too long living in Bradford?)




torqueofthedevil

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

176 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
Well the incident happened near Bradford so I'm expecting all that rubbish.

Hopefully it won't be written off then. Sounds like it was just some silly bint who didn't know what she was on about winding the gf up.

One other thing. A friend had recently bumped the back. Only damaged the lights and boots. I have just bought replacement lights and got a price for sorting the boot. The accident after this only damaged the bumper below. I only want the insurers to repair the damage to the bumper because I don't want the guy at fault to say "I'm now paying for previous damage to be repaired" and this to give any weight to settling 50/50.

How do you think this could play out?

bobfett

144 posts

116 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
torqueofthedevil said:
They said on the phone - the exhausts stick out a bit and so they could have been shunted so it might be undrivable.
Who said that? Is the exhaust blowing?
Could be thinking the boot floor has buckled.

What stage is this at, OP? Have the insurers/a garage looked at it yet or is this all being done over the phone?

CallorFold

831 posts

132 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
It'll only be written off if the repair is deemed uneconomical.

It has to be a certain % of the cars total value before being classed as CAT D or CAT C.

I was recently rear ended in my car (circa 2.5K value), damage to bumper and boot, nothing structural - car was repair and handed back to me, costs charged to 3rd Party's insurer (since it was their fault). No Claims bonus remains intact and car is still on the road.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
torqueofthedevil said:
The car is worth to us at least 5k. Doubt we will get this back.

Cars are going for 5.5k on autotrader - same spec.
If it's genuinely worth that, then that's what you'll get.

torqueofthedevil

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

176 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
CallorFold said:
It'll only be written off if the repair is deemed uneconomical.

It has to be a certain % of the cars total value before being classed as CAT D or CAT C.

I was recently rear ended in my car (circa 2.5K value), damage to bumper and boot, nothing structural - car was repair and handed back to me, costs charged to 3rd Party's insurer (since it was their fault). No Claims bonus remains intact and car is still on the road.
This is the result we want

mattmurdock

2,204 posts

232 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
torqueofthedevil said:
One other thing. A friend had recently bumped the back. Only damaged the lights and boots. I have just bought replacement lights and got a price for sorting the boot. The accident after this only damaged the bumper below.
Just to be clear then, a friend of yours/hers drove into the back of your GFs car already, and damaged the boot and cracked the rear lights? Then, before that was sorted out, another person drove into the back of the car and cracked the bumper/possibly caused further damage? Your GF is not having a lot of luck, is she!

Were the rear lights actually working post the first accident? Any chance the other party may use that as a reason to go 50/50 i.e. didn't see brake lights?


anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
What car is this that's worth £5k at 12 yo?

rallycross

12,746 posts

236 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
REALIST123 said:
What car is this that's worth £5k at 12 yo?
If it was a Golf R32 or Integra Type R or Focus RS its easily worth that at 12 yr old.

SteBrown91

2,360 posts

128 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
They won't write it off unless parts are expensive.

My old fiesta as was rear ended quite hard, and although the car was worth 4k at the very most (more like 3.5k) they repaired it (at a cost of 3k)

Needed:
Boot
Bumper
Trims
Bumper bar
Rear panel
Chassis rail end repaired
Rear quarter repaired

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
What car is it? How do younownypure going to lose out if it is written off? Why do you think a minor or g will write it off?

Loads of questions that need answering, I do like the OPs outrage at being ripped off before he even knows if it's going to be written off and what he's being offered if it is.

Red Devil

13,055 posts

207 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
quotequote all
CallorFold said:
It'll only be written off if the repair is deemed uneconomical.

It has to be a certain % of the cars total value before being classed as CAT D or CAT C.
I think that's an urban myth. AFAIK there is no specific percentage. It depends on whether the estimated repair cost (plus replacement car hire charges if applicable) is greater than the pre accident value of the vehicle, less salvage.

In most cases though I believe it ends up around the 60-65% mark.



MGJohn

10,203 posts

182 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
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Major player reason for writing cars off for relatively light shunts is replacement car hire costs etc. Could be a month maybe more off the road looking for spares and repairing it. Hire car for a month is costly. Write a car off quickly and settle with cheque in the post sharpish and hire car taken back ASAP.

Not always a bad thing though because as previously advised, buy back the car for peanuts and use the write off cheque to get the repair done at your leisure. Go about it wisely and you should end up a nice few quid in front plus the car good as ever.


anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
quotequote all
rallycross said:
REALIST123 said:
What car is this that's worth £5k at 12 yo?
If it was a Golf R32 or Integra Type R or Focus RS its easily worth that at 12 yr old.

A good one of those, maybe. Is it such a car?

sidekickdmr

5,065 posts

205 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
quotequote all
REALIST123 said:
rallycross said:
REALIST123 said:
What car is this that's worth £5k at 12 yo?
If it was a Golf R32 or Integra Type R or Focus RS its easily worth that at 12 yr old.

A good one of those, maybe. Is it such a car?
My 11 year old french hatchback is worth £20K, so must be plenty of decent cars worth 5K at 12 year old?

covboy

2,573 posts

173 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
quotequote all
I have a bit of mistrust with insurance companies over write offs. I had a bump a few years back (my fault) when I rear ended someone – his car was drivable mine wasn’t due to front end/radiator damage. Car gets taken away to insurers authorised repairers. I get a call from the insurance after a couple of days and my car had been inspected and was deemed a write off. This surprised me somewhat as I didn’t think the damage was that excessive (from the outside) I rang the repairers to arrange to collect some personal stuff still from the car and when I went to collect found that the N/S wing now had a large crease/dent in it above the wheel arch which I’m sure wasn’t there in the first place as a result of the bump. Unfortunately I didn’t record the accident damage (I know – being wise after the event) I spoke again to the insurance assessor and queried the reason for the write off and he told me that the body repairs had just taken it over the edge for the costs. When I pointed out my concerns about the “extra” damage – he didn’t really want to know and began to “bluster” adding other things/repairs to justify the decision.

In the end I swallowed this, but on the plus side I got a settlement fee which was far in excess of what I was expecting, so I didn’t push it.

I still have my suspicions though.