Cat C, What now?

[thescamper]

Just had my V70 written off for the want of a tailgate. I kept the Car and its a Cat C what do I need to do post repair. As I understand it the VIC check is no more.

[Truffs]

First thing to do is to take lots of photos showing how minor the damage is. That will help a great deal in the future.

Once that is done then you can think about repairing it.

[imagineifyeswill]

Dont have to do anything, the vic check was supposed to weed out ringed cars but so few were found it wasnt worth persuing any longer, some real deathtraps went through a VIC check but standard of repairs was not part of the remit.

[wack]

Fix then drive

[thescamper]

Cheers for the replies. I assume the photos are for when I sell it.

[SpamCan]

thescamper said:

Cheers for the replies. I assume the photos are for when I sell it.

they won't make it worth any more than a repaired cat C but they will help put potential buyers minds at ease as to how minor the damage was.

[Steve57]

New MOT is required before you use it again.

[MitchT]

SpamCan said:

thescamper said:

Cheers for the replies. I assume the photos are for when I sell it.

they won't make it worth any more than a repaired cat C but they will help put potential buyers minds at ease as to how minor the damage was.

See if you can get some kind of written declaration from the insurance company stating that this specific damage is what prompted the write-off. As a naturally suspicious person I'd see the photos and think they were of a random minor incident totally unrelated to the write-off and assume that the Cat C was actually due to some larger undisclosed accident.

[addey]

Steve57 said:

New MOT is required before you use it again.

I don't think that's true? My car was written off this time last year, I kept the car and ran it for 3 months whilst finding a replacement. No repairs, no new MOT. As long as it is roadworthy/safe I don't believe you have to do anything?

[WillG]

addey said:

Steve57 said:

New MOT is required before you use it again.

I don't think that's true? My car was written off this time last year, I kept the car and ran it for 3 months whilst finding a replacement. No repairs, no new MOT. As long as it is roadworthy/safe I don't believe you have to do anything?

No it's not a requirement.

But having re mot'd is an easy way of proving the roadworthy-ness. It might be a requirement of your insurers to reinstate comp cover.

[petrolbloke]

WillG said:

addey said:

Steve57 said:

New MOT is required before you use it again.

I don't think that's true? My car was written off this time last year, I kept the car and ran it for 3 months whilst finding a replacement. No repairs, no new MOT. As long as it is roadworthy/safe I don't believe you have to do anything?

No it's not a requirement.

But having re mot'd is an easy way of proving the roadworthy-ness. It might be a requirement of your insurers to reinstate comp cover.

Yep - OP phone your insurer and ask.

When my car was written off (also rear end tailgate/bumper damage) I didn't have to get it re-MOTed. I found that a lot of my rear bulbs were out following the hit - worth checking them.

[wack]

No proposal form I've ever filled out asks if the car has been written off so why would you need to tell your insurance anything

[4rephill]

wack said:

No proposal form I've ever filled out asks if the car has been written off so why would you need to tell your insurance anything

At some point they will cross reference the car with the Insurance data base and find out for themselves if the car has ever been written off or not.

They may then decide not to insure the vehicle, or they will adjust the premium accordingly if they choose to insure the vehicle.

In the event of another total write off payout being required, they will take into account the previous insurance write-off history and reduce the amount they will pay out accordingly, on the basis that a car that has previously been written off is not valued as highly as a car that has never been written off.

If the car has been damaged in an accident in the past that you never declared to your insurance company, then they may decided the insurance is invalidated under the "Non-disclosure" clause (Under the terms of your insurance agreement, you are obliged to inform your insurance company of any accidents you have been involved in, regardless of fault, and regardless of the type of accident - i.e, reverse into your own gate post and under the terms of the insurance, you should inform your insurance company!)

If it can be shown that you had no idea the car had previously been involved in an accident then there shouldn't be a problem (but chances are there will be!)