Insurance - can you insist on a repair?

[wildcat45]

Just reading something on another forum. Some guy has had his pride and joy damaged in a crash that is not his fault. The other party has admitted liability.

The damage is not great - but enough I would guess to write a car off that isn't worth a great deal. But the car appears immacualate, though not a classic, it is old and the guy is the member of an owners club.

It got me thinking about my old but immacualte cars I have had in the past. Something like a cracked bumper, or dented door could write off a car.

As the innocent party - and assuming the car isn't wiped out - can someone insist the insurer fix their car rather than bung them a few hundred quid to buy a new one.

[Monty Python]

I don't think you can insist the insurance company does anything. Instead, just buy it back off the insurance company and get it repaired yourself. As long as it's roadworthy you shouldn't have any problems.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/con...

Edited by Monty Python on Tuesday 25th June 07:53

[philmots]

If the repair cost is more than a replacement is worth then they won't repair it.. Although I'd sure they work on around 50%.

The option you have is to buy it back from the insurer after they've paid out on it and repair yourself. Although the car will become cat d or similar depending on the extent of the damage.

[TallPaul]

No, you cant force a repair if its deemed uneconomical by the engineer. You can negotiate repair costs with the bodyshop, negotiate a "contract payment" from the insurance company, or you can insist on keeping the vehicle if its written off.

[Denis O]

What if you have an agreed value policy on your own vehicle. Does the 3rd parties insurance have to consider that value I wonder?

My 50th Defender was insured for £16k when I had it a couple of years ago. I suspect the book price was around £5k. Which value would the 3rd party insurance take.

[Snowboy]

philmots said:

If the repair cost is more than a replacement is worth then they won't repair it.. Although I'd sure they work on around 50%.

I think it's also something like;
Price of repair.
Vs
'write off value' - scrap value.

Whichever is less.

£1500 repair.
Vs
1600 write off, with £500 scrap value.

They'll write it off, sell for scrap and only be £1100 down rather than £1500.

[V8RX7]

Denis O said:

What if you have an agreed value policy on your own vehicle. Does the 3rd parties insurance have to consider that value I wonder?

My 50th Defender was insured for £16k when I had it a couple of years ago. I suspect the book price was around £5k. Which value would the 3rd party insurance take.

They would try to negotiate it and if you couldn't agree you'd have to take it to court where expert witnesses would have to be called.

[Noger]

Well, yes, you can insist on a repair in a very limited set of circumstances. Even if the repair cost is higher than the "value". But you would need a very unique car. There is case law around this (if you are all that interested I have probably posted the details in SPL before but don't tend to put cases in GG).

By and large your "loss" is capped at the pre-accident value of the vehicle. So repairs (plus hire charges) won't often exceed this.

[Noger]

Snowboy said:

philmots said:

If the repair cost is more than a replacement is worth then they won't repair it.. Although I'd sure they work on around 50%.

I think it's also something like;
Price of repair.
Vs
'write off value' - scrap value.

Whichever is less.

£1500 repair.
Vs
1600 write off, with £500 scrap value.

They'll write it off, sell for scrap and only be £1100 down rather than £1500.

Repair Costs > 60-80% of Pre Accident Value (depending on age of car) is likely to trigger a Total Loss.

[A205GTI]

Noger said:

Well, yes, you can insist on a repair in a very limited set of circumstances. Even if the repair cost is higher than the "value". But you would need a very unique car. There is case law around this (if you are all that interested I have probably posted the details in SPL before but don't tend to put cases in GG).

By and large your "loss" is capped at the pre-accident value of the vehicle. So repairs (plus hire charges) won't often exceed this.

You only have to look at Rowan Atkinson's F1 to see this in action.

[Sump]

E46 330d touring with 160k on the clock and every option on the spec list ticked, value was about 4.5k in 2010.

Rear ended and the bill from the BMW garage camed was about £4000 needing a new bumper, tailgate etc, plus car hire charges etc.

They paid to have it repaired.

[S DRIVER]

I HAVE WORKED IN INSURANCE FOR 25 YRS AND WAS ALWAYS LED TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR OWN INSURER HAS THE RIGHT TO DECIDE HOW HE SETTLES A CLAIM ie WRITE OFF OR REPAIR BUT IN THE CASE OF AN INJURED PARTY CLAIMING AGAINST A THIRD PARTY THE INJURED PARTY HAS THE RIGHT TO COMPENSATED IN A MANNER THAT HE IS HAPPY WITH AND AND IF THAT MEANS HAVING YOUR BELVED CAR REPAIRED THEN SO BE IT AFTER ALL IT COULD HAVE BEEN A ROLLS OR A LAMBO HE RAN INTO AND COST THEM A DAMNED SITE MORE THE INSURER OF THE THIRD PARTY DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO THE CHEAPEST ROUTE FOR THEM IF IN DOUBT SEE A SOLICITOR....JOHN

[Noger]

A205GTI said:

Noger said:

Well, yes, you can insist on a repair in a very limited set of circumstances. Even if the repair cost is higher than the "value". But you would need a very unique car. There is case law around this (if you are all that interested I have probably posted the details in SPL before but don't tend to put cases in GG).

By and large your "loss" is capped at the pre-accident value of the vehicle. So repairs (plus hire charges) won't often exceed this.

You only have to look at Rowan Atkinson's F1 to see this in action.

Not sure that applies in the same way, as it is your insurer and your contract with them. However the record payout was still less than the PAV - although it did take them a while to work this out !

[long time lurker]

Await for the insurer to say repair or not, my old Passat worth £1000-1200 tops was hit on the rear quater and the repair bill came to a little over £800.

I was hoping they were going to write it off as I'd seen a replacement!!

[pork911]

S DRIVER said:

I HAVE WORKED IN INSURANCE FOR 25 YRS AND WAS ALWAYS LED TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR OWN INSURER HAS THE RIGHT TO DECIDE HOW HE SETTLES A CLAIM ie WRITE OFF OR REPAIR BUT IN THE CASE OF AN INJURED PARTY CLAIMING AGAINST A THIRD PARTY THE INJURED PARTY HAS THE RIGHT TO COMPENSATED IN A MANNER THAT HE IS HAPPY WITH AND AND IF THAT MEANS HAVING YOUR BELVED CAR REPAIRED THEN SO BE IT AFTER ALL IT COULD HAVE BEEN A ROLLS OR A LAMBO HE RAN INTO AND COST THEM A DAMNED SITE MORE THE INSURER OF THE THIRD PARTY DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO THE CHEAPEST ROUTE FOR THEM IF IN DOUBT SEE A SOLICITOR....JOHN

so much wrong

[CYMR0]

pork911 said:

so much wrong

That is so wrong that the all-caps isn't even the wrongest bit about it.

[Snowboy]

It's in caps and uses some odd wording, but is it wrong?

If you crash into me (100% fault) can your insurer decide to write off my car if I don't want them to?
I'm sure I would be able to demand a (reasonable) repair.
Notwithstanding the damage making the car unsafe.

[Phil Dicky]

S DRIVER said:

I HAVE WORKED IN INSURANCE FOR 25 YRS AND WAS ALWAYS LED TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR OWN INSURER HAS THE RIGHT TO DECIDE HOW HE SETTLES A CLAIM ie WRITE OFF OR REPAIR BUT IN THE CASE OF AN INJURED PARTY CLAIMING AGAINST A THIRD PARTY THE INJURED PARTY HAS THE RIGHT TO COMPENSATED IN A MANNER THAT HE IS HAPPY WITH AND AND IF THAT MEANS HAVING YOUR BELVED CAR REPAIRED THEN SO BE IT AFTER ALL IT COULD HAVE BEEN A ROLLS OR A LAMBO HE RAN INTO AND COST THEM A DAMNED SITE MORE THE INSURER OF THE THIRD PARTY DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO THE CHEAPEST ROUTE FOR THEM IF IN DOUBT SEE A SOLICITOR....JOHN

Full stops or commas would help a bit.

[MJK 24]

Denis O said:

What if you have an agreed value policy on your own vehicle. Does the 3rd parties insurance have to consider that value I wonder?

My 50th Defender was insured for £16k when I had it a couple of years ago. I suspect the book price was around £5k. Which value would the 3rd party insurance take.

Typically for agreed value policies, you claim on your own policy for the agreed value and if it's not your fault, your insurers will claim their loss from the third party.

[CYMR0]

Snowboy said:

It's in caps and uses some odd wording, but is it wrong?
I'm sure I would be able to demand a (reasonable) repair.

It's that word reasonable... the problem is that if the repair costs more than your car is worth, you haven't mitigated your loss if the cost of repair exceeds the cost of replacement.

I'm sure there's some flexibility in this but if I have a nice, clean 02-plate Vectra worth £1,500 that costs £5k to repair:

i. It's not hard to get another one for £1,500;
ii. The insurer is only bound to pay me for my loss.

Therefore, if they write it off and actually pay me my car's value, they've covered my maximum loss.

If the car is truly unique (such that it cannot be replaced) then things might be different, but we would need to be talking about something truly significant.

Edited by CYMR0 on Tuesday 25th June 20:24