Write offs and getting them back on the road

[firman]

Little background first

My mate had his modified car rear ended (ooh er) at a set of traffic lights last week, The insurance assessor has just left and has told him he expects it to be a total loss and valued it very low even though mods were declared (different story for a different day I guess). My mate is gutted as he has had the car for 11+ years so we were discussing the opportunity to buy it back.

My understanding of the rules were

Cat A - The Car should be scrapped and no parts can be taken from it.

Cat B - The Car should be scrapped but certain parts can be taken from it.

Cat C&D - These are normally used for non economical repairs. I.E Not dangerous to drive but the insurance company doesn't want to shell out repairing them.

So even if it is declared a total loss it will only be a Cat C so he should be able to buy it back and possibly put it back on the road no?

[OldSkoolRS]

If it's CAT C then he'll need to have a VOSA inspection before putting it back on the road. If it's CAT D then this won't be required.

I used to do a lot of this before the CAT grading came in, but found it got less and less worthwhile. Often won't even break even by the time I'd put an MOT on the car (I always seemed to get an expensive repair that wasn't obvious at purchase due to not being able to test drive or related to the accident damage ). I guess your friend would be doing it more out of sentimentality rather than for profit though.

[Lunablack]

Yep...

When my Astra was written off.... Insurance co offered £3k.......I asked if I could retain salvage, and they reduced the offer to £2600..

I was going to break it for parts, but got offered £1500 for it as it was ..... Job done




My mate had his cavalier written off.... Offered £500,... Asked to retain salvage, and got £400... He kicked it straight and continued to use the car for another 4 years..

[firman]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, my friend has just come to me saying he has heard that if he isn't selling his cat c write off but wants to put it back on the road for himself he dosent need a vic check, this can't be right can it?

[4key]

Has he still got the log book? Not doing the vehicle identity check just means that he wont be able to tax his car over the internet, can still do it with peices of paper at the post office though. Never looked into how legal it was, but i did it for a few years without being questioned about it.

[frosted]

The Vic test is just to prove the car is not a ringer, nothing to do with safety of repairs

[psychoR1]

The VIC check is only required before a new log book is issued. Old MOT is current and can be renewed and the car can be taxed etc and will not set off any ANPR cams etc. I bought my write off back and have repaired and used on road for last 10 months so am speaking from experience. If I sell then at that point the VIC is required before a log book can be issued.