Car's a total loss but want the wheels - advice please!

[VWGolfGuy]

Hey all,

Absolutely gutted to say I got in an accident and my poor Golf is being written off by the insurers due the damage(Around £1k's worth) and age/mileage of the car

They've offered me payout and have also asked if I'd like to buy the car back, but as I'm looking for a new Golf so don't really want to play the game of buying the salvage and either reselling as-is, or getting repaired and selling privately.

Ideally I want to retain the wheels, as spent a fair amount on them... but with avoiding buying the salvage; do I A) Come clean with the insurers, tell them I want the wheels that are on the vehicle and replace them with standard 5 studs, or B) replace the wheels anyway, arrange for the salvage company and see if they spot the wheels have been changed?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers

[MK5GolfGuy]

Wasn't declared as I didn't think it mattered being wheels! But now fully aware if it's not OEM it's a mod. I think if anything I'd just say it's how I bought the car from the dealer and thought these were what came with the car, not a mod

No idea what they think on paper are on there, stock I guess. Only downside is they have images of the wheels from when they did the 'virtual' inspection..

Edited by MK5GolfGuy on Thursday 26th March 14:05

[MK5GolfGuy]

Stinkfist said:

Insurance companies dont miss a trick

Its really not a massive problem for them if you neglect to mention anything whilst applying for insurance. On a claim they simply request you send them your unique driving licence No so they can check the database and if you omited to disclose vital info or didnt notify them of a conviction etc etc they can either invalidate your insurance or charge you a whopping admin fee along with additional costs to cover what you should have declared

As for your wheels unless it was towed away at the site of the accident surely it would have been prudent of you to remove the none disclosed wheels BEFORE the inspection. Very much doubt you could replace them now without an issue

All hindsight for me unfortunately... was too preoccupied with finding out if the cars value and the salvage, originally was planned to buyback and sell to a friend, so the wheels didn't really cross my mind, but now my mate can't afford it so leaves me in this situation

[MK5GolfGuy]

Krikkit said:

This all the way - if it's on your drive then strip all the good bits out.

Replace the wheels, take any rare trim bits off it, take the stereo out. As long as it vaguely looks right the salvage guy won't give a fudge, he's being paid to dispose of it anyway.

This was the grey area... I wasn't sure if cause the salvage guys are the one benefiting from the salvage for spares/repairs/resell if they'd want to make sure everything they had coming to them was in order, if the insurers send them photos of the car to be collected and if they'd reference it when collecting.