Dealing With Insurance Claim - Interesting Experience

[V8RX7]

A mate was side swiped by a 17yr old last week.

It's his workhorse a 150k CRV

It's only dented 2 door skins and if you weren't looking to buy it you probably wouldn't notice the damage.

So the insurer wanted to pay £800, write it off and collect in 2 days

As my mate needed a car this really didn't suit him.

In a couple of calls I managed:

To get them sell him the salvage for £200

To pay him £1k

They wanted to class it as Cat C - for 2 door skins !

I got them to change it to Cat D simply by asking - saving him the VOSA check

Part of me thinks the insurer is unreasonable as they offer the non savvy a terrible deal the other part thinks they are reasonable that they were so quickly and easily swayed.

I frequently see arguments on here over the difference between a Cat C and D - it seems sometimes the difference is, that the owner didn't question it.

[Krikkit]

Surprised they reclassified it to be honest; two door skins plus paint should be £800-1000 at bodyshop and new OE prices.

[V8RX7]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

Do insurers offer cheaper policies in the UK if you allow the car to be repaired with 2nd hand parts?

Not that I'm aware of.

Many of my cars are modified / imports and my insurer was loathe to cover them.

I agreed with them that I'd accept std UK OEM parts (or just their costs) so I've no doubt similar deals could be done with used parts - I guess the problem is people might then criticise the job and it leaves the Ins Co with a more problems to sort out.

[steebo888]

not heard of these discounts but was watching the wheeler dealers with the bmw M5 where mike bought some salvaged angel eye headlamps. the salvager said insurers repair with used parts to save costs