insurance claim - non fault. Advice please

[Hangus]

Can anyone please direct me to some sound advice? Wife was hit from behind last week and she was injured (wiplash, headaches etc.) And car is quite badly damaged. I.e. rear bumper, boot floor crumpled. Doesn't look bad but was hit at around 20-30mph we're surmising.
Still waiting on estimate from the garage (AUDI) . Didn't want to use insurers own approved one. The car is only a year old too.
What's my chances of the car being written off, and will it be recorded?
The guy taking photos at the dealership said it would go down as cat D unless it is written off in which case a C.
I have gap insurance so a write off is best option for me. Asked a sales rep who said a cat D would be worth half the retail value of the vehicle ?? :-(

Edited by Hangus on Monday 29th September 14:07

[TTmonkey]

Cat C and Cat D are both write offs as far as your insurance is worth - as soon as they declare it a write off you will no longer effectivly own the vehicle, they will send you a settlement and you can go buy a new one with your GAP insurance. So the future worth of the 'repaired' cat D wont be you problem.

That's how I understand it, anyway.

[Hangus]

Thanks. Had a look into it, and not sure how they are going to play it. Insurance might elect to fix it, but IMO it will never be the same and will always look repaired even if they don't categorize it. So see what they estimate / offer potentially.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Hangus said:

Thanks. it will never be the same and will always look repaired even if they don't categorize it. .

If they repair it, it should be the same and shouldn't look repaired. If that isn't the case, refuse to accept it back.

[TooMany2cvs]

Hangus said:

Insurance might elect to fix it, but IMO it will never be the same and will always look repaired even if they don't categorize it.

The categories are categories of write-off. If it's repaired by the insurer, then by definition it's not written off, so there won't be a category. If it's repaired properly, you won't know it's been repaired. Do you know if it was damaged and repaired before it was delivered to you? Exactly.

If it is written off, then your gap insurance will cover your entire outstanding finance on the car. You currently owe more than the car's worth - so without gap, you'd still owe the finance money. With it, you will walk away with no car, no outstanding finance debt, and no cash in your hand. If the payout is more than the outstanding finance, then you get the excess back as a deposit towards your next finance. If you have RTI gap or new-for-old insurance, then you get another spankin' new car.

Separately to what happens with the car, your wife's injuries will be compensated over time, as their extent becomes clearer. If they're short-term, then you'll get a small payout quickly. If they're long-term, then it'll take ages but you should get a larger payout, reflecting loss of earnings etc, and probably in installments. Her injuries don't affect what'll happen with the car.

[Hangus]

Thanks. All duly noted . Need to understand the terms of my GAP but bodyshop still not been in touch with a quote yet.

Cheers.

Ps. Wife still has headaches and stiffness.
Accd. Happened Friday

[GreatGranny]

Suggest your wife makes an appointment at her GP just incase.
At least there's a record then.
By the time the insurance calls for an examination for compensation her injuries may have disappeared completely.

[TTmonkey]

This probably wont be a popular comment, but if your wife was genuinly not at fault (as it sounds) and is genuinely injured, I'd suggest using an accident management company.

Bunch of ambulance chasers.... but given the circumstances, they'll get the best result for you.

[gp3000000]

Unfortunately it is now the practice of some (poorer) insurers to record a car as a Cat D and still repair it. Totally despicable practice, one person I know only discovered this when trying to sell the car and it flagged up on Auto trader as a Cat D. Insurer had simply said it would be repaired, but recorded it. This I suppose come from Cat D being to do with insurer choosing not to repair due to being X% of vehicle value, whereas Cat C is the traditional write-off 'repairs exceeded value of vehicle'. Still wrong though.

[Hangus]

Interesting what you said about the accident management company. I might look into it.

As for the car, The body shop mgr has explained that it won't be recorded, and certainly not as Cat D providing they can put it back to how it was. Our also shouldn't affect value etc. So that's good news. Though the insurance haven't confirmed anything as yet so I've still got the car.