New car in a smash within 12 hours - write off?

[Jonno02]

Hi guys,

Just looking for a bit of advice. I know there's a lot of threads like this, but this one has a little something extra which has me stressed out my head.

I upgraded from a 10 year old corsa C to a Seat Leon FR+ last week. Car was about £14,000 in great nick, and 18k miles on it. Utterly chuffed.

I drove the car home - about 40 miles and parked it outside my house where all our cars are parked (in a quiet residential street). The next morning about 9, a transit van had barrelled right into the rear end of it, ripped off the back drivers door, buckling the rear drivers wheel inwards and smashing the rear bumper. Van driver tore off his two front wheels completely and claimed "something ran out in front of him"...

Insurance company did an uplift on the car and the garage phoned me to let me know that they have faxed their repair estimate off which was £7,000 to the insurance company.

So at least £7,000 on a £14,000 car - which I know the insurance company will say market value is "around the "10.5 mark, not 14" - I've had a look and I won't get back into the same model car within 150 miles, with similar (read: higher as there's none below 20k miles) for less than £14,995 as I got a discount on the Leon because a family member had bought a car from the same garage the week before.

So I've gathered 12 adverts for similar spec leon's as proof for when they come back with their low ball offer as the garage reckoned "this insurance company just write off most superficial damage - and your car has far more than superficial damage". On paper, it's 50% of the value, which I'd prefer the car to be repaired. But to them, it'll be high 70's no doubt, with their value of the car.

Just looking for a bit of information from someone that knows about this sort of stuff, as I don't really have a clue. Think it's a likely write off?

Cheers.

[Jonno02]

Matt UK said:

Can't tell without pictures.

But not sure why an insurance company will write off a £14k car with £7 damages - won't they just fix it for you? Or are you saying you don't want them to fix it and want you £14k?

Isn't that what Gap insurance is - to bridge the gap between what you paid and the market value? Probably to late to ask if you took it?

I'm hoping that if they say it's a write off and then I haggle and show proof/say I'll take it to the ombudsman etc that they'll repair the car rather than try push on to settle.

Here's a picture showing the majority of the impact damage: http://postimg.org/image/458u7lm45/

Cheers guys. I really do appreciate the input. Most other forums would produce replies with "well that's what you get for not buying 'insert car' and getting a Leon instead."

[Jonno02]

Crafty_ said:

Has the wheel moved in the arch (compared to the other side) ? it looks quite far forwards, but could just be angle of the picture, do the other doors still open and close ok ? boot ? take care to inspect the panel fit/gaps to see if anything moved.

If this stuff is ok I'd suggest it will be repaired. If the wheel moved and/or doors don't shut it may need time on a jig. The last thing you want is to force a poor repair.

At 7k I can't see it being written off.

Yeah that wheel has been pushed against the arch!

[Jonno02]

Krupp Stahl said:

At least that stopped him driving off from the scene.

That's exactly what I thought. To be fair to the guy, he was extremely upset as he could tell the car was new and when I told him it was 12 hours old he looked like he was going to break down in tears. Nearly as upset as I was!

Just bumped into his dad and he couldn't apologise enough. He also said I wouldn't be left out of pocket and there were a few options such as (him) getting his lawyer involved or basically paying the difference of the cost to get a new like-for-like car. Seemed like a nice guy, but obviously, it's no consolation until it actually comes to that and he's still as sure about those options.

[Jonno02]

swisstoni said:

My thoughts too. From the description of the car and the Transit, it sounds like quite a knock.

Before the car was taken away, I had a look around the pillars etc and only the actual rear door panel was damaged. It had been pushed in from the force and stuck to the transit and been pulled nearly off has he bounced off.

Boot and all other doors open/closed perfectly. The mangled door actually opened and closed fine, but obviously being bent upwards, you could put your hand into the car whilst it was closed.

Repair centre informed me that the £7,000 cost involved 5 new seat panels, colour matching, 4 new tires, 4 new alloys and the full rear suspension replaced.

Edited by Jonno02 on Sunday 1st March 19:41

[Jonno02]

Northernchimp said:

Thats an awful lot of money for an old shape Leon FR. Unless its a special edition or has two grand in the boot, I'm sure you could find a few comparable cars for less money. Surely this will be a factor if they write it off?

There's a few FR's around, no FR+'s though.

[Jonno02]

Northernchimp said:

Fair dos. Here's one if it helps... http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Not being anti-Seat (got 2), but not sure I'd put £15k in one of those. If they do write it off, at least buy the new shape. You'll lose a load of money on a mk2.

Edited by Northernchimp on Sunday 1st March 20:03

Edited by Northernchimp on Sunday 1st March 20:04

Cheers. There's only about 2 FR+'s within 150 miles of me, which is a downer. I actually could have had the new shape for about the same price, minus parking sensors, bluetooth and a few bits but opted for the older shape purely because I wasn't keen at all on the new shape.

If it's a write off, doubtful I'll hold out for an old shape FR+ and just opt for something else!

Krikkit said:

That's bloody good to be fair - a lot of people would just leave it to the insurance co!

Oh I totally agree mate, they don't seem like the kind of people to just say "well tough luck". His dad is an older gent and seemed quite of the mindset that "You're a young guy and can't be losing thousands for owning a car for 40 miles so I'll do what I can" - obviously you don't want to take advantage of peoples good nature, but at the end of the day, it's 100% non fault and I'm sure he's given his son a bking for hitting it, hence why I've been so accepting and calm with them. Probably helped them empathise a lot haha!

Edited by Jonno02 on Sunday 1st March 20:10

[Jonno02]

Mopar440 said:

So the door wasn't ripped off after all?

You had to support it up as the hinge was on it's last legs, but when you got it to the right height, it would still close fine. If you opened it and let it hang on it's own weight, it would have fully come away. But for all intents and purposes, the door is done.

Edited by Jonno02 on Sunday 1st March 20:46

[Jonno02]

Mr Whippy said:

Any sensible enthusiast buyer, buying a fairly rare car, may spot less tha factory new repairs and as soon as a seed is planted they'll either walk or want a full frank explanation and adjust their offer accordingly.

I'd push for the manufacturer body shop to repair or have it written off.

The amount of new cars you see driving around that have had cleat crap repairs done these days is quite stunning.

Based on what I've seen I'd want it written off purely to avoid the hassle of dealing with cretins when the job they do is sub par and you go round in circles for months more trying to get it sorted!


Good luck with it

Dave

The work comes with a 3 year guarantee, which won't be worth the paper its written on! Leaning towards hoping they write it off now.

[Jonno02]

Small update: The insurance company are sending an assessor to go and view the car in the body shop to make a decision.

[Jonno02]

SMcP114 said:

If it's fixed, how would it have a CAT status?

It wouldn't.

[Jonno02]

Hugo a Gogo said:

yes, I meant that I understood that the 3rd party insurer cannot force the write off, for repairs less than the full value

Really? Not been told that before.

[Jonno02]

Another update:

Independent assessor viewed the car and said the insurance company valued it at £11,000. Told him I bought it the day before for £13,995 and had the invoice etc. He then said "Yeah I thought with the condition of the car, mileage etc you'd be up around that figure. Right, well, I'll put my report in as the car should be fixed."

Next day, insurance company phone and say the car is a total loss and offer £11,000. I say absolutely not. They come back with £11,300. Again, no. Then all of a sudden, the car is economical to repair and is now getting repaired.

[Jonno02]

GreatGranny said:

Are you ok with that?

Positive take on things is you won't have to fight to get a satisfactory payout.

Yeah I'm alright with it. If I had sourced another similar car (miles/spec) I'd be pushing for a write off. The independent assessor went over the whole "If it's not done to a very high standard, you bring it back until it is" spout.

Other bonus is that the garage I bought it from (Parks UK) want the car back in to do a full service and check off on the repairs to make sure it's not a, in their words, "chop shop job".