Write off with damage less than half the value of the car

[JamesVRSmk3]

Having some issues with an insurance company. They are trying to write off my mums car even though the car is worth £10,000 and the damage is approx £2k. I would have thought there were some sort of guidelines on percentage of damage cost vs car value but can't find anything online.

Do we have an recourse to force them to repair - they are saying it's solely their decision and if we want we can buy it back we can but obviously it will be stuck with a CAT D so don't want to do that.

[vala]

My octy was recently involved in an accident and I was told as long as the repair is under 66% value of the car it would not be written off

[Ootohere]

Just nosy but what type of car,

& is £10,000 what replacing it will cost and how much they are going to settle at since they are writing off her car?

 

Let them pay out £10,000 or source an identical car.  Or what is the offer they are making?

 

Has some assessor & bodyshop employee put on the Estimates or Quotes approx £2,000 to repair, 

or where does that figure come from, because no decision can be made by underwriters on that.

Edited 9 December, 2016 by Offski

[JamesVRSmk3]

An SLK. They haven't given a settlement figure yet but a quick search on autotrader has given £10k the minimum amount you can get the model for so hopefully it will get somewhere close to that.

The first we knew they were writing it off was this morning via the hire car company - 2 weeks after the accident. She was initially told it's being repaired so assumed that's what's been happening the last two weeks so we aren't sure why it's changed. The insurance aren't being much help although they have extended the hire car until Monday to allow them time to investigate. I've told her to get a copy of their damage report to see if it matches the photos we took at the scene.

I'm not sure where the damage figure came from as I've only just got involved in it all because of the phone call. Damage wise I saw it on the night and the bodywork was untouched it only had a buckled rear wheel - Aquaplanned, spun round and hit a curb.

Interesting re: the 66% figure. Hopefully that's a statutory figure they have to use.

Edited 9 December, 2016 by JamesVRSmk3

[Liger1956]

Could it be that when the repairers took the car apart they found some more serious structural damage that has increased the cost of the repair dramatically?

 

Would you be able to let us know, as I am nosy, what the accident was and how much visable damage occured?

[Ootohere]

Autotrader prices are advertised asking prices, a wish and a dream, not actually the price that many pay.

Cars not selling at an advertised price might not be selling because they are priced too high.

 

£2,000 of Insurance repair damage must be pretty minor.

Getting a private repair can often be 50% less than Insurance Company Repairers with Courtesy cars etc etc.

 

Costs of repair include Electronics Check, Alignment, Possible Seat Belt replacement etc etc 

or it should over and above the parts & labour of the obvious and not obvious parts, and the many bits that 

Kerb Side Autos might never bother with.

(or even Insurance Approved Repairers never bother with.)

Edited 9 December, 2016 by Offski

[JamesVRSmk3]

Yes but even if the autotrader prices are double the price they use it's still less than 50%. My insurance matched autotrader when I threatened to go to the ombudsman as they state you need to find a replacement local to you with similar mileage. Not all are that lucky though.

I'm sure once we get our eyes on the engineers report all will be clear.

Edited 9 December, 2016 by JamesVRSmk3

[Ootohere]

Comes to the Crux of the matter then..

Value of or cost to replace vehicle,

and cost to do a repair so that no value is lost with the vehicle damaged.

 

One price will be variable and the other will be decided by the Repairers examining and costing the work require on the SLK.

[octyal]

As said, it could be more than just superficial damage. On something like an SLK it could have potentially damaged the chassis alignment where the suspension connects, which will dramatically increase the costs. The initial estimate may have only been on a visual inspection, and upon dismantling the car, they could have found other problems when checking the alignment. Ideally you need a more detailed report, or a visit to the repairers to get the tech to show you the damage.

[JamesVRSmk3]

Yes. The problem is getting hold of the report. They're unwilling to give us anything in writing at the moment. All we've had is a threat on the phone that they know where the hire car is and will come and collect it with a spare key when she questioned the write off - great customer service.

I remember I got given a copy of the insurance assessor report when mine was written off but I can't remember what stage of the process they gave it to me. I never asked for it as never disputed it being a write off so they must have just sent it as part of the process.

Edited 9 December, 2016 by JamesVRSmk3

[Ootohere]

Who are 'they',  has an Assessor been to see the vehicle and go over the repairs and costing at the body shop or workshop?

 

Are you dealing with the Broker / Insurance company or some others?

 

Deal with the Insurance Provider, and if a car is available then good,

Hire cars are expensive if some Claims Company or the likes are providing them.

Quickly a 'Courtesy car' cost can be greater than Repair costs if time is being wasted.

Edited 9 December, 2016 by Offski

[JamesVRSmk3]

The insurance are the ones refusing to put anything in writing like the assessors report. Only dealing with the insurance although the hire car company were the ones which notified us to the writeoff which then led to us calling the insurance. Two weeks after the car was taken away and she still hasn't had a single letter from the insurance.

What makes it worse is she's still chasing them for payment for another car wrote off on the same policy (multicast policy) more than two months ago. She's not had a lot of luck!

Edited 9 December, 2016 by JamesVRSmk3

[Ootohere]

Hopefully those in the business of Car Insurance will be along with some advice, 

lets hope other members have no Policies with who ever your Mother is insured with.

[octyal]

It wouldn't be a certain company with a naval  rank related name would it?

[Aspman]

Ask the the  contact details for their complaints dept. Prob snail mail but if they are acting like this you might as well start soon.

[JamesVRSmk3]

Quick update:

 

Finally got the damage report after nearly two weeks.

 

Strangely half the report including the assessors notes on the damage have been redacted. Also some further info on the parts has been redacted. All very strange but they've now made a reasonable offer of £9.5k (the missing £500 was the excess) which she has accepted as doesn't want the car anymore. The first offer was £7k which was the glasses guide price and probably the reason for writing it off. We declined it and asked them to provide us with examples of the same model and milleage available on the market to buy which they couldn't so matched the price of the cheapest one that was available.

 

Happy outcome but I would love to know what was redacted on the assessors form - it was any names, addresses or contact info because all of that was visible.

Edited 21 December, 2016 by JamesVRSmk3