Bad news, following my shunt last week when someone decided to suddenly do a U turn right in front of me causing a 19mph impact, no airbags went off and zero injuries, the insurers repair agents have just phoned me to inform me that the insurance company deemed it a total loss last Thursday and the repairers wanted to know when I was going to collect my stuff from the car.

 

The insurance company have yet to contact me about this, seeing as this is my first time in this position, is this normal behaviour, surely I would have expected the insurers to be informing me of this and telling how much they value the car at, how quick will I get the payment and what my options are etc. I really doubt that the car is that badly damaged, it all seems to be panel damage to me. Any thoughts or ideas?

@Graham Butcher Some years ago I had a similar speed crash in a Citroen ZX. The bent panels included 2 front outer wings, 2 inner wings, 2 headlamp mount panels, the bonnet and the bonnet slam panel. The headlight adjusters were also broken. If you've also got bent front chassis rails and subframe...

 

That said, the repairers should have waited until you have received and agreed a settlement before asking you to collect your property.

Start haggling ASAP as cars are holding value well, get a good agreement. Use auto trader adverts saved. Clear your possessions for people start helping themselves to an open cars contents. Maybe you would consider buying it back and having it repaired yourself. Maybe more hassle than you want, though. But you know the car well and mileage is low, a keeper ?

Once you accept the offer the courtesy car will be expected to be returned or within 7 days of first use. It’s been a while can’t recall how it works. Makes it all the harder to find a replacement you really want rather than the first one you see. Such a pain when the accident was not even your fault. Hope it all works out for you 

Yeah, I was told today that 7 days after I accept the offer, the hire car has to be returned. I think the offer is pretty reasonable as it seems it is possible to replace the car with something almost identical if I want to travel to Nottingham I can get a black L&K, with black trim instead of plastic wood, standard sunroof instead of a defunct solar sunroof for around the same money as the settlement and the car appears to be in almost pristine condition and is the same year. Or there is the other option of 1.6l TDI green line, a year newer, but manual with lower specs but the same colour at the same price. I'll do a check on the L&K first to see if it has been stolen or involved in an accident etc and take it from there.

45 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Yeah, I was told today that 7 days after I accept the offer, the hire car has to be returned. I think the offer is pretty reasonable as it seems it is possible to replace the car with something almost identical if I want to travel to Nottingham I can get a black L&K, with black trim instead of plastic wood, standard sunroof instead of a defunct solar sunroof for around the same money as the settlement and the car appears to be in almost pristine condition and is the same year. Or there is the other option of 1.6l TDI green line, a year newer, but manual with lower specs but the same colour at the same price. I'll do a check on the L&K first to see if it has been stolen or involved in an accident etc and take it from there.

L&K sounds lovely. Should be worth the trip 👍

15 hours ago, gav_is_con said:

L&K sounds lovely. Should be worth the trip 👍

Non-starter, dealer said a person saw it yesterday and might come today, I told him I was coming today from Essex, he said OK, he would keep the car until I had seen it, got a quarter of the way, he calls to say the other person wants it and he was leaning towards them as they were locals, so we had to turn around and return home.😒

1 minute ago, Graham Butcher said:

Non-starter, dealer said a person saw it yesterday and might come today, I told him I was coming today from Essex, he said OK, he would keep the car until I had seen it, got a quarter of the way, he calls to say the other person wants it and he was leaning towards them as they were locals, so we had to turn around and return home.😒

Such a shame looks like good cars not hanging around long. Search continues, fingers crossed. 

1 minute ago, gav_is_con said:

Such a shame looks like good cars not hanging around long. Search continues, fingers crossed. 

Time is running out before I have hand hire car back.

22 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

...he calls to say the other person wants it and he was leaning towards them as they were locals

 

Where was the dealership, Royston Vasey? 🤣🤣

 

Just reading your post. Whatever you decide to do, my advice is not to put yourself under any pressure. As long as you're certain that the 3rd person's insurer will pay out, ( that's to say you'll have a no-fault claim against your name ) then although your insurer will only pay for a hire car for the next few days, that's not to say their insurer isn't liable for additional costs.

 

If you have legal cover then it's worth having a word with your insurer otherwise have a word with their insurer. At the end of the day you could quite rightly submit a claim for a rental car as out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the accident. Their insurer may have an arrangement for reduced fees with a rental company therefore it may be beneficial for them to arrange a rental car for you. It's always worth speaking to them. This is an area where those no win, no fee or ensurance or ambulance chasing solicitors excel.

 

It really sucks when something like this happens but you should be able to claim reasonable expenses if you weren't deemed at fault. What really sucks is If the other person has no insurance, then it may still be regarded as a fault claim - i.e. your insurance were unable to recover the money.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Edited 12 April, 20233 yr by kodiaqsportline

4 hours ago, kodiaqsportline said:

 

Where was the dealership, Royston Vasey? 🤣🤣

 

Just reading your post. Whatever you decide to do, my advice is not to put yourself under any pressure. As long as you're certain that the 3rd person's insurer will pay out, ( that's to say you'll have a no-fault claim against your name ) then although your insurer will only pay for a hire car for the next few days, that's not to say their insurer isn't liable for additional costs.

 

If you have legal cover then it's worth having a word with your insurer otherwise have a word with their insurer. At the end of the day you could quite rightly submit a claim for a rental car as out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the accident. Their insurer may have an arrangement for reduced fees with a rental company therefore it may be beneficial for them to arrange a rental car for you. It's always worth speaking to them. This is an area where those no win, no fee or ensurance or ambulance chasing solicitors excel.

 

It really sucks when something like this happens but you should be able to claim reasonable expenses if you weren't deemed at fault. What really sucks is If the other person has no insurance, then it may still be regarded as a fault claim - i.e. your insurance were unable to recover the money.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Nope, dealers wanted far more than the write-off payment, it was a small garage in Newark on Trent, this was the car, and it looks beautiful in the photos. I'm so annoyed that through no fault of mine, I now have to end up downgrading to not only a lower spec, older car but one with considerably more miles on the clock and totally unknown history. It makes zero sense to me that the innocent party in these events are made to suffer, especially when the parts for a car are still freely available, the damage is cosmetic and it most be extremely greener and kinder to the planet to repair mine then scrap it?

If it's anything like here, the only hard time limit you'll face is the expiry of your insurance policy if you don't take it back up. When this happened to me a number of years ago I had a month from the date of the collision before my policy would be cancelled. I wouldn't put myself under as much time pressure as you're doing to yourself. I know it's awkward being without a car, or out of pocket on a rental, but it's nothing like as bad as living with a car you don't particularly like because you bought it in a hurry.

 

One option is to buy a cheap runaround to tide you over, something that's easy to flog on later when you've found something you like.

2 minutes ago, chimaera said:

If it's anything like here, the only hard time limit you'll face is the expiry of your insurance policy if you don't take it back up. When this happened to me a number of years ago I had a month from the date of the collision before my policy would be cancelled. I wouldn't put myself under as much time pressure as you're doing to yourself. I know it's awkward being without a car, or out of pocket on a rental, but it's nothing like as bad as living with a car you don't particularly like because you bought it in a hurry.

 

One option is to buy a cheap runaround to tide you over, something that's easy to flog on later when you've found something you like.

That does kind of make sense, but the problem is that being 6ft 4" tall and build like the old brick sh**house, there are not many cars that I can comfortably or safely fit in and add to that, I have a family of similar sized boys, that nobody can sit behind me as I need the seat as far back as it can go 😄.

 

It also, I feel makes it far worse when it can be fixed, its a cat N, cosmetic only and when you combine that with the fact that there was only 16 of those sold in the UK, and still technically 16 left on the road, some have been in accidents and taken off the road for repairs and brought back on the road, it just highlights the importance of keeping such rare cars on the road for as long as the parts are plentiful, which they are, all the parts needed are the same as for almost all Superbs.

 

Have you asked them for the buy back figure, where you get the car back and then repair it yourself.

 

The problem with car insurance repairs is they will only fit new panels and parts, where as if you wanted to get it repaired yourself you can source parts from a breakers etc.

6 minutes ago, softscoop said:

Have you asked them for the buy back figure, where you get the car back and then repair it yourself.

 

The problem with car insurance repairs is they will only fit new panels and parts, where as if you wanted to get it repaired yourself you can source parts from a breakers etc.

+1 This!

But watch you don't end up paying to buy a car you already own.

 

8 minutes ago, softscoop said:

Have you asked them for the buy back figure, where you get the car back and then repair it yourself.

 

The problem with car insurance repairs is they will only fit new panels and parts, where as if you wanted to get it repaired yourself you can source parts from a breakers etc.

Yes. I did think about that, I have a price, but then I have to arrange transportation for the car, its not allowed to be driven on the roads since they declared it a write-off. Then I have no where I can put the car in order to work on it, then I don't have all the required tools etc, and at 74 years old, I don't think I'm upto the job.

5 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Yes. I did think about that, I have a price, but then I have to arrange transportation for the car, its not allowed to be driven on the roads since they declared it a write-off. Then I have no where I can put the car in order to work on it, then I don't have all the required tools etc, and at 74 years old, I don't think I'm upto the job.

Don't let yourself be rushed into a decision on this. You sound like you feel as if you've been forced into a corner.

You have insurance and you're not at fault. Talk to your insurance some more about how you feel you've been treated unfairly.

You can get support if your insurers won't budge and you believe you have been treated unfairly by them.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance

 

 

Edited 12 April, 20233 yr by EnterName

The car can be driven so long as it has a valid MOT , tax and insurance. Being a non structural write off means it won't need an inspection or anything to go back on the road. You could insure and drive it tomorrow, plenty get written off for dents etc then go straight back on the road no problem.

 

Are there any independent bodyworks near you that you could have it transported to for them to do the works?

1 hour ago, softscoop said:

The car can be driven so long as it has a valid MOT , tax and insurance. Being a non structural write off means it won't need an inspection or anything to go back on the road. You could insure and drive it tomorrow, plenty get written off for dents etc then go straight back on the road no problem.

 

Are there any independent bodyworks near you that you could have it transported to for them to do the works?

My son discovered this company who specialise in these no-fault accident repairs that would have resulted in perfectly good cars being scrapped and can also advise on how to mount an effective challenge on write-off valuations, so I feel a phone call coming on in the morning.

 

https://www.carmagic.co.uk/non-fault-accidents/

6 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

My son discovered this company who specialise in these no-fault accident repairs that would have resulted in perfectly good cars being scrapped and can also advise on how to mount an effective challenge on write-off valuations, so I feel a phone call coming on in the morning.

 

https://www.carmagic.co.uk/non-fault-accidents/

This is good to hear! 👍

It's very easy to get railroaded into making a quick decision that when things calm down a bit you realise wasn't optimal.

It's also difficult to make the best decision while you're being put under pressure.

Good luck today! 🤞