So two days ago I went too fast into a wet roundabout and spun, hitting kerb and a sign post with passenger side (my mistake completely). There is a dent in the passenger side wing, alignment of wheels is a bit off (something could be bent or just shifted) and there is sound coming from passenger side rear wheel (wheel bearing/hub probably). Car is 2001 mx5 mk2.5, and insured up to £1.6k. (But was probably worth a bit more, as only 48k miles).
I’ve been reading online alot, and it seems that car being old and not that expensive, its most likely to be written off by insurance as Cat C or D. However, I think there isnt that much damage (I drove from Scotland to London after the accident).
How to protect myself, make sure that car isnt salvaged while at the repairers? (Can this happen?)
I read that written off cars can be bought back, or I can request a cash in lieu to repair myself. How to approach this?
My car is being collected tomorrow morning by an insurance provided garage.
Any advice would help,
thanks!
P.S. If the car is repaired, does my insurance still work, or do I need to get a new one? (I just renewed it 2 weeks ago…)
Ooh, sorry to hear about your mishap. From my experience with insurance companies, they will get the repair estimated and then in all likelihood inform you it is a write-off. I always get my local friendly garage to check out the damage first so I get an opportunity to sort the problem in the most cost effective manner. If it is a write-off then you can always buy it back from the insurance company. I am sure there are more knowledgeable people here…
This might be a bit late in the day if you’ve already arranged pick up, but I had a very similar experience and I’d have probably done things differently in hindsight. Here’s some of what I learned : The insurers usually will write off a car ( not necessarily old ) if the cost of repair gets anything like half the cars value. This estimate will be made by the insurers approved repairer, and they will price up using brand new OE parts and when you’ve added the cost of spraying ( at top rates) then very likely the car will be written off. Buying back will still cost you loads, cos you’ll have to start a new insurance policy (the old one stops when they pay out the insurance claim on a write off ) and you may have lost your no claims bonus if not protected, you’ll still obviously have to declare you’ve had a claim in the last three years- so any new premium will be hiked up regardless of no claims. If you buy back you’ll have to get the car fixed and depending on what CAT it is get it retested accordingly, and then you’re left with a car with a CAT C, D or whatever the new Cat is called - so the car is worth a lot less if you ever want to resell, and it’ll be harder to sell. If I were to go through what happened to me again I’d do it very differently to what I did then ( which was to let the insurers take it - write it off, and then buy another car with the settled claim money ) I was just too lazy - what I should have done is not bother the insurers with a claim and go and get it fixed by a reputable MX5 specialist, who could source used parts where appropriate ( panels etc ) and, without costing dealer/ insurer repairer rates, get the car back to the standard it was before the off for a reasonable price. No need to re-insure, no claims still good, out of pocket by a bit but with a non- CAT car. Obviously every case is different and the cost of getting your car fixed by a specialist is the over riding thing - but if it’s a few hundred then I would say that’s worth it. If you go down the write off route then the loading of your premium will be in excess of £100 on every policy you have (I have 3) for the next three years at least, then the extra cost of new policy with reduced no claims, then repair and hassle of retest, then ending up with a CAT car - this will soon swallow up a good few hundred pounds. On the other hand - if you do take it to a reputable specialist they should give you an honest opinion if it really does need to be written off - but at least you’ll be in a better position to make a judgement than if you just let the insurers take it. I wouldn’t think you would be doing anything dodgy insurance- wise if you inform your insurers of your intentions - you’ve already told them you’ve had an accident and I wouldn’t expect them to load your policy very much (if at all) if you don’t make a claim. Sorry if it sounds a bit black and white - but if I had known this before I had my off I would have been better able to deal with things,
In answer to your questions: If you make a claim and manage to persuade the insurers to let a non-approved (in their book) repairer fix it at their cost they’ll get it all back pretty quickly in increased peremiums etc.
If they do take the car and declare it a write off - then I would say they’ve incured costs and accordingly so have you. Best to not let it come to this I think - so don’t let them take it unless you’re prepared never to see the car again.
IMHO it would be far better to just pay the repairer yourself and not make a claim - find a specialist you can trust and just let them give you a quote.
Well paying on my own ~£1000 pounds would hurt a bit, but that’s why I have insurance, is that not right?
I spoke with insurers, and they agreed to let me get a quote from my usual garage, so I will take the car there next week. Hopefully their quote will be sensible, and they will agree to it.
Will have to see how it goes. Thanks for suggestions (but please let me know if there is anything else)
It’s a toughie - and, as always, nothing is simple - I would also balk at a £1000 bill from a local repairer, but I don’t think the insurer would want to pay that much either - they’d sooner write the car off than repair at that price.
Anyhow, let’s hope the local garage comes in with a quote for just a few hundred, and then you’ll have a fighting chance and be able to make a decision based on the facts.
I just dont really understand, why would insurer write off a car for 1600, when repairs cost 1000. I guess they then get salvage for ~300, but still they lose out. Or do they care about things as repair warranty in the future etc.?
Fortunately from my POV, I’ve never had to face this problem, but Colindash makes a lot of sense from what I’ve read. DO NOT make a claim, worse thing you can do. - Do you live anywhere near Nuneaton? Try Sam Goodwin for a realistic estimate. http://www.samgoodwin.com/ I can’t advise who is best in and around London, but there’s Mark Fryer at www.freelancemazda.co.uk in Chatham, but don’t know if he does body repairs, just ask. Both are specialists, and used both myself. (Chatham is a bit too far for me these days!)
While the car is MOT’d, and insured, and you managed to drive from Scotland back to London, then you are relatively free to go anywhere, but not if you make a claim. If you previously made an appointment, then even if stopped by the law, you have a legitimate reason for driving the car IMO. Key phrase - drive within the law, and you should get away with it.
Yes - repairs will cost you, but trying to recoup that from the insurer will end in more costs anyway, covering several years at least. Your car is already taking a hit from depreciation, so making a claim will end in tears as I see it. Buy another? - more cost! To top it all off, if the front chassis rails are rusting, then the car will cost even more, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen.Then there’s the sills, especially at the rear wheel well. All good reason to get a good independent estimate before you make a decision.
Your car will be a write off in insurance terms. You may regard it as worth £1,600, however the trade “book” value which is what it will be priced on will be nothing like that at all and the reason cars get written off at as low as 25% value is the additional costs that come with a repair.
Regardless of what you think is an “easy” repair, if you take your car to be fixed you are going to want it to come back right. That involves labour, including making phone calls to get the parts. What it very definitely will need is someone to start taking bits off to find out how far the damage is. If you have bent a wishbone, damaged a hub, a wheel, twisted a sub-frame. Many places will charge a £100 + for an alignment, this cost will come after all of the other costs. 10 hours work with overheads at £40 per hour before parts. I don’t think £1,000 as a first look would be terribly wrong.
No Insurance Company loses out, depending how long you’ve been with them, you may have already paid several premiums (last one two weeks ago), and the scrapper will make more out of the car then it’s worth whole. The engine is worth more than they’ll pay the insurer to get the car. From both their POV’s, it’s a win win situation.
If you read all the nuisance policy, repairs and maintenance are entirely up to you to fund, as for warranty, they don’t cover any of it. The policy will state “Running costs and repairs including service are your responsibility, and the policy may be voided if the car is not kept in a good state of repair”. - A clause they use to justify (if necessary) as to why they won’t pay for repairs.
There’s a yard near me that will gladly take the car as is, fix it, and resell it for around £2K at least (No names) so why give them - and others, the chance?
What with the cost of spare parts and labour these days, it doesn’t take much of a prang to a 16-year-old car, for the insurance company to deem it an uneconomic repair, and write it off as such.
You have probably put yourself in a difficult position by informing them of your accident in the first place, as you cannot now get it repaired yourself, on the quiet, without the insurance company being involved somewhere along the line. I would imagine that now they know of the damage to your car, they would want any repair, not carried out by their approved repairer, to be inspected by an engineer of their choice, to make sure it has been done properly, before they will insure it again, for which they would almost certainly charge you.
If you don’t want to lose your car by having it written off, I don’t see that you have any choice now, but to talk to your insurers, to discover what your options actually are - and find out if they would be happy for you to have it repaired yourself. Until you have decided what to do, don’t let the insurance company take your car away - you may never see it again.
A lesson here then, for any driver of any type of car that is a bit ‘long-in-the-tooth’ - if you have a minor bump, that doesn’t involve anyone else, or any personal injury, to think twice before involving the insurers !
Insurance cover to use your car is a legal requirement, fair enough. However, the OP’s situation is all too common in that the insurer charges the premium, something goes wrong, they pay out far, far less than owner expects, premiums rise subsequently and you couldn’t actually buy another car in the equivalent pre accident condition with any money received as a settlement? On newer cars, same applies, hence gap insurance to cover the difference, why though? You’re asked to put a value on your car when arranging cover, why? It means absolutely nothing at the end of the day! You should be able to state a value and insurance cost reflects that, so if you have a prang, you get paid out on your value, not what the industry says its worth? If car is written off, take into account any agreed/compulsory excess, recovery costs, garage inspection costs etc and you get very little back! Shame on the insurance industry!
The trouble is, that the insurance companies have been getting away with this payout-differential for decades, and no government ever seems to do anything about these legalised rip-off merchants !
GAP insurance should not be necessary - it’s just another way for the insurance companies to get more premiums out of us, and con us into thinking they’re doing us a favour. Another one is being able to insure your No Claims discount - what ?
When dealing with the insurance company bare in mind IT IS YOUR CAR, they tend to go on like it is theirs before they pay you. Demand to know where it is at all times, they have been known to sell cars on before they have agreed a price. If you want it back as a write off tell them early
So following your advice I took my MX5 to Freelance Mazda (I do my service there too), and his recommended bodywork shop. So got estimates of £240 for new wheel bearing and fitting and £585 for new wing and fitting/repair. I will also need an alignment, but they dont have equipment for that, so will have to do it somewhere else (paid £95 when I did it a few months ago).
Forwarded both the quotes and commentary to the insurer yesterday, so waiting for their reply.
So I guess I have 3 possible outcomes now?
a) They agree to pay for everything and car is fixed as per estimates. b) They want to write of the car, so they give me £1600-scrap value to me in cash, and I fix car myself and have a CAT-D car. c) They give me “cash-in-lieu”, something in between a) and b) value, and I fix the car myself, but car is not CAT-D.
Do these options sound about right? (And if I get to choose, I guess option a) is the best and then option c), so not to have CAT-D car?)
Anything else to expect?
P.S. My car is insured up to £1600, and I’m assuming I would get the whole value, because its only 45k miles, and car was in good condition before the accident.
When you say your car is insured up to £1600, is that an agreed valuation that you have paid for and have in writing from the insurer, or is that the value you told them its worth when you bought the policy as pert of the normal set of questions?
If its an agreed valuation then fine you should get that, but that’s a specific thing that you have to ask for and pay extra for - most companies wont offer it unless you ask, and some not even then.
If its the value you told them as part of the normal suite of questions then unfortunately as said in previous posts that figure is not relevant in their calcs - it will be a percentage of the TRADE value (not the forecourt value), so sadly probably wont be anything near the £1600 you want.
It may still be worth seeing what they do offer - you don’t have to accept it. As far as I’m aware (and the forum will correct me if I’m wrong), you remain the legal owner until you accept a payout and they send the money. Until that point you can cancel the claim at any time, so its worth seeing what they will offer to have all the info to hand. Unfortunately just don’t expect it to be the forecourt market value.
Hi there – sounds to me like the damage is not catastrophic, and so you’re in with a good chance of getting your car back on the road. The options you’ve given seem realistic, although not all that good:
Taking Option a) This would be nice if the insurers offer it - only downside is loss of no claims and an insurance premium hike for 3 years on top of that.
Option b) The above premium hike still applies, plus you’d have to start a new policy, and lose any insurance money you’ve just paid out, and a CAT D car will be worth very little.
Option c) As option a) - but would just cost you more.
Deep intake of breath - this is a personal opinion only but if the wing has no sharp edges, and is just cosmetic :
I’d not claim, and just get the mechanical bits done for now.
I’d get the bodywork done at a later date, when I’d saved up a bit. In the meantime I’d look round for a good wing in the same colour.
I realise this plan may not suit you, and may be met with howls of derision from other members on the forum – but I think it would be cost effective in the long run.