Repairs amidst a claim

Buying a ‘5 and Insurance advice Insurance Advice
1

You may have seen my “sad times….” post recently about an accident I had. Since then, after nearly 2 weeks of hearing nothing from the repairer, have decided to explore my options a little more looking into replacement cars, what is considered a write off, repairs etc. expecting the likely hood of a write off I have decided I will arrange my own repairs which raises the question,

Do I have to wait for the official inspection and decision of the insurance company to do any repairs or can I sort out the repairs beforehand?

It goes without saying I want to keep everything above board so I will inform my insurance when necessary and make any amendments to my claim

I’d assume at this stage the car is still my property so I can do what I want with it as long as my insurance company is kept up to date?

2

I really would not start any repairs before one of your insurance company’s’ loss adjusters has been to inspect the car. if you do, your insurance company may absolve themselves of any liability for repair costs that you have started or carried out.

3

I’d advise waiting also for the inspection, I know it’s a pain, but it will give you some insight into how bad the damage is and the repair cost.

Then you can decide whether to make the claim and let them repair or write off the car, or get quotes to have it fixed yourself.

Could be worth getting a local body shop to come and look at it and give you a quote whilst you wait.

4

Check whether the insurance pay for a hire car, that may speed things.
Do not work on the car mate, let them assess the damage and if they decide not to pay for repairs you can request to buy it back from them (make sure you let them know. To get prices look at dealerships (private sale is always cheaper) to have an idea what the car is worth because they may try to haggle paying up.

5

If they will scrap it they will replace for the same car so if you have something extra on the vehicle take ot off and put it to standard condition before they take it away (because they wont cover it unless its declared)

6

When I pranged my bike, I was advised to push for a negotiated settlement.
This enabled me to arrange repairs myself, which meant I could source and fit replacement parts myself and get the fairings restored to as new by professional repairers.
I came out ahead