[Shimmerydolmeo]

Hi all was wondering if I could get some advice;

Some berk went into the back of me before xmas and was agressive, kicking and punching my 156. So i decided to go to a solicitors and make a claim (my insurance company had terminated my policy a day early in error).

The damage inspector has valued my car at a total loss, giving it the value of £725 (16yrs old but great nick). The damage is really minimal, in fact if he hadn't been such an ******** I would have let it slide. His insurers have accepted liability for damage but I don't really want it written off- it has a couple of scratches to the bumper and no structural damage. However I have a big bill for my new GT and could use the £725.

Do I have to accept a write off to get any cash from his insurer (Cat D)? Is it easy to reverse the write off by saying I have had it repaired? This is minor cosmetic damage and in my opinion the car should not be written off for it, whether the work is done or not!

Thanks all!

 

[Pud237]

Hi all was wondering if I could get some advice;

Some berk went into the back of me before xmas and was agressive, kicking and punching my 156. So i decided to go to a solicitors and make a claim (my insurance company had terminated my policy a day early in error).

The damage inspector has valued my car at a total loss, giving it the value of £725 (16yrs old but great nick). The damage is really minimal, in fact if he hadn't been such an ******** I would have let it slide. His insurers have accepted liability for damage but I don't really want it written off- it has a couple of scratches to the bumper and no structural damage. However I have a big bill for my new GT and could use the £725.

Do I have to accept a write off to get any cash from his insurer (Cat D)? Is it easy to reverse the write off by saying I have had it repaired? This is minor cosmetic damage and in my opinion the car should not be written off for it, whether the work is done or not!

Thanks all!

What is the damage?

Tell his insurer that you want to be paid out and repair the vehicle yourself, see what they say. They can't force you to relinquish your property, but it may affect what you receive for the damage. Do you still have possession of the car or has his insurer (or a repairer) picked it up and taken it away for assessment? First thing to do is ask for it to be returned if you don't still have it.

Cheers

Dan

 

[dgmayhead]

Whiplash?

 

[Shimmerydolmeo]

What is the damage?

Tell his insurer that you want to be paid out and repair the vehicle yourself, see what they say. They can't force you to relinquish your property, but it may affect what you receive for the damage. Do you still have possession of the car or has his insurer (or a repairer) picked it up and taken it away for assessment? First thing to do is ask for it to be returned if you don't still have it.

Cheers

Dan

Damage is really really minor, hard to spot. He made more of a dent to my boot lid by thumping it (while my 18m old son was in the car). That's the main reason I am perusing it, if he had been a decent bloke I would have left it.
I still have the car as it is roadworthy. I thought that if it was a total loss they can pay you the value of the car and if you keep and repair it it's not a total loss.
I am pursuing personal injury due to an aggravation of my shoulder injury so don't want anything to affect that. I specifically said to the engineer that I didn't want a total loss. Should I;
- get a copy of the engineers report and argue against total loss
- take the money and then try and get the cat d status removed?

BTW Loz just txt me can't wait to see the manifolds! :thumbup:

 

[Shimmerydolmeo]

Whiplash?

Aggravated shoulder injury.

 

[dgmayhead]

Always worth keeping a car if the damage is only cosmetic. What sort of person thumps your boot after crashing into you?

 

[Shimmerydolmeo]

Always worth keeping a car if the damage is only cosmetic. What sort of person thumps your boot after crashing into you?

A middle aged chav who was lucky not to have his head kicked in (my son was in the car). I am keeping the car just spent £1300 on full brake refurb, may need to sell at some point though.

 

[David.C]

I am in a similar position myself currently.

Having brought my 156 end Nov last year, I have also spent a small fortune getting it up together, New Clutch, New cambelt, new anti roll bar, 4 new tyres and a full service, New drivers door prepped and painted (wind caught it, snapped check strap and bent the door) the car stands me in for £2300 and like you the insurance company have just deemed it a total loss.

Whilst visiting my dad last weekend the dopey arrogant neighbour payed no attention when reversing her Mercedes and managed to scrape up my front bumper and front wing. The damage isn't severe and the car is still perfectly driveable, If she wasn't such an arse about it and accepted the damage was all caused by her car i would have settled outside of the insurance and taken her excess as payment but she wouldn't play ball. So I went down the route of a 3rd party claim instructed by my insurance company and she has accepted liabilty. I had a assessor come a visit on tuesday and assure me it would be repaired, Thursday came and they called to say it would be a total loss :furious: with a Cat C marker. I have at every point of this claim stated i do not want to lose the car and on Friday it was agreed that i would be able to get a market value payment minus the salvage cost of my car allowing me to keep it and repair it myself.

Naturally I will have to get a new MOT put on it to deem it road worthy and i will lose some money when I come to sell with the CAT C marker on it - but the amount of money I've already put into it I have no plans on it being replaced any time soon.

Dave

 

[rgwm]

I've never seen anything that says you need a new MOT after an accident.........and with the change recently Cat C is a minor inconvenience - you don't need it VIC tested any more. Cat C and Cat D are purely an economic assessment of cost of repair versus market value.

For the OP, I'd echo the advice to pursue the 3rd party's insurer for payment in lieu of repair.

 

[David.C]

I've never seen anything that says you need a new MOT after an accident.........and with the change recently Cat C is a minor inconvenience - you don't need it VIC tested any more. Cat C and Cat D are purely an economic assessment of cost of repair versus market value.

For the OP, I'd echo the advice to pursue the 3rd party's insurer for payment in lieu of repair.

The MOT part to deem roadworthy was what was advised by the claims handler, but after further research it would appear i wouldn't need to get one done and as they have abolished the vic check i guess i would just keep using it. just as the OP i am looking to accept a market value valuation figure due to the high expense to repair through the insurance company.
The repair estimate came in at £1562.80 but their valuation of the car is £1295. there is some debate over the salvage cost (which I would have to pay out of the settlement to keep the car) as the body shop/assessor has stated the salvage price would be £0.00 but the trade value has come in at £425. So i'm unsure what the end settlement will be.
Similar to the OP I also own an Astra VXR which is having some money thrown at it at the moment for some weekend summer fun and realistically some equity release from the 156 could come in useful. Especially after the unexpected large bills i had to pay after purchase. I don't like the fact they have decided to write it off for such little damage and I don't really have a say in the matter - but i quickly realised prior to this claim that i would need to keep this car for a good deal of time to overcome the costs of purchase and repairs i have incurred owning the 156 anyway.