[Skiddins]

After a bump in my '08 Saab 9-3 (bumper,grills and bonnet) it has been declared a category D write off.

I was thinking of settling with my insurers (Swiftcover) and getting the car back and getting it repaired myself.

Has anyone done anything similar and who did you then insure it with?

I'd want to be Fully Comprehensive but understand that the vehicle will now have a reduced value

 

[sianderson]

ive never done it my last one was a cat c write and was told i would not have the buy back option with my policy (octagon insurance) anyway so are you sure you have that option with your policy to even do it?

i had water damage and needed a new engine, so i took the safest option as even if the insurance fixed the issues at the time it may have lead to further more costly issues down the line so i cut my losses and bought a new car

if you can buy the car back off the insurance, are you suggesting you do the work to get it back road legal or pay another company to do the repairs? i would assume you will need documentation to prove you have fixed the faults to make it road legal again (you naturally will with another company doing the repairs) so i don't see that future insurance should be too much of an issue but if it is im sure you can go to places like the AA and get a report on the cars state for proof etc that you may need to email to future insurers if they ask about it

 

[haloweenhamster]

Need to take it to a vosa station did it with my old car (cavalier) didn't check repairs as there was still things wrong with it they just check all the numbers to make sure car is still legit & no problems insuring it after

 

[kez]

my niece recently had an accident and it was touch and go to being repaired or written off in the the end it was a class D (MY57 CORSA) I wanted it but when my brother asked was told they do not give this option anymore regardless of damage and that was with Admiral.
i think its common now that they will not sell back to general public

 

[dvdgremlin]

my niece recently had an accident and it was touch and go to being repaired or written off in the the end it was a class D (MY57 CORSA) I wanted it but when my brother asked was told they do not give this option anymore regardless of damage and that was with Admiral.
i think its common now that they will not sell back to general public

It's a write off which means effectively the insurance company now owns the vehicle and not you unless salvage have already bought it off them. consequently it would be unusual for an insurance company to then sell it back to the original policy holder. it may well be sold on to the 'general public'.

If you ask them what salvage company has the vehicle (if you don't know) then they should tell you. contact that company and ask for a price or go to the auction if there is one and bid on it.

once repaired you MUST declare it as an ex write off as otherwise your new insurance company will not cover you and WILL invalidate your claim and policy in the future.

once declared a repaired write off it will be worth significantly less.

most (if not all) cat D are not dangerous and may well still be drivable. it's simply an economic decision by your insurers.

it's unlikely that taking out further full comp insurance will be a sound option due to the likely cost of it against the new value of the vehicle.

due to my employment I have some knowledge of this type of situation.

see the follwoing for further information ...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...-behind-category-D-insurance-writes-offs.html

 

[kez]

agree ^^ but in the past insurance companies have let the current owner take possession of the vehicle as part or all of the settlement and as you have pointed out this no longer happens which I didn't think the case after not being allowed to
upon settlement of my nieces car the existing policy ended as part of the settlement, unfortunate for her as I think she was only 3 or 4 months in on it, she then purchased a brand new fiat 500 and insured with same company I believe at a cost of £70ish more for a year so she didn't do to bad there I don't think

 

[sianderson]

the reason why i still had the choice whether to get the car back was because no one else was involved and no collision with anything, so i had the choice to make the claim which would be a write off, or not make the claim and get the car repaired privately and not involve the insurance at all

 

[the zohan]

My understanding based on my own experiences, the person who's name is on the ownerahip doc owns the car until a settlement figure is mutually agreed.

Salvage co is not involved until the owner is paid out and the vehicle transferred to the insurer as the owner is just that -the owner of
the vehicle.

Joe public can buy back from the insurer in the same way a salvage company does.

The estimator who wrote off the vehicle will decide on the true value of the vehicle plus also it's salvage value. True value being the max they will pay out to the insured party (keeper) and salvage value being the figure they will sell it on to a salvage company (or indeed a private individual) for. Salvage yards will then sell on for as much (profit) as they can get.

Insurance companies and salvage companies have 'relationships' to maintain and subsiquently do not always want other people getting involved.

 

[dvdgremlin]

My understanding based on my own experiences, the person who's name is on the ownerahip doc owns the car until a settlement figure is mutually agreed.

Salvage co is not involved until the owner is paid out and the vehicle transferred to the insurer as the owner is just that -the owner of
the vehicle.

Joe public can buy back from the insurer in the same way a salvage company does.

The estimator who wrote off the vehicle will decide on the true value of the vehicle plus also it's salvage value. True value being the max they will pay out to the insured party (keeper) and salvage value being the figure they will sell it on to a salvage company (or indeed a private individual) for. Salvage yards will then sell on for as much (profit) as they can get.

Insurance companies and salvage companies have 'relationships' to maintain and subsiquently do not always want other people getting involved.

The insurance company simply looks at the value of the vehicle and the cost of the repair. if the cost of the repair is too high for the value of the vehicle then it's classed as a write off. the insurance company doesn't take into account whether the policy holder is at fault or who else is involved in deciding if it's a write off. they are secondary issues which solely relate to who eventually will pay for the cost of the write off.

the 'relationship' between the salvage company and the insurance company is simply monetary. there is no special relationship. the insurance company rarely sells the vehicle to the policy holder as it is too much hassle to value it. the salvage company does as it is their engineer that values it and assesses how much the repairs would cost once they receive the vehicle. they will, at times, say to the insurance company in their report that it is not an economic write off and should be repaired.

the salvage company (engineer) is involved with the vehicle and assesses/ inspects it which may occur at wherever the vehicle is taken after the incident. That may be the owner's drive (if it is mobile), the salvage company's property or wherever before the owner accepts the write off offer from his insurance company.

the owner of the vehicle does not have to accept it being classed a write off and may decide not to claim on their policy and accept the insurance company's offer. it may be that the vehicle is perfectly roadworthy and as safe as it was before the incident. the damage may simply be cosmetic but more costly than the vehicle is worth less the excess.

I know this because I work for an insurance company in this area.

 

[sianderson]

whether it makes any difference but what do you class as ownership document as the DVLA make it very clear the V5 logbook provides proof of registered keeper not ownership of the vehicle but i dont think this is an issue

when i had the conversations with my insurance company they said they could tell me when and where the car is being auctioned (they clearly just send them to auction than try and sell for fixed fees to a salvage company) and i could take my chances the same way someone else could if i wanted the car back after the settlement figure was paid

i would assume if the vehicle was in the possession of the insurance company they would be in their rights to charge storage costs if you then requested the car back and not progress with a claim against the car if they wanted to, but in a multi car claim you would still have to have a claim against you assuming the reason for the claim was your at fault

 

[dvdgremlin]

the insurance company doesn't have any storage facilities or recovery facilities. they are both done by the salvage company if it is a write off and if not write off by the approved repairer.
the v5 as you say is just the keeper. there is no proof of ownership document apart from the purchase doc from the dealer or previous owner.

 

[dvdgremlin]

when u phone your insurance company they decide whether it goes to a repairer or salvage by what u describe to them. salvage will inspect and decide whether repairable or not.

 

[dvdgremlin]

you can decide for your insurer to deal with third party and for you to not accept write off.

 

[sianderson]

insurance company / salvage company / repairer the car is stored somewhere untill the policy holder makes up their mind what they want done with the car

 

[kez]

I know when the l200 got wrote off we had it back obviously without settlement payment for the vehicle and the other party admitted full liability so prob to what you saying above. Also a good few years ago I had a Vectra that was lightly damaged and chose to keep the car. I think there is a miss understanding of how it works but as you have said above it is possible to keep the car and get insurance company to claim of the other party for damages if you so wish. but if you except there decision to it being a write off then they take responsibility of the car

dvdgremlin what car do you drive ?

 

[kez]

insurance company / salvage company / repairer the car is stored somewhere untill the policy holder makes up their mind what they want done with the car

agree..............if you go to some salvage yards there are cars that are being stored and they are not able to touch spares or to sell on

 

[sianderson]

the way i was told to work out the value of the write off they would offer me was to use autotrader, find 5 cars that are virtually identical to the vehicle in question and take the average price of them, i worked it out to be around £7300 and they offered me £7500 so i think i made the right decision as i was quoted a new engine to be £6500 and a 2nd hand one around £3000 but didnt really know what the knock on effect would be as the car was flooded with water so took the money added a couple of grand to it and bought the convertible lol which was 6 months newer, 10k less miles but only the 1.8t and not 2.0t

 

[dvdgremlin]

I'm just getting 9-3 lpt 2001. used to have a 9-3 in 1999 when it was new

trying to sort front wheel bearings and new tyres at a sensible price at the moment. I think they are the same as vauxhall but not 100% positive.

flood damage it was a wise choice.

presume you lost your excess tho.

 

[kez]

try neobrothers or parts for saabs can have good deals on or even Vauxhall parts world, post up a thread when your ready there will be plenty of help with your requirements

 

[sianderson]

yeah the unfortunate situation was they gave me £7500 minus the excess, minus the remaining amount due on the policy (first time i had opted to pay monthly for it)

then minus the remaining finance on the car (i didnt believe i had any as i insisted with the saab dealer i wanted a personal loan not secured on the car when i bought it they obviously ignored that and lied to my face but no longer exist so had no one to really complain to)

so my insurance company very nicely did a direct bank transfer for £500 at the end of it, but got the money side sorted and bought the new one with 0% interest rate courtesy of bank of mum and dad lmao almost paid them back now lol