Any experts could offer me some advise.Our car was hit by another car a few weeks back and we are in the process of having the insurance sort out the repair work
the cars a 2001 focus worth about £800,now a lot of folk are telling me the car will be written off due to the cost of repairs exceding the value of the car
now having never made a claim before I want to know can i have the car back. if this is the case some friends are saying the cars mine so i can have the car back for free others are saying the insurance will charge scrap value to get it back

the car only needs a new bumper and I can get one sprayed up and fit it myself for £140,

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Claim off the other guys insurance or you'll loose your no claims unless you have it protected.

You can buy the car back from the insurance

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we are going ahead with the insurance but thats the burning Question John,as the car is my property why do i have to buy it back ??? or am i missing something

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If they settle by writing off the car they are paying you for the wreck so it is their property. If they write it off they will usually sell you the car for scrap value. This would be around £200 I guess, so the important thing is to get a good settlement price. Do a bit of work looking at similar aged and spec Focus cars for sale on Autotrader so that you have a valid argument to hand on value. You may well knock the settlement price up to a grand so it would not be a bad deal for you to buy and repair.

DWD

Ah I think i get it,I thought i was paying for insuring the car against myself or others so the car would always be my property,so if i get this right accepting the payout is transfering ownership to the insurer therefore it becomes there property
My thoughts are then i would need to transfer the log book into the insurers name so relinquishing any further liablity if the car was involved in illegal activity
Sorry for sounding a bit dumb here but like i said i have never ever made a claim before

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If it is written off as uneconomical repair then they'll probably offer you a settlement, out of which you could choose to buy the car back, normally at a nominal value. I have done this before many years ago and fixed it up myself.

Bear in mind that insuring a car that has been written off (even for unecomical repair) might cost a bit of wedge as it will probably be VCAR registered which you'll have to declare. That is definitely worth checking out before making a decision. Also it will be virtually impossible to sell on later.

Yes, you do pass the registration docs to the insurer if they pay you out for the value of the car rather than repair it. It is a good deal for the insurer to have you buy the wreck as it costs out the costs of collection and disposal.

You have to check out with your insurer if any excess on your policy is to be deducted as they might deduct it from the settlement and this amount would have to be recovered from the other car's insurer. Also you have to watch loss of no claims discount as it is not No Blame, but No Claim. The way around this is for you to claim direct against the other car insurer's direct.

Check out with your insurer and find out these things first.

DWD

Cheers guys I'll chew it over with mrs Canny and go from there

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Also watch out for some insurers refusing to insure a write off, or charging more.

The car might need a VIC test before being declared roadworthy.

You are entitled to have the car repaired to it's pre-accident condition, no matter what the cost is...but many insurers refuse to recognise this

I'm told that if you get any grief, threatening to go to one of the claims assistance firms will often yield results.

As a rough guide, cars are usually written off if the cost of repairs is 2/3 or more of the car's value, so add up the cost of a new bumper plus paint and labour...sadly I think it will be written off.

wrinx

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As we said check your no claim arrangements, a claim can cost you several thousand quid in lost bonuses.

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Some insurance companies are contracted to send all their written off vehicles to scrapyards, The mrs. has an Uncle called "george" who works for one of the scrap companies..so you may not necessarily be able to buy the car back...can't do any harm asking.

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Verwood Handyman
I Know it says I'm On-line, but I might have just left myself logged in, whilst I'm out....

When my van was hit, they settled me up, minus the estimated scrap value of the vehicle, that remained mine to dispose of....i wasn't even asked.

Luckily it wasnt recorded as written off, and i replaced the headlight and indicator, lived with the fist sized dent and carried on....£10 worth of parts

If you intend on sorting it yourself, you probably want to check what the score is, whether its unrecorded, recorded, cat c, cat d.... as Wrinx has said, it may need a VIC check, which will cost you £41, plus the time/effort.....

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Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

I wrote off a car about 18 months ago (my fault). The insurance sent out a bloke to look at it and said he would put it down as a write off. The insurance then offered me a payment and asked if I wanted them to dispose of the car or I could do it (no difference in the cash I was getting) so I kept it and put it on ebay

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Mike
http://rebuildingatimberbungalow.blogspot.com/
any advice welcome

had somebody smash our car up in 2004. they drove off and we had to use our insurance to get it repaired. we had NCP so we didn't lose out but they wrote it off. i asked to have it back which they wanted £150. seeing as they offered me £300 more than i paid for the car it seemed a rather fair deal to me so i bought it.

got a colour matched bonnet, bumper & lights to fit for £80. disconencted the air con and the car was 100% road worthy again. paid for the VIC check and an MOT. a friend of mine 2 months later lost his car to an engine detsroyed. he was skint so i gave him the car to help him out. he drove it for the remainder of the TAX and then it became a night mare to get the tax.
DVLA decided it shouldn't be on the road because they couldn't find proof of the VIC test. i went back to the garage and asked for a copy, which i got. i sent that off too. they then said my m8 was the registered owner of the vehicle and they couldn't accept it with my name on and wanted it checking again to make sure it wasn't 2 cars welded together.

it became that much hassle i told him to take it to the scrap yard and get rid of it.

checked the policy and we have NCP so I should be ok on that one

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