Are there any car insurance experts here?

[Mintychoc1]

Just wondering if anyone can answer my questions?

I crashed my car today. It was my fault - I turned right, didn’t see the car coming the other way, and crashed. It was slow, low impact, no one injured. But both the cars are very old, so although it’s only body work, both cars will definitely be written off.

I love my old car, and I’m gutted at the thought of losing it. It’s so reliable, it’s never let me down, the engine is sound, and I’m pretty sure the damage is just to the bumper and bonnet, not the engine.

At a guess it would be £2k to repair, and to buy an equivalent old car would be 3x that. So I’m wondering about getting it repaired at my own expense.

So my questions are - can I do that, without having to let the insurance company take it away and officially write it off? Obviously they’ve been informed, but nothing happened as it’s Sunday. It’s drivable so it’s in my drive, as the accident happened a few yards away from home.

I know I can buy it back from them if they write it off, but having a car that’s has been written off will be hard to insure I Assume?
Also, will anything I do affect the other people being able to claim? Because obviously I want them to be able to make their claim with no difficulty.

Any suggestions?
Thank you

You definitely need to declare it as an accident - every policy Ive ever seen stipulates that in the Ts & Cs.

It will depend on the insurance company what happens next, most will want it to be at least assessed in order to quantify the value of the claim and to verify that it is consistent with the accident as reported.

They may then give you a choice of either write-off and repurchase, you may be able to ask them if you could pay for your own repairs (often cheaper via a company you've sourced than the insurer's - so may be better value).

If you have no intention to sell, which if it's about to be written off for bodywork, sounds like you aren't - the damage history is of little concern, likewise even if you are planning to sell, unless its some kind of luxury or marque car that holds its value particularly well, unlikely to make a difference. Most hammered runarounds are barely worth more than the remaining tax and MOT once they hit 12+ years old.

Insuring a written off car

www.hpi.co.uk/content/advice-and-tips/insuring-written-off-car/

Yes you can inform them of an accident and not make a claim, however where does the other party sit in all of this?

You must have the car checked out by a garage before deciding what to do here. There could be damage that you can't see that would make it really expensive to get sorted.

Thank you.
I’ve already reported it, and someone from the insurance company is going to contact me to take it away some time this week. So I wonder if their assessors would give me an indication of the repair cost, so I can decide.

Thanks for the info.

The assessor will only decide if the vehicle is repairable or will be declared a write off.
If they decide it is uneconomical to repair and write it off they will then advise you which category write off it is.

Once an assessor has viewed the vehicle and made this decision it can not be changed.
If the vehicle is declared a category S or N write off then you can ask them you can ask to buy back the salvage back, the insurers will decrease your total loss payment by how much the salvage is valued at. You will then need to get the vehicle repaired and have a new not done to prove it is road worthy.

Whatever you decide to do will in no way affect the third party from claiming

Commiserations, something similar happened to me. My car was hit at low speed while parked (someone reversed into it, I wasn't in the car at the time). I wanted to keep my car for the same reasons you have. The insurance company did not make it difficult for me, it probably happens a lot. If you are wondering about likely future insurance premiums you can get quotes online. You don't have to put the car's registration in, there's usually a button for "I haven't bought the vehicle yet" which may make it easier to get a quote from your current insurer.

I mentioned the thing about saying you haven't bought the car yet in case your current insurer says "you're already insured with us" when you provide the registration. I don't know if any do this, just a thought.

I bought a car back after a crash. Ex dh mended it and I had it re sprayed. Got 3 years out of it. All a write off means is that its un economic to repair using garages charging a lot per hour.....there's nothing dangerous or wrong with it.

All a write off means is that its un economic to repair using garages charging a lot per hour.....there's nothing dangerous or wrong with it.

It could be dangerous. It depends on the category of write off. You can't state that it won't be, you have no idea of the damage to OP car!