car written off, is it now uninsured?

[humptydumptynumptymumpty]

Not sure whether this should go here or another section, but this seems a reasonable place to ask...

Last week some idiot bus-driver managed somehow to put a dent along the entire side of our car (4 panels). It's just damage to the bodywork, not an issue with safety to drive etc.
It was valued on Friday, and today we had an answerphone message saying it has been written off (can't remember the term but essentially costs more to repair than is worth as an 11yr old car), rather than being unrepairable as such.

Does this mean if I drove it to work tomorrow morning (which I need to do before we can get in touch with them to ask them) I wouldn't be insured?

(and secondly; if it had been repaired by the garage we'd have had a car provided whilst it was being repaired - do we not get that if it's written off?)

I have not claimed on my 15 year old car several times for the pure reason it would be written off & I would lose the car. Can you not withdraw the claim, or is it too late now its written off? Hope someone can help.

Don't know about it being insured for you to drive, but on the second point - when my DH wrote off our car, we did get a courtesy car paid for by our insurance for two weeks.

Hmmm i don't know - we were told if the cost of repair was less than 66% of the value they'd repair it, which we thought would work out ok - but then they found more damage than we thought. Tbh my main concern was just for getting to work tomorrow, not even thinking beyond that! Thankfully MiL is lending us her car so tomorrow at least will be ok... :)

I think you can offer to buy the car back from the insurance company for a pittance if its written off. I know my sisters ex did that for her then fixed the car up. The look of pure joy on her face when he presented it to her I will never forget. :)

yeah you should be able to buy it back

you can't drive it if it has been written off. iirc you basically have to re-register it once it is fixed up

i did it myself, but it was a few years back and i really can't remember the whole process tbh.

i think i paid £72 to get it back though and to be able to re-register it

If the car is in a seriously damaged state, eg brake lights not working or bits of sharp metal making it dangerous, broken wing mirror etc - in other words an MOT failure, then no you would not be insured because you are driving a car in an unroadworthy state, and your insurance is dependent on driving a roadworthy car - bit of conundrum really!

You CAN drive a car that has ben 'insurance' written off, it depends on the roadworthiness. Written off cars fall into write off 'categories' a, b, c, x and d. D is light repairable damage and not needing an inspection and inclusion on the V5. Insurance write offs are a financial consideration, not to do with the damage. If the damage to your car had been on a 1 year old BMW they would have repaired it and not written it off.

PS you will get peanuts for your car, and youve probably lost an old but reliable car in the process, which you'll never replace for the sum they give you - it stinks.

Thanks for the messages everyone - we think it's roadworthy (just bodywork damage) but they seem to be saying there's more damage than that, tbh our impression was that they were making it sound like a lot more than it really is. Now seriously thinking about buying it back (think they actually just give us a lower amount of money than if we gave them the car) and getting a friend to fix it up. Will have to see, they're evaluating it properly tomorrow.

I've also got another question - a witness got the reg of the bus that did it - what will happen to the busdriver? Will it be followed up by the insurance people anyway or should we do/have done anything else?

Didn't he stop

Provided the insurance company knows who dun the dirty deed then they will do everything. Provide all the evidence / witness etc you have. If the police werent called at the time and no one was injured they wont be involved. If he didnt stop that is naughty and leaving the scene of an accident is a crime, so maybe police involvement? Perhaps he did just drive on and wasnt aware of your car?? Police involvement complicates it from your point of view so hope they stay out!

Sorry waffling--- the insurance company will do everything regarding chasing the insurer of the bus. They will pay you out first, and recover their costs. If no one was injured then there is no need for injury claims. If you had legal cover from your insurer and you were injured then they would fight for you for compensation. If not you would have to go to one of the ambulance chasers.

If the damage to your car is superficial it is worth buying it back and repairing it yourself. They offer peanuts, so argue the toss and you might get a smigeon more. A bastard lorry wrote of my 18 month old car and they offered me 1K less than it cost to replace it. It really was irrepairable as the bonnet measured 6 inches after the sod pulled out in front of me!