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Original poster

HOw can they do this? Write off a perfectly sound vehicle?? AGGHH!

35 replies

Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:11

My beloved camper van had a nasty argument with a low roof in a car park and the fibreglass high-top was damaged.
So we contacted insurance co. who sent out a claims investigator chap.

The van is not worth a huge amount but we love it dearly. It has passed MOT about a fortnight ago with flying colours, everything is fine, it runs beautifully and has been lovingly converted into a super family funmobile. All is tickety-boo except this roof which would cost around £500MAX to fix.

HOW can the feckers justify writing it off? ''Beyond economical reapir'' they sday and want to come and tow it off. Well over my dead body.
Never mind my emotional attacthment or the fact that the amount they will give us will not buy one wheel of a new van. It's the waste of it all which is maiking me deranged with fury.
I'm chaining myself to the bumper as we speak.

OP posts:
TooTicky · 18/05/2008 20:12

But they can't tow it away, can they? It is yours.

SlightlyMadSweet · 18/05/2008 20:13

It is the value.

It would cost more that the ionsurable value to repair.

So they either pay (for e.g) £1200 to repair it or £1000 to write it off.

If you were teh insurance company which would you do?

SlightlyMadSweet · 18/05/2008 20:13

If they write it off it is technically theirs.

LittleMyDancing · 18/05/2008 20:14

Surely you can refuse? You'd have to pay the £500 yourself for repairs, though, that's the only problem. for your van.

Original poster
Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:14

no, but what is the point of paying out miullions in insurance and not claiming anything ever. And then when something happens they just say ''oh no, we're not paying out that. Write it off, here's £50, off you fuck....''

OP posts:
hercules1 · 18/05/2008 20:14

It looks like you will have to fix it yourself then. How much are they offering? It should be the cost to be a like for like van.

Original poster
Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:15

yes but it's insured for £1500. Repairs will cost £500 AT THE MOST> SO how can it be beyond economical reapir?

OP posts:
SlightlyMadSweet · 18/05/2008 20:15

My FIL had a old banger of a van written off.

I think he came to some arrangement with insureres and bought it back off tehm for a lower amount and sorted repairs from a salvage yard.

That was a few years ago now, and not all insurers will be amenable to negotiation.

windygalestoday · 18/05/2008 20:15

we hd this 2 yers ago with a omega it had damaged bumper i dont know if you know but some people suggest buying it back off the insurers but that isnt as simple as it seems theres a lot of hidden costs.

hercules1 · 18/05/2008 20:16

It's not how much it's insured for that matters but how much they deem it to be worth compared to their estimated cost of fixing it.

Original poster
Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:16

funnily enough the man they soent round mentioned a similar story....
However, would this mean the van was unisurable afterwards, technically having been written off?

OP posts:
DaisySteiner · 18/05/2008 20:16

You can sometimes use some of the money they give you as a payout to buy back the vehicle and have it repaired yourself.

Also, never accept the first amount they offer you for the vehicle - we've had two cars written off and both times we hunted around for similar cars for sale (same model, age etc) then sent them the adverts to prove that our car was actually worth more than they said. Both times they increased the offer significantly.

SlightlyMadSweet · 18/05/2008 20:16

Depends where they have their quote for repairs - and what that quote is.

Depends whether they agree with the marketable value...irrespective of the value you have it insured for.

PortAndLemon · 18/05/2008 20:17

Because they reckon that fixing it will cost an unacceptable proportion of the cost of the vehicle. We've had this happen to two cars and it makes you weep, it really does (and go at the ecological repercussions).

It's not unheard of to be able to buy the written-off vehicle back from the insurance company and then fix it (although will need extra roadworthiness tests before you can get it). Or I think you can withdraw your claim and just pay to fix it yourselves.

SlightlyMadSweet · 18/05/2008 20:18

Not necessarily, depends what the grounds were for writing it off. If it was unsafe then yes it would be un-insurable.

If it is just "beyond econimical repair" it shouldn't be a problem.

HappyMummyOfOne · 18/05/2008 20:19

Ask the assessor/insurer the value they have placed on the vehicle - you say you insurerd it for £1500 but thats your estimate, trade value can be very different.

Once you have that then you can see if its worth sourcing alternative quotes to keep the repairs economical.

They cannot take the vehicle off you until you have agreed settlement. I am assuming you have the vehicle and its not incurring storage charges etc.

Original poster
Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:22

tbh it's the environmental reprecussions I m most angry at...presumably if we agreed they would scrap it...It's a ford tranny, it'll go on for years and years...

OP posts:
Original poster
Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:23

the van in on our driveway. we had a chap ring saying he had been instructed to remove it before we hasd even had the letter from the insurance company . We told him er, no!

OP posts:
SaintGeorge · 18/05/2008 20:28

Ask for a cash in lieu value.

Our car was written off because of cosmetic damage. Car value was £2500 less excess, repairs estimated at about £2100 IRCC so they wrote it off.

We asked for cash in lieu. Got £1651 less excess, so a nice cheque for £1451.

Got the car repaired for £800.

tissy · 18/05/2008 20:28

we had a vw polo written off a couple of years ago, took the £2000 they offered and waved goodbye, thinking it had gone to the scrapyard. A couple of months later, we had a letter from DVLA, as someone else had applied to register it, and we had to confirm that we no longer owned it.

It seems that rather than scrap it, insurance company sold the car to a dealer who repaired it and sold it on. So it was worth repairing after all. i was furious, as aside from a damaged wing from dh driving it into a tree, it was a perfectly good car.

PortAndLemon · 18/05/2008 20:33

Good job it's on your driveway. One of ours they decided to write off and hence withdrew insurance cover with immediate effect while it was parked on the road. So we couldn't legally move it (and were in fact already breaking the law having it on the public highway). That meant we weren't really in a position to try to find another solution other than accepting their offer even though we would have liked to keep the car and get it fixed.

Original poster
Fullmoonfiend · 18/05/2008 20:35

bastards!

OP posts:
LittleMyDancing · 18/05/2008 21:54

I don't understand how they can make you do anything - the van doesn't belong to them. If you decide not to claim and pay for the repairs yourself, they can choose not to insure it any more, but surely that's all? And if it passes it's MOT, then it's roadworthy, isn't it?

or am I being hopelessly dumb?

alittleone2 · 19/05/2008 09:27

Message withdrawn

sunnylabsmum · 19/05/2008 10:00

When you approach the insurance company ask how much it is to buy back the salvage. Some will say its not possible, but it is . We bought back the salvage of a sports car which had had an electrical fault. DH repaired it for £250 and then resold it. Was v upfront to the buyer and said it had been an insurance write off. Ended up slightly in profit too. Good Luck!!

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