VW Passat Flood Damage and Insurance Question

colettew

Hi,

My car was recently damaged in a flood - its a 2004 VW Passat - Highline. I paid €18,500 for it 2 and a half years ago and still have a loan of €10k on it. I've never made an insurance claim of any kind before now in my 11 years of driving so not sure how to deal with this.
The garage said that my car is 'fixable' but would need a new/second hand engine. The insurance assessors said that it's been classed as a total loss/cat D, valued at €7500 and that a salvage company would give me €2300 and they'd give me €5200 less my excess (€150) - so basically €7350. I have disputed this value but haven't heard back from them yet re: the appeal. In the meantime I don't know what to do about the car. I really want to keep it and get it fixed (just recently spent €2500 getting bits and pieces fixed on it).

Can I keep the car and get it fixed out of the insurance pay out?
If so is it just the €5200 (less excess) that they'll give me?
If I get it fixed will I be able to get insurance if it is classed as a Cat D?
Am I better off just taking the €7350 and just buying something else (even though I'd hate to do so after paying so much for it and still having such a big loan on it?)

Thanks in advance

ShayK1

are you from Carlow by any chance?

colettew

no, galway

Seth Brundle

colettew wrote: »

The garage said that my car is 'fixable' but would need a new/second hand engine. The insurance assessors said that it's been classed as a total loss/cat D, valued at €7500 and that a salvage company would give me €2300 and they'd give me €5200 less my excess (€150) - so basically €7350. I have disputed this value but haven't heard back from them yet re: the appeal. In the meantime I don't know what to do about the car. I really want to keep it and get it fixed (just recently spent €2500 getting bits and pieces fixed on it).

Can I keep the car and get it fixed out of the insurance pay out?
If so is it just the €5200 (less excess) that they'll give me?
If I get it fixed will I be able to get insurance if it is classed as a Cat D?
Am I better off just taking the €7350 and just buying something else (even though I'd hate to do so after paying so much for it and still having such a big loan on it?)

How badly was the cabin damaged?
What condition is the car generally (silt behind panels, etc.)?
You could keep the car and the €5,200 and possibly get it repaired but the resale would not be worth much.

What are similar models asking for on carzone?

colettew

I haven't a clue how badly the 'cabin' was damaged - don't even know what that is - sorry. Water was not that deep - it did not come into the car itself. Car passed it's nct in the summer without any problems and until 2 months ago I had no problems with it at all - then had to get the gearbox reconditioned, a new drive shaft and new turbo sensor and air conditioning unit repaired all in the space of 3 months!
It has high mileage - approx €120k miles. I checked prices of similar cars on various websites for Insurance company when disputing the value and they range from €6,500 to €18,950 but are generally around €10k for similar spec and mileage.

Seth Brundle

Was it damaged whilst driving (just checking)?

Also, contest the insurance figure - show them figures from carzone (the ones in your favour obviously). Try and get them to thro another grand or two onto the value.

What needs to be fixed exactly - just the engine swap? Anything else? Keeping the car and getting her fixed sounds like a no brainer assuming that the cabin (i.e. the little room place with doors where you sit whilst ranting at every other driver on the road [that may just be me]) has not been damaged at all.

colettew

Thanks kbannon,
Yeah it was damaged whilst driving.
No damage at all to the cabin (and yes I have terrible rants in it!)
Just the engine to be replaced as far as I know.
I've emailed links for 12 similar passats to the insurance company with values from 12k to 18k so hoping to get a little more from them.

vw4life

should easily pick up a good second-hand engine for that and pay about €5-600 to fit it

dont be afraid to ring breakers in the UK,delivery is about €100 usually

colettew

Thanks vw4life,
Would insurance be a problem after I get it fixed as it has been classed as a Cat D?

Seth Brundle

Absolutely not!
My own car was written off as a cat D 18 months ago. I got my cheque from Quinn and today aside from a few niggles that you would get on a car with 140k miles, she is perfect!

Redsoxfan

vw4life wrote: »

dont be afraid to ring breakers in the UK,delivery is about €100 usually

Sorry to veer off-topic here, but have you actually got something as heavy as an engine delivered from the UK for €100? If so, was it your own courier or one provided by the seller?

tred

Collette, just send u a post. I wouldnt be as fast to settle yet wiht insurance. if ur no claims is insured, see would the cover cost of an engine instead......That car, with recon gearbox and no interior damage regarding water...would just need a reconditioned engine, and you will get a good few more years out of it.

Theanswers

Throw the engine on a pallet. Get machinary brought over from England alot. You can sometimes get a pallet over for as little as €55. Depends. Your engine will not be expensive to bring over. 2-3 day delivary as well!

Seth Brundle

tred wrote: »

Collette, just send u a post. I wouldnt be as fast to settle yet wiht insurance. if ur no claims is insured, see would the cover cost of an engine instead......That car, with recon gearbox and no interior damage regarding water...would just need a reconditioned engine, and you will get a good few more years out of it.

She would be financially better off were she to make the claim and restore the car herself - especially since many insurance companys have said that they wouldn't penalise people because of the floods.

no1beemerfan

tred wrote: »

Collette, just send u a post. I wouldnt be as fast to settle yet wiht insurance. if ur no claims is insured, see would the cover cost of an engine instead......That car, with recon gearbox and no interior damage regarding water...would just need a reconditioned engine, and you will get a good few more years out of it.

My uncle drove through a flood last year and damaged his engine. '04 Golf. Insurance replaced engine for him. He'd to pay an excess but they did put an engine in. A new one in fact!

mickdw

that doesnt sound like a bad price in the current climate.
You can get a new model comfortline 2005 passat for over 8k asking price.

nogoodnamesleft

mickdw wrote: »

that doesnt sound like a bad price in the current climate.
You can get a new model comfortline 2005 passat for over 8k asking price.

Would you want the new model considering the amount of problems the b6 platform passat has? :P

vw4life

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Sorry to veer off-topic here, but have you actually got something as heavy as an engine delivered from the UK for €100? If so, was it your own courier or one provided by the seller?

got one delivered recently,cost €90,just rang around and that was the best price

mossfort

with 120k miles on the clock 7350 euros is not a bad price for the car.
if you buy a seconhand engine you dont know what your getting.
with the secondhand car market at the moment you could get a good car for that money.
if the gearbox failed the car was probaly abused before you bought it so it mighnt be a good car to be putting money into.
anyone whos asking 12-18k for an 04 passat is dreaming .

colettew

Wish they'd put in a new engine for me as I'd be back to zero mileage but they said that it'd cost more than the car is worth to do that and apparently they'll only put new engines in 2006 cars or newer these days.

I rang insurance company today re: my appeal of the value so it'll take another few days to find out engineer's decision on that.

mickdw/mossfort, I know the offer from insurance may not seem bad in the current climate but unfortunately I bought the car when prices were still high and I still have a big loan on it and have spent a lot on it so I want it to last me for a few more years yet (as a point of principle maybe!). Maybe getting another car would be best given the trouble I've had with this one but the same could happen again so at least with mine I know what has already broken down and been fixed.
Prices for Passat on some of the websites were ridiculously unrealistic esp those over 12k but I wasn't going to say that to the insurance company - I just want them to move closer to the average price of Highlines rather than the lower prices advertised.

Got a price on a reconditioned/secondhand engine and fitting of it and waiting for a 2nd price too.

Garage gave me the lend of a car til after Christmas so that takes a bit of pressure off getting my own sorted.

jimmycrackcorm

The real question is - can you buy a replacement car that is equivalent for €7350?

colettew

Don't know Jimmy,
I love my car, despite the fact that it's cost me a fortune lately! It took me 3 months to find exactly the one I wanted. Maybe I could get car with the equivalent spec for that price but I haven't seen any yet (within my price range) that I like the 'look' of, with the same power, gadgets etc

cian1500ww

That's actually a good price for the passat, you certainly wouldn't get it if you tried to sell it before the flood damage.

mickdw

nogoodnamesleft wrote: »

Would you want the new model considering the amount of problems the b6 platform passat has? :P

Im aware of the problems with the curent passat but having said that, we have had 3 of them in the family now. 2 2005s & an 08. No problems really. Fly wheel went in one of the 05s at about 100,000 miles.
Fuel return cooler fell off other 05. They were recalled for that problem a week later. None of the other common problems though

coronaextra

Take the money, let the car go and buy something else, you wont find 5K clocking up on repairs and then the resale value will be very poor.

It may seem like a good idea to try and get it fixed yourself but think of all the extra hassle involved and problems encountered along the way. Unfortunately the insurance company wrote the car off for a reason and they usually are right unless you can manage to work on the car yourself to bring down costs etc.

That’s just my opinion as you could start spending money on repairs and easily go over your budget due to unforeseen circumstances.

Anyway best of luck with it!

colettew

Thanks coronaextra,
Will see what the garage says on Monday re: repair costs and go from there.