Insurance write off?

Ali Babba

Would you buy an insurance write-off repaired car? I was offered a 04 Golf 1.4 that was written off by an insurance company, the seller tells me it was only lightly damaged but the air-bags went off. The car is now repaired and looks very well, good spec, nice wheels, test to 2012 and about 80k miles, it's also got an engineers/ assessors report going with it and it seems to confirm the light damage. The car is selling for around 5000 euros, any I've seen advertised are all over 6000 euros, do ye think it's worth it or should I stay well clear?

Gary ITR

Ali Babba wrote: »

Would you buy an insurance write-off repaired car? I was offered a 04 Golf 1.4 that was written off by an insurance company, the seller tells me it was only lightly damaged but the air-bags went off. The car is now repaired and looks very well, good spec, nice wheels, test to 2012 and about 80k miles, it's also got an engineers/ assessors report going with it and it seems to confirm the light damage. The car is selling for around 5000 euros, any I've seen advertised are all over 6000 euros, do ye think it's worth it or should I stay well clear?

I would have my mechanic check it out and also give the engineer a call to ensure the report is genuine.

I would be looking for at least 30% off the market value of the car, this seems to be the going rate for repaired write-offs

bazz26

Look at this one, you could probably haggle the buyer down to around €5500/5400 on this car.

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201018197853977

thebiglad

Provided it is mechanically sound, professionally repaired etc no reason not to buy it - a lot will depend on the extent and area of original damage.

The insurer didn't repair it due to economics - repair cost 60% of market value, doesn't mean that it isn't repairable.

However do have it thoroughly checked and get a good discount, you may have trouble in selling it on again.

Finally make sure that it is properly re-registered for the road and taken off the total loss registers etc.

Ali Babba

thebiglad wrote: »

Finally make sure that it is properly re-registered for the road and taken off the total loss registers etc.

All checked out ok so i'm buying it tomorrow. How do you re-register it for the road and get it taken off the total loss register???

Thanks for the advice.

fonecrusher1

OP not to piss on your parade but, remember when you try to sell the car on you'll be the one explaining to potential buyers that it was once a write off.

All the best.

Motorcheck

Just thought I'd let you know that it isn't possible to have any record removed from the total loss register at Motorcheck.ie.

I agree with Fonecrusher. If you're happy to proceed with the purchase be sure you're getting a substantial discount that reflect's the repair work completed as any saving you achieve now will be important when you go to sell the car further down the line.

If you're prepared to hold on to the car for a minimum of 3 years and you're buying it for 4 - 5k, normal depreciation should temper the effects of the blot on its copybook.

vectra

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

All the best.

+1

OP

If you bought a perfect S/H car and it got written off in an accident
would you feel the same about the "REPAIRED" Car afterwards?

rebel.ranter

If you fo hold in to your car for 2-3 years & it is costing you €5k by the time you sell it will be worth about €2k at most. People buying a €2k car are unlikely to get a motorchevk done.
Having said that it would only be right that you would tell them at that stage that the previous owner damaged & repaired the car. You would then explain to them that you were happy with the quality if the repairs & that car has (hopefully!) given you 2-3 years of trouble free motoring.
Insurance write-offs as others have said don't necessarily mean unsafe, economics come into it in a big way once the car gets on in years.
Plus when insurance companies get quotes for repair they generally* get a quote using new & genuine parts at their appointed (often price inflated) repair centres**.
The repair could have been completed for a fraction of the cost by using 2nd hand or spurious parts. Which may have been the case here.

Notes:
* Use of new parts has been the case from any incident I have come across
** I had first hand experience of inflation when the insurance company pays about 10 years ago. I got a quote for a "drive-off" damage. Got a price but when I mentioned that the insurance were paying the price was immediately increased.

Ali Babba

I'm getting a 6500 euro car for 5000 euros and I saw a photo of the car damaged which was slight, the air-bags went off and I think that hiked up the price of the repair. I'll be keeping the car for a few years anyway so i'm happy enough with the deal. Thanks again for your help anyway.

Barr

When the airbags go off , Insurance companies tend to write the car off as its costs to much.

If it were me I'd have no trouble with a write off but I would look for more discount than 1k.

Motorcheck

If it's a dealer selling the car it will have to be 'fit for purpose' regardless of its history.

A private sale however is very different. Cudos to the seller for filling you in on the background though. Many more would have said nothing and hoped you wouldn't find out.

fonecrusher1

In hindsight, since the meaning of the word write-off these days can in fact turn out to be anything from a minor prang that caused air-bag detonation to the car being T-boned by a 4x4, i suppose its difficult to give the OP any advice whatsoever without having all the info.

Im sure the car is fine OP. Enjoy.:)

Eoin

I'd buy the equivalent of a Cat D write off, but it would have to be at a substantial discount.

Ali Babba

I think 5000 euros is a good price and a good discount, the car is in mint condition, has lovely genuine VW alloy wheels, built in indicators in the door mirrors, Recarro seats with a full service history, very high spec for a small car. I'm happy anyway.