Insurance write off

dizbo

Right guys. Never made a claim before and have to make a claim due to an incident. Just wondering where do I stand with insurance. Will the car be deemed as a write off. If so what are my options. How much on average would they offer.

The car in question is a 2002 Skoda Octavia Estate. 1.6 manual. 81000 miles on the clock. Was taxed at the time. Fresh Nct two months before hand. And I'm fully comp with my NCB protected. My partner was driving the car. She is a named driver with a full licence.

Below is what happened

My partner and her friend and were travelling down a road (secondary road) about 06:50 in the morning of the 31st of December on the way to work.

This road to my knowledge is a 80kph road. It goes about 400 to 450 metres straight and then there is a bend to the right. After the bend in the road it's about 6 metres in width and a driveway about 50 metres on the left after the bend.

My partner was doing between 70-80kph down the straight slowing to under 50kph around the bend. As she came around the bend she could see a car coming the opposite direction. The car had its full beams on and was on my partners side of the road. Half way between the bend and the driveway my partner realised this person wasn't pulling over to their own side of the road and they also didn't turn off their full beams. My partner had no choice other than to pull into the ditch to avoid hitting the other car. As she moved slightly into the ditch (3/4 of the way between the bend and driveway) the wetness of the mucky grass pulled her in. My partner thinks she wasn't going any faster than 50kph as she was only just around the bend.

As the muck pulled her in, she went over the driveway and hit a mound of dirt the opposite side of the driveway. She then continued on an other bit in the thick bushes and came to a stop.

The car that was driving in the opposite direction drove on and never stopped to see if they where ok or to check damage or anything. As it was dark out and the other car had their full beams on. Neither of them got a look at the make or model of the other car. All they could tell me was it was a saloon car.

After a few minutes, after making sure the passenger was ok, my partner rang myself and informed me of the crash. We live about ten minutes away from the scene so I drove our second car out to the scene.

In the meantime, my partner managed to drive the car out of the ditch. And parked with her hazards on.

When I arrived the two girls where shook up. My partner had dislocated her shoulder, to which she was able to pop back in. She had hurt her wrist also and had a few bumps and bruises. The passenger had injured her lower back and also had a few bumps and bruises. Care doc is only 5 min away and I thought it would be quicker to drive them there than wait for an ambulance.

I parked our second car up in a driveway and drove the crashed car a few yards to make sure it was drivable and then drove that car to the care doc. I didn't want to take the passenger out of the car incase she had serious injuries to her back.

We where in the care doc for best part of an hour while the doctor examined the two girls. After care doc, I then drove to the Garda station and reported the accident to them and asked them to make a record of the incident.

Damage to the care is as follows

Need new front bumper, passenger side wing lining. Two front indicators. Drivers side headlamp. Rear passenger lamp and a rear axel.

The assessor came out to my mechanics today and declared it a write off (never said which category). Now I'm just waiting on the insurance company to get in contact with me.

The car was in excellent condition and I kept her serviced every 6k miles. Was actually due a service this month which I've even bought the parts for. Was just waiting for my mechanic to open after the new year when this happened.

I have it insured for €2500. It's hard to find an octavia estate on carzone etc. the ones I did are going from €2700 for similar spec mileage etc. and 04 models are going for over €4500.

I'm afraid the insurance company will offer me stupid money and write the car off and I won't be able to afford a new car. I need the octavia estate as its perfect for my dogs which I've invested a bit if money in for custom cages build specifically for my model.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on what I can do or what happens from here etc......

goodlad

As far as im aware you wont get more for it than you insured it for.
You say you have it insured for 2500 so that's most likely all your gonna get.

dizbo

Well I don't mind getting that once the car is repairable and not written off. But would they turn around and offer say €1200

djimi

Insurance is there to put you in the same position as you were before the accident. You have to take the excess into account, but if what you are being offered is not sufficient to replace your car then go out, get some prices of similar cars, and bring them to the insurer. You dont have to accept the first figure that they offer you.

Kenny Logins

Do you have an estimate on the repairs?

miller50841

Could you not get parts off another crashed car and do some of the handy bit's yourself and get someone to fix the axle like a independent garage.

bohsfan

In my experience they will have a valuation done on the car and will offer whatever price that turns back. It could really be anything, and would certainly not be guaranteed to be exactly what you had it listed for...

I had a Passat listed for 1700 that was written off and I received €1250. In my experience the price you list your car for is a bit academic- as long as you dont list it ridiculously low then it's pretty irrelevant. Their valuation could come in below or above what you listed.

I'm open to correction though!

dizbo

djimi wrote: »

Insurance is there to put you in the same position as you were before the accident. You have to take the excess into account, but if what you are being offered is not sufficient to replace your car then go out, get some prices of similar cars, and bring them to the insurer. You dont have to accept the first figure that they offer you.

Yeah I know my excess is €125 as I lowered it while taking out my insurance. I have print outs of cars around the same type. Only problem is most are hatchback as estates are rare to come by (which in my opinion makes them more valuable)

dizbo

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Do you have an estimate on the repairs?

No. My mate said just let their assessor come out first. No point in getting an estimate as it would be written off with the axle bent. Which it was.

miller50841 wrote: »

Could you not get parts off another crashed car and do some of the handy bit's yourself and get someone to fix the axle like a independent garage.

That's the plan. I can buy a whole estate (not my shape but pervious one) for about €500 and use that other than front bumper, headlights and indicators.

My mate will do the work for nothing. But if he was do to an estimate he said it would be well over 2k as he has to do the work legit for paperwork wise etc....

Henry Ford III

djimi wrote: »

Insurance is there to put you in the same position as you were before the accident. You have to take the excess into account, but if what you are being offered is not sufficient to replace your car then go out, get some prices of similar cars, and bring them to the insurer. You dont have to accept the first figure that they offer you.

If the vehicle is underinsured that won't apply.

Kenny Logins

dizbo wrote: »

No. My mate said just let their assessor come out first. No point in getting an estimate as it would be written off with the axle bent. Which it was.


That's the plan. I can buy a whole estate (not my shape but pervious one) for about €500 and use that other than front bumper, headlights and indicators.

My mate will do the work for nothing. But if he was do to an estimate he said it would be well over 2k as he has to do the work legit for paperwork wise etc....

That's what I meant, not an insurance repairs estimate.

650Ginge

dizbo wrote: »

Well I don't mind getting that once the car is repairable and not written off. But would they turn around and offer say €1200

They will offer market value it doesn't matter what you said it was worth. The market value is likely to be determined by the independent assessor, be nice to him/her.

dizbo

Kenny Logins wrote: »

That's what I meant, not an insurance repairs estimate.

My mate wrecking 6-700 and I can have the car back in perfect health. But that's off the books.

Like the car has been written off by assessor. Just waiting to hear which category. If its a write off repairable (cat c or d I think) I can buy the car back or something and fix it up myself.

Like I won't mind if they say give me €1000 plus the car and I fix it myself. It'll cost me say the €700 for parts and ill give my mate the rest for labour.

Just I'm not sure how all this works. Once I have my car up and running and it hasn't put me out of pocket I don't care.

Then will my insurance go up next year cause I've claimed even with my NCB protected.

dizbo

650Ginge wrote: »

They will offer market value it doesn't matter what you said it was worth. The market value is likely to be determined by the independent assessor, be nice to him/her.

And how do people determine this market value?

goodlad

dizbo wrote: »

And how do people determine this market value?

Generally they get an idea of market value by looking up similar cars on carzone or other similar sites.

They will compare the year and mileage to get an idea of price.

dizbo

So if what I'm finding is from €2700 onwards and my car is completely written off. They should really honour the value of €2500 or close to it. Minus the excess fee?

If its a write off repairable. I'm presuming they'd honour the same money minus whatever price I have to buy the car back at?

dieselbug

You need to be careful here.

If the car is written off as an uneconomical repair and the insurance company pay out, they may refuse to reinsure you with this same car. I have seen an example of this. I would advise you to check if they are prepared to insure you with it after it is repaired. I suspect not.

Think about it, how can the insurance company be seen to cover you in this car after they have written it off and paid you. They will cover it for someone else but not you.

Like I say, I have seen this, where they refused point blank to insure the original owner, after paying, but it is still motoring and looking better than ever.

The staff admitted (off the record) there was no way he was going to get it covered.

dizbo

dieselbug wrote: »

You need to be careful here.

If the car is written off as an uneconomical repair and the insurance company pay out, they may refuse to reinsure you with this same car. I have seen an example of this. I would advise you to check if they are prepared to insure you with it after it is repaired. I suspect not.

Think about it, how can the insurance company be seen to cover you in this car after they have written it off and paid you. They will cover it for someone else but not you.

Like I say, I have seen this, where they refused point blank to insure the original owner, after paying, but it is still motoring and looking better than ever.

The staff admitted (off the record) there was no way he was going to get it covered.

To my knowledge. Every insurance company has to quote you. It's law. They can quote you ridiculously. But they still have to quote you. If they refuse you can ask for written confirmation that they will not insure you and then you can get onto the insurance regulator.

dieselbug

"To my knowledge. Every insurance company has to quote you. It's law. They can quote you ridiculously. But they still have to quote you. If they refuse you can ask for written confirmation that they will not insure you and then you can get onto the insurance regulator."

Yes, you are correct, but I suspect they may not have to quote you on a car that has been written off by them and paid for.

In my example, they were prepared to insure him, just not that particular car.

djimi

If the car has been repaired properly and has the paperwork to show that it has been properly inspected then I don't see why the insurer would not insure it. An economic write off just means that the repairs come to more than the insurer is prepared to pay out; it doesn't mean that the car is necessarily unroadworthy or can never be repaired properly.

dieselbug

djimi wrote: »

If the car has been repaired properly and has the paperwork to show that it has been properly inspected then I don't see why the insurer would not insure it. An economic write off just means that the repairs come to more than the insurer is prepared to pay out; it doesn't mean that the car is necessarily unroadworthy or can never be repaired properly.

The quality of the repair was not the issue. The attitude seemed to be, we have wrote off your car and paid the value to you. We cannot now insure you in this car. It makes us look stupid.

They admitted they would insure the car for someone else, just not the person they paid out to.

Better to check and be sure before making any plans.

djimi

I see what youre saying. Seems a very strange stance for them to take; quite like cutting their nose off to spite their face!

dizbo

Ok. Got a phone call from the assessor. He told me the value he is sending into the insurance company is 2250 was I happy with that. I told him that the cheapest car I've seen is for 2700 for same spec with about 40k more miles on it. Long story short is that his final assessment is €2250. It's not bad if I decide to keep the car and repair it. But now I'm worried about the reinsuring of the car.

I still have to wait for the insurance company to ring me up and let me know what the salvage value is if I want to keep the car.

From the sounds of what I got from the assessor. My insurance company will check the salvage value. If they say its €500. If I keep my car it will be 2250 - 500 - 125 (excess fee) which will leave me with €1625 plus my car. But I'm not sure what salvage value of my car is or how I can verify whatever price they come back with.

Can I argue with the insurance company for the €2500 that I have the car insured at or even for more? At this stage I don't want to have to go through the hassle of trying to reinsure the car with them. I'd rather just buy the same car I've seen for €2700 so I would need as much money as possible.

Any other advice on what to do next or should I just await the insurance company to get back tomp me first before getting worked up about it all.

djimi

If 2250 isnt enough to replace your car then politely decline their first offer and show them evidence that the cheapest equivilant is 2700 for a car with higher mileage.

scrap_man

I'm in the motor trade and deal with write offs regularly. If the car is still repairable then the car will be written off as an unecominic repair, they will tell you the book value (say 2200 as an example) they will then put a salvage value on it, we'll say 800 as an example again. You will then have two options either take the full value (2200 minus the excess) and they will sell the car, or you can keep the car, get it repaired with second hand parts and the will pay you the book value minus the salvage and excess.
If you think their book value is too low, you can argue with them and try get them to increase it, but this will also increase the salvage value aswell. Another thing is to tell them your without a car since the crash and ask for car hire, usually 30 euros a day, they might give you 4 or 5 days worth.

dizbo

scrap_man wrote: »

I'm in the motor trade and deal with write offs regularly. If the car is still repairable then the car will be written off as an unecominic repair, they will tell you the book value (say 2200 as an example) they will then put a salvage value on it, we'll say 800 as an example again. You will then have two options either take the full value (2200 minus the excess) and they will sell the car, or you can keep the car, get it repaired with second hand parts and the will pay you the book value minus the salvage and excess.
If you think their book value is too low, you can argue with them and try get them to increase it, but this will also increase the salvage value aswell. Another thing is to tell them your without a car since the crash and ask for car hire, usually 30 euros a day, they might give you 4 or 5 days worth.

Thanks for the info. That's the way I was thinking it was gonna work. I'm not trying to scam them but I def think the car is worth more. I'm going to get a new car rather than keep and repair. Was looking at it long term and the hassle of trying to reinsure it with them. Besides. Think ill go diesel this time. Same make and model though.

Still waiting for the phone call from the insurance company. Rang them Monday and they said they where waiting on the salvage company to get back to them.

blindside88

dizbo wrote: »

To my knowledge. Every insurance company has to quote you. It's law. They can quote you ridiculously. But they still have to quote you. If they refuse you can ask for written confirmation that they will not insure you and then you can get onto the insurance regulator.

Every insurance company does not have to quote you, if the details don't fall within there acceptance criteria they can refuse to quote. You can then ask for a letter of decline and bring these to the insurance regulator. As motor insurance is compulsory the regulator will have 1 company quote you but every company isn't obliged to

dizbo

blindside88 wrote: »

Every insurance company does not have to quote you, if the details don't fall within there acceptance criteria they can refuse to quote. You can then ask for a letter of decline and bring these to the insurance regulator. As motor insurance is compulsory the regulator will have 1 company quote you but every company isn't obliged to

I see