Claiming For A Wrote Off Car

TheClubMan · 04-08-2022 4:07pm #1

Hi folks,

My brother was recently involved in an accident when he fell asleep at the wheel coming home from his night shift. Luckily, he walked away from it and nobody else was hurt but the 12 year old BMW he recently purchased is now wrote off. He's 21 and on an apprentice's wage and the car is worth €7000. His current comprehensive insurance policy costs €800. I don't know anything about insurance and he is looking for advice on whether to claim for the car or not.

If he does claim he'll obviously lose his no claims bonus but how much will his premium go up next year?

Should he just bite the bullet, cut his losses and buy a cheap car for now?

All advice appreciated.

Allinall · 04-08-2022 4:17pm

First thing he needs to do is establish what value the car was insured for, This is the maximum they will pay out, even if it is lower than the market value.

Also, your brother may think the car is worth €7,000, but the insurer may differ and only offer a lower amount.

I would suggest he contacts the insurer ( he's obliged to report the accident) and see what they say.

04-08-2022 4:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119429242#Comment_119429242

Surely the FIRST THING is to thank luck stars no-one was injured or killed???? Getting behind the wheel knackered is as dangerous as drink driving IMO

coylemj · 04-08-2022 4:58pm

OP, what model was the BMW? I'm trying to figure how a 21 year old could get fully comp on a 12 year old BMW for €800.

As to the value of the car, the max they will pay for a total loss is the lesser of (1) the current market value of the car or (2) what he has it insured for.

And when it comes to the current market value, there's a heap of 2010 BMW 3-series 2 litre diesels on donedeal today for under 6,000 and a few of them with very high mileage are asking 5,000. So good luck expecting to get a payoff of 7,000 for your brother's car.

TheClubMan · 04-08-2022 5:20pm

Yes we all know how lucky he was and we're thankful he's ok. Hopefully he learns from it.

TheClubMan · 04-08-2022 5:23pm

I'm not sure what model the car was and I'm only relaying the information he gave me. What I'm trying to figure out is, it worth going through the insurance to cover the loss of his car and how much roughly will his premium be next year?

Henry Ford III · 05-08-2022 10:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119429509#Comment_119429509

Ask the insurer.

Tabnabs · 05-08-2022 10:21am

I was in a similar situation with a car that was written off as an uneconomical repair. There is room to negotiate the insured value of the car. I had to show numerous examples of the same car model currently for sale on the market. It brought up the sum they paid out to me by about a thousand euro.

Get their figure and then go do your research to see would this amount buy you the same car (age, mileage, spec etc.) before you decide to accept, or try to haggle with them.

Claiming For A Wrote Off Car

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