I'm amazed they want to write this off

WestWicklow1

A van reversed into the car pictured below recently. The van's insurance company accepted liability based on dashcam video (although the van driver claimed he was rear-ended).

Now they want to write it off. The car is a 142 Hyundai i40 diesel that was perfect before the damage and is still driving. I'm amazed that it is a write-off (even economical) but I'm no expert. To the layman's eye, it looks relatively minor.

The car is currently in the insurer's preferred workshop.

My questions are...

Can a second opinion be sought?

Can the insured insist on it being repaired?

bazz26

I don't think they are obliged to repair it. My understanding is that they are only obliged to put you into a similar financial position that you were in before their client hit you. Which ever is the most economical way to do that is up to them. They normally have a cut off percentage of the cost of repair versus the market value of the car. What market value at they putting on the car?

You could always buy the car back from them and have it repaired yourself. They will deduct it's salvage value from the amount they pay out to you via the write off.

Things to take into account before going down that route though is what damage underneath is there that is not visible, the current market value of a similar car, the price of replacement parts, etc. Can they be sourced second hand? Remember that the insurance company will price new parts only but will also deduct VAT from the over all price it will cost them to put it back on the road whereas you will pay VAT on parts, paint and labour. Maybe have a chat with the motor assessor to understand their findings before making a final decision.

Also you don't have to accept their first offer of settlement, you can negotiate with them once you have a realistic valuation of the car.

User1998

Is it your car? The cost of a hire car can quickly add up which is why cheap cars are written off a lot of the time

mk7r

The value of an i40 is relatively low and Hyundai parts prices are absolutely crazy for things like body panels, headlights etc so that's probably why.

An insurer wont use second hand parts to fix a car.

RiderOnTheStorm

in my experience, a 'write off' is when the cost of repairing the car is over 1/3 value of the car. Not fair, but thats how insurance look at it. With cost of panels, painting (v expensive!) and electrics, this quickly mounts up. Alsom it seems that insurance just see the year of the car and everything goes out the window ...

Def looks fixable to me .... depending on whats happened underneath, of course

Buffman

This is where the different categories of 'write off' come into play. That car is 100% an 'easy' fix, but not a cheap fix if doing it the insurance way of all new parts and professional labour on a 9 year old car.

So it's damaged 'beyond economical repair'. So it'll be either sold to a salvage yard for parts or bought by someone to fix up cheaply using second-hand parts. Even when fixed it will always be worth less as it will be marked as a write off on the car checks, so that's why doing checks before buying is important.

Whocare

Hopefully your neck is OK especially after van driver was trying f**k you over

cpoh1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367934#Comment_121367934

What?!

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367934#Comment_121367934

It's this thinking that has insurance costs raised for every one of us.

Whocare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371071#Comment_121371071

What thinking is that? car is badly damaged other driver try to get out of blame personally with hit like that I would without doubt have soft Tissue damage

GSBellew

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371607#Comment_121371607

With the neck you have on you I highly doubt it was damaged. 🙄

Henry Ford III

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371607#Comment_121371607

Advocating fraud isn't a good idea.

Marlay

There was someone talking about this in a YouTube video recently. It can also be down to the ETA for parts to arrive. If the manufacturer can't give a time for the parts to be delivered the insurance company has to take into account how long a hire car will be needed for (if provided). I asked Hyundai recently about an a/c condenser and they couldn't give me an ETA.

Miscreant

Not sure if long car rental even comes into it any more for most policies. Any policy details I have seen in the last year or two state a max of 10 days car hire and then you are on your own. The insurance company would, more than likely, have a deal with a rental company to provide you with something at a rock bottom price so that could total about €400 or €500 of the claim cost.

I had a front bumper and headlight replaced on a Toyota Auris in 2015 with new, genuine parts and that ran to €1500 with nothing else needing doing, that was 8 years ago and costs have only gone up since. You are probably looking at €3 to €3.5k worth of parts damage to the front of that i40 alone. A new bumper, new bonnet, new fog and headlights, new trims, new clips and any electrics behind the grille would mount up the costs pretty quickly. Factor in the paint and labour and I imagine it would be somewhere near €6k to repair that with new, genuine parts, materials and labour. I would wonder about the state of the bottom of the A pillar as well and you will not see that until the wing and bonnet are removed. Could get nasty when you take parts off to look underneath.

It is a shame really, as it looks like a well looked after car.

To answer the OPs original questions though:

1. Yes, you can get a second opinion but it will most likely be at your own expense.
2. In my experience, you will be unable to insist on a repair once they have declared it a write off. I believe you may be able to buy the car back as "salvage" and have it repaired yourself though but that depends on how much trouble you want to go to.

Looking on Carzone, good example i40s from 2014 (in white) look to range from €9k to €13k so if the insurance company insists on a write off, do not accept their first offer and hit them with evidence of how much it would cost you to replace like with like. The point of insurance is to put you back in the same condition you were in before the incident occurred so keep yourself informed of values and stay in touch with the insurance company come pay out time.

The Royal Scam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367934#Comment_121367934

OP never mentioned they were in the car. These kind of no brain comments is why insurance companies charge us normal people so much.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121372097#Comment_121372097

Any policy details I have seen in the last year or two state a max of 10 days car hire and then you are on your own.

That's not relevant at all as that's for your own policy in case of your car being off the road and what YOUR insurance company will provide YOU as the insured. In this case a claim is being made off another driver's policy. You may need a hire car for however long it's going to take, and you'll be claiming for however long it's going to take, and the other driver's insurance company is calculating this into the cost of the claim. The write-off decision is based on the total cost of the claim. You can often see some barely scuffed vehicles for sale in salvage auctions as evidence of this.

if the insurance company insists on a write off, do not accept their first offer and hit them with evidence of how much it would cost you to replace like with like.

it doesn't matter what the OP argues, the insurance company has deemed it a write-off. If the OP wants to keep the car, they can buy it back as salvage and repair it themselves. The assessor's report might be reporting structural damage or anything.

Eggs For Dinner

It is accepted and tried practice that car hire from a liable person is limited to 2/3 weeks. In the UK it goes on until the claim is settled and often exceeds the cost of the damaged vehicle. High risk strategy if you cannot establish liability, you're left with a huge hire charge

BorneTobyWilde

If I own the car in the photo, and they want to write it off , and replace it, what gives them the right to take ownership of damaged car, it's still my car?

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121373661#Comment_121373661

Nothing, you can keep the car if you want and they will pay you the value of the repairs minus VAT

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058322540/im-amazed-they-want-to-write-this-off

The lying pr1ck. Can you take the drivers statement and dashcam to the gardai?

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121373790#Comment_121373790

Why would they do this? The insurance company has already accepted liability!

Dr_Colossus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121373725#Comment_121373725

Why minus VAT? Unless a commercial vehicle then surely VAT is a legitimate expense to a private owner for getting them back to square one prior to all the hassle involved.

Goes to show the value of a dash cam when culprit claimed he was rear ended. Could be a very different situation and expense without that footage.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121374063#Comment_121374063

Someone should not be just allowed to get away with making a false statement!

Whocare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121374224#Comment_121374224

Definitely my poor neck 😫

MacDanger

My car was written off afer being rear-ended last year (it was a 2009 so it didn't take much for it to be an economic write-off) and in my experience, this is how the process works:

• the insurance company gets an assessor to determine the cost of repairing the car vs value of the car (seems like they've already done this and decided that it's a write off)
• the process of valuing the car is heavily weighted in the insurance company's favour e.g. any scratch at all on the car will be used to reduce the "value" of the car
• you can try to press for a higher valuation with the person handling your case but ulimately you have to take what they offer or take them to court to argue the difference (unlikely to be worth your while for the amount you may be arguing over)
• they'll value your car as being worth X amount in scrap (and tell you where you can get that amount), they'll deduct X from their valuation of your car and you'll receive that amount
• It's up to you whether you use that scrapyard or bring it to a different one (I brought it to a different one and got a small amount more) or decide to keep it yourself (if you do keep it, you may need someone to certify it as being back on the road, not sure about this).

It's a complete balls and in my experience, you end up significantly out of pocket despite having done nothing wrong

mickdw

There is no way the op here will be out of pocket if they keep the car and fix it as it will cost very little to fix and they will have a significant pay out from insurer.

Eggs For Dinner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121374126#Comment_121374126

The VAT is a charge on the repair. If it's not being repaired, it doesn't apply. Get it repaired and the insurer will pay.

galwaytt

Ask your insurer the value of the claim.

Then, go to the 3rd party, give them the opportunity to buy the claim, agree a deal, take their money, fix your car, and change left over.

Cancel the claim with insurer once your paid.

Btdt.