*******Motors Chat - Round 7*******

Would anyone here be able to throw an opinion out?

My friend has an old 206. Hadn't sent it in for NCT last year, as it has been given him a few problems, mostly electrical, that he reckons will cost the value of his car to fix, and he's hoping to get a different car towards the end of the year.

Not sure how long his NCT is out, but it's a while (not sure if it'd be a year or not); the car is taxed.

He rang me in a panic there - some scumbags have broken into his car. In order to do so, they bent the whole top of the door frame out/down.

He reckons the car is a writeoff as he can't imagine it being a cheap fix (unless he gets a door somewhere? But even then I'd imagine thats a pricy fix, to he changing doors around?).

He said he didn't ring Insurance yet as he's not sure if 1) they'll cover attempted break in (im lead to believe the dirtbags didn't actually get in or take anything), and 2) if him having no NCT would cause hassle?

He's fully comp. My thought is the the Insurance company will just declare the car an economic write off if it works out too expensive to fix, or they'll just fix it and move on, if it's cheap, and that NCT will not be mentioned either way?
(I think that in the event if a claim, insurance company have to demonstrate that the lack of NCT was a contributory factor to avoid paying out?).

Or am I way off? Haven't seen the car myself, but I have seen cars damaged like that before (door frame bent) so I've an idea what he means.

I think he's actually hoping that the break in, coupled with his previous electrical and mechanical issues, May lead the Insurance company to write the car off, but I don't think they acknowledge other issues do they?

(and even if they do, I think his car is only worth about a grand, so even if they do write it off and pay him market value, he will only have the money to buy another car for the same money (most likely with it's own expensive issues!).