pslewis

Those of you who follow my posts will know that my daughter had an accident in her car over the Xmas Holidays.

We were told that an assessor would come out and have a look at the damage and make a decision as to repair or write off.

She had a letter yesterday, from a Motor Salvage/Scrapyard, telling her they will pick her car up today - WHAT???????

Having spoken to the Insurance Company, they had inputted the damage (unseen) into their computer and the computer has decided that it's a write-off!!!

So, a PC decides!

This scrapyard auction damaged cars off .... they have one with much heavier damage than on my daughters car - at over £3,000!!!

So, I have requested that an assessor turn out to our property to view the car and make a decision - they have agreed.

I mean, no offer has been made or agreed to, and the car would have been stuck in a Scrapyard 40 miles away!!!! Who knows what damage may have happened to it!

Also, if it's a write-off ... and we buy it back ... how would we have collected it from the salvage yard? I'm sure they wouldn't like seeing a lightly damaged MX5 escape their mitts!

It's just not the old personal service we used to enjoy in the 60's and 70's .... everything is done via computers these days.

Anyone any experience in haggling a fair price from the Insurance Company on a total loss? As most will know, MX5's always sit above book price.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Don't let it go untill a payout price has been agreed.

It is common practise for the above to happen, purely to speed things up, but if issues arise and the car has been taken it can cause issues (IMO of course)

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Ref getting a fair price - find similar examples from Autotrader/Pistonheads and send them to the company.

Assuming they are realistly priced the insurers will normally take those prices into account (have seen it work many, many times)

scubbay

iTrader: (61)

Its possible to agree a cash in lieu settlement with you retaining the salvage via the assessor.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Salvage will normally be approx 20%(ish) of the payout

Wish

iTrader: (2)

What insurance company Pete ?

pslewis

Cheers Moley.

I have taken 5 ads off Autotrader (that's actually all that matched her car, Nationally) ..... they are all around the £6,000 mark.

Assuming a discount of 10% - I would say that a very fair value for it would be £5,500. Which is a bit ahead of Parkers Guide - which is why I'm concerned about the haggling over the price.

Certainly, she couldn't buy her pre-accident car for less than £5,500.

A salvage cost of £1,000 may be worth doing - I think it's worth at least £1,750 as it stands right now ........ is there much of a market from Traders wanting cars to repair and sell on?

Would it be worth anything as a car to build a KitCar with? It runs and drives fine.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

The thing to remember if you keep the salvage is that it'll be registered as a Cat C/D, which will effect future re-sale.

Autotrader price minus 10% sounds about right, although this does depend on her insurer. Most appreciate Parkers Guide takes a pinch of salt though, so if you can provide examples it'll certainly help.

boxst

My wife unfortunately had her car written off (she wasn't even in it) and Tesco's actually gave us a fair price. To the extent that I didn't even bother to haggle.

pslewis

What I am amazed at is the reliance on Computer Programs ..... the program looked at the car, the 'assumed' damage, and declared it a write-off.

Without anyone actually assessing it ..... it would have been sat in a scrapyard right now if I hadn't stopped them - what a shame that would have been!

Good for the salvage yard I'm sure!! Not for the PolicyHolder though!

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I thought it was still done by assessors

Dale17

Ps havent seen you about for a while, thought you had gone elsewhere
Sorry to hear about your misfortunate situation.
My girlfriend had the exact same problem .
Obviously I complained and they came out assessed the damage(minimal) and repaired the car and also got 6months free insurance because I said she was going to change insurance companys . RESULT OVERALL!

pslewis

They said that the Scrapyard will assess the damage.

Considering that they just sell on damaged cars and break cars - they do no repairs at all - you can guess that the most lightly damaged cars get marked as!

Ste RB5138

Thats unbelieveable that a car can written off without someone even looking at photographs of the damage.

cster

One question - is your daughter older than you are?

Jamescsti

The "assessors" are pretty useless anyway, may as well let a computer do it.

I had some one rear end my MG ZT around 2 years ago, it had a cracked rear number and a reverse sensor not working. , he saw the crack and wrote the car off as he didn't know what damage there may be underneath, never tried to look.

I have to say I wasn't fussed as I hated the car anyway but he was there literally 2 minutes and I bet half of that was doing his form.

Leslie

Is the car really that badly damaged Pete?

Les

pslewis

This is a photo of the car untouched.

pslewis

I. too, am staggered that her car could now be sitting in a ScrapYard ..... without any assessment being made by a human - just a computer.

Now, the Computer may well be correct - they are smarter than some .... but, I would rather have a human being look me square in the eye and tell me that my daughter is going to lose her pride and joy!

Remember that no payment had been agreed, no settlement, no discussion - just 'your car is being collected along with an abandoned car in thye area' - put on the same flat bed, no doubt some damage will occur whilst in the hands of the scrappies, it can't not be. Then, if we want to buy it back, we need to collect it - AND accept whatever condition it is in then!

It's really not what I would have expected ......

Wish

iTrader: (2)

As i asked above, What Insurance company is this?

pslewis

I'm not sure who underwrites the cover ...... something like ERM Insurance??

We are not dealing with the Underwriter, though.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

OK.

I think most Ins Co's do simular thing now. Although you wouldnt have been told its a total loss but a likely t/loss. The car would then be moved to free storage at a salvage company and images and an estimate would be sent to the engineers for there decision.
They would also request your V5. They would then work to the DVLA guide lines and if the car was infact repairable moved to a local approved repairer near you or payment for the t/loss would be made.

I dont know the year or mileage of your car, so cant comment if its repairable or not.

Mouser

It would be interesting to know how much a repair would cost if the insurance company was not involved.

pslewis

Identical cars on AutoTrader are £6,000 as a general idea.

It has a personal plate on it which lengthens the process a little.

I'm still staggered that a car gets taken to a salvage yard and from their an estimate given ...... why not look at the vehicle at the repairers - in other words, come from the repair angle rather than the scrapped angle.

Of course, the Motor Salvage place will want this car to sell on at huge profit - therefore doing what they can to influence things to get hold of the title .......... the system is twisted IMO.

Infected by sti

iTrader: (6)

The damage to that is fairly light pete, I use to work for our local breakers for a few years and my job was to take photos and record the damage and from there report to the insurers what category it should fall in to within our opinion, we would then agree a purchase price from the insurance, not that we could do much about what we had to pay half the time as they are contracted to take the salvage from different insurers etc so would often have to pay what they "deemed fit"

That looks fairly light from the picture so would imagine that to fall under a "D" category, light to moderate damage, certain cars dependant on year would come in like that and depending on spec, model, mileage, year etc then something as light as that can go down as a "u" which is unregistered, but will still get written off by insurance, its a crazy world lol but you will often find that if a breaker wants that car because he feels he can make a fair profit then they can overestimate the damage and under value the condition if you follow that way the car comes to the salvage yard at a reduced cost, but will get churned out for maximum profit, so sometimes your better off doing what you have done, as you get a human being to inspect it and you can make your case as to the value, as after a breaker has got it, if they have to move stock around the yard they don't get changed or clean their boots, they just hop in and drive, its not a valued possession to them, just another piece of metal

pslewis

While it remains with my daughter, we can do what we like (including getting an independant estimate).

I believe that the fly in the ointment is the deployed airbags ... cost of replacement.

They deployed, I suspect, because the car hit the towbar and crossbar of the vehicle in front and went 'under' the rear of that vehicle ..... the detectors were fooled into thinking it was a very serious impact?

Wish

iTrader: (2)

From what I can see, and again i dont know the year, or mileage. I would say that its likely to be a total loss, and that front cross member has taken quite a hit, and looks very bent to me.

Over a 58 plate, and £40k i would say its gone.
You will be given the option to retain the salvage.

pslewis

Thanks for your comments, it's as I suspected.

The salvage yard has a vested interest in scrapping it - or, selling it on into the trade for repair ...... obviously the trade can fix it up cheaper than anyone else can - the profits could be huge on such a car .... MX5's sell like hot cakes, as everyone knows.

pslewis

Sorry, it's a 55 plate ..... I thought the cost to replace would be the decider, not year or mileage - hence the £6k value.

You seem to be in the know - what, would you say, the salvage buy back may be?

It was suggested above that it would be 20% - £1,200?

Wish

iTrader: (2)

On a £6k payout, Around £1500 / £1800