Insurance write-offs??
 

I had an unfortunate accident in my Elise the other night and have had to make a claim from my insurance company. At this time I dont know how much damage was caused but I have been trying to make sense of the insurance write-off catagories.

My question is this-

If the insurance company decide my car is an uneconomical repair (ie repair = more than 70% of value) then I pressume they will pay out the value of the car and then they will sell it on to someone who might repair it. Am I right in thinking that if it is repaired and put back on the road then it will become at "Cat C" or "Cat D" insurance write-off, depending on the level of damage?

So what if the insurance company decide that it is economical to repair it and they do so and give it back to me? Does the car still go down as a "Cat C" or "Cat D" because they have repaired it but not written ot off?

You can see the obvious implications that a catagorised car will be worth a lot less to me than one thats not. However i would like to stress that I would never sell it without fully explaining the situation to a buyer regardless of wether it was catagorised or not!

Thanks

Si

Simon; only a vehicle disposed of by your insurers will attract an ABI 'category'. Vehicles repaired and (sometimes) vehicles sold to you as salvage (by negotiation) are not recorded in any way.

I would suggest that if the vehicle is repaired by your insures then you arent obliged to tell a prospective purchaser. All you will be doing is undermining the value of your properly repaired to as-new vehicle for no good reason.


Simon

Si,
If the insurance decide that it is un-economical to repair, and pay you out the value of the car, then it will go down as either a Cat-C or Cat-D, depending on the severity of the damage, and the engineer who inspects it.

If you can buy it back from them, it will probably be for around 10% of the value, and you get it repaired yourself, then it will still be classed as a write off, simply because you have been paid out for the car.

If the insurance company decide it is economical to repair, and either they repair it at one of their "approved repairers", or you get it repaired at a bodyshop of your choice, then it won't get classed as a write off.

Hope this helps you, Neil...

In my experience; when you buy the vehcile back as salvage, whether it is 'categorised' depends on the deal that you have negotiated.

As Neil has said, the rating depends on the assessing engineer and the policy of the insurance company. To say that it is subjective would be understatement. Ive seen completely slaughtered low value cars sold at 'CatC' and slightly damaged Porsches (with barely any chassis leg damage!) with destruction orders on them. These latter cars will mend easily and honestly where the older cars will certainly only be broken at best......


Simon

Thanks guys, that was the answer I was looking for!!

Si