Dezzy needs help

[Dezzy]

I need some advice from someone in the know.

I won't go into too much detail but the wife's car has been hit, at fault accident. Ok no major everyone is ok an all that but the car looks a bit sorry for itself.

It's been taken away and i've had a call from the matey, and he's going to CAT B it. Now thats taken me by surprise a bit as it's doesn’t look twisted, inner wings have no stress marks ect, ect. I was thinking in the worst case they write it off and i put it back bla, bla, bla, wing, door, bumper, headlight and front suspension and a bit of paint, as i can't replace it for anywhere near what they'll pay out.

Now i asked him how twisted the car is and he's said he doesn't know. He’s not going to jig it. So how can he be so sure it’s unsafe / fit to ever go back on the road if he’s not going to check it?

Apparently it’s down to his experience. I thought we were trying to stop living in these throw away societies and reuse recycle but apparently not.

So I suppose my question is this right and how can I make them check to see if it is NEVER to be allowed on the road again.

[ainarssems]

Anything is allowed back on road as long as it is safe to use and passed VIC check. After all you can build car from nothing and register it. If there is not much left of original car like if chassis is changed DVLA might decide to give it new identity instead of using old as long as you can prove ownership of chassis i.e. not being stolen. If there is too much modified from standard spec it might require SVA test.

My S8 was Cat B writeoff in 2007

[Adrian E]

Dezzy

Suspect all he's suggesting is that the sum of the parts required, plus labour, plus a fudge factor for what he's missed equates to over half the car's value.

Is it your insurer that's assessed it, or the other party's?

If the car is worth £4k or less, give or take, anything more than a wing or a bumper is going to get uneconomic very quickly. Had this happen to our old Xsara VTS which was repaired, but badly as they didn't stick it on a jig to check it was straight before putting new panels on, which then didn't fit right. It took 2 body repair shops to get the job even half way right and cost about £500 less than the market value of the car (about £4k at the time). It got sold on ebay shortly after we got it back as we'd ordered a Leon Cupra R new while it was in being repaired as we were sick of the sight of it!!

[Dezzy]

Thanks guys.
Adrian i agree it will be an uneconomic repair for the repairers but what I don’t understand is how it is CAT B and not CAT C. Now I realise because of the damage to the driver’s door i.e. pushed in quite a bit that the safety cell has been compromised so a CAT C not D.
But if it doesn’t matter what CAT and I can repair it myself then I won’t argue too much with him. I was just finding it really hard to understand how they have come to this conclusion without checking it is all.

[Adrian E]

Cat c generally reserved for cosmetic/bolt on parts damage whereas structural repair would be cat b. our xsara would prob have been cat b if they'd written it off, whereas the next owners were none the wiser it'd been jigged and repaired as it was repaired and not recorded...

From the insurers point of view they're covering themselves if the car does go back on the road as it'll require a vic inspection to confirm its road legal

[Conan_the_Librarian]

I agree with Adrian and the title of the thread!

[HPsauce]

I had a very interesting "debate" with the insurers a few years ago when my S8 was stolen and crashed.
I think the final repair bill came to almost as much as the car was worth, which was a fair bit then as it was relatively new.
(it needed a whole rear quarter panel among other things)
And there was the small matter of nearly a year of "hire" car - provided FOC by Audi fortunately - while they sorted out a few "parts supply issues".

But during the "discussion" with the assessor I asked him to try and find an equivalent replacement of the same or better spec (it took me a long time to find in the first place) for what he offered and refused to accept a settlement until he could.

In the end he caved in and became quite reasonable and amicable.

[Adrian E]

Yep, for rare/higher value cars the insurers will pay out for a repair so long as it's under the full value of the car, if you push for it. The risk for the insurer on lower end stuff is that the costs quickly escalate to more than the car's resale value.

Was speaking to my local bodyshop recently when I went in for a quote and he said they rarely see insurance assessors any more - pretty much all done by e-mail and photos, although they want stick on rulers used for EVERY mark so they don't pay for any extra remedial work.....

They also said that every Golf that comes in is pretty much an instant write off due to parts prices and complicated (labour intensive) repair costs - surprised me somewhat

[ainarssems]

From the insurers point of view they're covering themselves if the car does go back on the road as it'll require a vic inspection to confirm its road legal

VIC test is only vehicle identity check which basically checks that it is the same car not a stolen car being registered as write-off. They do not check road-worthiness of car but will flag up any obvious safety issues. You do need to pass MOT before going to VIC. You also need to have insurance if You are driving it to VIC. No need for TAX when driving to pre-booked VIC test. You can deliver it to VIC test on recovery truck in which case no insurance needed, still need MOT and car has to be able to drive under it's own power.

[Dezzy]

Originally Posted by Conan_the_Librarian

I agree with Adrian and the title of the thread!

Thanks for that

I agree too, but what i don't agree with is the way they have come to that decision i.e. because I say so not because we’ve checked it and it is. The actual words were “Yeah it’s a shame they’re great little cars aren’t they, I got one myself. Anyway it’s a CAT B so I’ll take it away for you”
Now I might sound a little retarded but umm hang on a mo there, how about you can f*** right off and I’ll keep it thanks, and the discs and pads I just put on all round cam belt just done 4 brand new tyres and the 70 notes of diesel in it.
Because Glasses Guide says average mileage for that 10 year old car is 90k??? it’s over at 120k one of his reasons for CAT B was that the gearbox could be damaged.

I've been pushing him now and asking awkward questions, thing is because it's my wifes car he's made a couple of assumptions that 1, i know nothing about cars and 2, i've not seen the car post crash. But the thing is it only happened just up the road so i have photo's of the car and the policeman let me drive the car home.

List of damage i got from the assesor is

Drivers door, driver wing, front bumper, headlight, driveshaft, hub, hub bearing, cv joints might be shot, gearbox might have internal damage so it's a CAT B mate.

"but i drove it home and it sat at home for 3 days before it was picked up there was no oil on the drive there was no strange noises and the guy who picked it up drove it onto his truck"

Well I phoned a friend who works at the approved repairs and have said I can jig the car to see if it’s straight. Told the assessor this and now as if by magic the car is now CAT C so it’s fixing itself!