Someone hit my car Insurance wants to right it off.

[sheldore]

Someone as hit my partners Fiesta only causing the paint to come off the front bumper. No structural damage and no cracks to the bumper.

Now the insurance want to right it off due to it being uneconomical to repair. They are offering the option to buy back and repair it.

Now how would it effect the insurance on the car it's only cosmetic damage.

Now my partner wants to keep the car, it's a 02 plate fiesta ghia, full service history, was mint condition with very very low mileage circa 80k.

So would it be worth keeping repair charges would be minimal, it's just i'm worrying about the car being written off and how it would effect the insurance.

This is a no fault on our part, someone hit it while it was parked up. So we ain't loosing any no claims etc.

Thanks for the help.

 

[pepsilol]

Have you gotten a quote from a BS to do the work yourself?

Should have just kept quiet and not involved the insurance company and just gotten it fixed yourself. £150 to paint a bumper nowadays.

 

[Skyboat]

Even if you cancel the claim and decide to repair it yourself out of your own pocket, your premium will still be affected come renewal; as in their eyes you are perceived as a greater risk even if you weren't at fault.

If you do go through the insurance and buy the car back then it will be categorised as a Cat D which may put off potential buyers when you do come to sell it, no matter how much it may be worth at that point.

 

[Tinders]

I assume that the person who hit it, stopped? if not then you will lose your no claims i would have thought.

i would buy it back and repair it if its very light damage, car will be on record as a write off, but that only matters if you plan to sell it. i would take pics of the damage and log them, and then when you come to sell, you can show the buyer how minimal the damage was.

 

[Hxc]

Why did you report a paint scrape to an insurer?

 

[sheldore]

Why did you report a paint scrape to an insurer?

Because thats what you insurance is for. Also it isn't a paint scrape it took most of the paint of the front bumper.

I assume that the person who hit it, stopped? if not then you will lose your no claims i would have thought.

i would buy it back and repair it if its very light damage, car will be on record as a write off, but that only matters if you plan to sell it. i would take pics of the damage and log them, and then when you come to sell, you can show the buyer how minimal the damage was.

Yes the person who reversed into the car stopped and gave us details. No damage at all to the bumper just removed most of the paint of the front bumper. Have no intentions of selling the car on she'll use it until it get scrapped.

Have you gotten a quote from a BS to do the work yourself?

Should have just kept quiet and not involved the insurance company and just gotten it fixed yourself. £150 to paint a bumper nowadays.

no I didn't want to keep quiet the idiot who hit the car wasn't paying attention when she done it and she has a habit of speeding everywhere so hopefully this will learn her a costly lesson.

I assume that the person who hit it, stopped? if not then you will lose your no claims i would have thought.

i would buy it back and repair it if its very light damage, car will be on record as a write off, but that only matters if you plan to sell it. i would take pics of the damage and log them, and then when you come to sell, you can show the buyer how minimal the damage was.

No loss of no claims, the idiot admitted to it. Witnesses so no choice really. Damage nothing really just needs the bumper resprayed. No intentions of selling the car on. Will keep it until we scrap it.

 

[bJN]

You're claiming this through the at-fault's insurance I assume? If so, you want to push for a cash-in-lieu of repair settlement and get the paint sorted yourself.

If you're claiming through your own insurance, stop the claim and start the ball rolling with the at-fault party.

You'll also need to declare the accident in future insurance quotes, so you will be paying x% more than if you had just dealt with it between yourselves.

 

[Hxc]

You've made the wrong move here. You're claiming off your own insurance when you should be claiming off the third party's. They would be required to put you back in the place you were in before the accident.

 

[rodenal]

What are the actual offers on the table? I.e what are they using as a start point for payout and for buy back? Given the car is worth very little to start with you could very easily end up in a cash negative position for what is no fault of your own.

Declaring the car written off will effectively render it worthless/scrap at this age so you need to factor that in to your considerations. Whilst you have no intention of selling it you did have a car worth at least say £500 before it was hit. So you need to end up in that same position after any buyback and repair...which seems unlikely (without knowing what has been offered)

 

[SquirrelMadness]

My car is same age as yours and was in an accident last year. Third-party insurance wrote it off as a Cat C... gave me a check through the post of the pre-accident value of the car AND let me keep the car.

By the way, the pre-accident value of the car is what you tell the engineer who inspected it. You could have paid £700 but told him "around £1000". They will send a check for £1000 (so long as the amount is within reason).

If she's been driving over a year I would just take the money and buy something better.

 

[Nasher]

Should never go through insurance for minor cosmetic damage. Don't even tell them about it. It will effect your premium for years even if it was someone else's fault, so it's not cheaper in the long run :/

You could have spoken to the person that did it and got them to pay for the repair. Keeping things like this "off the books" is best for both parties.

 

[sheldore]

My car is same age as yours and was in an accident last year. Third-party insurance wrote it off as a Cat C... gave me a check through the post of the pre-accident value of the car AND let me keep the car.

By the way, the pre-accident value of the car is what you tell the engineer who inspected it. You could have paid £700 but told him "around £1000". They will send a check for £1000 (so long as the amount is within reason).

If she's been driving over a year I would just take the money and buy something better.

Been driving over 20 years but likes the fiesta and it's cheap to run and keep.

Should never go through insurance for minor cosmetic damage. Don't even tell them about it. It will effect your premium for years even if it was someone else's fault, so it's not cheaper in the long run :/

You could have spoken to the person that did it and got them to pay for the repair. Keeping things like this "off the books" is best for both parties.

No choice, she wanted to go the insurance route, wouldn't fix off the books even though she completely admitted fault.

You've made the wrong move here. You're claiming off your own insurance when you should be claiming off the third party's. They would be required to put you back in the place you were in before the accident.

We've made the wrong move by claiming off here insurance, how do you figure that one ? We are claiming on the persons who caused the damage not our own.

 

[mattyg]

1st question to ask: How much are they offering you for write off
2nd Question: How much to buy it back

Then you can make a decision on whether you wan to buy it back and repair on the cheap/Not bother repairing at all

Vs

Not buying it back and finding something new.

You could always tell the loss adjuster you'll take their first offer (let them make it first) providing you can keep the car..

 

[sheldore]

What are the actual offers on the table? I.e what are they using as a start point for payout and for buy back? Given the car is worth very little to start with you could very easily end up in a cash negative position for what is no fault of your own.

Declaring the car written off will effectively render it worthless/scrap at this age so you need to factor that in to your considerations. Whilst you have no intention of selling it you did have a car worth at least say £500 before it was hit. So you need to end up in that same position after any buyback and repair...which seems unlikely (without knowing what has been offered)

Personally if they offer less than £700 I will well laugh. Can't buy the same car similar spec, condition, mileage or service history for less than £800 locally to me. At the moment no offer as been made we are looking at repair prices and whether it's worth repairing or replacing. But we won't be in a cash negative place, at this stage the insurance have mentioned £700-800 to us if written off. Not sure how much they would want for the car based on scrap value. Will wait and see what happens.

 

[koooowweeee]

I doubt you will get £700. I think £500 would be a good offer. You see cars with same millage and age goong for a £150+ on Facebook all the time

EDIT: just had a quick look on eBay and saw loads with low milage in good condition for £200-400

 

[snapdragon69]

The third party's insurer has a duty to put you back in the position you were before their insured's accident and to pay any reasonable expenses. YOU also have a duty to mitigate your losses, and that MAY include accepting the money to buy a replacement car. If you really want yours repaired, simplt pursue that with the third party's insurer and state that you have mitigated your losses by having a reasonably priced repair and you may also forgo a hire car if it is convenient to you as they may just be writing your car off to save the hire car charges that they would have to pay during the repair (which could be more expensive than the reqpair).
In this situation, do not inform your insurer or use the third party insurer's services (such as recovery or repairer), just get a quote or two of your own and send it to their insurer to pay.

 

[muon]

Get a quote for repair, then offer that to the third party insurer.

The problem is that it will cost the third party insurer a load to even respray a bumper as they will use expensive (for such an old car) repairers.

As mentioned it is all about mitigating losses and not asking for unreasonable repairs (which it is for the insurance company at their costs).

 

[Iamzod]

Had similar happen early last year to my 53 plate Mondeo, I phoned her insurers and dealt with them direct but refused to let them take the car anywhere.

I sent them pictures of the damage & then sent them a price list for the parts new from the local ford dealer & added material costs on to have the bumper painted. They paid out £700 as a cash in lieu settlement and never even saw my car in the flesh as it saved them having to fork out for a hire car.

It avoided any write off risk and I then fixed the car myself with an almost mint bumper from e-bay.

 

[sheldore]

I doubt you will get £700. I think £500 would be a good offer. You see cars with same millage and age goong for a £150+ on Facebook all the time

EDIT: just had a quick look on eBay and saw loads with low milage in good condition for £200-400

Not local to me. I can't find the same car for less than £800. Not our fault that some idiot cannot reverse in a large area where I can reverse a long wheelbase van and not hit anyone. So looking at not fixing the car now possible just taking the money and replacing with something newer. She likes the car but it just doesn't seem to be worth the hassle.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I doubt you will get £700. I think £500 would be a good offer. You see cars with same millage and age goong for a £150+ on Facebook all the time

EDIT: just had a quick look on eBay and saw loads with low milage in good condition for £200-400

How are you able to appraise the condition of a used car through a photos on an eBay ad?