Car insurance - were mistakes made?

This doesn’t directly answer your question but may be relevant. My wife’s car got written off in a roundabout accident earlier this year. Insurer deemed it her fault (debatable IMO). I assumed the insurance on the replacement would be hugely expensive. It was about the same as the previous policy.

In terms of the claim we had the usual faff of declining their first offer and then getting a more acceptable offer. Subsequently complained and got a further payment which got us close to the true value of the vehicle.

I don't think you can refuse to have it written off, but if its purely an economic write off, for want of a better word...not structurally damaged you can buy it back and fix it.

There are different catagories of write off...a cracked bumper and smashed headlight could be a write off on a £1500 car given 'official' parts prices... a genuine brand new headlight unit could easily be £400 for example, plus new bumper spraying, etc...

I bought mine back, IIRC it was 20% of the valuation (but it was only valued at about £700). I only wanted to scrap it myself for quite a bit more as it was a cat N officially, but I knew the chassis was slightly bent so had no interest in repairing it.

I'd wait and see what they say, they might write it off, but if it's just cosmetic/panels I'd be surprised if the bodyshop doesn't miraculously come up with a quote 1p short of the value that would write it off.

what you're considering is a Cat N write off. If it's Cat S (structural) in theory you can repair and reinsure but harder.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/what-is-an-insurance-write-off/

You might need to negotiate a bit with your insurer and see if they'll cover it again after, or whether you'll need a new insurer (not all will cover Cat N/S cars) but it can be done.

Also be aware that if / when you come to resell it might be more difficult even if you have repaired yourself, because it has that Cat N millstone.

I had a Capri written of about 10 years ago, except I settled for the repair value in cash so they didn't officially write it off. Sold it for a healthy profit to a breaker and the repair cost was significantly more than I'd paid.  Win win. Except for the brand new gold 5 series that didn't see me.

I think what I'm trying to say is you don't have to use their repair center, you can settle with them to fix it yourself.

Ignore most of the above and insist on 'cash in lieu of repair'. Some advise above is wrong. The car will not be written off, nor have any category attached to it going forward.

Be aware that it's all on you and you need to be sure of the cost of repairs before you commit to it. it's not an excuse not to get structural/important repairs done,but if you are 100% sure its only cosmetic and can genuinely be repaired cheaper than your insurance company state, it's a great option.

I don't know how this applies if there is structural damage.

Ignore most of the above and insist on ‘cash in lieu of repair’. Some advise above is wrong. The car will not be written off, nor have any category attached to it going forward.

Depends if
a) it's not written off
b) the OP wants the hassle

If it's written off as a Cat N (repair estimate >50% of it's value) then you've got a cash lump sum and maybe a broken car, you're free to spend the money fixing it if you want but it will always be a cat N (same with a Cat S although slightly more complicated). And if it is an N, that's not a guarantee that when you put new panels on they'll line up and it's not actually bent anyway.

If it's not written off, then unless you really just want to bodge it, or really can do it cheaper than the bodyshop, I don't see why you'd take the cash in lieu of the repair cost. That really only seems sensible if you can get hold of panels from a breaker and fit them yourself or you'll take the money and just drive a beaten up car. Leave the car with them, let them repair it, and pick up your good-as-new car from them in a couple of weeks.

You misunderstand.

Depends if
a) it’s not written off
b) the OP wants the hassle

a) The car is assessed> insurance tell you their decision> (assuming they want it to be classed as a cat N) you say, "no, cash in Lieu please!", the car is never written off, no category is attached to the car. you receive a cheque.

b) the OP asked the question.

I've done this when I was driven into (by a police car!) and there was very superficial damage to my bonnet, wing, door and wing mirror. It was a cheap car that I liked and was cheap to repair in about 3 hours with bolt-on panels from a breakers. would have been cat N - but never was.

I'm always surprised more people aren't aware or use it more.

https://www.motorclaimguru.co.uk/cash-in-lieu-of-repairs-as-part-of-motor-insurance-claim

Edit: Scruffythefirst has clearly done the same (a few posts up)

every day's a school day. Thanks Simian. Have 2 teenagers in £1200 cars but which I've done tyres, brakes, etc., on so would hate to lose them for the inevitable 'cosmetic type' **** ups they're prone to making. So far has been a car park wall (T-cut and elbow grease) and an ebay front headlight for £35 - good to know I can ask for cash in lieu if it comes to it.

The car is assessed> insurance tell you their decision> (assuming they want it to be classed as a cat N) you say, “no, cash in Lieu please!”, the car is never written off, no category is attached to the car. you receive a cheque.

But in that scenario:

Write off - you get 80-100% of the car's value depending if you keep the wreck or not.

Not a write off - you've only got less than 50% of it's value and the wreck to fix/not fix.

I can see the appeal of the "less than 50%" if it's only light damage you can live with or a banger you'd rather have a few hundred quid and just drive it anyway rather than have it repaired. But if it's gone over that 50% mark you'd be mad surely to take that over the full value of the car?

Thanks for the advice all, definitely useful input to ponder.

We prob only do about 5k miles a year so all being well we would have been looking to keep for another 10 years with minimal outlay. If we accepted the market value I don’t think we’d come close to finding anything in similar condition without chucking in extra cash which I’d like to avoid. Cash in lieu of repair sounds like it could be ideal if needed-we don’t need the perfect aesthetics. As long as it will keep running that’s good enough and would avoid any problems with insurance and resale in future,

 But if it’s gone over that 50% mark you’d be mad surely to take that over the full value of the car?

er, isn't that obvious?

I didn't suggest that it's the right thing to do in every circumstance, and even said;

...but if you are 100% sure its only cosmetic and can genuinely be repaired cheaper than your insurance company state, it’s a great option.

in my case I had a very tidy MX5. little financial value on paper, but rare to find in the condition it was in. it's intrinsic value was much higher than the insurance company thought. £150 in scrap panels and 3 hours work saw it back to pristine.

in some cases it's a sensible choice, but not all.

A relatives card recently crashed itself into a wall...a lesson to leave your car in gear!

I suggested when he gets the offer he checks what it would cost to get a similar vehicle with similar mileage etc and then to use those as evidence to get a realistic value.  He didn't need to, the offer was fair to generous.  So keep an open mind until you see what they offer, if it's a write off.

If we accepted the market value I don’t think we’d come close to finding anything in similar condition

Errm...that's not what market value means?

Market value would mean what it would be worth if you sold it, pre-incident, 'on the market'.

If it was a rust bucket thats not been serviced in ten years, then fair enough.

What kind of car is it, OP?

I got pretty close (90%) of the full value of a car I owned as cash in lieu, off someone else's insurer though. I didn't care if it was written off, as it was already a cat c I was curious if the new cat d would override it

My lads gf had her car written off, cat N, was hit by a motor bike.

My car is cat N, written off by idiot neighbour that doesn't leave his car in gear on a hill...

In both cases had good cash offers right off the bat, in both cases repair was cheap (ymmv).

In addition, as the cars are worth less, the insurance on both of them went down!

Win, win. Ironically!

As long as it will keep running that’s good enough and would avoid any problems with insurance and resale in future,

It's 10 years old and you expect to keep it another 10 years...why do you care about resale value?  And a half hearted repair will hurt resale value anyway.

Also, don't be blinded by trying to keep it on the road, my parents pleaded with an assessor to not write off a car that they had been gifted from an elderly friend 'to look after' once they had gone. It was never the same again, bits didn't shut properly and didn't drive very nicely, they should've just taken the cash and replaced it...it was only an old Micra but they were a bit blinded by the fact it was 10 years old with only 4000 miles on it so considered it a keeper!

I don't even bother with keeping evidence I've done oil changes etc as we keep cars long though that they are only worth about £1500 when we sell, and at that point looking at what's in front of you is a much better indicator of condition.