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My mother has crashed into my daughter's car causing damage to both. Low speed but relatively low value cars so the insurer (they are both under the same Admiral household policy) has advised neither are economical to repair. My mum is entirely at fault and the other car was parked.
Slight complication is that my mum's Renault Zoe has leased batteries - I think we notified the insurer when we took out the policy but just clarifying that as I'm aware there will be issues there.
Their response so far has been the following:
We can pay you the total loss amount for the vehicle and then the vehicle would go to salvage. If you wanted to retain the car, we would pay you a reduced total loss settlement. The other potential option is, if you got an estimate for the work, we could pay this directly to you as long as the estimate is below bottom book value.
We would definitely rather keep both cars and have them repaired. They are going to phone back to discuss further.
Anyone have any advice on how to negotiate/work out the best deal? No numbers have been discussed yet.
its worth getting a quote for getting the car back to a state you're willing to drive them in. for an old banger that might be a door/panel from a scrappy that doesn't quite match the paint on your current car etc. from there you can have them written off and get the money, then pay out for the repair. Note that the car will have a cat N recorded against it so it'll be worth less going forwards.
getting a decent value might involve reviewing the prices of similar cars on autotrader, taking ~5% off then seeing if the offer matches it.
leased battery might be interesting. what does the lease say about returning a written off battery?
I would see what the pre-accident value they offer, they will use Glasses / Parkers Guide to give a value, if they take away the vehicle, then you get the full amount, if you retain the vehicle you will get the pre-accident value, minus the salvage amount (usually about 10% but depends on vehicle), if the repairs are less than that second amount then you can get the vehicle repaired as it is still yours, and it has been deemed a Cat N write- off, so being written off for economic reasons, not because it is dangerous to be on the road.
So it is worth getting an estimate for the repairs, to see what they will be compared to the pre-accident value of the vehicle
My old Octavia was hit by another driver I was following, who indicated right on a roundabout, then changed her mind as she was about to carry on round, and swerved between me and the oncoming traffic entering the roundabout.
The only damage to mine was the front wing, I was given the same option; accept £900, or keep the car and accept £628, and get the car MOT’d to make sure there were no issues.
I carried on driving it for two years then bought a new car and gave the Skoda to work for a pool car. While mine was being assessed, Saga gave me a hire car, I ended up doing just shy of 900 miles, and just needed to fill the tank when it went back.
if you retain the vehicle you will get the pre-accident value, minus the salvage amount (usually about 10% but depends on vehicle)
Ha! When my 5 Series was written off the insurer wanted 2/3 for the salvage, for a car valued well under £6K! The car needed bumper, bonnet, wing, headlight and tyre as a minimum.
Years ago, I paid £50 for the salvage of my old GT4 that was just cosmetic damage.
Don't know if it helps, but my son wrote off our Polo by hitting a stationary tractor. Admiral paid out £6.5k for a car we told them cost £5.5k. We had the funds within a week. Find out repair costs and see if the write off and retain option is worth it. Just be aware that selling in future will be problematic.
Look up "Cash in Lieu Of Repair".
Best option by far if you're sure the car is easily repairable.
Thanks all very helpful. Bit of research needed...
I recently had my old Octavia written off for some cosmetic damage after some daft sod drove into it while it was parked up.
God only knows where the insurance got the estimate for the repairs, given the ridiculous figure they arrived at. I kept the car with a reduced payout and got a new front wing and a respray at a local body shop at less than a third of the estimated cost they insurance quoted
As mentioned above, “Cash in Lieu Of Repair”.
I’ve had it twice on the same car and it doesn’t change the insurance classification. So no category N or S. Never effected the insurance policies or cover.
* Both payouts were for minor cosmetic damage.
I have taken cash in lieu of repair, no cat/write of marker, fixed the car myself for 1/20th of the cash the insurance gave me.