I'm interested in buying an accident-damaged car to repair. The car hasn't been written off, but the guys selling it (and others cars) buy their cars direct from a particular insurance company. Apparently, the insurance company were going to repair it (so it was economical to repair it), however the owner did not want the car back. The insurance company then sold the car on, unrepaired, and the car isn't recorded as written off. I've never heard of anything like this happening before, have you? I'd have thought that if the insurance company wanted to repair it, then they would have regardless of the owners wishes. My concern is buying it now and it appearing on the register as a write off at a later date. How long does it normally take a write off to appear on the HPI register?