Whose fault was it?
Whose insurance is liable?

If the POLICE are liable, you can just make a cliam against them for whatever your losses are, if it is your insurance then the terms and conditions will apply.

Edited by Hamsafar on 31/01/2014 at 09:48

Hi all,

Newbie here, hoping I can get some advice please? :)

Basically, my lovely old car became a cropper with a police car last week! (If you are going to have your first car accident you have to do it in style eh? LOL!) FYI, the bumper, bonnet and a light are damaged, no internal / chassis damage.

Anyhow, Insurance want to write the car off, not due to the safey of the car but due to financial viability. (Their approved repair people quoted £2800!)

I am currently to-ing and fro-ing with the insurance at the moment, trying to get them to increase their valuation and in the meantime, I have taken my car to my own mechanic who has quoted me £240 for labour and I have sourced the new bonnet and bumper (in the same colour as my car) and a new light from the breakers for £135.

My car is old, I know, but it only has 80k miles on it, I've only had to replace one part on it in 3.5 years and it's passed every MOT with no advisories, so I am loathed to get rid of it. It's reliable and I like driving it.

My question is, when the insurance come back to me with a valuation that I am willing to accept, what is the best option for me?

Do I..

A. Take the money and ask to buy the car back, then get those repairs done by my mechanic?

B. Give the quote from my mechanic to my insurance and get them to cover the costs?

If I take:

A: I assume that my car will have the write off catagory attached to it from then on in? If so, does that affect my MOT or future insurance?

B: If I do this option, can I assume that I don't get the whole valuation and do they take the excess of the repair figure? Also, does the car end up avoiding a write-off category if I take this option?

Which is the best option?

Sorry for all the questions, I have never had an accident, never dealt with insurance before and am finding it all such a minefield.

the insureance quote is more as they will only use new genuine part not patent or used and many wont pay out for the cheaper option, and of couse new parts need to sprayed but it won't harm asking them but you won't get their backed warranty on the repair

if they write it off the MOT is void andthe cost future insurance will depend on if it's a cat D or C and it will be writtin off if a second claim is made on it even if it a broken light, but your insurance company will probablty refuse to cover it.

ask about your mechainic repairing it they will want a detailed quote if they say yes then it's not a write off if they say no it is see how much they will pay out then decieid if it is worth buying back and repairing it

if the buy back and repair is more than what they pay out less your excess its not woth it just settle and buy a new car