Regular Backroomers may remember that a couple of weeks ago my Audi Coupe 20V was sideswiped by an unknown vehicle which, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to trace. It now has a deep scrape along most of the drivers side, which has dented the metal. As it stands now, the car is probably not worth very much. So do I claim on my insurance or not?
I have protected NCB but a £300 excess. I reckon the damage will cost at least £1,000 to put right, possibly a lot more (new door skin, a lot of panelbeating and a respray in metallic paint down one side), and due to the age (1990) and mileage (141,000) I suspect the insurers may write it off as uneconomic to repair. Repaired, I might get £2,000 for it as a private sale on a good day. I've recently spent quite a bit on bringing it back up to a decent standard (new shocks, brake discs and pads, distributor, front wishbone bushes and silencer box).
So what I would like ideally is for the insurers to pay me the insured value, less the salvage value and excess, and let me keep the car. I'll run it until something major goes wrong, then sell it for spares. Has anyone managed to persuade an insurer to do this? And will they still let me insure the car even though they have already written it off?
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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Richard,
You say a private value of £2000, so what will they pay out? £1500?? Less the salvage value at perhaps £500 and the £300 excess. So you\'ll end up with about £700 and a sadly ruined car.
I can\'t see a logic in this unless you can do the claim deal to end up with more than the cost of repairs.
And then because you have made a total loss claim don\'t they cancel your policy without refund from the date of payout and make you start again. Then wouldn\'t there be a loading of about 30% on the premium for the claim even though the no-claims is protected. Wouldn\'t you also have to declare this total loss on any future vehicle policy for the next five years. What about the Polo and Land Rover policies? They would both cost more.
I\'m no expert but think much of the above is likely.
As an example we had a nearly new £1500 trailer stolen from here some ten years ago and just before I started the business. Ok so they paid out on it in full but because it was a \"wheeled vehicle\" it had to be declared on my next car insurance renewal and attracted a substantial loading. Then a few months later I applied for my first repairers trade policy and I damm near didn\'t get one at all with a recent total loss claim. In the end I had to cough up with a massive first years loading which continued for a further two years!
It needs some thought. I\'m sure Mark will be along with the detail later.
David W
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I'm with DW on this!
And I'd add that if a vehicle's worth much less than 2 grand then insuring it fully comp is a waste of money.
I did the maths on my bike which is bang on 2 grand. There's no way it would make financial sense to claim. Loss of NCD plus loading less excess.
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Parp, Parp!
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Agree with you toth, except if the short-term cash flow issue of paying out 2k for a replacement vehicle was more than your finances could bear. I suppose even then it might make more sense to borrow the money and pay that back over a couple of years than to make an insurance claim and have daft loadings applied for 5 years.
I think the consumers association (or someone else, sorry it's so vague) did some calculations a couple of years ago which suggested that amounts less than £4000 were best not claimed.
Andy
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And I'd add that if a vehicle's worth much less than 2 grand then insuring it fully comp is a waste of money.
If you have a crash and need medical care/legal doesn't FC insurance pay for your costs? If that is the case then it is not just a question of insuring the car but you are also insuring yourself (which of course 3PF&T doesn't) so the value of your car is not the only factor to consider.
I'm probably wrong but just a thought.
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Shame you can't find the person that caused the damage as with claiming from a third party I think you can insist on being put back in the position you were before the loss ie your car, fully repaired regardless of whether it is considered a write-off. If you claim on your comprehensive insurance I don't think you have such a luxury.
Have you got any local schools/colleges looking for something to work on? You might get a free/cheap repair for letting them practice on your car.
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Firstly, I don't know how bad the damage is, but a couple of doors from a scrapyard, some spray paint and some filler would surely add up to less than 300 quid, the amount of your excess.
Just because it will cost more than #1000 to put right using new bits, surely you could do it for much less ?
Anyway, if not, it would work out something like this...
Assume that the car is not written off, and given that you excess is high, I suspect your premium is too. So lets say #500.
Assume that you have not made any other claims in the last three years.
Assume that you are not a young driver.
1000 repair payment
-300 Excess
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700
-125 First year loading. Could be less if your record is good.
----
575
- 75 Second year loading. Ditto.
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500 net gain.
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Substitute your own figures.
Find out what Year 1 and Year 2 premiums would be by ringing up different Brokers and asking for a quotation as if you were already in three positions; No claim, protected NCD & claim one year ago, protected NCD & claim two years ago - not forgetting to advance your age and the age of the car appropriately.
Assuming the example still retains similar proportion, then for 500 quid its probably worth claiming.
Next find out the value of your car, find out therefore the write-off value of the car. Make damn sure the repairs come to less than that. Decide if you can live with a car in that condition or epaired to that standard.
Then inquire as to whether or not your insurers would be prepared to pay you the money for repairing your car rather than paying their repairer. An assessor will frequently do this, especially if he can reduce the claim by paying for parts only, assuming that you will do some or all of the labour yourself.
You are not legally required to repair the car with this money, although the insurance company may require you to prove the vehicle is safe if the damage was severe enough.
Don't waste your time dealing with a broker or an underwriter for the claims oriented stuff. Find out who the assessor is, unless you already know, and deal with him. The garage who you ask to give the repair quotation will almost certainly know who it is.
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Thanks for all the advice everyone. I don't think I will claim, mainly because I want to buy an Audi S2 (group 19 insurance!) when my house purchase is out of the way, and the loading on my premium (which I hadn't considered) would wipe out any saving I might make by claiming for the repair now.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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