car right off what happens next?

They will get their engineer to assess the vehicle and give it a value.

You can insist on car being repaired, but they will only pay up to their assessed value of the motor, you would have to pay the rest.

Is it a cat c write off? if so the car needs a separate check to make sure its roadworthy once repairs are complete before even getting an M.O.T. on it. Could be a pain to sell on later if it is a cat c.

You can ask for a crash damage report, not all will give it out. If you know which garage is checking the car out for the insurance company go visit them and ask nicely. It's what I did, and got lots of extra information from the assessor.

Finally, dont accept the 1st offer from the insurance company, do some research, autotrader etc., and find the same model motor, age mileage etc. and keep copies. This evidence will help you get an improved offer from them.

Dont be bullied, remember you've paid your premium for them to assist YOU in an accident not for them to make money off your bad luck.

All insurance companies have approved body repairers, these companies are professional companies who work to the highest standards. As a result they are very expensive, there comes a point when it cost's more to repair the car then replacing it.

You unfortunately cannot force the insurance company to repair the car, however you can ask them if you could purchase the car back of them.

The car will be classified as an insurance right off and as such when it is repaired you will not be able to insure it to the full replacement book value.

However if you are good with your hands and are prepared to do the repair yourself it can make good since to do the repair work yourself.

It is also advisable to book the car in for a full engineers report on the repairs as this can be sent to the insurance company to improve the book value of the car.

Ja.

Hi. I don't think you can insist on the car being fixed. I personally wouldn't have it back as an insurance write off thats been repaired - it's value as such would always be 50-60% of the normal market value.

As to the negotiations with the insurance co re the cars value - I've been there before myself. Do some research and look into the market value of the car to BUY retail.Don't except the trade value - thats what the trade would pay to buy your car at auction etc and is much lower than the retail price - the price you would pay on the forecourt of the dealer. As you have only had it a very short while you are in a strong position. Did you pay under market value for the car yourself? If so then you should end up getting more than you actually paid for the car. Remember that your loss is the replacement cost to you of buying the same car - special edition, low mileage, warranty ? etc etc. Look into ads on Autotrader www.autorader.co.uk etc and print off ads for similar cars to yours. Be selective - you are looking to boost the market value - it's all part of the negotiations.

Remember you don't have to take the 1st or even the 2nd offer that they make to you. When it happened to me I refused the first two offers of their valuation of my car and evetually told them that if they could find me another car the same for what they were offering to buy it for me! I bombared the ins co with 5 or 6 ads for cars similar to mine and eventually settled on a valuation that was £1000 higher than their first offer - which was up by some 30% in my case.

Stick to your guns and good luck.

Can you insist on having the car fixed? Sure. And they can withdraw their offer.

They are looking to compensate you, but not to increase their costs, so they will take the cheaper option. If a car is worth fair market value of $500, would it make sense to do $1,750 worth or repairs? Same thing. If your car will cost more to repair than the fair market value of the car, they will give you fair market value.

Once they do that, they have bought your car, and will take it away to sell parts off it to try to cut their losses even more. Want to keep your car? You can, by buying it back from them at salvage value.

Then you can fix it, have it inspected to insure it's road worthy, and continue to drive it. The down side is it will now have a salvage title which will make it hard to get insurance on the vehicle and will scare off any buyer should you want to sell it later.

Remember, all they owe you is fair market value, not what you still owe, so if there is a finance company they will get the check and if it doesn't cover your balance, they will want you to continue to pay.

it is the insurance company who decide if the car is a write off or not. they will pay out and you can still buy your car back from them cos it saves them the hassle of disposal. most cars nowadays are written off not due to damage but the high cost of replacing airbags sometimes including dashbord and the sensors, seatbelt pretensioners.

we had an 06 plate corsa in our work needing bonnet bumper and front panels replaced and it was written off because of the price of airbag components.

decline the first offer they give you and they will offer more.

don`t insist on it being repaired as you`ll have nothing but problems later on.

hope this helps, vehicle bodyshop worker.

hi,

problem been there done that.

it,s no good asking about cost of repairs. when the assessor writes it off that's law the car is not legal any more, by that i mean it Will nevier be allowed on the road again.

i,m afraid you,ve now got to wait and see what your insurance company will pay you, that means book value of your car.

the good thing is being full comp you could be pleasantly sup prised as there are often hidden extras that go with it.

fingers crossed and very good luck.

chris

It's no good asking mate , if the insurance company feels it's not viable to pay out for it to be repaired be it for cost or safety reasons you are in a no win situation .

you can try and get your car back but it will officially be a write off, on insurance records, other people will be able to get this information which means insurance companies can refuse to insure it as it is regarded as a Total Insurance Loss.

i'd try and get the car back, fix it then flog it.

Your insurance company will pay you the book price of your car and that's all as after that the car belongs to them!

File a claim against that man with his insurance company, what he did was pretty low.