Non fault insurance claim.

[Bobthebeard]

Have just had the Honda Accord Tourer shunted up the rear in a low speed rear end mishap, and it is going in for a damage assessment tomorrow. Rear bumper mangled, as the other car hit the tow bar, pushing it into the bumper. Tailgate damaged and distorted slightly but opens/ closes with some effort. Visible damage is not too bad TBH, but a replacement bumper and tailgate assembly wont be cheap I suspect. The other driver admitted liability and her insurance company are sorting things. Question is, will it be economic to repair? It is a 2003 estate, with 150,000 miles. Presumably not worth a great deal! Anyone any experience of these matters? Have only recently spent ££££s on an LPG conversion and really don't want it writing off! It is used for work and we do 25-30 thousand miles a year in the old girl. Reliable is an understatement and we have owned it for over five years.

So.... Any ideas? Will they write it off or repair it? Have absolutely no experience of these things and have no idea what criteria insurance companies base the decision on, or what to do/say when they do!

[CortinaDave]

Almost certainly they'll write it off. They have to repair in a proper bodyshop with genuine parts etc and that just wont stack up for them on a ten year old Accord even with minimal damage.

 

You'll get an offer to write the car off based on its market value. I'd advise declining the first offer as they will almost always increase it. Point out the LPG etc.

 

What then happens is they'll send you a cheque for the market value and take the car away. You can negotiate with them before that happens to buy back the "salvage" which means you get to keep your car and they'll deduct probably a couple of hundred quid from your cheque. If you think its viable, you can then go and get the car sorted yourself using secondhand parts etc to keep the costs down.

 

Good luck!

[Bobthebeard]

Almost certainly they'll write it off. They have to repair in a proper bodyshop with genuine parts etc and that just wont stack up for them on a ten year old Accord even with minimal damage.

 

You'll get an offer to write the car off based on its market value. I'd advise declining the first offer as they will almost always increase it. Point out the LPG etc.

 

What then happens is they'll send you a cheque for the market value and take the car away. You can negotiate with them before that happens to buy back the "salvage" which means you get to keep your car and they'll deduct probably a couple of hundred quid from your cheque. If you think its viable, you can then go and get the car sorted yourself using secondhand parts etc to keep the costs down.

 

Good luck!

 

Extremely helpful reply! Answered all my concerns. Will go for the "salvage" option if they do write it off. In true Autoshite style.

Many thanks!

[Albert Ross]

The term "Beyond Economical Repair" will be bandied around. Don't let the car out of your sight, "bodge" it to make it legal enough to drive, and keep using it. If it leaves your grasp, you may never see it again. When it is offered with a reduced payout, you may well have already sourced the replacement outer panels.

[Bobthebeard]

The term "Beyond Economical Repair" will be bandied around. Don't let the car out of your sight, "bodge" it to make it legal enough to drive, and keep using it. If it leaves your grasp, you may never see it again. When it is offered with a reduced payout, you may well have already sourced the replacement outer panels.

 

It drives fine and is still legal. Just a touch crumpled. The approved repairers have already offered me a courtesy car, should I take it? This obviously means leaving them the car. The accident happened last Friday whilst on a work trip. Have driven it 700 miles since and now back home. Visible damage is not too bad really. How do I avoid leaving it with the repairers?

[retrogeezer]

Don't leave it anywhere! Insist that you want to keep the car as salvage as you know it's history etc.

[Bobthebeard]

Don't leave it anywhere! Insist that you want to keep the car as salvage as you know it's history etc.

 

Presumably they will advise me if it is " uneconomical to repair" and If so, I can drive it away etc?

[Morgan84]

I wouldn't accept the hire car personally in case you get the notorious ' scratch whilst in your care ' ploy

 

You can ask for money in leiu of repairs/ buy back the 'salvage',but unless the car is un a non roadworthy condition,there's nothing to stop you keep using the car.You could ask for a assesor to view your car at your house or place or work maybe,or ask for a appointment slot,and wait whilst the vehicle is given its assesment,and then take the vehicle back.Storage fee's are about £25 a day +

 

Remember the Autoshite Princess which went through the same accident process,although I doubt you have a ratchet strap and a Ledbury Maestro to carry out the repairs !

[andrew e]

Make sure it's washed waxed and hoovered when the assessor turns up too.

 

As it goes, you do have the LPG certs, and the insurers are aware of the LPG?

[Bobthebeard]

Make sure it's washed waxed and hoovered when the assessor turns up too.

 

As it goes, you do have the LPG certs, and the insurers are aware of the LPG?

 

Yes, the LPG is certified and registered with the insurance company.

REALLY don't want to part with this car. It's a good 'un.

[andrew e]

Phew! Not that I ever neglected such information... Cough! Last time I found 5pm on a Friday afternoon a very good time to play poker with the insurance company - £200 extra for a little stalling, and a hire car till Monday morning.

[Bobthebeard]

Have absolutely no idea what the current market value of the car is! 2003 and 150,000 miles. Any ideas?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The current market value is whatever an '03 Accy is worth (£1500?) plus the price of a brand new LPG conversion.

 

DO NOT JUST ASSUME that you will see it again. The 'approved repairer' is 'approved' precisely because it controls the entire process for the benefit of the insurers and to your own detriment! I would also refuse the offer of a hire car- that's what Sixt, Hertz etc are for (assuming that you are able to pay for the rental/stick it on a card before claiming back).

 

If I were you, I would send them an e-mail (like RIGHT NOW) stating in no uncertain terms that the car is not to be removed from the bodyshop without my prior explicit consent.

[retrogeezer]

Presumably they will advise me if it is " uneconomical to repair" and If so, I can drive it away etc?

 

DO NOT JUST ASSUME that you will see it again. The 'approved repairer' is 'approved' precisely because it controls the entire process for the benefit of the insurers and to your own detriment!

 

Exactly, once it is out of your hands they will do whatever they want with it unfortunately. 'Sorry Mr Beard, it's in the system now as a write-off and we cannae be arsed to change that'

[warren t claim]

If I was a bus driving Skoda enthusiast I'd strongly suggest putting a spurious whiplash claim in.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Thats right, its free money innit, all 'on the insurance'

[barefoot]

Another 'don't take the hire car'

the cost of it will be added to the claim escalating it out of all proportion to the true cost of putting the car back on the road with a couple of used panels and a bit of a tug.

[Bobthebeard]

Another 'don't take the hire car'

the cost of it will be added to the claim escalating it out of all proportion to the true cost of putting the car back on the road with a couple of used panels and a bit of a tug.

 

Just got back from the repairers for the damage assessment. It is touch and go whether it is an economic repair or not. Am just waiting to hear from the insurance company. Given all the good advice on here, I have declined the courtesy car and kept hold of the Honda. I will keep it as salvage and kick the dents out myself if it comes to that!

Apparently the criteria for "total loss" is if the repair cost exceeds 60% of the market value so the repairer says. In which case I suspect it will be borderline. Am keeping hold of it whatever thanks to all the helpfull advice on here.

Am also NOT claiming for whiplash or any other spurious personal injuries, mainly because I don't have any, but also I hate the whole "personal injury" thing. The system just seems to encourage the liars and cheats. No problem with genuine cases at all, but what percentage of whiplash claims are genuine I wonder?!

[theorganist]

A girl I know, who was pregnant at the time, was in a queue of traffic and was rear ended by a sales rep in a Vectra at very low speed! She was driving a peugeot 106 at the time.

 

She suffered no injury, he put in a whiplash claim which the insurance company actually fought and eventually his claim got thrown out.

 

Anyway I hope you get your Honda repaired and back on the road.

 

Pete

[Bobthebeard]

A girl I know, who was pregnant at the time, was in a queue of traffic and was rear ended by a sales rep in a Vectra at very low speed! She was driving a peugeot 106 at the time.

 

She suffered no injury, he put in a whiplash claim which the insurance company actually fought and eventually his claim got thrown out.

 

Anyway I hope you get your Honda repaired and back on the road.

 

Pete

 

Thankyou Pete,

Hope the matt black Maxi is soon back on the road also!

[theorganist]

Thankyou Pete,

Hope the matt black Maxi is soon back on the road also!

 

Its imminent

[dollywobbler]

Good advice in this thread. Quite right to decline the hire car. Insurance companies pay massively over the odds for car hire just because they can claim it back from the other side. It's an absolute con. Hope it works out for you.

[Bobthebeard]

Good advice in this thread. Quite right to decline the hire car. Insurance companies pay massively over the odds for car hire just because they can claim it back from the other side. It's an absolute con. Hope it works out for you.

 

Suspected that this was the case. I absolutely detest the way the system seems to work nowadays. All weighted towards the greedy, me,me,me attitude that is the case today. I don't have whiplash so I won't claim that I have. I don't want to claim for anything only to have my car back as it was before the accident. Horrible the way that society in general seems to view an insurance claim as some kind of lottery win. It isn't. The lady that rear ended my car was upset, sorry, and it was a genuine accident. Could have happened to anyone. She, or I, don't need or want our insurance prices to go up due to the massive amount of spurious/imaginary claims that are so normal today.

Have already had several text messages offering to help with any personal injury claims. FFS, how did they get my number unless the insurance company passed it on? An industry in a mess!

Injurylawyers4u can fuck off, and all their shady mates! Meh.

Sorry for the rant.

[dollywobbler]

Your insurance company DID pass your details on. In fact, they will have been paid to do so. You're right. It really is a right mess.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

As a rule, the buy back salvage value is 20% of the value agreed by you and the insurance company. Sometimes they can be very generous: when my all but worthless 1996 3 Series got hit a while back they paid out £700 and let me keep the car - in fact, there was no mention of retaining the salvage because they simply didn't want it or the aggro/expense of collecting, storing and auctioning a car worth about 100 quid in a salvage auction. The bodyshop did an estimate and an assessor came to my place to look at it. In my case also, they didn't ask for the V5 and MOT - some companies do because they want to be arseholes and send them back to DVLA to enforce a Category C write off - this means that you have to re-MOT the car and take it to a VOSA test centre to have the car's I.D numbers checked to make sure you aren't ringing it.

 

With luck, they'll value your car at £2500 and give you a hassle free cheque for 2 grand.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

You could always reply to the personal injury texts with a nice txt informing them that you don't want to hear from them again and that any further contact would force them to look for an actual solicitor to defend their outfit in a harrassment lawsuit.

[jonathan_dyane]

Because you're not at fault and dealing with the other parties insurance company it is irrelevent that the repair exceeds market value; they have a duty to put you back in the position you were in pre accident and if you want your 2003 Honda fixed or a replacement of equal standard they must provide.

 

It will be a nightmare arguing for this but ultimately that is the position and if you fight them hard enought that is what they must give you.

[retrogeezer]

Your insurance company DID pass your details on. In fact, they will have been paid to do so. You're right. It really is a right mess.

 

 

and the insurer probably owns or has shares in the injury claim company...

[Bobthebeard]

Because you're not at fault and dealing with the other parties insurance company it is irrelevent that the repair exceeds market value; they have a duty to put you back in the position you were in pre accident and if you want your 2003 Honda fixed or a replacement of equal standard they must provide.

 

It will be a nightmare arguing for this but ultimately that is the position and if you fight them hard enought that is what they must give you.

 

Really? Was totally unaware of this, but it does make sense now you mention it.

Thankyou for pointing it out! Will be straight onto the other parties insurance company in the morning!

[chaseracer]

It's worth mentioning that not all injury claims are spurious. Domestic Management was rear-ended (fnar...) some years back, and now has a progressive condition which will probably end her career early.