My car is a 'total-loss' what do I do next?

[leamarie]

Hi

 

I recently had an accident on the ice (Wednesday 22nd December), my car left the road without any damage and whilst I was outside of the vehicle another car hit mine. The rear bumper is cracked and the wing is dented but the car is very much driveable. My insurance company sent someone from a local garage to come and assess the damage that day and I haven't heard anything since from the insurers (I suppose it's because of the bank holidays etc).

 

The garage called yesterday to ask whether the insurers have been in touch and he informed me that my car is a 'total-loss' (my car is a P-reg Peugeot 306 and the repairs would cost more than the car is worth). He said to wait to see how much they will offer me for it. I told him I was quite keen to keep my car because it has been extremely reliable in the 8 years that I've owned it and he said they will also offer me a lower amount if I want to keep the car. He has said that he could knock out the dent and source a 2nd hand bumper for me but that will cost several hundred pounds.

 

 

My questions are:

• How long will I have to think about whether or not I should keep my car (to figure out if it makes financial sense)?
  
• Do I have to accept their first offer or should I try to negotiate more (I'm sure whatever they offer won't be enough to buy another car or even get the repairs done on mine)?
  
• Will my insurance premium go up if I keep the car (even though the accident wasn't my fault)?
  

It all seens very unfair that I should end up worse off when the damage wasn't even my fault. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[deep in the whatsit]

Depends how much damage has actually been done, If its just cosmetic and just slotting a new bumper on would be safe.

 

Get a breakdown on the repair costs, Could be that the parts are cheap but painting the bumper adds a fair bit to the repair.

Would you be willing to drive around with a bumper a different colour? A bit of time on ebay or at the breakers could save you

on the costs of painting any items.

 

Should have bought one of those VW Polo's where every panel is a different colour, Nobody would notice.

[Cardiff Devil]

Difficult to say, but insurance claims departments use something usually referred to as a total loss matrix, which is basically a graph where the extent of the damage is measured against the age and value of the car to determine whether it would be a total loss or economically viable to repair. A P-reg 306 would almost certainly be worth less than £500, regardless of reliability (most insurers simply use the guide price in Glass's or Parker's).

 

Depending on how your insurer operates, they may send you a cheque in settlement of the final figure although banking the cheque will not compromise your position. The initial figure that they offer you will almost certainly be the bottom book price for your car. If you can find same-age cars for sale in a similar condition in your area (on sites such as Autotrader) you can usually use these to haggle on a higher settlement.

 

You say that someone skidded into you while you were stationary. Are you claiming on your own insurance or on the policy of the third party? If the third party's insurer accepts liability then all costs will be claimed back from them, which means your no-claims bonus won't be affected. This is not to say that your premium won't be affected, since most insurers will likely increase your premium even for a non-fault claim, on the grounds that apparently you're more likely to have another accident in the next few years (which I've never agreed with).

 

If the insurers decide it's a total loss you can argue the toss with them, but they'd be unlikely to change their mind. You may still have the option of buying the car back from them afterwards with a view to having the repairs done yourself, since once they've paid you off for the car, they legally own it. Lost count of the number of calls I took when I worked in an insurance claims centre of people who'd had their cars written off, and then seen them repaired and back on the road months later.

[Mallrat83]

One thing to take note of though. If you decide to repair the vehicle despite the insurance company writing it off, you can keep the cover on the vehicle with your current insurers, however they may as you to have an mot before they will accept it back on cover first to ensure that the vehicle is 100% legal to be on the road.

[ninjainthenight]

if you have GAP do not acept anything, call the GAP iinsurer first