No fault accident - stopping car from being Cat "C"

In article <673a0523-f3d1-4532-a850-ad0e7f1ad454@s4g2000yql.googlegroups


Counter the insulting offers by scouring the paper and online ads for
same model car, similar year, similar mileage and use those as evidence
that the settlement they are offering is too low.

Never take the first offer.

If you like the car and want to keep it, say so. They'll probably be
glad not to have to pay to dispose of it.

Went through this with a VW Passat which was rear-ended and got a fair
settlement in the end, but you have to be persistent.  The damage looked
minor (cracked bumper) but the boot lid wouldn't open.  Once the garage
got it open they found the boot floor was buckled = write off.

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(='.'=)
(")_(")

Thanks Mike. Made it clear from day one that I wasn't prepared to be
out of pocket by even one penny, that I wanted to either keep my car
or wanted a direct replacement. The stumbling block here is very
definitely the engineer, even my claims manager made a complaint about
him. Unfortunately, his female manager is no better.

Cheers,

like they were saying:


The only difference between a CatC and a CatD is that you'll need to get
a VIC on the car before you get another V5C issued for it.

If your main priority is to bring this to an end, there's an easy answer.

Which is of course time/inconvenience and money.

It is my understanding (may be wrong) that with "unrecorded or "Cat D"
your MOT stays in force, with "Cat C" it is canceled.

As the last claim I made was over 30 years ago, things are *very*
different. God, it was easy back then ;)

Cheers.

like they were saying:


Since an MOT is a bare minimum standard for any vehicle on the road, that
should be a mere formality.

Indeed, but it is all time and money. I put my car through it's MOT a
month ago, I'm damned if I'm going to do it again so soon.

Cheers.

like they were saying:


It sounds from here as if you're willing to spend more time avoiding it
than it'd take to do it? Do you put any financial value on your time &
blood pressure?

I put great value on my time and time spent on the phone is far easier
to justify than time spent driving here and there or sitting at home
all day waiting for an engineer to visit to look at the car (requested
& declined).

BP? I very rarely get stressed, and certainly not over something like
this ;)

Cheers.

A car with CatC has a lower scrap value than a CatD.  I would be looking at
the insurers perhaps paying you to keep the car!!  The engineer, for the
sake of an MOT could be doing you a favour.

<snip>

Unfortunately that is far from the case. Even if they gave me the salvage
(rather than deduct it from the payout) I would still be short to the tune
of around £300 from the cheapest (non insurance) quote I've obtained. And,
that's without including MOT fee & VIC costs.

Regards,

sounding much like they were saying:


Sorry, than the cheapest quote for repairing it?

If that's the case, then you've merely proved that it is most certainly a
CatC write-off.

The payout is the pre-collision value of the vehicle. The deduction is
the salvage value of the vehicle. Your choice to retain the salvage and
repair it is not the insurer's problem, nor is funding the repair. They
had an opportunity to fund the repair, and declined, preferring to pay
out the replacement value.

You can haggle over that replacement value, sure.
You can haggle over that salvage value, sure.

But the cost to repair is not your insurer's problem.

Hmm, do you work for my insurer? :-))

I disagree. I have maintained from the outset (to my insurers) that I
expect, at the end of all this, to be in exactly the same position as I was
at the beginning of October. Nothing they have offered so far puts me in
that position.

Cash offer +salvage =Not enough to restore car to pre-accident condition.

Cash offer -salvage =Not enough to source replacement make/model/condition.

Regards,

sounding much like they were saying:


You can disagree with reality all you like. It won't make the slightest
bit of difference.


Then haggle over their payout for the car's pre-collision value. With
evidence.

This is _separate_ from the question of salvage.


Yep, that's why it's not economically viable to repair. Congratulations.  
You've just agreed with them that it should be at least CatC, not CatD.


When you say "Cash offer - salvage" do you mean what they give you
_after_ buying your old one back? If so, then tough.

If you mean "cash offer = not enough", then haggle harder.

I mean the cash offered, with them taking ownership of my car is
insufficient to replace my car like for like. Last time I checked, the whole
point of insurance was to return you to your pre-accident/theft/whatever
position.

If that is no longer the case, I might as well not bother paying premiums.

Nope. It's to cover you for loss within the terms of your policy.


Well, you would need to have at least TP to legally be on the road. The
amount you would save by having that over fully comp would mean you would
need to have *many* accident free years to be in a better position
financially than you are now.

Chris

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Remove prejudice to reply.

Sorry Chris, that was meant to be tongue in cheek.

sounding much like they were saying:


What car (mileage etc), and how much have they offered?
 

It is. Since you're claiming from your own insurer, it's also subject to
the Ts&Cs you agreed to when you took the policy out. What do they say?


You have no choice in the matter.

[...]


I sympathise with your position, but sadly, over 45 years of mine and
others mishaps, I have learnt that in an accident situation you will
almost certainly suffer loss in one form or another. This is totally
regardless of whomever might be considered at fault.

It might not be fair, but then life seldom is!

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

I had this a few years ago. I got nowhere with my insurer. After nearly
a year of their (or rather their claims handling firm's) obstinacy and
lack of cooperation, I personally took over the handling of the claim on
the other party's insurer. They were quite reasonable and eventually I
got fully reimbursed for the repairs to my car.

There does seem to be some financial incentive for insurers to want
their clients' cars written off as cat Cs. Maybe it just simplifies the
admin for them; or maybe the payout is cheaper than garage bills.

--
Les
Anyone regularly attending or organising protests should expect to be of
interest to the state.