Insurance claim and HPI.

I'm pretty sure it'll only appear on the hpi list if its either been nicked (or still is), written off or has finance outstanding on it.

So far as you're car loosing value i'm pretty sure the insurance companys attitude is 'well its been fixed so its the same as it was', even though it often isnt and if somebody ask's you when you're selling the car 'has it ever been in a crash to you're knowledge' you'd probaly guilty of trying to defraud somebody by lieing to them, so obviously the car *may* be worth less then it was before a crash but i doubt the insurance company would help you to be honest.

I would imagine such things are impossible to claim for. e.g. Suppose you prove that the crash has reduced the value of your car by £400.. that £400 doesn't actually exist,, unless you sell you car. You could never sell it and just keep the £400!

Correct; except the term they use for 'written off' is Total Loss of which there are 4 categories, A B C D.

A & B are sold as salvage to the trade who have the relevant qualifications and must never be returned to the road. C & D can be returned to the road, but C will need a Vehicle Identity Check to confirm that the details of the vehicle being returned to the road match the record held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Your car has not been subject to a Total Loss claim, but is purely a repaired vehicle and as such will have a clean bill of health with HPI.

I was told (many moons ago I admit) by an Insurance assessor that the only good vehicle repair is one you can't see. So if you can tell it's been repaired it hasn't been done properly, and if you can't tell 'well its been fixed so its the same as it was'.

krystnors

When I bought my car I was working for an insurance company at the time and was able to run a report from a central (Experian) database of all insurers and was informed that it had never had an insurance claim against it.

I don't know if these searches are available to the public but the info is stored centrally.

big brother is watching!

Thanks all,

Insurance co says I would have to pay for an engineers report to ascertain whether the car has diminished in value, and if they say no I foot the bill. I guess I will give it up as one of those things then.

You can't see it has been repaired at all, the body shut lines etc are perfect and the (pearlescent metallic) paint is a spot on match. If only the fitter who put the thing back together had not tried to con me by putting a torn sheet of polythene across some of the door instead of the proper waterproof membrane, it wouldn't have filled up with water.

The annoying thing is that they had it back for a week to fix it, and they have done the same again, so it still leaks like a sieve...

I don't believe in third time lucky, so I've asked to inspect the work before they put the door trim back on this time.

Brian.

I think you would probably be required to sell the vehicle immediately, and then demonstrate that you had tried to get book price but had failed solely because of the accident repair.

After all, the value of your car is decreasing daily, and you only suffer a loss (if any) when you finally sell it.

So if you keep it two years your loss will be considerably less (if any).

Beyond a certain point, an accident repair (say three years previously) will be trivial compared to other factors such as mileage, wear and tear etc.

Whack! {Ghostly Neigh}!

Dave R