Insurance: When is it considered a write off

I agree with Sue that this may not be the wisest course. A friend of mine (very respectable widow) had a Mondeo that she seemed to be unable to avoid slamming into immovable objects. After a couple of years she was seriously upset at being unable to drive much more than a few hundred yards before being stopped by police. The car was always taxed, MOT'd and kept in good running order on a daily basis by her mechanic son. He just couldn't be bothered to sort out the dinged panels knowing that she would bend them again soon.

One evening she was stopped twice and had a rant at the police officer who stopped her the second time. He very calmly explained that if she drover "a rogues car" she could expect to get stopped often. She changed the car that summer and adjusted her attitude about parking and ended up not being bothered at regular intervals.

So you make a claim for something and they come back to say "oh there's some damage to the car so we're not paying out"?

I had a car with a mismatched door. fairly big dents in the roof and generally tatty demeanour - not a whisper from plod, ever, despite the young scruffy looking male driver. I even drove it to Winchester a few times :-)

cheers, clive

Even if not disclosed, if the policyholder made a claim the car would only be valued at its (damaged) state - prior to the accident causing the claim. Only if the latest accident obscured the previous damage, would the policy holder benefit.

Or the insurance company finds out from the damage report that there was a previous (undisclosed) accident and yes, writes back to say that they aren't going to pay out. Insurance companies have a right to full disclosure of all matters relevant to their risk and the value of the insured property.

FWIW the car in question was in Manchester.

Latest development today, a local 'no questions asked' chap who a number of people have recommended when they heard my story, will take a look at it.

He's not seen it yet, but the consensus from some car enthusiast colleagues is the door can probably be crafted back into shape by him, and a very respectable appearance, for around 100-150 Quid.

Thanks to all for helping me up the learning curve.

Sue, you're being way too over cautious her, should I tell my insurers if my number plate gets cracked? what about a punture, will I declare that?

Erm, who wrote:

"Me, in his circumstances, I would probably stick another (matching) door on it and not notify them."

Your puncture (unless you continue to drive on it) or cracked number plate do not significantly alter the risk being carried by the insurance company. Damage so severe that the question,"When is it considered a write-off?" - is a different thing altogether. A driver who carelessly does such damage is a significant risk factor also.

Whilst there are certain advantages in driving a wreck (drivers are more likely to give way to something that may easily not be insured...), IME, they do attract the police on a boring quiet night shift. Which we have many of in Devon..YMMV.

IMHO, it is far better to avoid being asked awkward questions than to have to avoid answering them. And never, ever, lie or your tongue will go purple.. But, if you are determined to, at least make sure that the gain outweighs the risk factored by the cost of being found out..It very rarely does. YMMV.

Ah, hang on, it's not the *damage* that's severe, it's the cost of having that damage repaired at an insurance company 'approved' repair centre.

There seems to be an awful lot of speculation in this thread as to the level of damage incurred

Here's a picture:-

WHAT?

Tell him to JFDI. Just... drive it.

Maybe if you'd called the thread 'When is it even noticeable' people wouldn't be talking about it being a write off...

Perhaps, I think I was swept into his emotional response to the accident.

Anyway, he's either going to get his garage apprentice friends to sort him out a scrapyard door, or the local panel beater. Whichever's the cheaper and least bovver.

A crease that small should pull out easily. The problem is making good the metallic paint which isn't an amateur job.

It hasn't cracked the paint, so I reckon dentmaster might well be able to sort that for very little cost.

They usually have someone set up outside Halfords at the weekends.

The local guy I mentioned earlier is apparently a whizz with metallic paint jobs, I was shown one of his repairs this afternoon, it looked very good, but the scrapyard door plan might end up cheaper.

Mark Carver ( snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Why the hell are you even thinking about doing anything with it?

Just bloody leave it well alone and get on with life!

Just wait till the summer gets here then work on it .in that way u can top up your tan and get the job done aswell.

I'd like to. Anyway, weren't you ever 17 ?

They are also in the Yellow Pages and you can certainly try them, but I think you will find that it is too near the edge and double skinned so they can't get their little hammers on sticks at it, but at least if they can't do it they don't (IME) charge for saying so. And for the same reason you probably won't be able to pull all of it out with a sucker, though you might be able to improve it. However a tin of filler from your local accessory shop, the proper Peugeot aerosol from a dealer and about 30 minutes of actual work spread over a couple of hours or so should do the job.

Ron Robinson

Mark Carver ( snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yep. I drove a brush-painted 2cv.

Hold on a minute...I'm now 36... and driving several brush-painted 2cvs...