My wife was driving my beloved brava and a man hit it from behind at a round about. The rear bumber is smashed and boot is dented. I can't open the boot now.
Will my insurance company write off the car? Can't see much superficial damange though.

I would not like to see it go as it has done just 49000 miles and engine is superbly silent and powerful.

Just had mot 3 days back at an expense of £175.

What a shame, I hope they won't...
Good luck mate.

your insurance company has nothing to do with it. its the other person's who have to decide if a repair or write off is needed. i'd hope for a write off, they'll pay out the value and give you first refusal on buying the car back for a very small amount (like £75-125). then use the money they paid out to repair the car and have plenty change left over to treat yourself. make sure your wife puts in a whiplash claim, she's guaranteed at least £2000.

i wish someone would hit me from behind, its the best thing that can happen (as long as no one is hurt)

jug said:

your insurance company has nothing to do with it. its the other person's who have to decide if a repair or write off is needed. i'd hope for a write off, they'll pay out the value and give you first refusal on buying the car back for a very small amount (like £75-125). then use the money they paid out to repair the car and have plenty change left over to treat yourself. make sure your wife puts in a whiplash claim, she's guaranteed at least £2000.

i wish someone would hit me from behind, its the best thing that can happen (as long as no one is hurt)

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Jug, this is the first time we met with an accident, so really dont know what to do. I have reported to insurance company and they have booked an appointment in garage for monday. So let's see.

In terms of claims can you suggest what claims to put.

So if they write off, you suggest to buy it back from them for small amount and repair it. Right?

neoseal said:

So if they write off, you suggest to buy it back from them for small amount and repair it. Right?

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:yeahthat: Providing you are wanting to keep the car - with an accident and writeoff on the HPI it could put off buyers.

Get her to the doctors to check for whiplash (stiffness in the back and neck). I didn't claim for injury when I had my big crash as I thought it was a very American and 'chav' thing to do. Well before the accident I was driving an S reg low mileage Seat Ibiza. After I had an L reg diesel tipo with 100k on the clock.

They will sting you for the value of your car as they expect you to be making the rest from personal injury. Don't get ripped off as I did.

Thanks guys.

I have been reading people's experience of write off's, the insurance companies pay peanuts. Some people had such experience that their car ended up with scrapy even before they were told about it. These insurance people work at the speed of light.

neoseal said:

Thanks guys.

I have been reading people's experience of write off's, the insurance companies pay peanuts.

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If they offer you an unreasonable price for the car dont stand for it.

If you can find a few adverts for the same/similar cars for sale at what you think is the right price, keep them and give them to your insurance company (or copies of). This can push up the payout you will get.

neoseal said:

I have reported to insurance company and they have booked an appointment in garage for monday.

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please tell me you mean the other persons insurance company and not yours? your insurance company dont need to see the car as its not thier responsiblity because you weren't responsible for the crash. your company wont pay a panny and you wont lose any no claim bonus. if you get this part wrong all is lost.

get some legal advice from a "no win no fee" company off the tv, they tend to work harder in your favour. ask them about how to claim whiplash and get your car fixed by the other persons insurance company.

then ring your insurance company and make it perfectly clear that the accident was not your fault and you do not intent to make a claim with your company. the claim will be going through the other persons insurance company.

then call the other persons insurance comany and tell then the same. this needs to be clear to all parties involved, otherwise the question of blame will come up, and you really dont want to settle "knock for knock" if it wasnt your fault.

if your insurance company deal with it and you accept liability you are basically looking at a lot of money lost over the next few years (no claims bonus lost & a claim in your name = higher insurance costs for 5 years) and that isnt fair if it wasnt your fault.

you should also make an appointment with your doctor to complain of neck pain, the "no win no fee" people will advise on this but you have to act now or you'll lose the claim.

i know it seems like a lot of hassle but basically if you leave it, it will cost you hundreds more in insurance, and you'll miss out on thousands in compensation, so you really should do something about it asap

Thanks Jug.
Just came back from Ryland Garage, now as the boot doesnt open they are going to rip it off. I think it will be write off then????????

Now about the insurance, I informed my insurance company giving them the details of the third party involved. They told me that they will settle claim with the insurance company (Zurich) of the third party. I dont have to do anything. Now I am confused, as you tell me to inform the third party company insurance as well right ?

I just received a call from my insurance company and I asked them "If I need to inform the third party insurance company", they are telling that I dont have to and we will recover the cost from them? I am really confused now bcos what you are telling makes sense to me.

We have already contacted the "No win no fee" people and they have sent sent us few forms to fill in and they will take it from there.

Cheers

Now you have informed your insurance company they will do all the leg work of taliking to the 3rd party insurer, you don'e need to get involved. Just make sure you keep in contact with your company and don't except the first offer they make.

so you're letting your insurance company handle things which generally is easier and they do recover the costs themselves, but it takes longer and you'll get less whiplash on average, so i'd still use the "no win no fee" people for the whiplash claim.

as long as your insurance company are clear about claiming the costs and not paying out themselves its all fine (sounds that way to me ). good luck and i hope it gets sorted out quickly. my bro had to wait over a year for a £1800 whiplash claim when he used his own insurance company. the second time he used a "no win no fee" company and got nearly twice as much whiplash compensation in less than half the time.

its ok to let your insurance company handle the car damage claim, but do you know if your company will notify you when the car is avaiable to be bought back? often you dont get the chance if you let your own insurance company handle the claim because they dont bother telling you about it, where as the other insurance comany will (if you tell them too)

also will your insurance company charge you anything for handling the claim? (usually your excess even tho it aint your fault). a "no win no fee" style company will claim their fees from the other insurance comany so its free, whereas your own insurance comany may charge you. i'd check that out, you dont want some of your payout getting taken off you.

I have legal protection cover and solicitors have informed me in written that I will not be charged in any way by themselves or anyother party. My insurance company will not charge me anything for the claim. I think it may take longer for them to settle the claim.

Now the Ryland story : Went there the surveyor came to the car, made some notes about the bumper and boot; asked to open the boot, which didnt open due to damage; so he told us that he will have to rip apart the boot and see beneath for the internal damage. As internal damage may be more than cosmetic damage. But in my case, I think it is just the dented boot which is jammed, and smashed bumper. But think these Ryland people will make a write off out of it.

how old is this car?

My K reg civic got scraped down one side by a skip wagon and to me it just looked like tyre knackered, door and wing but it would have cost £2200 for the insurance company to put the twisted suspension right.

Now that really is a worse case scenario but unless this car is really quite old, the insurance company won't be so keen to pay out for a replacement unless the condition of the car is bad

ie bodywork, engine rattling, high mileage etc

Wouldn't be so sure about that.

If the cost of repair is more than 50% value of the car its likely to be written off. Not sure how much Brava's go for (guessing its a petrol and worth about £1000-2000). That means if the cost of repair at say a Fiat garage is more than £500-1000 it's likely to be written off.

My Ibiza was written off even though it was low mileage, A1 condition bodywork, engine as good as could be expected for a VW..

It is V Reg; good condition, excellent body, silent & powerful engine only 49000 miles done. MOT on 15 Sept; New Tyres.

unless this guy was doing 40/50 mph i shouldn't imagine there's much structural damage really?? i'm most probably wrong but if its just the boot thats jamming and a cracked bumper i really can't see em writing it off

But hey i'm no mechanic, let us know how you get on?

they almost always write off cars that are worth less then £3000. if someone scratched your car down both sides with a key it can write your car off (happened to my mate's fiesta rs1800 back in 98 when it was easily worth 3k).

a write off is the result to hope for because you can always fix it privately for a fraction of the insurance estimate. if they dont write it off you only get it fixed, but then its still recorded as damaged repaired so its worth less than it was, meaning you've lost money. its better to get a write off and get the pay out money then fix it yourself, it always works out better.

Just got call from my insurance company. It's a write off. He has valued the car for £ 1340. Is this acceptable?

£1340 for a V reg on 49k is very fair as far as insurance company valuations go, especially if they are willing to let you buy it back for a small amount. tell them you'll accept the valuation if they sell you the car back for £40 (basically tell them to give you £1300 and the car back). if they say no tell them you'll accept £1250 and the car back. it'll go for less than £100 at auction (plus they have auction fees) so they wont say no, unless they're stupid. then you get your car back and have at least £1250 cash to fix it, then pocket the change.

It wont cost more than £250 to fix it if you shop about and get a cheap job. i'd buy a scrapyard tailgate and bumper in the correct colour for £50-60, and pay a garage to repair and paint the damage behind the tailagte and bumper for about £100-200 depending on how bad it is.

you should have your car back to normal and a grand in your pocket. then the whiplash claim will add another couple of grand. all of a sudden an accident isnt such a bad thing

you'll be £3000 up and the loss of value on the car (due to recorded damage) wont be more than a few hundred.

Thanks. Just came back from Ryland, looked at my car. They have opened the boot, boot-floor near to bumper is damaged as well, Locking clamp is not in place as well.
Currently I am too busy with my job and too many things to sort out, so don't want to take up this job for now, but its really tempting.