I have a claim in and am concerned that the vehicle will be written off. Has anyone ever got a written off vehicle repaired and how did it affect insurance/resale value?
Cat A or B then it is not safe to repair and must be scrapped.
Cat S means it has suffered structural damage (e.g. twisted chassis) and must be professionally repaired to be able to be re-registered.
Cat N means it was written off for economic reasons i.e. costs for repair are more than the vehicle's worth.
If you are repairing a Cat N then you must tell your insurer but it should not greatly affect the premium. Resale value will be significantly lower (maybe 20-40%)
I have a claim in and am concerned that the vehicle will be written off. Has anyone ever got a written off vehicle repaired and how did it affect insurance/resale value?
Depends what sort of write off category as to if you could even have it repaired and back on the road, will also rely on the insurer selling it back to you. Any CAT write off will effect value generally. Personally unless it's a classic or has sentimental value it's rarely worth the hassle (unless you are a panel beater/mechanic etc).
Going through the same process at the moment. My car hit while parked, and when I turned up to witness the other party recovering their vehicle they alleged it was stolen and driver had ran off (it wasn't stolen). So far little interest from insurer or police in to their wrong doing even though facts are quite simple and my full and accurate report to the Met went in on the day in happened in early December.
However I am being offered market value for my vehicle on the basis of photos assessed by my insurer's engineers and they deem it a write off. It will become category S. (Economic write off). I can pay close to £1,000 of the proceeds to buy the vehicle back and repair it myself but the cat S will stick meaning it won't have much resale value.
I am aggrieved by the whole process. Innocent victim, and a lot of hassle for me. The car is in otherwise healthy condition and looks great from the front. The engine is good and i enjoyed driving it. So i made enquiries as to how much a local repairer would charge with the idea of cancelling the claim and avoiding the cat S marker. Unfortunately the estimate came in at £3,000 so it looks like i'll be accepting the insurance pay out and losing my car.
Meanwhile I have got used to not having a car. I am also very put off from engaging with insurers or the police. I think the whole system is corrupt. The police so far have facilitated insurance fraud by the offending party by letting them lodge their car as stolen which it wasn't. I will making sure they don't get away with that stupidity. I am also considering nofting the offending car owners insurer of what happened to stop them claiming on their side.
Fwiw, I was fully comp and the insurer is UKI who i well forever avoid from now on. They own By miles, Privilege Churchill and other brands.
Going through the same process at the moment. My car hit while parked, and when I turned up to witness the other party recovering their vehicle they alleged it was stolen and driver had ran off (it wasn't stolen). So far little interest from insurer or police in to their wrong doing even though facts are quite simple and my full and accurate report to the Met went in on the day in happened in early December.
However I am being offered market value for my vehicle on the basis of photos assessed by my insurer's engineers and they deem it a write off. It will become category S. (Economic write off). I can pay close to £1,000 of the proceeds to buy the vehicle back and repair it myself but the cat S will stick meaning it won't have much resale value.
I am aggrieved by the whole process. Innocent victim, and a lot of hassle for me. The car is in otherwise healthy condition and looks great from the front. The engine is good and i enjoyed driving it. So i made enquiries as to how much a local repairer would charge with the idea of cancelling the claim and avoiding the cat S marker. Unfortunately the estimate came in at £3,000 so it looks like i'll be accepting the insurance pay out and losing my car.
Meanwhile I have got used to not having a car. I am also very put off from engaging with insurers or the police. I think the whole system is corrupt. The police so far have facilitated insurance fraud by the offending party by letting them lodge their car as stolen which it wasn't. I will making sure they don't get away with that stupidity. I am also considering nofting the offending car owners insurer of what happened to stop them claiming on their side.
Fwiw, I was fully comp and the insurer is UKI who i well forever avoid from now on. They own By miles, Privilege Churchill and other brands.
I was also hit while parked - one of my neighbours did it. My passenger side front tyre was sticking out slightly and they managed to hit that - I have no idea how they managed to be so close. The wing mirror was folded in so that remained intact.
The steering now fails unsafe - no idea as to the extent of the damage until it's been examined.
Little progress from the insurers and my neighbour has been very unhelpful although he did own up to hitting my car.
Want to keep the vehicle going as it will be hard to replace.
because of airbags and the tech on cars nowadays a lot more cars are written off when they would have previously been repairable, dont seem very environmental to me.
I've kept the car a few times. My wife currently has a land rover defender that was written off by a lorry about 10 years ago, whilst I was driving. Anyway after a protracted legal dispute the other insurer paid out. The repairs were done by me personally. The car was written off, so to speak and I had to get it inspected at a Government inspection centre. All that really included was an identity check. After that it MOT and insure as normal. We exported it to Sweden 2 years ago and there was no issue with the write off in that process.
The Landy was worth maybe £2500. It got bumped (only bumper and wing damage damage) and so the insurer wrote it off. I asked to keep it and they took the amount of repairs required off the value and settled. Hence I got to keep my car and about £1800 in the settlement. The repairs cost me about £100 and an afternoons work. Plus about £80 for the inspection.
Going through the same process at the moment. My car hit while parked, and when I turned up to witness the other party recovering their vehicle they alleged it was stolen and driver had ran off (it wasn't stolen). So far little interest from insurer or police in to their wrong doing even though facts are quite simple and my full and accurate report to the Met went in on the day in happened in early December.
However I am being offered market value for my vehicle on the basis of photos assessed by my insurer's engineers and they deem it a write off. It will become category S. (Economic write off). I can pay close to £1,000 of the proceeds to buy the vehicle back and repair it myself but the cat S will stick meaning it won't have much resale value.
I am aggrieved by the whole process. Innocent victim, and a lot of hassle for me. The car is in otherwise healthy condition and looks great from the front. The engine is good and i enjoyed driving it. So i made enquiries as to how much a local repairer would charge with the idea of cancelling the claim and avoiding the cat S marker. Unfortunately the estimate came in at £3,000 so it looks like i'll be accepting the insurance pay out and losing my car.
Meanwhile I have got used to not having a car. I am also very put off from engaging with insurers or the police. I think the whole system is corrupt. The police so far have facilitated insurance fraud by the offending party by letting them lodge their car as stolen which it wasn't. I will making sure they don't get away with that stupidity. I am also considering nofting the offending car owners insurer of what happened to stop them claiming on their side.
Fwiw, I was fully comp and the insurer is UKI who i well forever avoid from now on. They own By miles, Privilege Churchill and other brands.
My sympathies and good luck with getting what's rightfully yours. Don't forget that the business of insurance companies is not to indemnify we premium payers for the losses we incur, especially not the damage visited on us by their "insured" customers. The business model of insurance companies, most especially domestic and private car policies, is pitch the premium at the highest point which we will fall for and then to keep every last penny, regardless of the facts of any claim. They will ignore, ignore, ignore until you are such a nuisance they are irritated into action, they then deny, deny, deny all facts that might cost them until you elevate yourself to a status of massive pain in the arse, then they will delay, delay, delay in the apparent expectation that you give up or die before the process completes. If your car policy has legal expenses cover and/or uninsured loss recovery then do your best to throw any and all resources at the thieving corporate scumbags
Watched a YouTube video the other day about We Buy Any Car and a dealer had a Jag XF being valued at just £500 because of a Cat N status.
Category N (non-structurally damaged repairable)
Category N vehicles can be repaired. These vehicles have only been damaged superficially and the structural integrity of the vehicle remains intact.
There’s no need to re-register Category N cars with the DVLA but you’ll need to notify them that your car was written off.
Category S (structurally damaged repairable)
These cars have structural damage but can be repaired. All Category S cars will need to be re-registered with the DVLA before being put back on the road.
Going through the same process at the moment. My car hit while parked, and when I turned up to witness the other party recovering their vehicle they alleged it was stolen and driver had ran off (it wasn't stolen). So far little interest from insurer or police in to their wrong doing even though facts are quite simple and my full and accurate report to the Met went in on the day in happened in early December.
However I am being offered market value for my vehicle on the basis of photos assessed by my insurer's engineers and they deem it a write off. It will become category S. (Economic write off). I can pay close to £1,000 of the proceeds to buy the vehicle back and repair it myself but the cat S will stick meaning it won't have much resale value.
I am aggrieved by the whole process. Innocent victim, and a lot of hassle for me. The car is in otherwise healthy condition and looks great from the front. The engine is good and i enjoyed driving it. So i made enquiries as to how much a local repairer would charge with the idea of cancelling the claim and avoiding the cat S marker. Unfortunately the estimate came in at £3,000 so it looks like i'll be accepting the insurance pay out and losing my car.
Meanwhile I have got used to not having a car. I am also very put off from engaging with insurers or the police. I think the whole system is corrupt. The police so far have facilitated insurance fraud by the offending party by letting them lodge their car as stolen which it wasn't. I will making sure they don't get away with that stupidity. I am also considering nofting the offending car owners insurer of what happened to stop them claiming on their side.
Fwiw, I was fully comp and the insurer is UKI who i well forever avoid from now on. They own By miles, Privilege Churchill and other brands.
My sympathies and good luck with getting what's rightfully yours. Don't forget that the business of insurance companies is not to indemnify we premium payers for the losses we incur, especially not the damage visited on us by their "insured" customers. The business model of insurance companies, most especially domestic and private car policies, is pitch the premium at the highest point which we will fall for and then to keep every last penny, regardless of the facts of any claim. They will ignore, ignore, ignore until you are such a nuisance they are irritated into action, they then deny, deny, deny all facts that might cost them until you elevate yourself to a status of massive pain in the arse, then they will delay, delay, delay in the apparent expectation that you give up or die before the process completes. If your car policy has legal expenses cover and/or uninsured loss recovery then do your best to throw any and all resources at the thieving corporate scumbags
Thanks and yes, I agree. Easy to lose sight of the distinction between personal and corporate interest, especially when there is so little by way of providing a quality of service. With motor insurance being legally compulsory there's more chance this culture of avoidance and denial can more easily take root. And the police also fall in line on the basis that insurance must 'take care' of it. The police in my case simply accepted the offending car as stolen without even a simple cross check to my report.
Watched a YouTube video the other day about We Buy Any Car and a dealer had a Jag XF being valued at just £500 because of a Cat N status.
I'm only going by what my insurers engineer advised based on their assessment if photos I supplied. Was expecting/hoping they might come and physically assess but fat chance for that being worth their time and effort in hindsight.
I previously had a car written off as cat N, then the second time it happened was told it was automatically a cat S. I taped the offending panel in to place to pass it's MOT and scrapped it a year or so later.
Watched a YouTube video the other day about We Buy Any Car and a dealer had a Jag XF being valued at just £500 because of a Cat N status.
I'm only going by what my insurers engineer advised based on their assessment if photos I supplied. Was expecting/hoping they might come and physically assess but fat chance for that being worth their time and effort in hindsight.
I previously had a car written off as cat N, then the second time it happened was told it was automatically a cat S. I taped the offending panel in to place to pass it's MOT and scrapped it a year or so later.
Going through the same process at the moment. My car hit while parked, and when I turned up to witness the other party recovering their vehicle they alleged it was stolen and driver had ran off (it wasn't stolen). So far little interest from insurer or police in to their wrong doing even though facts are quite simple and my full and accurate report to the Met went in on the day in happened in early December.
However I am being offered market value for my vehicle on the basis of photos assessed by my insurer's engineers and they deem it a write off. It will become category S. (Economic write off). I can pay close to £1,000 of the proceeds to buy the vehicle back and repair it myself but the cat S will stick meaning it won't have much resale value.
I am aggrieved by the whole process. Innocent victim, and a lot of hassle for me. The car is in otherwise healthy condition and looks great from the front. The engine is good and i enjoyed driving it. So i made enquiries as to how much a local repairer would charge with the idea of cancelling the claim and avoiding the cat S marker. Unfortunately the estimate came in at £3,000 so it looks like i'll be accepting the insurance pay out and losing my car.
Meanwhile I have got used to not having a car. I am also very put off from engaging with insurers or the police. I think the whole system is corrupt. The police so far have facilitated insurance fraud by the offending party by letting them lodge their car as stolen which it wasn't. I will making sure they don't get away with that stupidity. I am also considering nofting the offending car owners insurer of what happened to stop them claiming on their side.
Fwiw, I was fully comp and the insurer is UKI who i well forever avoid from now on. They own By miles, Privilege Churchill and other brands.
My sympathies and good luck with getting what's rightfully yours. Don't forget that the business of insurance companies is not to indemnify we premium payers for the losses we incur, especially not the damage visited on us by their "insured" customers. The business model of insurance companies, most especially domestic and private car policies, is pitch the premium at the highest point which we will fall for and then to keep every last penny, regardless of the facts of any claim. They will ignore, ignore, ignore until you are such a nuisance they are irritated into action, they then deny, deny, deny all facts that might cost them until you elevate yourself to a status of massive pain in the arse, then they will delay, delay, delay in the apparent expectation that you give up or die before the process completes. If your car policy has legal expenses cover and/or uninsured loss recovery then do your best to throw any and all resources at the thieving corporate scumbags
Thanks and yes, I agree. Easy to lose sight of the distinction between personal and corporate interest, especially when there is so little by way of providing a quality of service. With motor insurance being legally compulsory there's more chance this culture of avoidance and denial can more easily take root. And the police also fall in line on the basis that insurance must 'take care' of it. The police in my case simply accepted the offending car as stolen without even a simple cross check to my report.
Mostly true but not exclusively. Never have an accident with an official vehicle. Govt. vehicles, police cars, Ambulances, etc, etc tend not to be insured by virtue of section 144 of the RTA. I had a car written off by a driver of an army truck towing a field gun. He was over hours. Getting the money off the MoD was not a barrel of laughs. Made insurance companies seem positively benign.
Would agree - insurers tend to 'write off' for relatively minor damage, with the cost of repairing modern cars and also if your insurance includes a loan car during the repair (but not from the moment they write it off) then it makes a write off more likely.
A few years back my insurers wanted to write off my car after some nurk had tried to break in to it with a crowbar and that broke the window in the passenger side door.
Buying back / repairing a written off car gets complicated, and (I'm not sure if this still applies now they have closed the DVLA local offices) you used to have to get it officially inspected before you could tax it again - partly to make sure it was roadworthy, but also to prove it really was the same car (I guess one way of 'laundering' a stolen car would be to claim it was a repaired write-off.)
and it will affect insurance premiums and potential re-sale price.
In my case, I was allowed to withdraw the claim and get it sorted out - from memory my tame garage wanted less than 50 quid to un-bend the door and fit a window from a scrap car (this was a 1990s car that didn't have electric windows or any of that sort of nonsense) - that might not be an option if there's possible structural damage or damage to things like the steering, but may be worth investigating.
Comments
However I am being offered market value for my vehicle on the basis of photos assessed by my insurer's engineers and they deem it a write off. It will become category S. (Economic write off). I can pay close to £1,000 of the proceeds to buy the vehicle back and repair it myself but the cat S will stick meaning it won't have much resale value.
I am aggrieved by the whole process. Innocent victim, and a lot of hassle for me. The car is in otherwise healthy condition and looks great from the front. The engine is good and i enjoyed driving it. So i made enquiries as to how much a local repairer would charge with the idea of cancelling the claim and avoiding the cat S marker. Unfortunately the estimate came in at £3,000 so it looks like i'll be accepting the insurance pay out and losing my car.
Meanwhile I have got used to not having a car. I am also very put off from engaging with insurers or the police. I think the whole system is corrupt. The police so far have facilitated insurance fraud by the offending party by letting them lodge their car as stolen which it wasn't. I will making sure they don't get away with that stupidity. I am also considering nofting the offending car owners insurer of what happened to stop them claiming on their side.
Fwiw, I was fully comp and the insurer is UKI who i well forever avoid from now on. They own By miles, Privilege Churchill and other brands.
The steering now fails unsafe - no idea as to the extent of the damage until it's been examined.
Little progress from the insurers and my neighbour has been very unhelpful although he did own up to hitting my car.
Want to keep the vehicle going as it will be hard to replace.
The Landy was worth maybe £2500. It got bumped (only bumper and wing damage damage) and so the insurer wrote it off. I asked to keep it and they took the amount of repairs required off the value and settled. Hence I got to keep my car and about £1800 in the settlement. The repairs cost me about £100 and an afternoons work. Plus about £80 for the inspection.
Don't forget that the business of insurance companies is not to indemnify we premium payers for the losses we incur, especially not the damage visited on us by their "insured" customers. The business model of insurance companies, most especially domestic and private car policies, is pitch the premium at the highest point which we will fall for and then to keep every last penny, regardless of the facts of any claim. They will ignore, ignore, ignore until you are such a nuisance they are irritated into action, they then deny, deny, deny all facts that might cost them until you elevate yourself to a status of massive pain in the arse, then they will delay, delay, delay in the apparent expectation that you give up or die before the process completes.
If your car policy has legal expenses cover and/or uninsured loss recovery then do your best to throw any and all resources at the thieving corporate scumbags
Is an economic write off Cat S or Cat N ??
Edit.
Watched a YouTube video the other day about We Buy Any Car and a dealer had a Jag XF being valued at just £500 because of a Cat N status.
Also Bob is always right!
And @fat man on a moped helpfully elaborates.
I previously had a car written off as cat N, then the second time it happened was told it was automatically a cat S. I taped the offending panel in to place to pass it's MOT and scrapped it a year or so later.