Insurance: When is it considered a write off

Do you disagree with this being "The safest option"?

Presumably you are advising that, if the insured is asked, he tells the
insurance company that, "The damage was there when I bought it", or "It
just appeared in the night"?

The damage was caused by the door being forced open beyond its normal
limit. A bit difficult to argue that "just appeared" in the night..
There are bound to be witnesses to the damage not being there when
purchased and even to how it happened.

Charges of attempting to obtain pecuniary advantage by deception,
perjury, etc spring to mind.. Would the neighbour (whose wall was hit)
go along with the lie? Would the previous owner/seller? Would the OP
want a jail term, as well as the son?

The very, very small chance of this happening has to be weighed against
the trivial amount of money involved..

A different question. I'm sure that the damage could be put right by a
couple of hours of expert panel-bashing work, followed by a bit of
respraying. However that, if you have to pay for it, is going to cost
rather more than picking up a scrapyard one.

 

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:-

http://www.markyboy.net/P4230089.JPG (700k)

I hadn't considered it in the least bit 'attention grabbing' until venturing
in here

 

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 () 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 () gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying :

Yep. I drove a brush-painted 2cv.
<thinks>
Hold on a minute...I'm now 36... and driving several brush-painted 2cvs...