Can this be repaired? crash damage

[lozz]

Bloody hell Highlander that's sh*t with Direct Line
Makes me think even more about swapping insurance companies on renewal

I'm also thinking of downgrading from fully comp to TPF&T
I put my car into a price comparison website, and the quotes offered were based on a value of £445
£445!!!!!!!!!!!!
With the excesses they wanted, I'd get toss all back for the car, so why go fully comp

Fully comp used to be a good thing as it was actualy cheaper to go fully comp that tpft or tp only,
ive always had fully comp until this year,
igot insured £300 cheaper by going with tpft cover and they also put on the cover note im allowed to drive anyother vehicle providing its not an hire car,
ididnt have this option on fully comp,

the only good thing i had on fully comp was the glass cover but my insurer tells me ican add this to my policy at any time for little cost,
idont think iwill be going fully comp again its not worth it

[Gary406]

bad news insurance companys very bad news

thats why i told them i have a £1000 audio system installed to avoid problems if the unlikely event happens ,,,

they told me it would not cost no extra on my premium as they wouldnt pay out because the cars value is only £800
and the value of the audio system is more

so as long as it doesnt void my insurance i said in the future its a peice of mind thing knowing i told them the truth

[Welly]

I've just told my insurers that I fitted a Strut Brace and uprated rear anti-roll bar, just so that they know, and there's currently talk of an engineer's visit to verify the standard of fit of said items

[Gary406]

o dear ... what the feck

[Markyrow]

You need to point out that they were straight swaps for the standard items, not performance enhancing. Get the spec from the manufacturer handy. They were in fact safety items. You have the right to be present when they look at the car so be pleasant and arrange to meet them. If it's at your place then that's easy! Point out that you were just making it look nice and there are no other mods on the car to improve performance or alter it from standard. They will look for any way out of avoiding paying out. Everything they pick up will reduce the final figure. There will be nothing on the car in addition to the aforementioned items anyway will there?

Good luck, Mark.

[turflayer]

Hi All,

Thought i would give you an update...

... well my car was written off as a Cat C but....

I've procured a second hand bumper and rear light which I've fitted (bumper needs a respray to the correct silver) for £40 which has made a huge improvement to the cars overall appearance. Its not an urgent job but in the next week i will be in search of a body shop to pull my rear quarter panel back to the boot line (I've got no chassis damage... i think), fillered and resprayed. hopefully it wont cost too much.

my car passed its MOT today so its now fully insured again, once i have had the VIC Test done (insurance company hasn't even processed the write-off yet.. i seem to be a head of them) they will then fix the second accident damage to my driver door.

and the good part.. my car was valued at £2400, I cant argue with that for a 02 HDI 90 Rapier with 102k miles (I had it down for £1500) minus keeping the car its a little over £2100 in my pocket... i don't think the repairs will even come close to that.

Hassle but everything seems to have turned out ok..... the Rapier lives to fight anther day!

[highlander]

my car was valued at £2400

Damn! My 406 saloon (1999, 1.8 petrol, <60,000 on the clock) was given a "pre-accident value" of £1000 by Direct Line last year. Insurers are utter bastards and just make this sh*t up as they go along. You're lucky - I'd have taken the money and run a mile if they'd valued my car that highly!

[Markyrow]

Good result. Can I ask how much they wanted for the "salvage" Mark.

[turflayer]

the salvage value was about £240ish i think, so about 10% of the cars value.

I really thought they would low ball me but i cant find an example of another car which is selling for the same amount.

Im guessing it will affect the resale value but the plan is to keep it for many more years to come!

[Gary406]

my mate had his W reg hdi 90 writen off 1 month ago

he got paid £1700 out for it . oh and bought the car back off the insurance for £250

[rwb]

What a mess

On the subject of insurance NFU Mutual want to double my premium this year to over £800 "because of a general increase in insurance prices". I like NFU Mutual, I like that its a mutual society, the cover for driving other vehicles is reassuring to have, and its great to be able to call a specific office and actually know who you're talking to (even if they do just say "pay up and bugger off"), but that is just taking the piss. They backed down to £650, but I forgot that my annual milage has halved since I moved so I'll try again...

The lowest I could find was Hastings Direct at £350, but apparently their customer service is so crap that using them would be as good as not being insured at all.