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In Event of a Write Off Motor Insurance Advice

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  • 11-11-2006 1:34pm
    #1
    jmd
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭


    My car has been involved in an accident, through no fault of my own, another driver lost control & skidded on to my path. One machanic thinks the Insurance Company will write it off, (Mileage 100K year 2000) another says it's repairable. Front wheel partly off, wing, bumper and bonnet damage. The Insurance Accessor will decide it's fate on Monday. What is the situation. If it's written off -
    (1) Is it still my property or does it become the property of the Insurance Company,

    (2) Can I collect the "written off " value & have it repaired.

    I've never been in this situation before, so any advice would be appreciated.


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    #2
    Tipsy Mac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,559 ✭✭✭Tipsy Mac


    Not sure, I've heard people keeping the car and also heard of it being taken by the insurance company. I'd imagine you would be better off if they just wrote you a cheque for the value of the car and took it off your hands as otherwise say if the cars worth 8k and scrap value is 1k (to them) they will only give you a cheque for 7k and you may neve be able to get 1k for the car.


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    #3
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,993 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    A lot of people seem to think 'writteh off' means 'unrepairable'. It simply means that it is not financially viable to repair. If a car had a pre accident value of €5,000, it may not make financial sense spending several thousand on it.

    Not sure about the ownership question. I always presumed that once one received the cheque, the car was the property of the insurance company. (I've never been in that position, thank God.)


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    #4
    bazz26
    Registered Users Posts: 51,239 ✭✭✭✭bazz26


    To answer one of your questions:

    Once the insurance company decides it is a write off (not financially viable to repair, etc) and they pay you their estimated market value of the car it then becomes their property to do with what they like. They then will probably sell the car for scrap.

    Not unheard of though that a trader/dealer buys the written off car from the insurance company and gets it repaired alot cheaper than the insurance company and put back on the road. This would obviously depend on the level of damage originally sustained also.


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    #5
    oleras
    Registered Users Posts: 2,724 ✭✭✭oleras


    my own personal experience.... car value was 20k, insurance company gave me 17k and breaker(who towed it away from the scene) gave me 3k. in other words, i could have taken the 17 from the insurance company and kept the car myself, minus recovery and storage fees.


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    #6
    Spocker
    Moderators Posts: 6,860 ✭✭✭Spocker


    bazz26 wrote:
    Not unheard of though that a trader/dealer buys the written off car from the insurance company and gets it repaired alot cheaper than the insurance company and put back on the road. This would obviously depend on the level of damage originally sustained also.

    This happened to me actually, accident not my own fault, had the car towed back to where I had bought it. There it stayed until the assessor saw and said "write off". Car was worth 12k, insurance gave me 6K and the garage gave "credit" of the other 6K against the new car I was getting off them - all well and dandy.

    3 months later happening to be driving in my home town (in Mayo - the crash was in Dublin where I lived at the time) and lo and behold there was my wreck, all fixed up shiny and new...

    Went to the door and it was an old buddy of mine. Sent him a copy of the photos I had taken (the rear axle had been damaged) and he promptly went to the local "dodgy dealer" where he bought it and got a couple of grand back - the dealer never mentioned it had been crashed :eek: (the guy did ask at the time..)


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    #7
    Henry Ford III
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 17,711 Mod ✭✭✭✭Henry Ford III


    Spocker wrote:
    This happened to me actually, accident not my own fault, had the car towed back to where I had bought it. There it stayed until the assessor saw and said "write off". Car was worth 12k, insurance gave me 6K and the garage gave "credit" of the other 6K against the new car I was getting off them - all well and dandy.

    3 months later happening to be driving in my home town (in Mayo - the crash was in Dublin where I lived at the time) and lo and behold there was my wreck, all fixed up shiny and new...

    Went to the door and it was an old buddy of mine. Sent him a copy of the photos I had taken (the rear axle had been damaged) and he promptly went to the local "dodgy dealer" where he bought it and got a couple of grand back - the dealer never mentioned it had been crashed :eek: (the guy did ask at the time..)

    That sounds "odd". If the car was worth €12k why didn't you get that from the insurer?


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    #8
    jmd
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭jmd


    Henry Ford III wrote:
    That sounds "odd". If the car was worth €12k why didn't you get that from the insurer?

    It looks like "something was going on" between the accessor and the garage-curious


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    #9
    Henry Ford III
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 17,711 Mod ✭✭✭✭Henry Ford III


    Had the op gotten the €12k off the insurer he could have obtained a cash deal on the new vehicle too.


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    #10
    Spocker
    Moderators Posts: 6,860 ✭✭✭Spocker


    Henry Ford III wrote:
    That sounds "odd". If the car was worth €12k why didn't you get that from the insurer?

    Because the car had a scrap value of 6k; they didn't want the car so I effectivly sold the scrap to the garage for 6k; + 6k from insurance meant I wan't out of pocket.


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    #11
    Henry Ford III
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 17,711 Mod ✭✭✭✭Henry Ford III


    Spocker wrote:
    Because the car had a scrap value of 6k; they didn't want the car so I effectivly sold the scrap to the garage for 6k; + 6k from insurance meant I wan't out of pocket.

    Why though?

    You should have got the total €12k from the insurer, and let them wory about the wreck.

    With €12k in your hand you could have gotten a cash deal on a replacement car too.

    History now I guess so it hardly matters.


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    #12
    Spocker
    Moderators Posts: 6,860 ✭✭✭Spocker


    Henry Ford III wrote:
    History now I guess so it hardly matters.

    True; I was just glad not to be out of pocket and it was three cars ago ...


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    #13
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Spocker wrote:
    Went to the door and it was an old buddy of mine. Sent him a copy of the photos I had taken (the rear axle had been damaged) and he promptly went to the local "dodgy dealer" where he bought it and got a couple of grand back - the dealer never mentioned it had been crashed :eek: (the guy did ask at the time..)
    Nice to know the maximum fines imposed for that sort of thing can still be covered by the profit on just one car. No disincentive
    at all to a dodgy dealer. :mad:


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    #14
    Deuteronomy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭Deuteronomy


    jmd wrote:
    'My car has been involved in an accident ... 1 mechanic thinks the Insurance Company will write it off ... another says it's repairable. If it's written off:

    (1) Is it still my property or does it become the property of the Insurance Company?

    (2) Can I collect the "written off " value & have it repaired?

    jmd,

    If it's 'written off' (now referred to as: 'uneconomic repair') and you accept the insurance company's value, then the insurance company will issue you a cheque for that value (less any excess under the policy) and the car becomes their property.

    If it's 'written off' and you accept the insurance company's value but tell them that you'd like to take the salvage, then the insurance company will pay you their write-off value, less any excess under the policy, less the salvage value and the car remains your property.


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