# What happens when a car is written off?



## gabsdot

My husband rear ended someone the other day and it looks like the car will be written off, not because there was a lot of damage but because the car is a banger and not 'financially' worth fixing. It's still drivable. 

So my question is if we get it fixed anyway can we still drive it? Can it be insured / taxed again? Do we have any say in the decision? Could we sell it on? What actually happens

Just wondering, thanks


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## Whiskey

If its an insurance write off, an insurance company will pay you the value of the car.
The insurance company will then own the car, and do with it what they see fit i.e. sell it as for parts, or scrap it.
Every car which is a write off is entered into a database which everyone has access to (for a fee).  Anyone who repairs a write off car knows that it may be difficult to sell the car again to someone else, because write offs are public knowledge.

If its not a write off, the insurance company may pay you to repair your car, in which case you can repair it and drive again. You'll need to pass the next NCT obviously.

There is no law against repairing a car and driving it again of course.


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## gabsdot

Thanks for that. I didn't realise the insurance company would then own the car. Makes sense I guess.


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## wexcar

What they generally do now is send the car to a scrap yard, a local one or one they normally use who will then contact you and make you an offer for the remains of the car (not that you have a lot of choice of course!) and send you a cheque for that amount. The insurance company will then send you a cheque for the difference between that amount and what the car was deemed to be worth before the accident.


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## Froggie

The insurance company may also offer to return the car to you without charge, if they cannot sell the car on in a reasonable ammount of time.


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## filmifan

Hi - I'm still a bit confused about the whole issue about getting a written-off car (because of economic reasons, not structural) back on the road, even though the info so far has been helpful.

Here's the situation: My brother thinks he can get his recently dented car fixed (a bad enough dent on the passenger door, but the car still is completely driveable/no structural or mechanical damage that he can tell), but besides that is somewhat sentimentally attached to the car, and just wants to get it fixed up and back on the road.

If the insurance company/assessor deems a car is written off, can you ask them/request to still keep the car and try to fix it?

Can he tell/ask the insurance co/assessor this - that he (my brother) wants to keep the car and try to get it fixed? 

And what does that mean, then, from the insurance co's point of view, I mean? Do they then *not* give him any money at all for the car, since he's requesting that he wants to keep it and get it fixed, rather than have it sent off to a scrap yard? 

Will the insurance company *not* give him any money for the car to get it fixed, once he tells them he'd like to keep it and try and get it repaired?

Or do they legally have to give him a cheque for whatever the book value is (or whatever they deem it's worth), seeing as he is insured with them, to compensate him, regardless of whether they take the car off him and sell it for salvage, or if he himself wants to hang on to it and see if he can get it repaired?

I told him to ask his insurance company about this, but he said he felt like an eejit asking them what are probably dumb questions with obvious answers...so I thought I'd come to the board and ask on his behalf.

I guess what I'm asking is: once a car is deemed an economic write-off, what happens next? Can you keep your car anyway, and do they write you a cheque, regardless?

To me, it seems like 'getting your cake and eating it too,' and seems too good to be true, if the insurance co. not only gives you a cheque for the value of the car, *and also* lets you keep the car to try to get it fixed, rather than sell it off for salvage. 

I thought it was more a case of either one way or the other - either the insurance co. writes you a cheque for the amount they come up with, or you tell them you want to fix the car and they agree but don't hand out any money towards that. Or am I way off base with that?

Thanks very much for plodding through all this and all these questions. It's my first post, and so I hope I'm keeping in check with the proper etiquette, etc. Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.


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## bobalong

Hi gabsdot,

I had the misfortune of loosing my MX5 on the ice over xmas. Into a ditch, hit pole, drivers side light area. No one else involved or hurt. She was an 03 special edition worth about €10k.

I decided to go the claim route as I had Protected No Claims Bonus. The claim was settled recently for €9k, no fault accident.

So - same as yourself the car was AN ECONOMICAL WRITEOFF. Their are 3 categories of write off here in Ireland. A, B, C. You and me are C. It can depend on your insurance company as to what happens with the salvage. In my case the insurance company / underwriter used a third party company called CLAIM SAFE. They liaised between me and the Insurance company until the claim was settled. The settlement came in two parts:

1. An amount with respect to pre-accident value.

2. Less the Salvage amount.

To keep it simple I ended up with €9k. I got €2k from the salvage company and then €7k from the insurance company.

Again - In my case it was CLAIM SAFE who organised the assessor ( who priced the pre accident value of €9k ), then also wrung around salvage operations to get best salvage price  ( €2k in my case ). I was then GIVEN the number of this salvage operation with the OPTION of either selling to them OR buying the salvage myself. 

If I had bought the salvage myself  I would have got the €7k from the insurance company and then I could have either broke her up and sold the parts OR repair her myself.

I priced the repair - came to about €4k, decided against that, I took the salvage  - €2k. So I got the €9k in total.

If you decide to repair it - YES you can drive it again. Before this though you may need to get an assessor to reassess the car as road worthy once again and probably an NCT. However, chances are this car will be down as having had a crash in any of the car check sites. This will have an impact on future insurance and also future resale value.

As a point of info - the reason their are two prices to repair a car - either by you OR the insurance company - is - when a car is being priced for a claim by a body shop the insurance company will insist on using NEW MAIN DEALER Parts. In my case I could have repaired her using parts from UK plus second hand parts for about €4k. The official cost for the Insurance company to do so - €8200 inc VAT.

Hope this helps
Bob


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## bobalong

filmifan said:


> I guess what I'm asking is: once a car is deemed an economic write-off, what happens next? Can you keep your car anyway, and do they write you a cheque, regardless?



FilmFan,

As I said in my previous post - If your brothers car is OFFICIALLY an economic write off regardless the amount to him will be in two parts:

1. The pre accident value
2. Less the salvage value

But as I also said and others did his car will be then marked as crashed in public accessible databases impacting on resale value / insurance costs.

If the insurance company has officially made it an economic writeoff its gone beyond them paying to get it fixed. 

The reason they are writing it off is probably similar to my case - the repair costs hiked well up as they insisted on using NEW MAIN DEALER PARTS to repair it. 

Bobalong


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## filmifan

Thanks, Bobalong, for your advice...emmm...I'm still a bit confused, though. 

Are you saying then, that the insurance company WILL give my brother a cheque, once they deem it an economic write-off (which he's pretty sure they will, after speaking to his insurance broker last week)? 

And you're also saying (or have I got that completely wrong) that the insurance/assessors not only write out a cheque (however small), but they also let you keep the car if you tell them you wish to get it fixed yourself?

Or did you mean (again, my apologies for not understanding - it's probably extremely simple and formulaic, but it's all Greek to me that it's an either / or scenario) that if they deem it's an economic write-off, that they *do not* issue out a cheque to my brother, but they *would *allow him to keep the car and try to get it fixed himself. 

That's the part that I'm fuzzy about (as you can obviously tell - again...sorry!).

I understand (as does my bruv when I told him) that even after the car is fixed, it will still need to be proven roadworthy/road safe.  He was told by the broker that that wouldn't be a problem, as long as the car has no structural/mechanical damage to it (it doesn't seem to have anything wrong with it, other than a bad deep pushed-in dent on the passenger door), an assessor would certify that it was okay to drive and put back on the road.

If it were me, I'd just accept whatever amount the assessor deemed appropriate for the age of the car (however small the amount will probably come out to be - it's a 96 Polo) and how badly it's damaged/salvage costs, etc., and just use that money towards another car altogether. Seems to me that'd be the least amount of hassle and aggro. But little bruv loves that car, as it's his first, and so he just wants to hang on to 'her' as long as possible.

Thanks again for your help and advice.


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## filmifan

Hi again - I was just browsing on other car/money forums, and found one in the UK that also had a Q&A about write-offs. 

To quote:
_You have to find out what category write off it is. If it is a D category, the insurance company can offer and pay what they think is a suitable amount for the car and they can also offer to give the car back, which you then can go and get fixed cheaply. If it's a C category write off, I think you can still get paid out and the car back, but you have to get it re MOTed once the repairs have been carried out. It is also advisable to re MOT a D category write off once repaired as well. If it is an A or B category write off - no chance as the car is classed as unroadworthy and no insurance company will touch it._

Not that I'd ever heard of or knew there were A, B, C categories before all this happened, but is there also a category D in Ireland, or is that just for the UK? According to this post above, if the car's a category D, then there's every possibility that the assessors will pay out an amount, as well as letting my brother keep the car (with the proviso that he gets it fixed and then gets it re-assessed, re-NCT'd, and re-insured)?

Did I understand that correctly, then? Is there a chance he can have his car cake and eat it too?


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## bobalong

Filmfan,

In answer to your post two up - an example - Your bro claims, the assessor assesses the car to have a pre accident value of €5000. The insurance company then finds a salvage company willing to take the car at salvage value. Say the salvage company offers €2000 to take the car. You will then be asked to make a decision between these two:

1. Let the salvage company come lift the car, they pay you €2000, thats yours. The Insurance company then forwards the balance:

- €5000 ( the pre accident value ) less that €2000 salvage cheque. 

So you get a second cheque from the insurance company for €3000. You end up with the €5000, but no car.

2. You decide to keep the car. Here the Insurance company takes the €2000 Salvage value from the pre accident value amount of €5000. You keep the car, the insurance company forwards you a cheque for €3000.

They are your two options.

Also bare in mind IF YOU GO FOR OPTION 2 - once it has been officially written off regardless of damage, this car will go down in public databases like Cartell, Motorcheck, AA - as crashed. In future this will impact on resale and Insurance. Option 2 is only worth it really if ye are going to drive it until it falls apart and not resell it. If ye are keeping it ask the Insurance company what the premium will be after being written off?

Frankly - my advice would be same as yours - take the cash and move on ... but -

However, has he got PROTECTED No Claims Bonus? You pay a little more for this, but it means within a 3 year period you can claim say twice and keep your full NCB, hence cheaper insurance. 

Is the damage that bad that you need to claim in the first place? 

Would it be cheaper to, not claim, pay for the repair due to the following -

Balance the value of claim against increased premium over next 5 years or so, assuming his No Claims Bonus is not protected. Is it cheaper to not claim and repair it yourself relative to the increased premium you will be paying over the next 3 to 5 years  If his No Claims Bonus is not protected, then his premiums will go up for sure.

In Ireland we only have 3 categories, UK has 4.

Bobalong


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## filmifan

Thanks for all your advice and suggestions, Bob. Given all that you've written, I think we've persuaded the brother to think a bit more rationally and less emotionally about the car, and I think he's nearly ready to part with the car, rather than go through all the aggro and hassle. Here's hoping they give him a decent amount for his 'baby.'


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## bobalong

K,

Yes I understand the "Baby" type thing. Same applied to my MX5 - I loved it, hated parting with it. Considered repairing, but head ruled in end - I let go for salvage though it broke my heart. 

Bobalong!


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## bobalong

It pains me , but here it is in what WAS all its glory:







Boo Hoo, It brings back terrible memories  - Maybe your bro will cheer up when he see's my loss above, 

Bobalong is sad


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## filmifan

My bruv can defnitely feel your pain, Bob. I can understand it, too. 'She' was a beauty. I'm a fan of the (very) old Triumph TR6, and the old 60's MGs, as well as the 66 and 69 Mustang, and the 71 Charger. Amazing looking gems, they all were. Yours definitely falls into that category of cool and classy. Remember 'her' with love, and try not to be too sad. All the best, and thanks again, from both of us.


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## chico

*written of cars*

Hi all

if a car is written off it should never be allowed on the road again.


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## PaddyBloggit

chico said:


> Hi all
> 
> if a car is written off it should never be allowed on the road again.



I wouldn't necessarily agree with you. A car may be written off financially ... it would cost more to repair than it's worth or it could be written off because it would be dangerous to drive. 

If it's written off because it's dangerous to drive ... yes it should never be allowed on the road again but if it's written off for financial reasons I see no reason why it couldn't end up on the road again .... a mechanic/panel beater etc. may take it on as project ... it may not make financial sense to repair the car and may even cost them money but if it ends up being classed as road worthy ... then by all means let it see life again!


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## Pudding11

*Am I entitled to see the estimate?*

Hi All
I have a classic 1996 mini and unfortunately in the bad weather last weekend had an accident. Luckily noone else was involved and noone was hurt but the car skidded across the road and into a kerb damaging the front drivers side and the windscreen. It is insured with Axa who towed it to an Axa approved garage. 
The assessor called today to tell me that the garage have estimated the repairs including parts, labour, respray etc to be €6000. the car itself was only insured for and worth €4000. however the assessor said he was recommending i get a copy of the report and see if i could price parts etc myself elsewhere as they were using rover mini original parts while they can be gotten cheaper. he said the car in his opinion was worth repairing as i had done alot of work on it, if only i could get the estimate down.
axa however refused to give me a copy of the estimate. instead they offered me a settlement of 4000 without salvage or 3500 if i wanted to take the salvage. The problem is without seeing that estimate I have no idea what the damage is, what the repairs involved or whether i can price the parts myself elsewhere so I cannot make an informed decision on whether to take the salvage or not.
Am I entitled to see this estimate, bearing in mind that had I not gone to an AXA approved garage and had gone to my local mechanic myself i would have been obtaining the estimates and sending them to AXA myself?


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## peteb

Yes you can receive a copy of the estimate.  but i think the point they are making is that you insured it for €4,000.  And if the cost to repair is €6,000 its an economic write off.  

So if you intend to repair it or get the estimate down the most anyone is paying out here is €3,500 for repairs.  In which you need to retain the salvage and accept the cash to try repair it.


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## Pudding11

Hi Peteb, thanks for the reply. I understand the fact that its uneconomical to repair, at least according to the garages estimate. My issue is more that they refuse to give me a copy of the estimate so I dont know the damage or the parts required to repair it. Without that I cannot tell whether it would be possible for me to source alternative parts and labour to fix the car. They have given me the option of settlement or settlement with salvage and its hard to make an informed decision without seeing details of the damage.
They havent given me any reasons as to why they wont provide the estimate, they are just refusing to show it to me.


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