Car written off - drove through flood

T

TheSphinx

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Hi

I unfortunately drove through a flood on Saturday which caused my Ford Focus to stop halfways, after getting opushed out, I thought all I had to do was to wait for the car to dry out. I was comletely wrong, I have been told that the engine in the car in gone, needs to be replaced, not to mention the electrics, i was told after the engine would be replaced I would be getting trouble cause of corrison of the wires, water also has seeped in to the inside and the carpet is wet also. i have been told that the best thing would be to get the car written off, and claim on the insurance. I was told this by two garages is this the thing to do, please help, havn't much time...

Thanks
 
If water was sucked into the air intake then engine could well be ducked.
 
TheSphinx said:
but this is my third brand new car, and my last one at that, as I have seen they are a waste of money, but I needed a reliable car
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TheSphinx said:
i just bought the car in jan, I would be losing money if i sold that car now, I think i will keep it an run it into the ground.... not sure...
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Quotes from

TheSphinx - do you have fully comp or 3rd Party fire and theft on the car? Whats the excess on the policy? Is there still a loan outstanding against the car? What amount would you get if the car is written off?
 
TheSphinx - do you have fully comp or 3rd Party fire and theft on the car? Whats the excess on the policy? Is there still a loan outstanding against the car? What amount would you get if the car is written off?
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I have fully comp, the excess is about €150, there is no loan outstanding on the car, it is a 06, The accessor from the insurance company in coming out today or thursday to see it the car is fixable or beyond economical repair. So as yet i don't know I expect really no less then 20k to be honest...
 
The value you'll be offered if the car is a w/o will be the trade price, which may be a little lower than you'd expect.
 
The value you'll be offered if the car is a w/o will be the trade price, which may be a little lower than you'd expect.
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Well I was thinking that, but I am sure no less then if I was trading it into a garage, for another. In that respect should I cough up thousands and repair the car, with the posiibility of difficulty with it down the line. without going through the insurance or allow my insurance company handle it
 
Look at this way. Would you buy this car 2nd hand after an engines been changed, wiring looms redone, carpet taken out, dried and put back in. And there's probably more.

You're best off getting rid of the car, you'll find it very hard to ever trade it in or sell it privately.

Be realistic with the actual value - use the revenue VRT site to work it out.

If the car is less than one year old and you bought it new, some policies will give you a new car if its written off in the first year.

If its marginal that its an economic write off - you can try to get the salvage value + repair costs up to the value of the car, the insurance company should agree to pay out based on this, and you're shut of the car. That would be my approach (having gone through a similar car write off)
 
Thanks fago76

Thats quite a logical response, so what you are saying if the car is not a complete write off then, the garage will more or likely take the insurance money for the reapirs, and purchase the car from me at current market value or near enough...
 
the car wont be awrite off weve done alot of water damaged focus/mondeo the only time youre in deep crap is if its salt water, fresh water wont bother the looms the modules may be damaged but arent mad money is the car diesel or petrol?? my garage speciallises in ford rebuilding the engine isnt a problem as are the electrics
 
Its not quite like that. Insurance company will agree to pay out whatever the repair costs are. My scenario was something as follows.

Car has pre accident damage value of 9K

- car is damaged. Repair cost estimated 6.8K + VAT. Panel beater offers a salvage of 2.2K (as he can do the repairs in his own time reducing the labour cost, making it ecomonic for him to repair. Or in your case the car is not damaged in an accident and is worth money for parts)
- insurance assessor comes out. Approves repairs of 6.8K.
- Negotiate with insurance company. Perhaps you'll have to take a hit of 1K rather than be left with an unsaleable car.

Note this is only relevant if the car is not a complete write off and the insurance company want to repair it.
 
yes but in recent times the insurance have cut back on there payouts ,that man may value his focusat 20k but they will give him the trade price of the car been around 14.k already 6k down his following insuance for the new three years will also cost him the guts of 6k so the only person gona loose out is the claimant,
 
ford jedi

Where is your garage can you assess the car for me, If I can get away with not putting in a claim I would, couse of my Insurrance will go up very hign being 27 and a male driver. to be honest i will no except anything less then 19k for my car, I have to mover very quickly though as i will be renting the car from the garage today, and this will be part of the claim, private me if you wish....
 

Don't budge to their first offer, negotiate as much as you can and say you won't accept it. Tell them find a car with roughly same spec/mileage/year for the money they're offering and you'll take it!

Who are you insured with? We were with AXA and a couple of years ago I wrote off a Volvo V40, they valued it at 5000 but I stood firm, sent them printouts from car zone, and eventually (last resort) told them I will go to ombudsman if they don't pay the real value (we had bought it 3 months before for 7750). Eventually got a call from a team lead saying she's offering 7500!

It was helped by the fact that they have a service whereby they try and replace your car through a crowd they use themself (fleetfirst or something like that) and they couldn't find anything for 5k either. But nonetheless, stay firm and don't accept anything less than the amount that you can buy a similar car with.
 
The story so far is that I have stalled my claim, and getting an independant engineer to look at it, some people were telling me as it is a petrol engine that it is quite simple to repair, and won't cost all that much money either.
So I am paying €100 to get the car towed from one garage to another, I am hoping it's €100 well spent. Even if it takes €2,000 to fix I reckon it is better to fix it without claiming especially if is affecting my no claims for the next 3 years... So watch this space and I will know more by this afternoon, if i am right and the car can be repaired it just goes to show gangsters garages can be....
 
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