Does written off car have to be tested?

[mikeyb]

A couple of weeks ago our parked car was crashed into. The liable party's insurer wrote off our car and paid us its value less its scrap value. If we repair our car do we have to have it tested by someone to ensure its roadworthiness to the satisfaction of the insurance company? With all due respect please only reply if you a sure of your info as speculation is one of my own specialities! LOL

 

[Ravima]

your car is logged on a central database by the insurance industry once it is written off. The term written off is open to many meanings. Is the car uneconomic to repair or a total write off. In the former, you might be able to repair it and put it back on the road, in the latter, you cannot put it back on the road.

If putting it back on the road, you should have it comprehensively assessed by a qualified motor assessor. the reason being, that in the event of an accident, where you are at fault, your insurer may try to say that it was not in roadworthy or mechanically sound condition, thus putting you in breach of your policy terms and having to reimburse insurer for any payout made on your behalf.

In the event of another accident, you not being at fault, it will be difficult to put a value on the car. You cannot value it the same as a similar uncrashed model as per the 'salesmans guide'.

 

[ACA]

Depends whether your vehicle was written off because of damage or because it was uneconomical to repair. As assessor would have viewed your vehicle and set the PAV (pre-accident value), salvage bids would then have been sought for the remains of your vehicle - this is how the insurance company reached a 'scrap' figure. If your vehicle is deemed to be catergory B, it only fit for breaking for spares and you shouldn't have been able to purchase the remains. If you vehicle is catergory C, it is beyound economic repair with NEW parts - but there is nothing to prevent it's repair using used or spurious parts. To cover yourself you should have the vehicle NCT'd after a substantial repair - if only for your own peace of mind.

 

[mikeyb]

Thanks Guys, the decision of the insurance company was based on finance, it being in their view an uneconomic repair. In fact the offer they made insisted that I still owned the damaged vehicle and that they deduct the amount they had valued it at. Strangely it seemed to me, after I had refused their initial offer and driven a hard bargain, squeezing €500 more out of them, they settled with me for €200 more than the original repair estimate, one of their agents did say to me at one stage, that it was up to me whether I wanted to or could get the car repaired cheaper than the main dealers estimate.