I seem to remember someone here had a similar scenario so I'm asking if anyone can help please

My son was on a roundabout couple of weeks when a DHL Wagon driven by a foreign driver drove into side of his car - DHL driver claimed he never saw him but he had a dashcam so should be no doubt of blame

Insurance have now decided to write off car due to cost of repairing door and rear panel - there is no mechanical or structural damage. Car is a low mileage, one previous elderly owner, 10 year old Punto which has been in our family 6-7 years and has been faultless. He's just fitted new tyres last month

Son is at Uni and happy to keep car even with damage until he can afford to change for something better. We anticipate any settlement will leave him struggling to buy anything similar before damage

Also they have charged him £80 additional premium because when asked if car had any damage before the incident he advised them about a scratch from 2 years ago just after he passed his test when he caught my garage wall but he never claimed for this

Can he take settlement and buy car off insurance/scrap and if he did would it be legal to drive/insure - Any suggestions on options would be greatly appreciated  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

Depends what category insurance company classes the damage. They may or may not sell it back to you. If you get it back you will have to make sure no damaged bodywork is able to cut someone or you will get stopped by the police. Think you will also need a new Mot to ensure its roadworthy. They will pick up on body damage, to what extent ?? Categories below

The categories are now A, B, S and N.
Category A (unchanged)
Scrap only. For cars so badly damaged they should be crushed and never re-appear on the road. Even salvageable parts must be destroyed.
Category B (unchanged)
Body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable.
Should never re-appear on road, although reclaimed parts can be used in other road-going vehicles.
Category S (formerly Category C)
The new Category S means the vehicle has suffered structural damage.
This could include a bent or twisted chassis, or a crumple zone that has collapsed in a crash.
Category S damage is more than just cosmetic, therefore, and the vehicle will need to be professionally repaired.
Also, it won’t be safe to drive until then.
Read more
Category N (formerly Category D)
Vehicles graded accordingly haven’t sustained structural damage, so the issue may be cosmetic, or a problem with the electrics that isn’t economical to repair.
Don’t assume such vehicles are drivable, however; non-structural faults may include brakes, steering or other safety-related parts.

Cheers Lindab

It certainly looks cosmetic and depsite repeated requests to get it inspected by insurers repairer they have told him it's safe to drive and worked from photos

Click image to enlarge

Nothing much wrong that some T cut wont fix He might end up with a profit with what he gets & a "badly" damaged car which cant be worth much to them. Seen bigger scrapes in supermarket car park. Think you have just got to pester them till they want rid of you like phoning every day. Good luck

I have done exactly the same with my lads car....
He drove into the back of another car on the motorway and caused damage to his front bumper...the bonnet was undamaged but the headlights broke their clips..the pre accident value was about £2.5 k.....

The insurance company wrote it off because the repair cost was going to potentially be 60% of its pav.

They sold the car to me as a Cat S ( yet it was totally superficially ). They sold the salvage to me for £215!

I bought the bits to repair and had it repainted...I suppose in all it cost me £1200 buying new parts from Euro Car Parts...

The only provisos are the following :

The insurance company will register the vehicle subsequently as a total loss vehicle...as such you will have to declare its status to any subsequent purchaser... the trade will not be interested in it so you will not be able to p/x it for anything else in the future...

I suspect however given its age this is not likely to worry you!

The second proviso was that on selling the car the insurance company cancelled the policy in place on the car. They would only reinsure it only after the car had been presented for another MOT... once we did this they reinsured it as previously..

So in answer to your question...if you repair and then need to sell it it will cause you problems... if you intend to keep it until end of life it will be a great little car!

Do it!

Thanks FC - this is what I hoped based on thread few years back but I can't remember who posted it or if it was here or Disco

Eldest son bought this for £5k from Evans Halshaw May 2013, he sold it to daughter for £2.5k Aug 2015 and she sold it to youngest son May 2017 for £1500

He's got 2 years left at uni and if it lasts that long it can be scrapped afterwards as far as we're concerned Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

Then definately buy it back...
If he doesn’t bother repairing it it may even fund his social life for his second year! He can drink decent beer rather than cheap plonk!
Result!

He's working weekends at Tesco to support himself through degree in biomedical science so he has a heavy workload which doesn't leave much time for socialising or funds for new car but I get your meaning

I told eldest not to touch the Fiat with a barge pole because I thought they were garbage but it's been a great buy and every time my LRs were back in dealer for problems my kids have reminded me what I said about the Fiat  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

Could have been me?

Don’t let insurance company take it away
Although doubtful if still using it !
Ask for settlement and keeping the salvage
Fix what you need to get a new MOT
It’s back on the road👍

Yes it will be worth less you have to declare when selling and any New v5 will show damaged repaired

It’s not only the cost of repair that means they write it off but also all other costs such as hire car while being repaired

I replaced a rear window an indicator and a new MOT had it back on the road

Good luck pester them Porsche Cayenne 2022
gone Porsche Cayenne 2020
gone Corris Grey HSE Dynamic 2016
gone Ipanema HSE lux 2010
gone Rimini HSE 2005
!!

Cheers RB

They originally said they were taking car for repair and bringing hire car but none of that happened

They have sent him a bill for £80 premium increase because he declared a scratch from 2 years ago when asked about vehicle condition prior to accident even though he never claimed for this  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

the insurance company told me a couple of times they were sending a recovery truck

just kept saying its locked in our garage and just send the assessor instead

in their eyes it needed a complete respray my eyesight was not as good

assessor turned up took photos and said "it will be a write off" I then fixed what I needed and MOT it when they confirmed the figures.

The D2 does seem some time ago now

 Porsche Cayenne 2022
gone Porsche Cayenne 2020
gone Corris Grey HSE Dynamic 2016
gone Ipanema HSE lux 2010
gone Rimini HSE 2005
!!

Insurance have been in touch with my son -

Quote:

Further to our telephone conversation today please find confirmation of our discussion

We have placed a pre accident value on your vehicle of £2310.00

The vehicle has been placed on a Salvage Category N

As part of the service we provide a free salvage disposal service and as the vehicle is a total loss we will be arranging the collection and disposal of your vehicle. Are you happy to proceed on this basis?

The full settlement will be in the form of two separate cheques, one of which will be from the salvage agent for £300.30 and the other will be via Auxillis for the £2009.70

The two cheques will amount to the vehicles Value of £2310.00

Daughter is not going to be happy because he paid her £1500 2 years ago

That said it would cost him more than this to replace like for like from a dealer so not sure what to do now  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

When my wife wrote off our car we got a low insurance quote which I disputed so was told I needed to provide evidence of the price the same car sells for in my area. As I never saw another of that model for sale where I live I didn't go any further, but thought it worth mentioning incase you can do this and up the offer? 13MY Range Rover Sport Autobiography SDV6 - mine
14MY Range Rover Evoque Dynamic SD4 Black Pack - wife's
99MY Defender 90 TD5, Soft Top Conversion - my toy, and bairns favourite

Cheers insiorc  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

Refuse that offer and have a search on ebay/autotrader for like vehicals print them off and send them the info andeithe r ask for a car of same milage/condition to what they are writing off or up the offer they have made