Bahn's prang :'(

[tricky1138]

As with others, so sorry to see this.

As you say its the newest MR2 out there so nothing compares with it value wise. I know of a 2004 bought recently for over £5k so easy to argue your case.

Lets hope it doesnt come to that and it will be fixed easily. The problem with insurance companies is that they source the most expensive dealer parts, and then they need sprayed, which is also the expensive part. Fingers crossed for you.

Also I know, when my car was written off, they would not provide me with a courtesy car, but if it was getting repaired - they would! Hopefully different in your situation, but just to make you aware of it.

[jonbill]

Your deal with your insurance company is only relevant if they are paying.

As the other party seems to have admitted liability and as you have witness evidence, and as the way the collision happened is pretty obvious, your damages are the other party's problem.

If you are not offered sufficient to cover your real terms loss, don't accept the offer.  Somebody else's contract with their insurer does not include you, and it does not give them the power to write your car off because of an assumed value.

As I said, I'm sure it won't come to it, but you can recover any shortfall in County Court if you must.

A simple tally of sale prices plus the extras on your car should suffice for that.

That said, avoid letting your insurance company sort it out with the other parties insurance company. Between them they will probably decide to write it off and and give you 'market value' unless you have an agreed valuation policy.

[ManInDandism]

Just adding my commiserations - not just a car but a labour of love.

A wise man once said to me, all cars start life in bits - fingers crossed that it does become an insurance job, damage is restricted to what you can see and that is subject to a top notch repair.

[paulj]

Sorry to hear what happened

This may be a little late but here is my advice from being involved in a no fault crash.  If you pay the legal assistance premium on your insurance give your insurer a call.  They will redirect you to an agent who will work on your behalf, organise the repair directly with you and provide hire cars etc.  As they are working for you it should be possible to explain you want the car restored rather than written off etc.  I found them very helpful and things moved quickly for me.


They have trouble working for you if you have dealt with the other side or accepted help from them, hence it might be a bit late.


Worth mentioning for others and the future (although no crashes would be better still)

[BahnStormer]

Sorry to hear what happened

This may be a little late but here is my advice from being involved in a no fault crash.  If you pay the legal assistance premium on your insurance give your insurer a call.  They will redirect you to an agent who will work on your behalf, organise the repair directly with you and provide hire cars etc.  As they are working for you it should be possible to explain you want the car restored rather than written off etc.  I found them very helpful and things moved quickly for me.


They have trouble working for you if you have dealt with the other side or accepted help from them, hence it might be a bit late.


Worth mentioning for others and the future (although no crashes would be better still)

Thanks for the advice - I think I'm in the clear here: I had started all the conversations with my insurers, accepted the legal claims handler (from MY insurers), so I technically have my legal representation.

The other party's insurers contacted me a few hours later to say that their client had accepted full responsibility and offered a hire car / their in-house injury assessor.

I said that no hire car was necessary as I have another car I can use for work (although this is on a MUCH lower agreed mileage)... so if they could get my daily driver back and working ASAP that should be fine and although I felt like I'd been at rugby training without warming up, but there wasn't anything that I'd regard as "pain", so hardly worth a claim. I've not accepted any help from them and I put them in contact with my nominated solicitors, to get them to sort the car out.

I had flagged to my solicitors that it would be almost impossible to replace that with another 2007 MR2 in that spec, but I'll make an explicit statement to that effect tomorrow.

[Chilli Girl]

All looking hopeful, you'll have that gorgeous 2 back on the road where it belongs sooner than you think I reckon.

[ilovejapcrap]

Hopefully get two brand new Toyota headlights eh [emoji4].

Bet they ain't cheap


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BahnStormer]

Hopefully get two brand new Toyota headlights eh [emoji4].

Bet they ain't cheap

That's the problem - anything that "aint cheap" will make it more likely to be a write-off!! Only one headlight damaged, LHS was completely untouched, damage is diagonally across the edge of the car: from the the driver's side edge of the number plate through to the front edge of the wheel arch (also driver's side): including the edge of the bumper bar, but the bonnest was largely okay (slightly dented) and the washer fluid bottle in that corner all appeared okay.

Still hoping it doesn't, but if it comes to it - in terms of valuation:
1) at what point do I accept them saying the cost vs repair is worth calling it a write-off?
2) what would the buy-back value be as a Cat D?
3) what should the valuation be for it be (mods excludes) a Sable 2007, 65888* miles,

If it does come to it: the brakes, suspension and new hood + optional extras HAVE to make it worth keeping, even if it completely written off.

There's no 2007's at all and none of the 2006's look appealing: there's only one Sable, with no aircon/heated leather... even the TF300 on autotrader only has aircon!
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=price-asc&radius=1500&postcode=rh109ad&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&make=TOYOTA&model=MR2&year-from=2006&exclude-writeoff-categories=on

*so much for 888 being lucky!!!

[ManInDandism]

Still hope it won't come to that,  but with patience being a virtue and all that,  would likely take a good few weeks to track down the right car
- even months. Can't just go on what's in the ads today.

[ManInDandism]

Anyway...you didn't look very hard 

This looks like it might be up your street (premium ditch finders aside that is).

[BahnStormer]

Insurance says "no major damage, but the parts are looking expensive: £3300 to fix, valuation is £3500, so car to be declared economically unrepairable".

Anyway...you didn't look very hard 

This looks like it might be up your street (premium ditch finders aside that is).

That's actually v close: at least is Sable, has aircon and heated leather - it's 1yr older, but does have lower mileage.... it's a good base to start from...

Completely ignoring that the insurance valuation = £3500... the asking price on that one: £5250.... so I'd be £1750 off the asking price.

I need a few more of those sort of quotes / adverts for insurance purposes and I'll see if I can get them to adjust the valuation.

[Carolyn]

I would simply reject their valuation and see how they respond.   I would inform them of your own valuation ( keep it reasonable) and state that you will seek to recover the difference from their client.

If you don't have the heart for that battle...

Take the £3500 and keep the car.  Buy the bits off Dean at Rutland MR 2 and get them bolted on.

You'll be at least £2500 up on the deal.

I HATE the whole insurance scam, so I'd give them the full treatment...

[BahnStormer]

This is the engineer's report from my own insurance company.

I can see how they could get to £3500 as a valuation as you exclude big ticket maintenance items / optional extras and obviously aftermarket mods: 2007's are an almost pointless exercise, but you can get a 2006 with similar mileage, no aircon, no leather and probably in need of a new hood and proper tyres for ~£3500, even if I could get one with aircon and leather... it would probably still be in need of brakes, suspension and a new hood

[BahnStormer]

So what is "...cash in lieu instead of a total loss payment."

Would the car still be given a "Cat" rating? I've really been a cat person and it's not about to start now... definitely more a fan of dogs.... and the right types/quantities of horses 

[K T M Rider]

So what is "...cash in lieu instead of a total loss payment."

Would the car still be given a "Cat" rating? I've really been a cat person and it's not about to start now... definitely more a fan of dogs.... and the right types/quantities of horses 

Cats are awesome - here's mine :



Look he's brightened up this thread no end already   


Cash in Lieu sounds like a result and I would guess no Cat rating but would get your insurance co. to confirm in writing before agreeing to it.

https://www.motorclaimguru.co.uk/cash-in-lieu-settlement.html

[andyroo104]

My car is a Cat D and all this means is that your car if repaired properly has newer parts fitted than a car of the same age.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[1979scotte]

@BahnStormer

Not a cat person?

[BahnStormer]

@BahnStormer

Not a cat person?

Oh, I love cats.... I've got some great recipes 

[BahnStormer]

My car is a Cat D...

My two main concerns:
1) future insurance - won't some insurers refuse to cover you even for TPFT - presumably all refuse to cover you for fully comp?
2) resale value - I was looking at a fairly high end turbo setup with the idea being that a quality turbo build on one of the last ever registered MR2's would retain its resale value (better than most), maybe even become collectable in another 10-15 years... as a Cat D, it would lose that completely.

[1979scotte]

@BahnStormer

Never had a problem getting insurance for a Cat C\D car.
Slightly inflated premium possibly but you can usually haggle that down.

[ManInDandism]

Imho future collectable cars are be likely be those that are pristine, unmodified and with OE factory bits only.

[K T M Rider]

@BahnStormer

Not a cat person?

Oh, I love cats.... I've got some great recipes 

Nice juicy hot dog better 

[BahnStormer]

Imho future collectable cars are be likely be those that are pristine, unmodified and with OE factory bits only.

All original parts for mine have been retained Just not going to be pristine, but a Cat D versus a minor accident repair make the car look very different.

[BahnStormer]

They're saying they'll do "Cash in lieu of repair"... I guess that means I need them to drop the car off somewhere that it can get repaired?

[shnazzle]

Cash in leieu is basically where they give you money and you sort it however.
We were going down that route for Helen's car, hence I bought a strut off here and was going to buy a panel off a breaker etc.
But then I took it to a garage myself and had them send through a quote to the insurance and forced their hand until they just paid out the garage.

Remember it's their insurance and they're trying to come out as cheap as possible. If you tell them you can fix it for 1k less than a garage, (and you actually can), then they'll likely offer cash in lieue.