# Have any of you ever 'written off' a car?



## ❁ BG2007 ❁ (Jun 26, 2007)

Morning all  

First of all - it wasn't me!  

DH 'wrote' our car off last week   very embarrassing as there weren't actually any other vehicles involved   - he lost control on a corner, skidding on a load of mud and water after a very heavy night of rain and spun into a ditch and hedge, bounced out and spun round again into the same ditch a bit further on, going up on two wheels before banging down again and coming to a halt ...................... he's not injured so I feel just justified in saying ................ MUPPET!  

Anyway the insurance company sent the car off to a garage to be assessed and the garage called me to say it was a 'write off'. Interestingly they also said that when the insurance company call to offer the value of the car as the payout we should not under any circumstances accept the first offer as you can always get more.

So, my question. Have any of you been in this position and if so did you argue the value of your car and get a higher offer in the end and if so how did you do it, what did you say? Stupid I know, but I'm dreading them calling 'cos I just don't feel assertive enough to ask for more!

Now we're left trying to get another second hand car and I HATE buying cars, it's such a dodgy business ...   and I'm left home alone with no wheels as DH has nicked mine to tide him over  

(I've always said I was a better driver than him   )

Thanks

B x


----------



## dakota (Feb 6, 2007)

When my brother wrote his car off (must be a man thing cuz there was no other cars involved either, and he reversed into a tree at 30mph     ) he didnt accept the first offer he went for the second. Its a good idea if you know what the book price of the car is, then you have something to work off. You probley wont get full money but might be able to get somewhere near.

I know you can buy a book, but not sure if there is a website that will tell you

Good luck hun, and i agree dont settle for first offer, unless its a good one  

Nikki xx


----------



## CM01 (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi B 

Sorry to hear about DH's accident  

I have (I'm ashamed to say) written off FOUR cars to date  

1) I was driving my clapped out Nova in a traffic jam at about 5mph, and drove into the back of a Volvo.  No damage to the Volvo, but my car was a 'technical write-off' - in other words the repairs cost more than the value of the car  

2) I have a 1969 MG Midget, and annoyingly did the same thing as above  .  As it was such an old car it crumpled & was written off.  I decided to buy the car back from the insurers as scrap, and had it restored, so in that case I actually argued the value of the car DOWN - successfully.  

3) I overshot a junction in DH's car & had a nasty accident in it.  Wrote that one off, and argued the value of the car UP with the insurers- again successfully.

4) wrote off a police car on the way to a job.  Less said about that the better...   

Basically, talk to the insurers in the same way you would haggle over anything else; have a minimum amount in your head, and start higher than that.  Use an on-line valuation guide, like Glass, to check how much your car should be worth.

xx Clare


----------



## ❁ BG2007 ❁ (Jun 26, 2007)

dakota said:


> he reversed into a tree at 30mph


 

er ....... how?



ClareMack said:


> I have (I'm ashamed to say) written off FOUR cars to date


Hee! Hee! I'm not sure I'd have been brave enough to come on here and tell everyone that Clare


----------



## ritzi (Feb 18, 2006)

my dh wrote off our car in march - not his fault though some silly woman pulled out of a junction to turn right in front of him  

both cars written off  

our insurance company XXXX (am i allowed to say that?) made an offer and although i said i do not want to accept it they insisted it was that or nothing.....and when i looked it up it was actually bottom book price for the car.

we lost about £1000 when we bought the same make/model but 1 year younger as a replacement  

(hoping though to have a nice whiplash compo out of it to make up the value   )

hth ritz. 
Just to be sure Ive used XXX  ~Dizzi~


----------



## dakota (Feb 6, 2007)

BG ~ He was down a street with cars parked either side and had to reverse all the way back up the road. He was going to fast and hit the tree on the side of the road     we still take the mick out of him now   

They will try and give you less for the car as they wont to avoid paying out lots, its just wether you can stand your ground and say 'NO thats not acceptable, please revise the offer' They will try and get you to take the first offer, i guess the first thing is to see how much they actuallyoffer and go from there


----------



## CM01 (Jan 4, 2006)

charnich said:


> Clare - (stalking you ) have you still got the MG?


Blimey Charnich, you and I have the wrong DHs  Rob has always hated my MG because she's so unreliable (takes one to know one, I say  ) and he wouldn't let me drive her once I got pregnant. She went to live with my parents, and a few months ago I relinquished her to my dad, in exchange for him buying us the triple buggy 

xx Clare


----------



## Libeth (Jul 17, 2007)

My DH wrote off a brand new land rover - it was his bosses!  He did it on a straight road with no other cars involved!!! Considering they are suposed to be like tanks he did a good job of it - managed to flip it over several times, damaged every single part of it and he climbed out fine!  Lucky really!  I still tease him about it regularly!!!


----------



## dakota (Feb 6, 2007)

Ive been lucky and only bumped my car once   (my old car) and it wasnt my fault of course, some bloke pulled out of a junction in front of me then couldnt understand why i was so upset as he had his indicator on     as if that makes a difference when you pull out infornt of someone  

You watch, ive jinxed myself now


----------



## Guest (Jun 3, 2008)

Hi BG,
DH wrote off our subaru 5 years ago on black ice.  He wasn't speeding and had moved into another lane to avoid a fire engine whose crew were cutting someone else out.  He spun round 180 deg both ways and hit the fire engine.
The insurance co didn't send an assessor to the garage, it was done by video link.  We had declared all modifications so we were covered and DH didn't accept their first offer and pointed out the condition (previously excellent) and used the official Parkers guide on car valuations which the Subaru dealer gave us - we had a good relationship with them and increased the amount we got by another £2k.


----------



## ❁ BG2007 ❁ (Jun 26, 2007)

Wow Glitter - £2k! Can I divert the call to your house and let your DH deal with it?!  

Nikki, don't tempt fate, you drive carefully now! (oh and I'd take the mick out of my brother for doing that too!)

Libeth that accident sounds very much like DH's one (yours was v lucky not to have been hurt!) - on our car there was one door (the driver's) that wasn't damaged, other wise every single panel was either scratched or dented   , he did spare the roof I suppose but I was told that 3 out of the 4 wheels were out of alignment!


----------



## Guest (Jun 3, 2008)

BG, the car was only 2 years old, bought brand new 
On the plus side, the only bit that was undamaged was the driver's door so he could get out, everything else, including the roof was trashed.  It's amazing that he walked out of it when you see the pictures of it.  The car and DH were brought back down from Notts to the nearest place that could take it for the insurance and my friends who drove me over there were also stunned to see the state of it.  The friend used to take his subaru on track and had seen a fair few crashed cars in his time too.


----------



## HH30 (Oct 24, 2007)

We wrote off a car about 8 years ago - we were driving downt he M1 near Nottingham when a Polish lorry driver fell asleep at the wheel, swerved and hit us a few times. Very scary. We weren't too badly hurt and the lorry driver said it was our fault and then claimed not to know any more english than that.....
luckily witnesses stopped so it was obvious we had done nothing wrong.
Anyway it was a peugeot 106, my first ever car and I was gutted. We were advised not to accept the first offer but when the insurance company made an offer - Zurich I think it was, it was a brilliant offer. Far higher than we would have got if we had sold it privately which we were thinking of doing anyway before the crash so we did take the first offer.

H


----------



## Guest (Jun 3, 2008)

BG - I would say the best thing to do is to research the value of your car so you know when a good offer comes in from the insurance co  The first offer could be more than reasonable!


----------



## **Tashja** (Jan 13, 2005)

BG - Glad DH is ok Hun. 

I have done some RTA/PI work as a Legal Assistant so hopefully I can help a bit  

Wait til you get the offer and see what it is first. 

If it is too low go and buy a copy or 2 of Auto Trader and find cars for sale in it that are the same (or as close as you can get) that show a higher amount then the offer they have offered.  You will then want to send this to the insurers to show them what you should be getting - we did this on many an occasion and it works  

Also go and buy a copy of Glass Guide (newsagents seel it I beleive) and this will tell you the book value of your car and this can be handy in bumping up offers too. 

You must also remember to claim for items in the car - Sat Nav, CD Player, etc as these will sometimes be extra to the offer - send the insurers any receipts so you can claim them back.  

Next kick hubby up the **** for writting off the car and tell him not to do it again 

Let me know if I can help further. 

T xx


----------



## ❁ BG2007 ❁ (Jun 26, 2007)

Tashja (and everyone) thanks for all your advise.

Tashja we did an on-line estimate thingy and it came up as being worth more than we thought (yey!)

HOWEVER today someone from the insurance company phoned to confirm that it had been written off and the offer would be made to us 'shortly', then later today another person called to say that the garage had been given authorization to proceed with repairs     

So we called them back and basically said 'what on earth is going on?' and they're going to get back to us tomorrow.

We wait with bated breath!


----------



## Peroni (Jun 2, 2008)

I wrote a car off of mine a few yrs back now. Itw as embarrasing, cos I was heading out to collect something and didnt really have the time so was a bit flustered.

I wasnt really speeding (ok I might've been doing about 33ish) but large white council road sweeper/drain cleaner puleld out of a jcn to my right and it was way ahead of me but as I thought, it was still crawlingalong. The sun was in my eyes so I reached for the visor flap and missed so I looked up to grab it and before I knew it I was too near it to stop and wasnt about to swerve as it was on the top of a blind hill. Crunch.

All my cars electrics were on the LHS (automatic car) so they were crushed. It was a WO. The lorry had a broken break light!!!

I didnt even ask about the value, cos you never see the money anyway, you just pay the excess and the rest os covered by insurance -they dont involve you and will just get money to market value (they have to get you to tell the honest mileage) to cover the cost of your car for you.

That happened for em with fully comp insurance. I dunno if its any different for 3fF

I didnt think it mattered but I might be wrong!


----------

