Home accident repairs?

[secretsmoker]

Me again! To cut a long story short I had a bit of a shunt on Friday in my daily. Not injured just bruises. Insurance not involved so far and car definitely looks savable as mostly cosmetic but insurance company will definitely write off if they had to use factory parts.

My questions are-
Is there anything stopping me from just doing the repairs at home?
Will I need an engineers report?
Is this probably going to result in the car becoming Cat D?
Anyone know ballpark figures for independent assessment?

I have already potentially sourced most of the bits. I reported the accident to insurance in case the lorry I drove into (DOH!!!!) claimed for damage to his tailgate (probably unlikely as he didn't even notice the collision) but as I said they are not currently involved.

Bought a £400 golf for now and old daily is SORN'd. Need to figure out the economics of the situation but I would very much like to save it if I can, just can't afford to pay anyone to work on it!

 

[Fergus]

I had a similar situation last year, though I was claiming off the daft sod who drove into me (I was stationary). The damage was largely cosmetic with just a small kink in the end of the inner wing.

The car was assessed by their designated body shop and an offer made by the insurance company. They were happy to either write the car off as it would cost more than half its value to repair or offer me a lump sum to repair it myself.

 

[secretsmoker]

Ah I see. So I need to get it written off anyway and buy it back before I can repair it presumably? At the moment I haven't claimed even though they ought to be aware as I called them when it happened. Guy I spoke to at the time from the insurance company didn't seem very interested at all tbh!

 

[steve.h]

My father had a shunt a while ago, an artic run into him at a roundabout. He called a company in swindon who take care of it all, just a normal body shop but they sort out the insurance company and hire cars etc. My dads car wasnt a high value and he didnt want it written off so he asked if they could use secondhand parts (rear door, lights and panels) which they were quite happy to do.
Might be worth ringing a few bodyshop repair places to see if they would do the same....

 

[secretsmoker]

So from these responses I take it that accident repair is something that folk aren't able to really do at home?

I suppose I will have to speak to the insurers in that case, was just hoping I wouldn't have to as I am not exactly their favourite customer!

 

[AndyStobbs]

It doesn't need to be written off. If insurance aren't involved, and you can keep it that way. Which you would be well advised to do, then just repair it as you would if you had driven into a tree. Don't let them start sticking their noses in.
You'll have to tell insurers about the accident for the next 5 years, could even lose no claims, if you get them involved. It won't be a catagory anything unless you have them out and they write it off.

 

[Fergus]

Ah I see. So I need to get it written off anyway and buy it back before I can repair it presumably? At the moment I haven't claimed even though they ought to be aware as I called them when it happened. Guy I spoke to at the time from the insurance company didn't seem very interested at all tbh!

Nope, they paid out based on me doing my own repairs. My company had no input at all as I went direct to the other parties insurer and dealt with it myself. Which means I didn't get weighed down with them wanting my excess and then instructing a solicitor to retrieve the excess and all the other bull that goes with it.

There's a reason insurance is so expensive and it's down to the unnecessary merry-go-round that the companies and lawyers have created to keep them in work.

 

[secretsmoker]

OK thanks for all the input. The car is no longer insured with them as I swapped it over on the policy to the 400 quid Golf so I suppose if there is no comeback from the other party it doesn't really concern the insurers anyway.

I will do a bit more reading before I start any repairs, there is a bit of a crumple in the frame in front of the front strut which will need chopping and a new bit welding on so it isn't as straight foreward as just putting a new bumper/bonnet on.

I think I will try to sort the cooling system first so that I can determine whether I turned the engine off in time (radiator shat itself instantly on impact) but if the engine is fine I hope it can be saved. Airbags didn't deploy or anything like that and nothing got pushed in further than the radiator so hoping the shell itself should be fine.

Seen similar and worse damage on driftcars which are also used on the road. Many of them are back up and running within a couple of weeks so hoping I should be well withing my comfort zone to fix this, it's just TIME I need.

 

[gulf]

Go ahead and repair the car yourself,if you can do the work,theres nothing and nobody is stopping you if the insurance arent involved so its all your own money.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I turned a fiesta into a mangled piece of scrap, front nearside wing was torn clean off the car, radiator mounts sheared, airbags blown, front nearside suspension all FUBAR, wheel was smashed, sump was cracked and the windscreen smashed...had it back on the road within 3 weeks and it passed an MOT 2 months later. insurance don't have a clue, after the MOT was done I queried the sole advisory (tyre on the affected corner) and he said the tread was close to the limit, and that was the only fault he could find on the whole car...

 

[bill_gj]

I have my daughter's old '95 Fiesta on the drive at the moment. It was crunched by a ******-up druggie that was careering around the local roads where she used to live. The half wit spun the car he was driving and did in the OSF wing, headlight surround, lower valence, front bumper.
Insurance decided to write it off on the basis of 'not economically repairable' and I had the vehicle off her. Subsequently found that it is recorded as 'Category C' wright-off, so it will need a DVLA/VOSA vehicle examination to get it back on the road.
Why bother to fix it? It's only done 40,000 miles and goes like a train and minimal electronics!

 

[secretsmoker]

Cheers for all the responses folks. I have spoken to a friend who has 25 yrs of insider knowledge of the insurance industry.

As I already reported the shunt in case the lorry driver contacted my insurer to make a claim (he took my details), it may have already affected my premium. He suggests that I need to contact the insurer to see whether any claims have been reported; if so he reckons I may as well go ahead and claim as well, let them write the thing off (crossing my fingers that it might be a cat D not C), buy it back but hopefully at least have some cash left over to buy bits. If it does turn out to be a cat C does anyone know how much it costs to get examined?

First things I need just to make sure the engine survived unscathed are a new rad, fan and oil cooler, plus a condenser if I want the AC (tempted to just rip it out tbh), all of this could come to 3-400 quid alone and that is aftermarket not OEM! Toyota bits cost the earth, especially D4d stuff and not that easy to come by 2nd hand (not that i'd want a 2nd hand rad from sources unknown anyway) sooooo I suppose a bit of cash my way would be nice to get me started.

I will make a call later on and see what is going on. Obviously if they haven't heard anything from the other party I will just cancel my claim and crack on! I have already found a yard who are happy for me to come and chop the front off one of their shells and the body stuff I can find fairly cheap if the engine is running OK.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Condensors and rads can be had new for £70+ VAT. You just have to speak to the right places. I don't agree with the advice about getting it written off just for the sake of it. CAT C will need a VIC check, and will be permanately recorded on the V5 as such. CAT D doesn't need a VIC but will come up under HPI searches- to my knowledge there is no record on the V5.

If its affected your premium already then its too late to do anything about it, but that doesn't make it wise to claim anyway.

If you've got structural damage (you mention chassis leg end) then its leaning more toward C than D. D is often reserved for purely bolt on parts, such as lights, bumpers etc.

 

[secretsmoker]

Hmm yes I was afraid that the damage might result in cat C. So would the car's 'non catagory' status technically be preserved if I were able to repair to a roadworthy standard without getting the insurance involved?

I am not too fussed about whether the car is cat C'd as I probably wouldn't be selling it on anyway (gf has the exact same car but slightly younger so I would probably just break mine for spares if it). £70 is a bit cheaper than what I had found (around £90-100) for rad etc, the 3-400 quid estimate was for if I replace everything including rad/fan, oild cooler, condenser and any hoses that are looking a bit fooked!

I will give the insurance company a ring and see if they have heard anything from the other party then decide what to do from there I suppose.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Yes the unrecorded status will remain with the car for ever until an insurer writes it off. Spare a thought for how many cars must be out there that've undergon massive repairs without any record of it.

I'm not advocating bad practice here (cut and shut etc.) if something is beyond service then its scrap - thats what the catagories A and B are for. Your car however is still perfectly road worthy, just damaged. Think of it like a broken window in your house - you wouldn't call your insurers if you were a glazier.

Try and find out if the driver has claimed against you yet, in this day and age he will probably have a broken neck and collar bone by the time the claim is done and dusted. Your car is still your own to do what you want with it, but there might be as assesment of your car made to verify any claim the thrid party makes.
ie. Is your car damaged to an extent consistant with what he's trying to claim for.

If he has a claim against you, wait on repairing the car until you know where you're at.

 

[Robotstar5]

If the insurance company assess your car and deem it unrepairable (on cost grounds?) it will be recorded on the MIB (motor insurance database) whether you like it or not.

Mrs Robo's car was hit by an uninsured driver while parked on the drive and was written off as cat C, we bought it off insurance company and received a balance cheque for £900, I repared it for about £300 and a VIC cost about £35 at the time. V5 has a cat C recorded on it.

 

[ibrooks]

Write-off or not is simply a paperwork record. If no-one does that paperwork then no matter what has happened to the car it isn't written off. It could be in two pieces and quite obviously not repairable but still not a write-off. Unless you get your insurers to repair the thing they will not do any sort of assessment of it or record it in any way.

You are required to inform the insurance company whether you claim or not. You'll also likely need to inform whoever you renew with for the next 5 years because they ask if you have been involved in any claims OR accidents. It will probably affect your premium no matter whether you claim or not and whether it was your fault or not and that's that.

You can repair the car yourself if you are capable - there's nothing stopping you. It must meet the construction and use regs when you are done (this is in your own interests as much as anything else as there is an implied level of safety if it's up to that standard). The only check it will need if it hasn't been recorded as a write-off is the annual MOT whenever it's due.

If the other guy does claim... Well it's going to cost you your excess. It will also increase your premium for the next 5 years and it'll possibly take a bite out of your no-claims and increase your premiums even further. Now those costs are fixed so you'll be paying them regardless claiming for your car will make little or no difference at that point which is where your mate is coming from. If you are taking those hits then you might as well not face the additional bill of replacing/repairing your car on top. If.... the other guy doesn't claim and the insurers aren't involved beyond you informing them that it's happened and your car is worth less than maybe a grand then it's likely going to work out cheaper overall to repair/replace it yourself.

Iain

 

[the snooper]

if there was no damage to the third party and they wasn't going to claim then you shot yourself in the foot reporting it to them, you should have just repaired it as for cat d write offs, they don't need an inspection as to their roadworthiness, all the vosa inspections are is to make sure the vehicle is legit and not a ringer they don't check anything other then that.
if the insurance contact you regarding your vehicle just tell them it was very light damage and you are not claiming