ideally try and retain the car, Have had it in the past that they dont charge anything for you to keep it as it will be more costly for them to collect it.

Depends on the salvage value. However, my sister cars have both been recovered to be assessed, one from her property and the other was at the scene.

I did have a mate years back with a tricked out 205 gti, he had a bump but was not really a write off, yet the assessor from the bodyshop who had recovered it claimed it was unrerpairable and should not be sold back to the owner. They also prevented him taking anything off it.

Next thing the lads from the bodyshop appeared out the local cruise with all the goodies off it lol!! Seemed to me the bodyshop figured it was a good motor for spares.