Some of you may have seen my other thread where i was crashed into by an elderly woman on my nearside and then rammed into a lampost damaging the offside,

Car has sustained heavy impact damage to passenger side doors, sill and b pillar pushed in, offside rear quarter pushed in and slightly bent rear axle (wheel out of line) car doesnt drive in a straight line, seat airbag deployed.

I spoke to the insurance and they said to call back this week coming with regards to whats happening, ive asked if i could buy it back and they told me it depends on what the assessor says?

Just wondering really if anyones ever bought there owned car back accident damaged? How much should i expect to pay ? Will i have to pay fees to have it taken back to my home, and any storage fees? It was a 52 reg 2002 seat leon cupra, obviously it cannot go back on the road (structural damage) wanted it back for the engine really as my friend needs one, and a few other bits on it worth selling, bumpers etc.

 

A bloke at work had his 53 plate focus written off. They offered him Ł1895 insurance for the car and he bought it back for Ł167.50.

Don't know if buy back costs are different to vehicles but that's what he paid!

Hope that helps a bit

Gary

 

i did it years ago with my Cavalier Gsi.... i got Ł2500 off the insurance and bought the car back for Ł50.

 

A mate had his written off, he bought it back, all they did was take the scrap value of it off the money he was getting from them.

 

I bought back my astravan when i was 17 for 140 quid. the price was based on a percentage of the insurance pay out

 

when you talk to them ask for a price to buy back

easy as that

my neighbour was offered his jeep back for Ł1400 but thought it was too much, it did Ł3200 on auction!!! dilly boy

years ago my mum bought her 2i back for Ł250

 

also i may buy some cupra bits what colour is/was it?

 

Theres more and more insurance companys dont allow you to buy back the cars anymore

 

having searched i see its silver, i need silver bits so message me if you get it back,

 

its easyer for insurers to leave you with the car, recently 3 i know of were Ł500 buybacks, i.e scrap value

if they deem the car to be cat b or c it will be very cheap normally

Cat D and X will be more usually

todays climate means scrap is high though

 

It's all dependant on the ins company but let them know your interested and you'll get an answer back then.
A lot are auctioning them via copart etc now as stated above cos their aware of the value of them,a lot have teams now to deal with it.
If there's any dispute regarding fault be careful with paying the recovery firm direct,you may really struggle to get your money back,ins companies are total cunts to deal with and I've had horrendous run ins with them myself so don't be surprised to see a Ł5-600 bill need settling from the recovery firm first.

 

Its legally your car no matter what the insurance company say. Until you accept a settlement then ownership does not transfer.

True that some companies have a policy of not allowing buy backs, but they wont win if you take them to the ombudsman over it.

However you will be expected to pay a fair price for the salvage.

 

From the Ombudsman

 

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.

 

I've never heard of them delivering a car - and certainly not 'free'. I had to go and pick mine up when I bought it back.

 

When my XR2i was written off the insurance company wouldn't allow me to buy it back. I now make sure my policy has salvage retention when I take it out.

 

this ^^^^^^

if it's recovered to a garage they will have already gone to the "trouble" of finding out how much it's worth in bits and won't want to sell it back to you without it being "worth their while"

when i got my granada wrote off i didn't let them take it form my drive until the assesor had been out to my house to give it the once over and given me a price, in writing
then it simply wasnt worth the recovery companies time or effort to come and collect it

but if it's gone to the garage you may be fighting a loosing battle as far as your costs are concerned

 

my mate got offered 3500 for his civic type t and he bought the car back for Ł210.
they delivered it back to his drive way aswell.

 

in dec 2010 when my 3dr was wrote off i had it recovered home, had 2 assessors out who both wrote it off.

was insured for 10k and i had to deduct 20%, i think i got screwed!

oh, and the cunts made me pay the excess

 

The value of salvage is through the roof at the moment but I have no idea on the costs assoicated with the dispoal of the salvage which I would imagine to be quite a bit. If its CAT B insurance shouldnt let you buy it back and if they do you are not legally allowed to break it

 

I had to pay Ł78 for the salvage on my twin turbo which was assessed as Cat C, they claimed the pre accident value was Ł720. I then had it re-assessed at a pre accident value of Ł3000 so they paid out a total in lieu settlement of Ł1300 which is what it cost me to repair. They also removed the Cat C and VIC check markers.

 

You are legally allowed to do what you want.

The entire insurance category system is a ABI code of practice and is not legally enforcable in any way shape or form.

yes all insurers, salvage companys etc have agreed to comply with it, but it is not applicable to private individuals.

there is nothing in law to stop you putting any category of vehicle back on the road as long as it pases the required VIC check and is legally roadworthy

Nowhere in the code does it say that vehicle owners cannot retain salvage.

The ABI code itself even obliges the insurer to return the V5 to the owner after advising them of VIC check on re-issue of new V5:

 

I crashed my saph cos 6 weeks ago , I had it towed straight from the crash to my house and it sat I'm my garage until they wanted to asses it they valued it at Ł5000 and wrote it off as a cat c I told them that no matter what they are not having my car the only problem was it was only insured for Ł3000 so they gave me the whole Ł3000 & I had to pay Ł600 excess and Ł600 to buy it back

 

Sorry warren totally wrong there, once the car is cat b it must be treated as waste, coming under the enviroment agency which has very strict laws in place. Cat b's arent classed as salvage either. There is nothing in the EA regs that say it is ok for private to break them and every CAT b car needs a COD which can only be issued by ATF

 

So the ABI code of practice is a lie then mark? The DVLA have got it wrong letting extensively rebuilt cat B vehicles back on the road?

Dont think so.

 

When i wrote my Audi S4 off first thing i did was ring my own breakdown cover which was RAC, once the insurance company take your car it makes life alot harder, i recovered it back to my brothers house and had them come out and asses it.

I got offered Ł5250 and Ł750 to buy it back.

 

As to putting cat b's back on the road only with SVA's as the current vin number and reg would have to be reregistered

Try acutally putting a cat b back on the road, and dont mention the fact you can vic check a cat b car as that means nowt

 

Mark Ive put a cat B flood damaged defender back on the road. No need for SVA/IVA. Was VIC checked as DVLA required a VIC check when i changed address on the V5. Ran it legally for a couple of years before selling on. Insurance even paid out minus salvage charges. They didnt like it though but as its legally my vehicle at the time they couldnt stop me. Sure it was 10 years ago but the code of practice has only been updated since then, not fundamentally changed.

Where is this legislation on cat B's being SVA'd? You dont loose the registration plate either, mine didnt.

Perhaps you should read the VOSA/DVLA site and the ABI code of practice. Nothing says its illegal to put cat B (or cat A for that matter) vehicles back on the road.

The entire ABI code only applies to those signed upto it, and not private individuals.

There have been threads on here before about people perfectly legally putting cat b's back on the road so its nothing new or special.

 

Qoute from the ABi code of practice:

 

Bought our 1996 cat c Honda valued at Ł700 back for Ł100 last month.

 

my daughters car was hit by another car, it was fixed,
but the insurance company told me that because i was claiming off the other party then they had no rights to the car and any payment from other insurers for it being a total loss would be in full and i was to dispose of car myself or do what i wanted with it.

 

ELV directive was 2003 and amended in 2008 so ten years ago yes it has changed a lot.

I am not saying anything about the ABI thats you, iam saying from the EA prespective that cat b's legally shouldnt be broken by private individuals

 

Ah seen your other reply, heres one from the EA website

But i will concede that once it has been processed by a ATF, depolluted and COD issued against the VIN and reg it could be returned to the owner but I bet the cost of that would be more then it is worth doing, plus I have never heard of it happening either. But once it has been issued with a COD try putting it back on the road then.

just read the ABI regs, must admit I am not 100% read up on them as i was a commerical entity but ok it does state that it is members only so you are right there but according to the EA it should be treated as waste, it does allow for private individuals to transport the waste to a ATF without having to have a valid waste carriers licence

 

The other big flaw in your arguement, once the insurance has paid out it is their car, hence 'buy back' and when the insurance own it they should adhere to the ABI code?

IF the insurnace doesnt pay out they then have no legal right from what i understand, to put any categorys on the car but i have heard that happen before.

At the moment cat b regs are still a mess in this country and needs to be seriously sorted out from top to bottom, they (ea) control the ATF;s a huge amount but a lot more needs to be done including euro or world wide insurance db;s proper end to end managment of the sale and purchase of ELV's etc

i reckon within a few years there will be even more red tape but hopefully this time will help the industry rather then hinder it

 

Mark a vehicle is only considered end of life once it is owned by the insurers and sold to the scrappys.

There is nothing to stop an individual breaking up their own vehicle (regardless of damage) in VOSA or DVLA eyes. Even in terms of waste disposal as long as the relevant fluids and toxic parts are disposed of correctly you can cut up the shell into little bits if you want. There is even space on the V5 to declare a vehicle personally broken up.

Some councils have rules for doing it on their land and if you are doing it for business you clearly come under the EPA rules as you rightly say.

Even in terms of the EPA. the "cat B" label is not legally binding as the definition is part of the ABI code and still voluntary!

Once a car has had a COD issued sure its hard to put it on the road.... but thats not the point. The point is that the cars are going to get taken out of the "industry" long before they get to the point where the COD is issued. eg it will have been returned to the owner, or sold on.

In terms of buy backs as they are called. The technical term is "retention of salvage" and the principle is ownership is not transferred until the claim is settled. If settlement includes retention of salvage, then the insurance company has never owned the car and hence ABI codes do not apply. Hence the line about returning the V5. Obviously no payout, ownership never can or could transfer.

In theory insurance companys could make some agreement to not pay out where people want to retain salvage on cat A or B cars, however as the whole code is voluntary and not legally binding, the financial ombudsman would (as it has done previously) find in favour of the customer not the insurance company as it would be considered a unfair practice as there are plenty of legitimate reasons to retain salvage and its not the insurers place to make such judgements.

The only obligation under LAW is that the insurance company must notify DVLA of the write off. The reason is to prevent ringing and the written off ID being used on a stolen car. Hence the VIC check.

I agree the system is flawed and more checks need to be in place to prevent dangerous cars getting on the road, however until the law changes nothing will happen.

I cant see a way for legislation to please everyone.

The simple fact is that many Cat B cars CAN be repaired safely if you spend the time and effort, so why shouldnt people be allowed to do so?? Just because a few unscrupulous cowboys bodge such cars and put them back on the road as unsafe vehicles we should ban it for everyone??
EDIT You could make it so all write offs have to go through an IVA test, however a special IVA would have to be resdesigned to cover the type of modern cars as there are a lot of features on modern cars that are due to complexity not allowed under current IVA rules.

The only real limit is more severely damaged vehicles will need such extensive rebuilding that the original idenity will be called into question as not much is left.

The other big flaw with the category system is it is based on value of the car. Many many thousands of expensive or newish cars sustain damage that would on a old banger result in a cat B rating, but they are as high value cars rebuilt with a new shell retaining old id and number plate. Also flood damaged cars are mostly cat B, not because they are "unsafe" but because of the water damage being so time consuming to deal with. However for a DIY mechanic, time costs nothing.

Lets not also forget that the whole write off system is based on "new parts" costs and highly inflated labour and material costs which are unrealistic when dealing with older cars. A prime example is rarer fords and RS cars that can often be written off due to lack of part availability when in reality second hand good parts are readily available.

The whole system is flawed and there is no simple solution. But the simple fact remains that you can quite legally put cat b cars back on the road.

 

We weren't allowed to insurer sent transporter to collect no options to het back

 

once the insurace company's garage have your car, it's almost a waste of time trying to get it back

hence you et it dropped to your house and then get all the paperwork done before you let anythign happen to it

 

Whether cat b is a abi term or not ELV is a EA term and covered under law. Ive had no experince with having one of my own cars cat b'ed or having any claims for right off's for my own cars either

You will see fewer, if you ever saw any at all, cat b's going back on the road in the uk. Why, The insurance db, miafr thingy is uk only as soon as the car is exported it becomes 'unrecorded' that is the biggest issue at the moment imo as it is totally counter productive to the breaker industry as mostly foreign buyers are buying the breakers for more money then they can possibly be broken for.

Also copart who are the biggest re-seller of breakers and salvage have no due dillegeince or good pratice in place for managment of sale of cat b's, if you look at a company called bluecycle they have, lot better systems and protection in place.

 

After my 'incident' the car was at my house. The assessor come round and arranged for it to be sent to a garage about 25 miles away where they had some 'scanning' machine which could detect for bent suspension (even though it was clearly bent as the wheels were pointing in opposite directions.

The garage 'scanned' it, pronounced it a write off, and I simply went to the garage and drove it home. Got a fair payout for it and they only wanted a couple of hundred for the car. No bill from the garage, but they did make me sign loads of disclamers in case it fell apart on the way home.

 

I think it depends on who the assessor is, if they are employed by the insurer then it they will come to you to assess it, if the assessor is employed by a salvage company then thats where it is harder to get the car back as they get their money from processing the salvage end to end