So basically I got hit up the arse a few weeks ago. I was stationary in traffic at the front of a few cars in traffic and the car behind me hit me as a result of being hit by the car behind. Very minimal impact.

Picture below showing the resulting damage...



To my surprise its been declared a total loss from the insurance company and now I am in the position of possibly having to replace it or retaining it and getting it back on the road.

I have since received the assessment from the insurance detailing the required work so I need to know whether its worth retaining the salvage and if I do what is required in order to get the car back on the road!

My plan is to get it on the road, do the bare minimum of the required work and just run the car until it dies. Not fussed at all by the cosmetic side of things!

The assessment has been broken down as follows...

Parts/Panels Requiring Renewing:
Rear crossmember
L.Side Panel Reinf
L.Vent Grille
L.R Out Bumper Bracket
L.R Reflector
Rear Badge
Badge Fiesta
Badge
Badge
Rear Bumper

Parts/Panels Requiring Repair
Repair Rear Panel
Repair Lower Tailgate
Repair L/R Side Panel
Repair L/R Floor Panel
Repair L/S Side Member

(All remaining work is painting the above)

Pretty much £2000 worth of work, £500 for parts, £500 for paint and the rest for labour!

What I really need to know is out of the above work, is any of it actually essential for the car to be classed as roadworthy? I guess I need to get the car MOT'd, as coincidently that has run out since the car has been in salvage storage, but I am hoping I wouldn't need to touch and of the above if I chose not to. Possibly only the cross member although from what I can see its only function is to support the bumper!

To add, the car was driven for almost 2 weeks after the accident with no issues hence why I am keen to get it back as I believe there is little or nothing actually wrong with it!

Anyone got any advice?

 

rear reflectors need for mot. rest looks minor cosmetic so youd almost certainly get away with it at mot time as long as theres no sharp edges.


Dont get why you are surprised it was written off? its a 10 year old fiesta worth fuck all in good nick so even a light bumper crack could have writen it off these days the way they do claims.

 

Buy it back for salvage, get some second hand bits in the right colour, and bish-bosh, good as new
My son did this to his Corsa last week. £200 for a bumper, bonnet, wing, headlight and crush bar, and we should be going again by the middle of next week

 

Only really surprised as I expected the repair to be closer to £500. Not really been on the end of an insurance estimate before so didn't know what to expect! Would be a result if I can retain it though, they have valued it a lot higher than I would have sold it for!

What's the deal with re-registering it? Is it just a case of contacting VOSA when its MOT'd? Its currently taxed too, so not sure if I should cancel that and re-tax it after MOT etc....

 

depends on the category. may need a VIC check if cat c or worse. However VIC checks are being ditched if not already in which case you should easily get the v5 back.

 

Try and get cash in lieu of a settlement, that way the damage goes unrecorded against the vehicle.

Any other payout will have the car categorised.

But at those sort of costs...is it even worth fixing ? I've seen lots of worse cars driving about.

 

Do you still have the vehicle?
If you do but it back from the insurance company or trek then you intend to keep the salvage and then take it for an mot
If it passes then all well and good and carry on
If it fails just fix the bits it fails on

 

Thats the other thing I am slightly unsure of, at no point so far has anyone mentioned any sort of category that this may fall into! Need to try and establish that today!

 

Well I am more than happy to not touch it, it drives perfectly well how it is so I am happy leaving it as is!

Ultimately if I came across a bumper or bootlid in the right colour and it was cheap i'd buy it but certainly wont be putting new panels on it!

 

Well I am more than happy to not touch it, it drives perfectly well how it is so I am happy leaving it as is!

Ultimately if I came across a bumper or boot lid in the right colour and it was cheap i'd buy it but certainly wont be putting new panels on it!

In terms of the vehicle having the damage recorded, I'm really not that fussed about that either. Its unlikely the car will ever get sold, I intend to use it until it dies! Its only my work horse and isn't worth much anyhow, so wouldn't expect to get more than scrap value if I ever come to sell it!

 

No the car is in salvage storage somewhere. Need to get it collected!

 

You do, such places have a habit of breaking/selling the car despite knowing it's supposed to be returned to the owner, which somehow isnt deemed theft or illegal but quite normal !

 

Take the money and buy it back. Take it as it is for an MOT and see if it fails on anything. If it does it will be something minor, fix that and just keep driving it, the damage is all cosmetic and as you said it still drives fine.

A friend of mine had an old Mercedes 190 e, some vandals scratched right around it with a screwdriver. The Insurance company wrote it off as they said a respray would cost more than it was worth. He settled on a deal with him buying it back for peanuts, got the scratches taken out by his mate who is a spray painter for just £200 and pocketed a very nice amount of money!

 

the charges will probably be more than the money you get

get it out asap if you can and want to keep it

if you can't be arsed then leave it there and find another

 

how much is the insurance payout likely to be for it?

 

Right a little update to this!

Managed to get the car back as it was still as the damage assessors awaiting collection by the salvage company, so that was handy!

Currently awaiting for it to be delivered to a local garage for the MOT, should hopefully be on the road before the week is done!

In terms of the payout, they are giving me £2200 for it! It was going to be £2500 but they have deducted £300 as I am keeping it!

A right result as it looks like its going to cost me peanuts to get through the MOT and I only paid £2500 for it 2 years ago!

 

Turns out the car never made it to salvage storage despite me being told it was, so its since been collected from the damage assessor and is now on its way back to me!

 

That's a proper result

 

rules have changed for cat C - no VIC check required now. Works the same as CAt D

 

good result. I expect youll still make £1200-£1500 as well when you sell it on.

 

so a cat c classed car will now not need a vic test, even though it needed one say 2 months ago.


I have a fiesta that I'm selling soon and that's a cat c, will the new owner not need a vic test now?

 

Yeah I hope so!

 

Take it for an mot first

 

Nice one! Sounds like a similar result to my friend with his Merc 190e.

 

Had this on a corsa of my sisters, was worth about £800 and got hit in the rear. Insurance assessed at ours and paid her £1200 and said she could get rid. She said can she keep it and use it and they said do what ever with it hahah.

Pull the boot lid out so it would open and she ran it for another year then flogged it for near on a grand.