Written-off cars

fixitflav · 14 Oct 2021

A friend of mine’s car was damaged when he drove through some bitumen spraying out of a tanker at a road works. Not his fault and the council’s insurance are paying for repairs.

The visible bits have been cleaned off, but some left on the underside. I don’t think it affects roadworthiness, but the insurance co say it’s a write-off and have offered him about £9500 if they take the car away, £6000 if he keeps it. I’m thinking of asking him to take the £6000 and I’ll buy it from him for the difference.

But I’m concerned that there might be a law saying you cannot put a written-off car back on the road, irrespective of condition, to stop people doing up and selling unroadworthy ones. Does anybody know?

Grateful for any advice

RandomGrinch · 14 Oct 2021

Hi,

Actually, there's some good advice from gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/insurance-writeoffs

And many YouTube channels dedicated to rebuilds:

So, basically some paperwork to do!
Selling on the car later may be an issue though

fixitflav · 14 Oct 2021

RandomGrinch said:
Hi,

Actually, there's some good advice from gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/insurance-writeoffs

And many YouTube channels dedicated to rebuilds:

So, basically some paperwork to do!
Selling on the car later may be an issue though

Thanks for that. The way I read it, it's in category N so should be OK.
I'll worry about selling it later, later!

Avocet · 15 Oct 2021

fixitflav said:
Thanks for that. The way I read it, it's in category N so should be OK.
I'll worry about selling it later, later!

I have (well, I gave it to my dad a few months back) a Cat N Freelander. A lorry with an overhanging load did some minor panel damage. The car wasn't worth the cost of the paint, never mind the panels! The lorry driver's insurers offered me £1k for the car or £750 and keep the car. I decided to keep it, spent £200 on a couple of doors and a wing off a scrapper the same colour, and "trousered" the rest! As already mentioned, there's nothing illegal about running a Cat N. The one thing I WOULD say, is that it might attract a higher insurance premium afterwards, so factor that into your calculations. A lot of it depends on how honest you're willing to be with your insurers. I had assumed, that the lorry driver's insurance company would put it on some kind of database, so I disclosed it to my insurers and they knew nothing about it! However, once I'd told them, the b&^%$s said "oh, sorry, we don't do write-offs" and cancelled my policy! That then forced me to Adrian Flux, who specialise in unusual risks. To be fair, they weren't that much more expensive than my previous insurer, but it was an additional cost that I hadn't really been anticipating - and, of course, recurring one.

cdbe · 15 Oct 2021

Take some photos and keep the paperwork for when you come to sell. A few people would be happy to take a punt on that "damage".

fixitflav · 15 Oct 2021

Avocet said:
I have (well, I gave it to my dad a few months back) a Cat N Freelander. A lorry with an overhanging load did some minor panel damage. The car wasn't worth the cost of the paint, never mind the panels! The lorry driver's insurers offered me £1k for the car or £750 and keep the car. I decided to keep it, spent £200 on a couple of doors and a wing off a scrapper the same colour, and "trousered" the rest! As already mentioned, there's nothing illegal about running a Cat N. The one thing I WOULD say, is that it might attract a higher insurance premium afterwards, so factor that into your calculations. A lot of it depends on how honest you're willing to be with your insurers. I had assumed, that the lorry driver's insurance company would put it on some kind of database, so I disclosed it to my insurers and they knew nothing about it! However, once I'd told them, the b&^%$s said "oh, sorry, we don't do write-offs" and cancelled my policy! That then forced me to Adrian Flux, who specialise in unusual risks. To be fair, they weren't that much more expensive than my previous insurer, but it was an additional cost that I hadn't really been anticipating - and, of course, recurring one.

Thanks, good story, something else to bear in mind.

fixitflav · 15 Oct 2021

cdbe said:
Take some photos and keep the paperwork for when you come to sell. A few people would be happy to take a punt on that "damage".

Good idea

Gasguru · 15 Oct 2021

AFAIR the category is listed on the MOT database for all to see..

Avocet · 15 Oct 2021

Gasguru said:
AFAIR the category is listed on the MOT database for all to see..

I think the problem is that the system relies on the insurance company who make the payout for the write-off, updating some sort of database, as the car is legally theirs at that point. My old Landy doesn't have any kind of marker (that I've been able to find) and indeed, when I gave it to my dad, his new logbook doesn't say anything on it to that effect.

fixitflav · 25 Feb 2022

Gasguru said:
AFAIR the category is listed on the MOT database for all to see..

As this thread has started again - I bought the car and sold my 2004 Mondeo. Both due for MOT a month or so back, the Hyundai passed OK, and just to make sure, I checked it was noted on the DVLA website. Out of curiosity, I wanted to check whether the Mondeo had passed, but when I entered the reg, to my surprise it could not find the car. I'd have thought if it had been sold on or SORNed it would be on the system. Anybody know how it works?

Wayners · 25 Feb 2022

I use the know your car app and website and a car I scraped 4 years ago is still listed with all the past mots.
So I guess the car your looking for should be available to look at details

fixitflav · 25 Feb 2022

Wayners said:
I use the know your car app and website and a car I scraped 4 years ago is still listed with all the past mots.
So I guess the car your looking for should be available to look at details

Thanks for that, great! Gives full MOT history and says MOT now expired. Confirms that DVLA have no record of the vehicle, which I find a bit strange.
Thanks again

The Samaritan · 27 Mar 2022

How did you get on???

fixitflav · 27 Mar 2022

The Humanitarian said:
How did you get on???

Christ, I forgot I'd asked that on this thread, so I started another https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/dvla-records.589029/. It seems the MOT hasn't been renewed, but one DVLA site says so, another doesn't recognise the reg.

The Samaritan · 28 Mar 2022

Gasguru said:
AFAIR the category is listed on the MOT database for all to see..

Indeed a fact. You need to get the car checked via one of those paid-for sites. The logbook or V5 as its called shows the cat of insure grade/damage but check those pay for sites

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