Here’s a very recent BangerNomics example. My 85 year old mother-in-law (who lives solely on state pension and benefits) had run around in an S reg (1999) VW Passat Estate for around 12 years. She had to fork out a few hundred quid in maintenance costs each year but it was still incredibly cheap motoring. At the cars last MOT, at 22 years old, the repairs became uneconomical so she binned it and bought a 2009 VW Golf Estate with 161,000 mikes on the clock for £1k. Unfortunately, after just one month (whilst still getting used to the car) she managed to scrape it down the side of a stone wall (she lives out in the sticks). She got a quote for repairs of £750. As she doesn’t intend to drive for much longer, she went to her insurers who, as we expected, said that the car was uneconomical to repair and would be written off. They offered her £2,000 for the car (they didn’t ask about the mileage which, come to think of it, insurers don’t, so they had obviously valued it on average mileage). Now here’s where it gets bizarre and I still don’t understand it (never having written a car off myself, thankfully). As it was a category N write off (cosmetic only) they let her buy the car back for just £200 so, after paying that and her £50 excess she had the car back plus £1,750. She put the car in for repair (cost £750) and now has the repaired car back plus £1,000 in her pocket. As she had protected No Claims Discount, her insurance continued unaffected. I still can’t get my head around it as it seems nuts to me, but that’s what’s happened!
You can buy a car back of insurance often deducted from the payout as long as its not a wright off in the sense its a danger to put back on the road and needs crushing Category A applies to a car that is extensively damaged and is only fit for scrap. All parts, including salvageable ones, should be destroyed. Category B describes a vehicle that has significant damage to the body, which should be crushed. Undamaged parts may be salvaged and can be used as spares on other cars.
It’s been an education for me. I have always considered insurers to be rip off merchants who will do anything they can to avoid or minimise pay outs. However, in my mother-in-laws case, they have effectively reimbursed in full what she paid for the car, plus paid for the repairs AND let her keep the car. She’s now driving a car that hasn’t cost her a penny. It’s great for her but just doesn’t make sense for the insurer. I remain baffled!