pal of mine had her car bumped by a neighbour, say her car is valued in her insurance at a grand and its going to cost 997quid to fix, would they write it off, or as its their insurance will they just fix it regardless of cost?

Thats a write-off for sure - trick is not to let the insurance take the car away , buy back the `salvage' , and pocket the difference .

If she has claimed the car is worth a grand, the ins co will probably value it rather less, and their offer will be based on their "market value"

Some companies are better to deal with than others (swiftcover apparently are a mare, they refuse to negotiate, but hey are cheap)

I suspect almost any damage on a £1000 car will make it a write-off, but IF she can get to keep the salvage, as above, it may not be as bad as it could. Doing things like offering to hang on to the car rather than get a hire car can go down well, but only once you speak to the right people. ie the other ins co, who want to settle as cheaply as possible. Her insurers will be wanting to get as much as possible, as will the leagl team who make far more out of fees than the actual claims.

I'm fairly sure there's a percentage of market value applied to repair costs, I think it's something like if the repair is more than 80% of the car then they write it off. It might even be in the insurance terms and conditions?

I'd also agree with accepting their second write-off valuation (never accept the first one!), then buying it back as salvage. However, there are current rumours that insurance companies are getting wise to this, and increasing the buy back price to maximise their own profits. That then makes repairs potentially cost prohibitive. Work out the price of repair by an independent before you go into negotiations, then at least you'll know what you will have to aim for.

Can you get the car repaired cheap? If so ask the other drivers insurance if they would be interested in making a cash payment for full and final settlement.

My wife was hit while I was working away, so she informed her insurance company (before she spoke to me), within 2 days and without viewing the car the insurance arranged for a breaker to collect it - which they did without even speaking to anybody, missus came home from work and car was gone. Missus phoned them to find out what was happening, to be told they were going to write it off and give her £800 (for a car I'd £1400 for 6 months before). I got on the phone and played merry hell demanding they return the car which they had stolen. Got the car returned, called the other insurance company who gave us £700 to settle the matter. Car cost me £300 to sort so £400 for the inconvenience, result all round.

Cheers
Davie

Believe when the repairs total 60% of the value of the car they write it off,
Problem is their value of the car is never your value of it...


Also read somewhere that if you speak to the insurers first but then decide not to claim they make a note of it which can have an impact on future premiums

I had a 309 GTI that I spun and wrecked the axle, insurance right off, I bought it and repared, needed a sill and complete axle (6 bolts)
Did all the work then was told I needed an engineers report before they would insure it as it was a right off
Took over a month to find an engineer that the insurance company would accept and strangely who would actually look at the car and do a report, they only wanted work from the trade.
This also cost me a lot of money £250+ in today's money equivelant
That plus buy back of the car plus insurance money plus parts then the time, I woo ups have been better off buying a new car