My tintop got rear-ended about 6 months ago. by an HGV.
The rear damage was quite bad but not enough to write it off, but the day after the accident the car refused to start, which i presumed was a flat battery since it probably though the boot was open and had a light on all night.

when it got taken away to be repaired, they had it for weeks and said they couldnt get it to start and it would have to go to Ford for new electrics. This did now put it into the 'Write off' category for the insurance people, who decided to just give me the money for a new one.

this has p...ed me off twofold.

1- the money they gave me wasnt enough. the car was immaculate and with the money they gave me it was impossible to buy a car of equivalent quality/mileage. I even had 2 disputes with the engineers that got me an extra 500 quid but it still wasnt enough.

and to top it off:

2- I got a letter off someone in wales who now has my car and is having trouble starting it.. WTF?!!
I sent my v5 to DVLA saying it had been scrapped since it was obviously 'not cost effective' to repair. Some swine has obviously taken that, did a quick job on it and sold it on..
I wouldnt mind but I really wanted my car back repaired..
VERY annoyed!

is this all above board then? can someone re-register a writeoff? or has the guy been taken for a fool?
I've yet to ring him, I really want to know if he knows he's bought a car thats been written off..

All above board afaik. Just let the guy who has the car know its a write off....

It all depends on what category "write-off" your car was...

Were you not given a buy back option from the insurance company?

Look here;
http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/insurance_write_off.htm

Cheers

Mark Allanson (on this site) knows all about this sort of thing as an (ex?) insurance assessor?

u2u him to see what he thinks!

Cheers,
James

insurance companys do it all the time. they sell them at auction and to the trade, they repair them etc and resell. insurance comepanys use a garage to price the repair with labour etc, so often they are expensive, hence the write off part.
prob repaired for less that half what the garage quoted, then resold. but as it has been said, depends on what cat is was, D, C can be repaired and sold on. but will show on the hpi register.

one thought, if the car wont start, some tin tops have a fuel cut off in the rear for safety reasons, even shutting the boot to hard can trip em out. prob was looked at, but might have been a reason.

always argue the price, never take the 1st offer and look at what similar cars are selling for and send them examples. insurance companys are dodgy lots sometimes.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dazza
insurance companys are dodgy lots sometimes.

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just rang the guy, turns out he's bought it from the insurance himsself to fix up, as its not been touched.
i'd thought he'd bought a running car so wanted to warn him of the history but since he knows about it I'm a bit calmer now.

Oh well, if he gets it running hes got a mint engine and a brand new clutch.. i'd have loved to have put it into a kit car.
Zetec-SE. lovely little yamaha lump.