Bonnet damage

[cjones1687]

Hi,

Hoping for some advice, a slate in the recent storm fell off my neighbours roof, landing on my bonnet. I called my insurance to get it fixed and to my shock it was written off over the phone! It’s a 2019 Dacia duster, which I’ve only had a year- finance way out weights what I assumed they’d value it at. I challenged the write off, they’ve now agreed to have damage assessed at a local centre.

My question being, how much is a repair likely to cost and will it likely go back to being a write off? It’s still worth according to only valuations 7,000 I’d assume the repair costs would be a fraction of that value.

Bonnet still opens, no other damage to anything under the hood, just the one slice.

Any advice would be great

 

[cjones1687]

Assumed if they couldn’t fix it worst case that’s what they’d do, order a new bonnet and fit it, again looking at prices of bonnets etc I can’t work out how they’ve originally tried to write it off without even looking at it.

New bonnet fitted and sprayed surely won’t cost them 3/4K that they rather write it off.

I’m hoping a decent body shop could quite easily repair it and spray it though….

 

[cjones1687]

Isn't this something you'd claim off your neighbours home insurance?

Sadly not, I’d have to prove it was negligent on their side. Just bad luck with the recent storm

 

[cjones1687]

They may have been pre-empting parts backlogs, excessive wait times for repair (especially if you have a hire car while you wait), potential for it needing more than just a bonnet etc. etc.

Even then, cars driveable, no sharp edges etc still roadworthy. I’d use it until parts arrived etc. if repairable doesn’t seem it would be to time consuming once started on.

No other parts damaged either.

Hoped someone here may have had experience and could determine rough costs/ if repairable etc

 

[cjones1687]

And we wonder why our insurance premiums are so high?

I've had a bit dissimilar experience recently with my truck, I managed to hit a van that had jumped a set of red lights in my truck, a little superficial damage such as cracked trim, a bent corner piece on the cab a cracked plastic headlamp cover (the glass underneath is not broken but apparently it's a whole unit that needs replacing at a cost of £800+VAT alone) the real kicker was the passenger door, very slight scuff which a paint correction type would sort in minutes apparently warrants a complete replacement door, which is crazy.

The estimate was roughly around £8k, our own in house workshop thought about £1500 tops with a bit of creative parts sourcing.

Did your insurance allow you to get the cheaper repairs done? That will be my plan should they try and write it off with a ridiculous quote, source a new/second hand bonnet and swap it over myself.

Not sure if they allow this or they still stick to it being written off. Can’t see how they could if the damage is visual only really, no effect on the vehicle being roadworthy.

 

[cjones1687]

Can they write it off with the option of you buying it back as salvage?!

Worst case, I can but lowers the value significantly and a lot of mucking around need to Re Mot it, send off v5s etc etc. if I’m in an accident or something down the line and it’s written off again I’ll get peanuts for it.

I will do that though, should they scam me and weasel a way to write it off, only real option that prevents me losing thousands as I’ve no gap insurance sadly.

 

[cjones1687]

Scania is talking about a work incident so probably a little different.

You did the right thing challenging it, but you probably would have been better off having dealt with this without insurance involvement.

Ah mid read it.

Yeah, silly me assumed it would be a seemingly easy straightforward claim, maybe saving money and hassle- anything but. Lesson learnt

 

[cjones1687]

Cars on pcp yeah. Should they write it off the valuation they’d give would be much less than what I still have to pay as I’ve only had it 1 year.

I’m putting it down to a terrible first call handler who declared it a write off in error. I’m hopeful it will be a relatively ok price to be repaired.

 

[cjones1687]

Thinking having slept on it that I’m just going to cancel the claim. Filler it and Chuck a bit of paint on until I can source a second hand bonnet the same colour. Will be the least hassle I think doing that

 

[cjones1687]

I phoned them just now, claim cancelled - told me doesn’t effect my NCB and that the account will default back to same position it was prior to my claim.

 

[cjones1687]

this is one of those awkward things which i dread happening because i know i will always end up on the losing side.

IF my roof failed and damaged a neighbours car i would probably feel morally obliged to help out and end up out of pocket... OTOH if their roof damaged my car i would almost certainly end up getting fobbed off and having to foot the bill as well. It happened with the fences at the back of my house I foot the bill for one side because that is the conventionally accepted thing to do so the neighbour asked me to pay, where as on the other side i still had to pay half because it isnt clear on the deeds.

imo in a "fair" world the owner of the property should claim on their insurance if your property is damaged by their property.

its not about "blame" as such but someone has to pay and that just seems the fairest way imo.

I just got really unlucky, as did my neighbour who needs to pay for roofers and to have his own car fixed.

I’m surprised he didn’t offer in some way to pay for some of my damage. May have done if not for all his own costs he’s been left with.

 

[cjones1687]

Be aware that you will probably need to declare this when renewing, even though you are no longer claiming. It's because insurance companies always ask if you have had any accidents, claims or losses. I would say this counts as an accident or loss even though you are no longer claiming. Most people don't declare it but in this case there is obviously a footprint for an opened, and then closed, claim.

I’ll need to check this with them closer to renewal time. Guy claimed my account goes back to pre claim as no work was done/ assessed. Cancelled within the 14 day period also. Don’t know what to believe with their idiot call handlers.

Not the end of the world either way I guess