Category S econonimcal write off

The Angry Welshman

The Angry Welshman

The Angry Welshman

Soldato
Joined
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Gods Country
I recently had a no fault bump in my car ( other driver and insurers admitted full responsibility)

The bump is a dent in the rear wheel each. Insurance company picked car up yesterday to undertake repair at their full cost. But today they have informed me its not econimcally viable to repair damage due tpo age of car (10yrs old) and says the wheel arch has come away from the monocock (whatver that means) the car has been checked by a 3rd party and its basically 10mm that has pulled away and is held on by what looks like plastic pop rivets of some sort.

I now have the car back ( collected today) i have informed my insurance that the car as been classed as Cat S and they have noted that on my insurance and stated i am still insured to drive it.

My Question - Do i need to get it repaired, re-mot'd or am i just ok to carry on driving it. As i have been doing for 8wks or so since the bump??

Thanks All

PS i have checked the dvla website and nothing is listed on there about damage to the car
 
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10 year old car probably cant get the parts anymore, and not bothering to put up the cost so wrote it off.
Fairly common, whether you trust it enough to drive it is more of a moral decision.
Ultimately if your that bothered put it in for a service/MOT and see whats what.
 
SonicSW20 said:
Cat S suggests that the damage is more than just a plastic arch. Cat S is supposed to be for structural economic writeoffs, Cat N is for non structural.
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no the garage told me its just the plastic arch underneath and its around 10mm all the rest is full attached. no axle, chassis or wheel damage at all and no structural report required
 
Just had a quick look as @SonicSW20 says if they've cat S'd it there's structural damage that needs repairing to make it safe. Their description of the damage should mean it's only a cat N, so either their categorisation is wrong or their description of the damage is wrong.
 
It shouldnt be S for cosmetic damage. Someone has made a mistake somewhere. Nothing on a wheel arch is structural. They can rust right through and it will pass an MOT.

Needs questioning as a cat S will be near impossible to sell on. N is much more acceptable on an old car, especially with how insurers are now.
 
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d_brennen said:
Spilling a coffee in the cup holders is a write-off these days
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I had a crash in my 2017 E Class and saw it disappear off on a low-loader at 03:30. By 08:00 it had been written off, probably due to all the airbags going off and/or a headlight being smashed. They gave me £24k for it…

Someone else repaired it though, and it’s been MoT’d twice since then…
 
You need to be getting onto the insurance company that has categorised it and getting them to give you some details of why it's been categorised as it has

www.gov.uk

Scrapping your vehicle and insurance write-offs

Scrap your vehicle at an authorised treatment facility if it’s reached the end of its life and you want to dispose of it
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

Category S / Can be repaired following structural damage / You can use the vehicle again if it’s repaired to a roadworthy condition
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If there's definitely no structural issues, they've categorised it wrong and it should probably be N. If there are structural issues, then they should be able to say what they are so you can ensure the car is adequately repaired.

Ideally you'd want some some paperwork/report to throw in amongst the history so if/when you sell it, you can show prospective buyers what it was all about.
 
Kenai said:
You need to be getting onto the insurance company that has categorised it and getting them to give you some details of why it's been categorised as it has

www.gov.uk

Scrapping your vehicle and insurance write-offs

Scrap your vehicle at an authorised treatment facility if it’s reached the end of its life and you want to dispose of it
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk



If there's definitely no structural issues, they've categorised it wrong and it should probably be N. If there are structural issues, then they should be able to say what they are so you can ensure the car is adequately repaired.

Ideally you'd want some some paperwork/report to throw in amongst the history so if/when you sell it, you can show prospective buyers what it was all about.
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i am awaiting a call from their valuation team to negotiate a value for the car, they said it could take 3/5 days for that to happen. i honestly think they are trying to pull a fast one at my expense
 
The Angry Welshman said:
i am awaiting a call from their valuation team to negotiate a value for the car, they said it could take 3/5 days for that to happen. i honestly think they are trying to pull a fast one at my expense
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I doubt they're trying to 'pull a fast one' - they've just made a mistake - there's no particular benefit to them to categorise it wrong really, so I doubt they've done it on purpose.

They will try and lowball you for your car though, make sure you know what it's true value is (with some evidence, i.e. adverts of other cars) so you can argue the case straight away.
 
when i have bought them in the past i always just had them re moted and insured and drove. off course i did any repairs neccesary.
as you have the car , make sure you keep the document and mot and all service paperwork, .
remember it is your vehicle till the insurance make you a acceptable offer on your terms i.e keeping the vehicle. they may not want to insure it again or require a new policy to be taken out.
 
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as it currently stands both the garage who insspected the car and my insurers say im ok to drive the car and its fully insured....

Just to note, its not my insurers that have written the car off, its the 3rd parties insurance that have stated its Cat S
 
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another ploy is the insurance wanting it inspected at there centre ....which involves them fetching it (usually co part) you being told its a write off and then before payment can you forward all paperwork keys etc to them .....and it sold on auction.
i bought a merc a while back that still had finance on it from copart, too quick to auction without finance settled, i went ballistic at them and they cleared it within the hour grrrrrrrrr.
 
gc123 said:
another ploy is the insurance wanting it inspected at there centre ....which involves them fetching it (usually co part) you being told its a write off and then before payment can you forward all paperwork keys etc to them .....and it sold on auction.
i bought a merc a while back that still had finance on it from copart, too quick to auction without finance settled, i went ballistic at them and they cleared it within the hour grrrrrrrrr.
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thats why i collected today and told them immediately i was retaining the vehicle.....
 
The Angry Welshman said:
as it currently stands both the garage who insspected the car and my insurers say im ok to drive the car and its fully insured....

Just to note, its not my insurers that have written the car off, its the 3rd parties insurance that have stated its Cat S
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my lad had the same ,someone forgot there handbrake and rolled into his car (accross 2 lines of parking spaces) insurance wrote car off, happy days he got more than he paid and kept the car. used money for spanish holiday ran car for 8 months and sold it with profit without repairing it :)
 
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