Insurance Claim - Cat N Car.

[cheekymunkey]

Hi Guys,

Im in a bit of a bind. Well, it might not be but I think Im just a bit paniky. Wondering if anyone else has been in the same situation or could share some advice.

I purchased a car back in December. An E class Merc W213. It was a damaged category N car from Copart. We fixed the car ourselves. It was hit in the front left passenger side. We fitted a new rack end which had snapped, replaced broken the headlight, repaired the wing and did some repair to the bumper. It was all driving and fine. I had been out over the weekend for a night and returned home. Car was stolen overnight when I noticed it was missing off my drive in the morning.

Reported the police and insurance company. Insurance have come back with a bunch of questions which I need to respond to regarding purchase price/invoices/pictures. Here is what they need. When I managed to purchase the car at auction I got it for a decent price.

-Purchase invoice for the vehicle - I can provide this.

-Proof of payment for the vehicle ie. bank statement - I can provide this.

-Image of the vehicle key next to the front page of the V5/log book - I have 1 key which is all that was given when I purchased the car so I can show this to.

-Any images of the vehicle that you have - We never actually took any pictures of the repaired vehicle. The only pictures I have is from the auction website which shows the damage. Do I just tell them I dont have any pictures or show the damaged car pictures? or show them pictures of where their isnt any damage? I guess if they wanted to go back to Copart they could get pictures too.

-Invoices for any work done on the vehicle - This is where Im a little confused. I feel like here they might be asking about any mods/upgrades or work that was done to the car. BUT as the car was damaged are they asking about invoices for work that we did to the car to repair it? like purchasing parts/labour etc. I sourced the parts via sites like Ebay/Facebook Marketplace and it was all cash in hand when I collected the items etc. So I have no invoice's. So Im really not sure what Im supposed to disclose here? If I show them damaged car pictures I will then have to say what I had fitted/fixed on the car in this section. Also, the parts I purchased were second hand eg light etc so cost a lot less then say a light from Mercedes.

Say the car has a market value of £14/15k but I spent 10k on it. Would they only be looking to pay me what I paid for it or what the actual value of the car would be? Maybe Im being a little fussy here and I should be happy if they gave me back what I paid for it. Im just not sure if they would offer market value. For example say I bought a car from a dealer. It was worth 15k but the dealer offloaded it to me for 10k and it got stolen. What would the insurance company payout be?

Apologies for all the questions. Im pretty straight as an arrow. I have never had to go through a car insurance claim before. Im more than happy to be upfront about what we did to the car in regards to parts/repairs but without pictures I feel they could say we have no proof of having done any repairs on it. Also, it still had a valid MOT which was not due to the end of this year.

Thanks in advance guys.

Cheeky.

 

[cheekymunkey]

Not a pro, but have dealt with a lot of insurance stuff for cars/bikes. My advice would be:

Tell them you have no pictures of the car. It's not a prerequisite of you owning/insuring the vehicle to have taken pics of it, so don't sweat. They likely want to see what it looks like to help them decide a value. If it's badly painted, damaged wheels/etc they will likely offer less for it.

That said, do you have any security camera footage of the car? If you did and wanted to provide any pics or stills from the footage it might help? Hell, you could even go ask the neighbours if they have any footage if you really want to work for it.

You can expect "market value" (for a similar replacement) for the vehicle (unless you paid for an agreed value), but you may have to "prove" it by referencing similar cars nearby that are at the value you expect. You will need to take into account the CAT marker though as it will knock down the value quite a bit.

Also, remember that you are being provided a service to put you back into the situation you were in before the car was pinched. What you paid for it in a broken state is not what it would cost you to replace after it was fixed!

Explain that the car was repaired by yourselves and you do not have invoices for the work or parts, but you may be able to provide some proof of what parts you bought from email/screenshots/etc.

Good luck, stick to your guns, be honest and you will get put right at a decent payout. You are not a criminal, have done nothing wrong, and are simply using a service that you have paid for, from a company that is supposed to be working FOR you.

Hi Mate,

Thanks for the reply. I could be overthinking this whole process but its always nice to get some insights from others who maybe more knowledgeable.

We just never got round to taking pictures to be honest. Literally only taxed/insured the car in Feb. It got stolen in early March. Guess the weathers been grim too so didnt bother taking any.

So I actually have the video footage from my neighbour. Its in black and white and its a 10second clip. Shows our car parked beside their wall on the driveway when the thieves approached it. Its not very clear to be honest very grainy and dull as its night time. Shows no detail of the thieves which is why the Police were not interested. May try and get some during the day too. But it shows the side of the car that was damaged and you can clearly see its no longer damaged. I also have an invoice for tracking that we had done on the car the 1st/2nd day we insured it so it was on the road etc.

It is a Cat N which I understand will have an impact on price. I see some listed online that are Cat N and the cheapest one is on Autotrader for £14k and that's a standard AMG line. Not a Premium. If they offered anywhere near that or even £13k I would take it as I jus want this to be over with.

Ill go with just telling them we repaired it. I dont want to lie about it. We have multiple cars insured with them and have had for a few years.

In terms of parts proof its actually a tough one. As I was messaging some folk directly on my mobile as they had mobile phone numbers on their ebay adverts. Ill see what I can dig out and see what happens.

They will no doubt come back to me if they have any issues.

Still fuming that they stole it soo easily. Did the old relay thing I guess. I just didnt even think they would want to steal it for some stupid reason lol. We got a smaller car and thats keyless. Had it for 5 years. Its never been touched LOL.

 

[cheekymunkey]

If you bought parts off eBay will you not have evidence of winning the bid/buy it now to show the insurance what you bought?

I actually didn't end up buying via Ebay literally. I only bought one item which was a headlight. I saw the light in Ebay and messaged the guy as he had his telephone number on their. He accepted a lower price to the fixed price he had if I collected and if it was a cash payment. So that's what I did. All was off Ebay even though that's where he placed the advert. The rack end was bought from a car store but it was £20 or something (Euro Car Parts I think) so I'm not bothered about that even though the labour/effort to fit it was the tough part.

All the other stuff was bodywork and cosmetic paint etc. Which we also did ourselves as my dad is a mechanic.