Motoring Discussion > Small prang Tax / Insurance / Warranties
Thread Author: wotspur Replies: 12
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 10:59 
 Small prang - wotspur
A good friend had a small prang , the insurance company has written to her to say the vehicle is valued at 2,500- 350 Excess , they next bit we don’t understand , they want 662.50 based on Cat N ??! What on earth does that mean ??
Leaving a net settlement fee of 1,487.50 they want to pay her l
Is this because she wants to get it repaired ??
So if she decides NOT to get it repaired she’d receive 2,150 ??
It’s an 09 vehicle and 154k miles on the clock on a Seat Alhambra that thry love .and a type of vehicle required , nd budget won’t stretch to 10-30k for a newer model .
Any suggestions and clarifications appreciated
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 11:26 
 Small prang - CGNorwich
They are saying that they will pay her £2150 in settle to do the claim.

Since the car is a write off the car becomes the property of the Insurer. They will pay the full value of he car in settlement the of the claim. If she wants to get it repaired herself they are willing to sell it back to her for of £662.50 making a net amount due to her of £1487.50

If she can get the damage repaired for £1487.50 it could be a good deal.

Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 29 Jun 22 at 11:30
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 11:33 
 Small prang - zippy
AIUI, they deduct £662.50 from the settlement for your friend to keep the car (it's scrap value).

There are 3 high mileage Alhambras from 2009 on Autotrader for between £2k (x2) and £3.5k (x1) so the valuation is about right unless the car was in exceptional condition.

If going down the repair route yourself, you need to consider if the repair costs are going to outweigh the value of the repaired car or indeed if any other faulty may be found that requires expensive repair.

Some insurers will require Cat N cars to have a new MOT before insuring them.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 11:39 
 Small prang - Zero
A lot of cars are being written off due to lack of parts availability. If you get it repaired it might have to be with second hand parts.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 11:54 
 Small prang - Bobby
But also write offs happen due to repairs needing new parts at new parts prices, hire cars etc so if you can find the bits needed from a scrappy and can pay someone local to fix it then you win a watch.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 12:09 
 Small prang - Falkirk Bairn
A son, who lives in Texas, X5 was written off a few months back.
18 months old & under 20K miles.

The damage was estimated, by his insurer $35K, the body shop wanted $45K as it could be a long drawn out repair - electronic possible issues and parts shortage despite the car being built in the USA.

He was offered $59K and accepted a $63K after some "discussions"
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 12:14 
 Small prang - RichardW
For what is a relatively modest claim, it will be worth adding up the costs of re-insurance (most likely this policy will be cancelled after pay out), loss of NCD for next 5(?) years, and premium loading - it may well be that it's better not to claim, and get it repaired as cheaply as possible.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 12:32 
 Small prang - smokie
... and maybe it doesn't all need repair anyway, or if it does it doesn't need to be concours standard.

I think I'd take the money.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 13:21 
 Small prang - Terry
Surely it depends on the damage.

Very minor repairs on older high mileage cars are rarely worth repairing but entirely safe.
Eg: a slightly bent wing + bumper + light unit may cost £1500+ if done properly at a body shop as an insurance job.

Wing or door is unimportant if safe, second hand bumper + light unit may be <£200 + paint if wanted. Could all be DIY so no labour costs.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 14:37 
 Small prang - wotspur
Is it possible to add photos here ? If so idiot proof details please.
Thanks for all the answers so far. The main things are the number and grilles ,,whilst 5e air bags didn’t go off , a liquid bottle has burst , I opened the bonnet but it wasn’t visible .
Thankfully their NCD is protected being their first incident that they’ve had to make. A claim on .
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 14:47 
 Small prang - smokie
No you can't upload pics here I'm afraid.

You could put them in the cloud somewhere (Google drive?) and share the folder they are in, then provide a link in this thread. There may be easier ways someone can suggest.
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 15:23 
 Small prang - wotspur
Let’s hope so , that’s way beyond my capabilities , thanks anyway
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New Wed 29 Jun 22 16:42 
 Small prang - smokie
Wotspur - mail sent to your hotmail a/c
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