Am i going to be losing out?

[texol]

In a recent accident a van shunted the back end of my Daihatsu Hi Jet. There was hardly a scratch on his van but my tailagate, rear bumper and reverse light were badly damaged, ater swapping details  i reported the accident immedately to my insurance company ( i have 3rd party cover) they told me they could not deal with the claim because of the low level of cover i had but the best course of action would be to contact his insurance company, which i did. They told me they had already obtained his claim and i should obtain a quote for repairs to my van (by this i took that they had accepted responsibility). I have recently obtained the quote which is well above what i assume to be the total value of my van (Daihatsu parts are expensive). What i need to know is can his insurance company right off my van or are they obliged to to the repair regardless of cost as the accident is deemed to be their customers fault? The right off value will never be enough to replace my van which is worth more to me than money.

[Simon R]

unfortunately they can write it off. I would recommend find a smaller body shop & obtain a private qoute to do the job as cheep as possible to get the vehicle repaired to a safe standard, As all the insurance approved body shops have to estimate to bring the vehicle back to manufacturers standard.This way you will have to pay yourself but the price you recieve for the van may cover the repair. You would have to look further into purchasing the vehicle back from the third parties ins co as when they have paid out they could then remove the van as it becomes theirs.(I dont know what the procedure is now if you repair a vehicle that is written off.You would have to find that out aswell.)

Good Luck. 

[jake-the-peg]

Remember insurance companies tend to right off a vehicle if the repair costs are more than 60% of the value. It's not simply if it's cheaper than the value.

But Simon's right, if they do right it off you can talk to them about buying back the salvage and getting it repaired yourself. It'd probably come under a category D write off. Category D repairs can make insurance and selling on more difficult but it doesn't sound as if you're thinking about selling on and if you're third party it should be OK, check with your insurer first though.

My best tip though is to get the number of the claims department of the other guy's underwriter and talk to them, be friendly and call them occasionally to find out how the claim's progressing, when liabilities accepted if a claims adjuster's comming out etc. These guys spend much of their lives pushing forms about and if they can associate a friendly voice to one of them you can get pushed to the top of the stack a bit.   

[JudgeJ]

You can ask the Third Party’s insurers to make an “ex-gratia” payment to settle your claim. This would mean they would pay you a maximum of the current book value of your van, minus a small sum for the salvage (which would otherwise become theirs). It will not involve them declaring your vehicle a total loss (i.e. writing it off) and will not mean the registration document has to be endorsed as such. They will not do this, however, if they consider that the van is so badly damaged so as to make it dangerous if it were repaired.

You can use this payment to put towards the repairs. It will still cost you money, but that’s life, I’m afraid.

mdoo98, who considers that the your insurer’s action is disgraceful, should bear in mind that your premium pays for Third Party risks only. It does not include cover to pay for advice on how to claim from third parties in the event of an accident.