No holds barred (well, except common decency, and other standard Terms and Conditions type things ) forum, chat about almost anything you like! Including sport, trivia, games etc.
About six months ago I had an unfortunate accident where I crashed my car which luckly I escaped without any harm (well a broken nail ), and then found that my car was a write off and was economically cheaper to scrap the car than to repair it. I was disappointed because obviously I had to get a new car at my own cost as well (what I got from my old one + the extra).
But now i received a letter from a person who has apparently purchased the car and has asked me for any spare keys!, Is it just me or is there something very dodgy going on here? Aren't cars that are written off and sent to scrap supposed to be well scrapped and not sold to someone else?
I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else has had this happen to them?
It may be dodgy, it may not. 'Written off' doesn't necessarily mean 'scrap', it means that the insurance company didn't think it was worthwhile repairing. They sold it as 'damaged recoverable' to the trade who may scrap it for bits, or repair it. If the trader repairs it they have to get it checked over by VOSA, but then it's legit.
I did it myself years ago, bought a twelve-month old Ford Sierra for two grand, spent another grand on a pre-painted bodyshell and about £500 on sundry parts: it took me a solid fortnight but at the end I had a car that was as good as new. I got a letter telling me to take it on an appointed day to a Police Station where a ministry inspector gave it the once-over, partly to check I'd done it safely but mainly to check that all the VIN data checked out and that it wasn't a 'ringer'. I ran it for eighteen months, did 25,000 miles, and traded it in - for exactly the same money I'd paid for it.
Presumably the new owner has your details from the V5?
PS a story I heard at the time, this was a truly BRILLIANT scam (and don't do this at home, kids).
1. Steal a car. It doesn't matter what it is so long as it's top of the range - leather seats, full air con, all the extras.
2. Strip it - seats, engine, interior, just leave a rolling bodyshell.
3. Dump it at dead of night - somewhere posh mind, you want the curtain-twitchers to report it before some toe-rag vandalises it.
4. The insurance company will take one look at it and decide that to replace all that leather, air con etc isn't worthwhile. They'll 'write it off' (which means they take possession of it) and they'll advertise it in the specialist trade press as 'damaged recoverable'.
5. You keep an eye on said trade press and buy it! You take it to your 'front' car repair business that you've set up and put all its OWN interior etc back in it again.
6. You now have a legit car, no longer listed as stolen, and you can sell it!
Apparently this became quite a cottage industry amongst the less reputable end of the garage trade around 1990 but I believe that the checks are much tighter now, thank goodness.
jp4712 wrote:It may be dodgy, it may not. 'Written off' doesn't necessarily mean 'scrap', it means that the insurance company didn't think it was worthwhile repairing. They sold it as 'damaged recoverable' to the trade who may scrap it for bits, or repair it. If the trader repairs it they have to get it checked over by VOSA, but then it's legit.
True, although to quote what they said it was uneconomical to repair, although I was actually told that it would be sold for scrap by the "Admiral" person on the phone. Although in their own terms and conditions it actually says that they can't sell the car apparently.
(as for the damage most of the front of ripped off, and a lot of damage to the underneath of the car as well as the body shell - the roof, although all of the electrical parts of the car were working fine, well except of course for the crushed lights!) - The only reason that I was annoyed about it is that someone has actually managed to repair the car (and if it was actually cheaper that what I got from Admiral, then I could have had it back!)
Fair point although I actually did ask them, and was told that I wasn't allowed to buy it off them (it even says that it what they gave me afterwards). Personally I don't really care that I didn't get my car back but more concerned why I was lied to but oh well that's life I guess!
Hi
Well if you know who has the car.... and you have the keys .... ....... only joking.
On a serious note I believe damaged cars are now graded, and the worst ones have to be broken.
I think anyone can buy a grade 1 , but if yours was a grade 2 (or lower), then only a registered repairer can buy them.
Cheers
Jon
------------------------Supporting whats good in the British community------------------------
It was uneconomical for Admiral to repair it, does not mean that it was unrepairable.
I don't know what calculation that Admiral use, but someone else using a different set of figures, (and different repairers for instance) might come to a different conclusion.
I'm sure that I've heard of people buying back their car from the insurance company after it has been a "total loss", I think they pay less than the payout from the insurance company was as well.
) forum, chat about almost anything you like! Including sport, trivia, games etc.
), and then found that my car was a write off and was economically cheaper to scrap the car than to repair it. I was disappointed because obviously I had to get a new car at my own cost as well (what I got from my old one + the extra).
....... only joking. 
