Car written off, do i pursue the project?

[supreme]

Been rear ended by someone in a van and the insurance company think the car will be a write off due to its age, the damage is not that bad and all cosmetic, it doesnt look like anything structural to worry about from my inspection.

They are currently valuating the car and sorting out all of the details, so i dont know how little my payout will be but iam not planning on them giving me much as the policy was the left over i transferred from my policy for the Golf and its with the delightful people at Elelphant.

Major insurers aparantly want to rid the UK of "old" cars as they cause too much polution, its an incentive from the government!

I have £3.5K to paint and finish the project off saved up

So my question is do I continue building up this car as otherwise, its straight and mechanically well looked after or do i strip it and use the money to get somthing else?

How bad is a car with write off history to sell on eventually?

Pics...

[Chantuz]

Don't let the bastards put you off, finish it! You don't want them to win by putting another oldish dub off the road do ya?

[MikeGTI]

Would you buy a car that was previously written off?

People are becoming more and more cautious due to the number of poorly repaired accident damaged cars out there and its getting easier and cheaper to find out a cars history.

Can you not try and cut a deal with the van driver for some cash and don't proceed through the insurance. Your insurance will go up considerably because you have a write-off against you, even if it is a non-fault claim. That way the car wont get registered as accident damaged either.

[jv]

It still seems like a good base car homez so just see what happens with the pay out money. If you can buy it back for not a lot, sure selling parts is one way but can you find another good base car?

[T_J_G]

I was wondering about this car today.

Personally i'd push the insurance company to repair it as one of the lads on my local forum did with a 16v Jetta.

[Thom89]

Ask the Insurance company if a contract repair could be carried out, ie a figure that the IC would be happy to pay out, but not allowing it to be written off, you then find a garage that will repair the car for that price, its not the best solution, but as your damage is only cosmetic, it would be a shame for the history of the car to be compromised..
Tom

[Mikester]

i would finish it off, that dent looks like nothing to be honest? Write off!??! Crazy, i done that sorta dent the other day as you may seen and it passed an mot.


Insurers just want old fast cheap cars of the road.

[Diamond Hell]

You could always just not claim? 

Surely a rear-end is the other party's fault, not yours, so just don't claim on their insurance and maybe even settle with them for the cost of their excess - your car isn't written off, their NCB isn't trashed, everyone's happy.

[RiCHiE360]

Id finish it off even if it means buyin it back, it does'nt look bad at all.. also if and when you do ever sell it on you will have photos to show the next buyer of how minimal the damage was and more than likely it will be bought buy a VAG enthusiast anyways who will know you/the car! 

[eightyeightmph]

Barely any damage there! Just argue the toss, if they say it's a write off force them to make a 2nd inspection or get a garage (of your choice) to give one!!

As for payout, if they write it off you can just argue the 'market value' - hit autotrader & specialist forums classified sections & get details & prices for as like-for-like cars as you can get i.e. colour & mileage. That way you tell them what you want rather than them telling you!

I would dispute it being a write off though!