My Surf has been written off

[beach surfer]

Hi Guys. It's been a while since I posted here despite browsing the various forums from time to time.
Anyway, I need some advice. My KZN185 has just been declared a total loss by an insurance company after a client of theirs ran into the nearside wheel.
My insurance is with Tesco and first of all I went via them. However they have proven to be a nightmare to claiu via. Their engineer took 2 weeks before he looklifet my surf and then his report was held up due to the car being an import. It was referred to the Underwriters but I never heard back from them. I was constantly on the phone to tescos trying to get an update. Eventually after 3 weeks I told Tescos that I was now going via Direct Line directly. The lady who ran into me is insured wirh Direct Line.
Direct Line have now agreed to deal with me directly due to the other driver admitting liability. They have provided me with a Landrover Defender whilst I have no car. Their own engineer is due to look at my car next week-when im on holiday.
I have now just had the files arrive from the Tescos engineer. He valued my car at £2600.

I have looked on the web and gone to see a few surfs but I believe I wont get anything near the spec of my surf for £2600.

My car admittingly has 250k kilometres but it has had a lot of work on it to keep it mechanically sound by my husband and the local garage. It just passed its mot without any advisories. The Surfs we have looked at are all different in spec. Mine has a tilt slide sunroof, bullbar, towbar, key fob locking, altitude and barometer display. It has also just had all the bushes, belts, new battery done not too mention a lifetime ss exhaust. The best thing I like about my surf is the spare wheel is under the car and not stuck at the back.

I believe a more realistic value of my car is £3500 but with the agreement that I can access my surf to obtain the roofrack, altimeter, towbar, stereo and bullbar.

So what do you think? Anyone dealt with Direct Line before?
My surf doesn't look that badly damaged. Just minor work on the near side wheel.
Should I try and buy my surf back off the I company and sell for spares?

Any thoughts will be much appreciated.

[andyverran]

Rob5464 might have a useful take on this, since he's just been through and insurance claim for his...

I'd buy it back and at least rob the bits, repair, break or scrap the rest as you think best....

Do you know what the insurer wants you to pay for it?

Or compile evidence as to why you should get a higher pay out and try for the £3500..

[SRI_GAZ]

find a load of 3rd gen surfs on ebay, autotrader etc, and use that as evidence to show your insurer there valuation will not cover a like for like replacement.


if they won't up their offer, buy the truck back, then break it for bits as 3rd gen bits have a good value.
How bad is the damage are you sure its not repairable, as insurance companies price up repair jobs using new parts which easily writes off any car over 5 years old.

[andyverran]

do you have any pics of the damage?

[J i m s t e r]

I would buy it back and repair it, depending of course, on your confidence in the truck being straight once fixed - We don't know the damage.

Wing, paint, suspension arm, wheel?

Mine looks like it was repaired in Japan before, as there is overspray and the rear lights are obviously different ages, but it's been 100% reliable as it was for the previous owner here.

[beach surfer]

Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

The damage is very minimal. The other driver clipped the front wheel as she triedito pass my surf. The wheel then turned and it looks like the steering part has come away from the inside of the wheel. Forgive me for not being more technical descriptive. I will try to upload some pictures. The only other bit of damage I can see is the lower wheel arch trim has come away. That's about it.
The engineer who looked at it for Tesco said that the repairs would be £2200 hence the write off. A mechanic at the local garage said from what he could see it is a straight forward repair and the parts shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred pounds if they could be sourced 2nd hand? The mechanic also said I should try and buy it back off the insurance company and either fix it or sell the parts.
I suppose it really depends on how much they will want for it?

I've looked around for other 3rd Gen surfs during the past 3 weeks and it's been quite exhausting. It's not like there's an abundance of them locally. Most of them are sold within days of being listed on ebay or in autotrader.
I have taken your advice and printed off the surfs for sale and will show them to the insurance company.

I'll try now to upload some of the pictures of the damage to my car.

[Benross]

They have provided me with a Landrover Defender whilst I have no car.

Whats the problem? Enjoy it!

On a serious note though my ex Mrs's Mx5 got drove into by someone and it was wrote off, they offered £1200, she said "theres no way I can get one like mine for that, it was in perfect condition and had the glass rear screen" he said "ok, how about £1700" so she took it. Amusing thing is her mx5 only cost her £1500 2 years previous and was dented to hell even before it got crashed into!

[beach surfer]

Have you driven one of those Defenders? It's horrible!!! Give me a Surf anyday!!

Anyway, I have uploaded a pic of the damage on the front of my Surf. As you can see the damage appears to be minimal. Sorry I it was too risky getting a picture close in due to the busy traffic on the road.

Luckily I didn't get that front bumper sprayed - I was planning to have it done when I got back from Holiday.

By the way- the bits of car you can see on the road all belong to the woman who crashed into my car. She managed to write her car off too. It was a Toyota Avensis.

[andyverran]

well the bodywork looks untouched...I'd fix it, assuming the damage we can't see is simple steering or suspension components and not the chassis...

[SRI_GAZ]

it really depends whats damaged underneath

worst case is

steering rack, wishbones, shock and spring and thats being hopeful they chassis aint bent

however hilux's are pretty touch esp the wishbones, so truthfull it could just be a bent steering bar.

but without seeing a report or seeing it in person hard to say

you could ask insurers for the costings for repairing it

problem is insurance company take hire car, recovery, etc into the repair costs thats why alot of cars got wrote off as its quicker for them to pay out

[M8WHR]

Golden rule when dealing with insurance companies is watch the hit tv show "No Deal"

Reject their offer on the grounds that you can't find a suitable replacement conveniently, and tell them the more time they mess around offering you silly prices, the more they have to pay hiring you that Tonka Toy.

As others have said, damage looks fairly minimal. Buy it back and fix it.. Job Done

[beach surfer]

I have to wait to next week now before I get the Direct Line engineers report.

It seems the general consensus is to try and buy the car back. Hopefully I can get it repaired and sell it on but this would then be classed as a Cat D or C ?

There is the possibility of breaking it but I don't really want a car in bits on my driveway.

Cost wise, this accident happened on the 29th July and I've been given a temporary replacement since. The first week was a Hilux Pickup which was totally unsuitable for my needs so I asked them to change it hence the Defender. It will be at least a months hire of vehicles before they pay out on my claim so it must of cost them a couple of grand so far already? You would think by now they would have pulled their finger out and got this claim sorted by now?

[andyverran]

Which category is largely up to the assessor, encourage him towards D ;-)

[beach surfer]

Hopefully it will be classed as a Cat D then. I've just looked it up on google and it looks far less complicated than a Cat C to get the car back on the road and insured or to be able to sell it on as spares or repair?
I'll post the engineers report on here as soon as I receive it.

[MYLUX]

Cat D is no bother at all, just sort out the damage and get a fresh MOT, job done.
Cat C is a little more involved but still no real problem.
Just keep in mind that some insurance companies will not insure "write offs" and those that do will only insure at a reduced value.