car for sale MAYBE

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by hoj

Bigboz
In the case of mine the front bumper was slightly damaged as you say for the insurance to pay to repair the car wouldn’t be viable so they wrote it off and recorded it as a cat N (non structural) they paid me out less than the market value as I kept the car (bought it back)
I took the bumper off and it sprung back into place perfectly it looked bad at first as it was the strengthener behind the bumper that got damaged and cracked and the bumper was attached to that so £12 on ebay and it 15 mins it was all back on like before

Isn't it funny... the insurance company just said it wasn't economical to repair, but you fixed it for £12 and all it took was 15 minutes of your time.

One thing for sure is the garages that do all the insurance work basically charge what they want, hence why so many cars get written off because of the often highly inflated prices they (the garages) charge the insurance company to fix the cars.

That's the world we live in and that's one of the reasons why insurance premiums are so high.

[stuart bowes]

I suppose you do have to factor in that people like us would happily pull a bumper off and repair it, bit of fibreglass filler or glue, a spritz of colour matched paint from a rattle tin etc, and to us that's totally fine

but a garage would want to replace the bumper (£300+ in a lot of cases) and that would have to be properly sprayed to match the car (another few hundred easy) and then chuck in the hourly rates and you're getting close to or exceeding a grand

if you're looking at a 20 year old car with a market value of maybe £1500-£2000 if it's high mileage, with wear and tear, to be fair that isn't really 'worth it' is it

to us as the owners though, and who have the spare time and wherewithal to do a decent repair job, it's not an issue

[Kev0607]

I suppose. They have costs to cover too and a reputation to uphold.

[bigboz]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

Isn't it funny... the insurance company just said it wasn't economical to repair, but you fixed it for £12 and all it took was 15 minutes of your time.

One thing for sure is the garages that do all the insurance work basically charge what they want, hence why so many cars get written off because of the often highly inflated prices they (the garages) charge the insurance company to fix the cars.

That's the world we live in and that's one of the reasons why insurance premiums are so high.

The Insurance Industry is in total disarray, it's a mafia style racketeering at this stage. Mate of mine had his newish Passat broken into and the head unit stolen about a year ago. Broken window and a radio....that's it. It was 3months to get repaired c.£1000 for the repair.....ready for this.....11 weeks car hire (he was given a Corsa on like for like which in itself is a **** take)....ready......sitting down.....just shy of £700 a week for the hire car........total just over £8000. In car hire cost and the very minor repair of a few hours labour max. Auto glass could have done the window repair in a few hours, head unit could have waited but no the insurance companies and claims management company milked as much capital out of the situation as is possible. It's essentially unregulated and a group of people are stealing money out of the public pocket with impunity.


This is very common place now, with car complexity getting worse, parts becoming more unavailable rather than less. It's going to get worse rather than better.

And people question why car insurance costs are going through the roof.

[stuart bowes]

on what planet is a corsa worth £700 a week lol

maybe £700 total

no but seriously I used to work as a driver for a garage tied to one of the major insurers, taking out the courtesy cars and bringing back the damaged ones

some people were happy to take a brand new corsa, some people were less happy notably one guy who really didn't want me to take the keys to his Jag XKR lol

various others, top spec mercs and so on, they were all a bit miffed until I pointed out at least they didn't get one of the hyundais .. and then they were like well I suppose I can live with it

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by bigboz

The Insurance Industry is in total disarray, it's a mafia style racketeering at this stage. Mate of mine had his newish Passat broken into and the head unit stolen about a year ago. Broken window and a radio....that's it. It was 3months to get repaired c.£1000 for the repair.....ready for this.....11 weeks car hire (he was given a Corsa on like for like which in itself is a **** take)....ready......sitting down.....just shy of £700 a week for the hire car........total just over £8000. In car hire cost and the very minor repair of a few hours labour max. Auto glass could have done the window repair in a few hours, head unit could have waited but no the insurance companies and claims management company milked as much capital out of the situation as is possible. It's essentially unregulated and a group of people are stealing money out of the public pocket with impunity.


This is very common place now, with car complexity getting worse, parts becoming more unavailable rather than less. It's going to get worse rather than better.

And people question why car insurance costs are going through the roof.

That's shocking!

This is the problem though, I know garages that do insurance repairs have to cover their costs, but the charges are unbelievable, especially when you have to factor in things like a replacement car. Not that I'm implying that anyone who's car is off the road for whatever reason isn't entitled to a car, but the hire companies charging £700 a week for a Corsa is just daylight robbery.

Like you say, its not going to get better.

[4x4]

My preferred body shop has stopped doing any insurance work. He said they beat him down on prices and take too long to pay out so it wasn’t worth the hassle.

[john.wigley]

I am also finding it difficult to understand the hire charge of c£100 per day.

A friend mentioned to my wife only today that she is shortly putting her Range Rover in for service and the garage concerned, which has previously provided a courtesy car FOC ("Just pay for the fuel, Madam".), have recently introduced a charge of £33 per day 'to put her on the insurance'!

She is not best pleased.

Regards, John.

[bigboz]

It's the claims management companies which are the issue, so you or I going down the road to hire a Corsa for a few days will pay what £40 a day, when it's through a claims management company they will add a service fee, they will maximise the daily cost charged to the insurance company while paying bottom dollar for the hire car itself. It's a racket, and like I said unregulated.