Insuring a written-off car
If there are two things that seem to cause more confusion among car buyers and owners than anything else, it’s how car insurance works along with how and why insurance companies write off cars. So when you combine the two, head scratching galore is guaranteed. First off, a quick refresher. To drive legally on public roads your car must be insured, and to make sure your cover isn’t cancelled in the event of a claim, you must not tell any porkies when taking out the policy. Lie during that conversation, or deliberately fail to disclose anything that might affect your policy, and your insurer could refuse to pay out in the event of a claim. When it comes to write-offs, things are quite complicated. Earlier this year we spilled the beans in a blog on the various categories of write-off, which also explained why cars are written off so readily by insurance companies. There’s a crucial thing to bear in mind when an insurance company works out how much it’ll cost to fix a car after it’s been crashed – it will insist on doing everything by the book with no corners being cut. New parts will be used, the work will be done by a professional bodyshop and when the car is finished it’ll come with a warranty. With hourly rates so high, and new car parts being expensive, it doesn’t take long for the charges to rack up. So it’s no wonder cars can be written off after a relatively low-speed shunt, especially if they’re getting on a bit, so they’re not worth very much.