My insurance offered me £910 for the car or £730 if I keep the car. I only paid £800 for it.

I opted to keep the car, as mechanically it's sound, the damage is only cosmetic.

I believe I need a VIC and a new MOT- how much would these cost me? Am I still legally insured to drive my car even though it's been declared a cat c write off?

what car is it? keep it and break it

If it is cosmetic damage i thought its a CAT D, i may/probably be wrong.......

If it is cosmetic damage i thought its a CAT D, i may/probably be wrong.......

CAT D ia cometic damage, my bike was a CAT D wen i got knocked off.

maybe D is light cosmetic and C is heavy cosmetic damage?

Perhaps it's extensive cosmetic damage hence the Category C rating.

bent chassis

break it tbh

Yeah cat C will need jig realignment. Break it for spares is the only realistic option.

Mate, seriously, Break it.

Insurance companys will mug you off if you have a crash in a ant writeoff that has been kept and made road worthy again. basically if u have a crash in a car which was once written off then the insurance company just write it off agai but u will get the most ridiculously small payout for the car!

I used to work for churchill car insurance and used to get calls from people not happy with there car being worth so little. its really not worth keeping it. to the insurance company the calue plummits so much no matter what you do to it, its almost like its non existant.

Category C An extensively damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which could be repaired and returned to the road.

All depends what car it is as to wether its worth repairing...

This:

Cat D

cat c isnt realy worth repairing on a £800 pound car just had this dillema with my car try and find another with a fooked gearbox/engine going realy cheap do the swap yourself take a load of spares off your wrecked motor and sell them and you will probly end up with a free car

The car's a mk 4 1.4 CL

You lot reckon I would be better off taking the money instead? Would it not be worth getting an MOT to assess the damage before making a decision?

Here's the damage. (the door has been bent back in to position since the photo was taken)

Edited 17 July, 200818 yr by dn852k4

why is this a write off?

Theres 10X worse than this driving around all the marks look like paint chips, exeption being the dents in the sill. To be honest id tell the insurance assessor to swivel if he wrote my car off for a little bit of paint like that.

And why go through the insurance anyway, did something hit you or did you hit something?

Take a look at Nev's thats an entire back panel in need of replacing hence the write off

why is this a write off?

Theres 10X worse than this driving around all the marks look like paint chips, exeption being the dents in the sill. To be honest id tell the insurance assessor to swivel if he wrote my car off for a little bit of paint like that.

And why go through the insurance anyway, did something hit you or did you hit something?

Take a look at Nev's thats an entire back panel in need of replacing hence the write off

They said it would have cost £1600 to repair.

Someone went into me. A company called acm are dealing with it and they're going to reclaim the costs from the third party.

looking at the pics, could quite easily have bent the chassis slightly in the middle, insurance companies would have looked at the door pushed outwards and upwards, and the door sill. bent....all indicates to a chassis that isnt as true as it left the factory

My Polo was a CAT C and gave me the car and a cheque for what the car is worth (said I was going to be really out of pocket) :)

They said £1500 to get repaired (rear bumper - both parts and the reinforcement beam??) Said the boot lock f**ked up aswell from the crash HEHE

I took it to some garage and the gave me a quote for £700 and that's without a jig as it didn't need 1.

All this after some girl in a Kia Pride drove into the back of me at 30mph (Police estimate)

Take it to some independant company to give it a good check

They said it would have cost £1600 to repair.

Someone went into me. A company called acm are dealing with it and they're going to reclaim the costs from the third party.

Someone went into you...Then his insurance company should be paying for everything regardless of cost. And dont forget the whiplash etc....especially if they want to write it off.

When my parents had their car driven into the insurance company said its old and wernt going to pay the £1500 needed for the repair (wing, Paint, L/H suspension), this was a top of the range Honda Accord (98 model) R reg and it was 2004 the accident happend, so my parents went to get there own quote, £200 for the exact same work. And then the insurance company said that the other vehicle was blaming her, police statment overturned it and the other driver got nothing and his insurance company had to pay out.

Find your own repair centre and get a wrriten estimate and send that to the insurance company if its a lot less than the original the insurance is really trying to shaft you and just want "old" cars off the road.

As everyone knows "old" cars (pre 2001) are dangerous and cause more accidents.

OK, here's how write off classifications work, for those of you who think you know.

Cat A - Serious mullered car, take for scrap as is, as soon as the police and insurance have finsihed with it.

Cat B - Cannot be repaired and returned to the road, but can be used for spares.

Cat C - Can be repaired, but is not financially worthwhile via the insurer's approved repairers. Can be returned to the road once repaired. May require VIC check.

Cat D - Readily repairable, but insurance has opted not to. Common reasons are: Lead time on parts. Insured can not afford excess.

Cat X - Stolen recovered with no/minor damage. Insurance has already paid out before car recoverred.

Two ways of going about how you play it from here:

a- apply for the logbook using a V errrrrr 62?

b- ring DVLA and ask

OK, here's how write off classifications work, for those of you who think you know.

Cat A - Serious mullered car, take for scrap as is, as soon as the police and insurance have finsihed with it.

Cat B - Cannot be repaired and returned to the road, but can be used for spares.

Cat C - Can be repaired, but is not financially worthwhile via the insurer's approved repairers. Can be returned to the road once repaired. May require VIC check.

Cat D - Readily repairable, but insurance has opted not to. Common reasons are: Lead time on parts. Insured can not afford excess.

Cat X - Stolen recovered with no/minor damage. Insurance has already paid out before car recoverred.

Two ways of going about how you play it from here:

a- apply for the logbook using a V errrrrr 62?

b- ring DVLA and ask

I'm still driving the car... does it 'have' to be repaired to be legally on the road? As far as I'm concerned the car's sound and roadworthy, since the accident in April I've covered at least 3,000 miles without any problems.

it depends if you need a vic check or not you should make sure you dont before you carry on driving it because if you do need 1 you shudnt be driving it.

and with the categorys it all depends on the assesor my step dad works for a salvage company cat c is worse then a dcat but all the time you see d's that are worse then c's its stupid. it also depends on the age of the vechicle.

i belive a cat c voids your mot and you have to re mot it after putting it through a vic test

i would check this as soon as you can cos if you get pulled you could get shafted for it

if they haven't paid out yet tho it hasnt been classsed as a write off so you should be allright till they do pay

If the car passes an MOT I won't need to get it repaired will I? I've seen cars with worse dents than mine on the road, so I don't see why I should have to get it repaired?

all depends if you need a vic mate,

When taking the car for a VIC the following must apply:

repairs must be conducted and the car must be roadworthy and capable of being driven under its own power

if over 3 years old, the car must be covered by a valid MOT if its to be driven to the VIC

the person driving the car must be insured to do so the car must display front and rear number plates if its to be driven to the VIC- for assistance in obtaining number plates, contact VOSA on 08706 060 440

a car can be driven directly to and from a pre-arranged VIC without road tax

have a look on here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Buyin...icle/DG_4022107

all depends if you need a vic mate,

When taking the car for a VIC the following must apply:

repairs must be conducted and the car must be roadworthy and capable of being driven under its own power

if over 3 years old, the car must be covered by a valid MOT if its to be driven to the VIC

the person driving the car must be insured to do so the car must display front and rear number plates if its to be driven to the VIC- for assistance in obtaining number plates, contact VOSA on 08706 060 440

a car can be driven directly to and from a pre-arranged VIC without road tax

have a look on here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Buyin...icle/DG_4022107

With it being a cat c, it sounds like it does need a VIC.

Is there any chance that they could recategorise it to D instead of C? That way I wouldn't need a VIC.