car written off :(

Alright guys,

A couple weeks ago I was rear ended by a motorbike in my mk1, received the dreaded call today that the engineer/assessor has reported
it a cat B write off… bit stumped

basically it has damage to rear panel, tailgate, rear of boot floor, and slight crumple in o/s/r corner/I think maybe chassis leg (got a few photos of damage if anyone wants to see)

I'm no mechanic or engineer etc but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be classed as a cat B as in my opinion, and also a couple other people who have looked at it, is that it is repairable and not unfit to go back on the road

I was wondering if anyone is in the know how of these sort of things, and whether the category system is purely down to the amount of damage or is it to do with the cost of the repair in relation to the value? e.g they might say to repair the damage would exceed the value of the car by a fair amount maybe more than double so just write it off as cat B?

also if anyone has had experience with cat B or C and what damage they had etc would be helpful?

Cheers

edit. looking at it again I don't even think the chassis leg is bent, just looks like the o/s/r corner of the boot floor where the bumper mounts has bent in a bit and also the o/s/r corner of the body. doesn't look to have bent the chassis leg underneath it though 

First of all, really sorry to hear that mate, gutted for you!
Now I'm no expert on the UK Insurance market but my guess as you said "cost of the repair in relation to the value."

The best thing to do right now is to get some good clear pictures of the car and the damage and post them here.
Tell us about the car, how old, mileage, you know the sort of thing.
Then let the real experts on the forum give you their opinion!  

I should add that the Insurance Company will every time take the cheapest option for them but I'd hope everyone knows that.  
Good luck.

I know cheers mate, It's a real shame

yeah that's what I was thinking, and especially with it being an older car to them

is true though with insurance companies, I'm going to dispute it though and ask for a copy of the engineers report confirming that the damage is sufficient for it to be unfit for repair regardless of the cost.
they said there's only £36 worth of salvage left too……

anyway It's a 1983 1.1 c formel e, 117k on the clock, fairly solid all round don't think it's had any welding (except for exhaust ), few small dents in bodywork and paint is a bit tired

pics:







As you can see the rear is rather dented/crumpled in







as I say I'm no expert but to me it looks like the rear corner of the boot floor where the bumper mounts (not sure on technical name) is bent in, above the chassis leg, but not the actual leg itself.
I was expecting it to be a cat C write off but not B.

I guess I'll have to wait and see what they say next

Cheers

I think the way it goes is, if it's gonna cost more to repair than it's worth then it's a write off regardless, but the A,B,C,D bit is how bad it is and in their opinion wether it's safe to go back on the road or not, think A is the worst and means it should be scrapped no matter what, I had a category D write off on a Hilux and repaired it myself then put it back on the road, shame mate, least you're ok though

'Ditto' that and I am no expert, sorry mate.

But you said you were hit by a Motorbike.
So what was it on at the time a HGV?

Because that looks very hard mate!  

But there's always hope, so lets see what others say.  

yeah i think cat B is where the vehicle is no longer safe to be put back on the road and must be broken or crushed. And cat C is where the vehicle is repairable and could be safe to go back on the road, but not economic to do so like you say with the cost being more to repair than it's worth.

I'm just stumped at how they've said mine is a cat B and not C, when an older car can be classed as cat C even if it needs some chassis jigging. I would have thought mine is repairable but not economic to do so

but yeah exactly cheers man, and luckily the motorcyclists wasn't hurt either

i would be very surprised that the o/s chassis leg hasnt been pulled in by the impact. just off the pictures the seam sealer has opened up at the end. i'd be concerned about the rear of the "c" pillar in the seam of the boot channel. see if anything has pulled apart in there

you could always speak to them about the category and ask to be regraded to a Cat C and with a view to Buy Back the salvage.
it will save them the cost of the disposal and storage as you will not be allowed to keep it on a cat B. it has to be broken for spares by an approved Dismantler.

Cat A car crushed
Cat B parts only
Cat C repairable IE new wing, door or dents
Cat D cosmetic scratch's etc

I very much doubt you will be able to tax it as DVLA will know it's Cat B

Yeah you're probably right with the chassis leg being pulled in :/ would the only way of telling how much be to get it on a jig?

I am going to try and dispute it though to get it changed to a cat C if I can, the guy I spoke to on the phone was a bit surprised by their engineers report, but I guess there will be reasons why they've said it's a cat B, I just hope it's the economic side of things!

but what's strange is that when the insurer told me the value the engineer has given it, and told me the £36 worth of salvage, they said I can keep the car if I want and have that amount taken off the value even though they said it's a cat B?

so at least if it does stay a cat B I can keep it to break etc
but hopefully It'll end up a cat C so I have a few options for what to do with it

the thought of her ending up in the scrappy is a horrible one though..

Gutted for you mate.  

cheers mate, is real gutting sadly it is staying a cat B too, luckily they are letting me keep it though, so looks like she's going to have to be broken
unless I can find a good solid shell/project which doesn't need any welding/paint or anything that I can swap all the bits from mine onto cf_emoticons__BangHead:cheers for all the help above and on this site though, this was my first car and loved it, so if I can't find a replacement mk1 (don't want anything else),then I'm sure I'll be back in one at some point.

might have to go slightly newer with a mk2 for now as they're a bit cheaper and I'm a student at the mo

Cheers
Ned

Makes me feel sick looking at it so sorry mate

Oh no!

I've only just seen this 

I'm glad you're ok, Ned. It's such a shame this has happened and to a Formel E too.

 

the insurance will probably not change it to a cat c but  u can technically put it back on  the road repair the car just as you would a cat c book it in for a vosa check you get a log book in the post a few weeks later will always be a cat b tho been there done it that's how i know would be a shame to scrap the car looking at the pics the chassis legs look straight boot floor would repair new rear panel and a boot lid is all you need

cheers all, makes me feel sick too

I haven't heard/done much about it in the past week or so, not sure if it's too late to try and dispute the cat B again, anyone have any pointers on the best ways to go about this? need to see the engineer's report. I haven't signed anything yet to do with it all so that's good I guess.

akzeb thanks for the advice, I'll have to look into that. obviously would ruin the value of the car tho even more so than a cat c? I think it is repairable, maybe a slight chassis jig. I've heard of worse damage only being written off as a cat c tho…

insurance can be aholes sometimes when they category the car …..your right it will have a affect on the value of the car if you decide repair but if you take some good picture of the repair you should hopefully get a good price if you ever want to sell it at a later date. 

You could have issues insuring the vehicle again if you return it to the road, so make some inquiries first.

It certainly looks in repairable condition, but it would be nice to see the engineers report to see why they've categorised it as B and not C - there will be a reason.

Mike.

Yeah if I can't see the engineer's report and it stays cat B then I won't bother repairing even though it is repairable, like you say Mike it'll be too much hassle with insurance etc.

I just hope I can dispute it again, having trouble getting hold of the engineer's directly at the mo

Took it for a drive up and down my track a few times today though, couldn't bare it just sitting in my garage, made me miss it more though cf_emoticons__BangHead:

Right, finally received the report from the engineer… They've said 'The vehicle has suffered moderate to heavy collision/impact to the rear', and along with the obvious needing new tailgate, rear panel, rear floor panel, they've said it needs new chassis legs both right and left. So my guess is that's the reason they have put for it being a category B. Although I don't think it does need complete new rear chassis legs… neither have crumpled, right one would need pulling out a bit, but the left one looks to be fine. It's annoying because they haven't really stated the reasons to why they've put it in that category, just put 'We consider that this is a Category B'.

They've also put a repair cost estimate of £2150.33 even though they're saying it's a cat B..

I'm not really sure where to go from here, want to try and appeal against this but not sure how to go about it really, wondering if anyone could offer any advice or views on this? or looking at the photos if I have a chance maybe? I can get more photos of the damage if it helps anyone. You've all been very helpful so far so thanks a lot.

Cheers
Ned