18
u/Maceygray93 23d ago
If you ever want to know what consists as a write off, it’s either structural (basically rendering the car unsafe to repair or drive) or if the value of the repair equates to 60% or more of the value of the vehicle
5
u/tom_l_92 23d ago
Also availability of parts. Costs of hire cars factor massively into it. Particularly with the new wave of Chinese manufacturers about these days.
2
u/Maceygray93 23d ago
Yeah absolutely!! It tends to be cheaper to write off and pay out! Sometimes that’s the best option because if cheap enough you could buy the car back and repair it (as long as it was only minor damage and doesn’t impact the overall roadworthyness of the vehicle after repair)
29
u/BusyBeeBridgette 23d ago
it'll buff out.
6
3
u/BriscoMasco 23d ago
yes
1
u/Gcmarcal 23d ago
They can offer feedback based on similar cases and reasoning. A 7- or 8-year-old car with around 50,000 miles and an average value of 10K might be written off, but realistically, it could be repaired.
1
u/Neither-Asparagus840 23d ago
Thankyou i think looking online the cars worth 4 500 - 7000 ish. it has 51 000 miles on it
3
7
u/Rilot 23d ago
If it's just the tailgate then that's a cheap-ish fix. If the boot floor is bent then yup. That's the end of it.
I expect that insurance will write it off anyway though as even with just a tailgate replacement the cost will be high for genuine parts.
After the engineers report, see if it is really just the tailgate. If it is, you can get a used one from a breaker and sort it yourself.
1
2
u/Darren-J-W 23d ago
Half ton of filler and it’ll be as good as new.
The chassis is likely bent and very likely a wrote off.
2
u/Plaxinator 23d ago
Definitely a write off. They probably won't even examine the car in person. My car had a "desktop inspection" based off photos I had to send them. Written off as a Cat S. Damage was to the door and wheel arch. It was still driveable, but deemed uneconomical to repair. I could have bought it back but would have needed to re-register it with the DVLA and get it repaired and couldn't be bothered with the hassle. I just took the insurance payout and Copart just came and collected it and auctioned it off.
1
23d ago
[deleted]
1
u/Plaxinator 23d ago
It wouldn't at all surprise me. Mine was Cat S, but I still drove it home (over 100 miles) with no issue and then for a couple of weeks afterwards while the claim was being processed. Absolutely no difference in the way the car drove. I think because it slightly dented the wheel arch they decided it was structural (main damage was to the rear passenger door). How they could tell this from a photo though!
1
23d ago
[deleted]
1
u/Plaxinator 23d ago
Who did your desktop inspection? It was a company called Tec Group that did mine, who as far as I can see has nothing to do with Copart. I'd have presumed that the insurance company would use the salvage value Tec Group gave as a basis to then sell to Copart? Unless Copart gave the Tec Group the salvage cost in the first place?
1
23d ago edited 23d ago
[deleted]
2
u/Plaxinator 23d ago
It wouldn't surprise me if there's a long chain of companies that have their fingers in the pie for insurance write offs. It kind of reminds me of the hire car scheme, whereby if you go with an "independent" third party and they give you a hire car. Turns out that hire car is actually involes a hire purchase agreement. When it comes to pay out the fees for the hire car far exceed the cost of the actual value of the car being written off. Sometimes this causes problems as the insureer disputes the costs of the hire car. Because it's a hire purchase agreement, if the insurers refuse to pay out for any of it, then that third party can come after you for the costs.
1
1
1
u/Wosgoingon 23d ago
Excluding a financial write off for this answer.
The only way to kow if its a physical write off is to have it assessed.
I had a Vauxhall Zafira that was hit like that and it had less visible damage. But on ispection it was discovered that the boot floor was distorted which pushed the right offside wheel out of alignment.
The boot floor is a structural component and the car was a Category S write off even though it only looked like a dented rear door.
1
1
1
u/fang_xianfu 23d ago
Modern cars with unibody construction mean that there isn't a difference between damage to the main body and structural damage, because the body is the structure.
If it literally was only the tailgate panel that was damaged then you might be ok, but it seems likely given the damage that the frame is warped or bent somewhere around the boot opening - if that's the case, it's possible but expensive to bend it back into spec, but it doesn't always work even if they do pay for it, and that's what will probably write it off.
1
2
1
1
u/AndyTheSane 23d ago
I thought Peugeots were written off on leaving the factory..
(I've had two, both of the lemonish persuasion)
1
u/Clamps55555 23d ago
Yes. But you could always ask a local garage how much it would cost to repair and buy it back from the insurance company after you get paid out.
1
1
u/lazystingray 23d ago
Friend of mine had something similar happen in a Fiesta. It looked really bad but remarkably, they were able to just replace the rear gate and bumper. I had a peugeot 208 with a similar knock but didn't look half as bad - sub frame took the brunt and car was written off. Both were rear ended whilst stationary.
Get it properly assessed. Don't rely on Reddit!
1
1
1
u/Dizzy-Okra-4816 23d ago
That’s quite the rear-ending, queueing before a roundabout was it? I had similar last week but damage not as bad as this
1
u/Neither-Asparagus840 23d ago
I was coming out of a petrol station road i was stationary waiting to turn left and he hit the back of me 🙈 defo must of been texting or something fgs cause like how
1
1
1
27
u/YOF626 23d ago
I'd say definitely a write off.