Returning Cat S to the road

[heawooi]

This is a bit of a long storey but is kind of a simple question ….. Can anyone advise on the paperwork process for getting a Cat S back on the road?

 

One of my cars ( it's a Mini, I am the keeper but wasn’t the insurer/driver) was involved in a minor (sub 20mph) front offside accident with another car back in early September, front wing dented, bonnet and wheel scuffed. I checked the suspension once it was home and all looked ok but the tracking had been knocked slightly out by 2 or 3 deg.

The insurance company were contacted at the scene and also in the following days, their repair company could not inspect the vehicle for 5 weeks. In this time the car was driven a couple of times and also MOT’d as it was due. The MOT was completed by a garage that I have used for many years and trust, I also went in the pit with the tester and we checked the underside and suspension. It passed the MOT with NO advisories as no damage can be found from the accident and nothing else untoward was found.

 

After (finally) collecting the car for inspection they have said the car is a write off, after another 4 weeks of chasing I have the report from inspection (quality is very poor) and they are writing it off as they say it needs full replacement of the offside suspension, hub, shock, wheel, wing, bonnet and therefore it becomes and un-economical repair but because this report mentioned suspension the car has been marked as a Cat S total loss. The updating of the database as Cat S is the ONLY process that has been swift and now cannot be changed/challenged.

 

As the valuation is 55% (ish) of what the equivalent cars are selling at(I know cat s valuation will now be lower) and as I know the car, have seen the damage and now have the report I’m thinking of buying it back from the insurers. Taking the inspection as “truth” I’ve been to my local independent specialist with the report (I don’t have the car back yet for them to see) and asked for a quote for the non-body work to be completed and its 40% of the payout I’ll receive after excess and buyback to get me a worst case cost. Bodywork is really minor and could be done at a later date, ebay has a wing from a breaker in correct colour for £58 and its bolt on.

 

The maths are leaning me to go down this route, my understanding is that the two actions I need to complete are repair and complete a V62 then the car is road legal again.

 

Questions are,

1, Can I do the V62 immediately after buy back or does it have to wait until the repairs are complete? i.e. Parallel to the repair or one after the other and will elongate the off the road time

2, I see no check or validation that the repairs are complete in any process on the DVLA documents, does anyone know if this is the case? i.e. I could drive it straight after repair whilst V62 is processing, however I suspect this will change the car tax status as the v5 ref number will change and current tax become invalid????

 

The whole experience has been awful, insurance company, claim company, repair centre all hiding behind their individual process seemingly trying to inflate work and cost and not aware of any detail to answer any questions.

 

Thanks in advance for any help

Ian

[Blatman]

Have you tried contacting the insurance ombudsman to ask if there is anything that can be done with regards to appealing the decision as well as the process? Having "no leave to appeal" does not sit well with me in these situations for the stated reasons, they can hide behind "process". Boils my numbers 1's quite frankly...

[heawooi]

I've thought about contacting them, holding off at the moment while I try to figure out what option I take with the car.... then unleash!

[Mighty Mart]

Might be worth getting a few insurance quotes first to see if the premium jumps up now its a cat s?

A lot of snobbery with cat n and s cars, but you need to know what the original damage was and how good the repairs are.

The above can range from an excellent car to a potential deathtrap....

In your case, I would happily go for it, as long as no insurance issues moving forwards.

Personally think insurance companies are no better than bookies....

Mart.

[Si.Dalziel]

On 09/12/2022 at 12:05, heawooi said:

This is a bit of a long storey but is kind of a simple question ….. Can anyone advise on the paperwork process for getting a Cat S back on the road?

 

One of my cars ( it's a Mini, I am the keeper but wasn’t the insurer/driver) was involved in a minor (sub 20mph) front offside accident with another car back in early September, front wing dented, bonnet and wheel scuffed. I checked the suspension once it was home and all looked ok but the tracking had been knocked slightly out by 2 or 3 deg.

The insurance company were contacted at the scene and also in the following days, their repair company could not inspect the vehicle for 5 weeks. In this time the car was driven a couple of times and also MOT’d as it was due. The MOT was completed by a garage that I have used for many years and trust, I also went in the pit with the tester and we checked the underside and suspension. It passed the MOT with NO advisories as no damage can be found from the accident and nothing else untoward was found.

 

After (finally) collecting the car for inspection they have said the car is a write off, after another 4 weeks of chasing I have the report from inspection (quality is very poor) and they are writing it off as they say it needs full replacement of the offside suspension, hub, shock, wheel, wing, bonnet and therefore it becomes and un-economical repair but because this report mentioned suspension the car has been marked as a Cat S total loss. The updating of the database as Cat S is the ONLY process that has been swift and now cannot be changed/challenged.

 

As the valuation is 55% (ish) of what the equivalent cars are selling at(I know cat s valuation will now be lower) and as I know the car, have seen the damage and now have the report I’m thinking of buying it back from the insurers. Taking the inspection as “truth” I’ve been to my local independent specialist with the report (I don’t have the car back yet for them to see) and asked for a quote for the non-body work to be completed and its 40% of the payout I’ll receive after excess and buyback to get me a worst case cost. Bodywork is really minor and could be done at a later date, ebay has a wing from a breaker in correct colour for £58 and its bolt on.

 

The maths are leaning me to go down this route, my understanding is that the two actions I need to complete are repair and complete a V62 then the car is road legal again.

 

Questions are,

1, Can I do the V62 immediately after buy back or does it have to wait until the repairs are complete? i.e. Parallel to the repair or one after the other and will elongate the off the road time

2, I see no check or validation that the repairs are complete in any process on the DVLA documents, does anyone know if this is the case? i.e. I could drive it straight after repair whilst V62 is processing, however I suspect this will change the car tax status as the v5 ref number will change and current tax become invalid????

 

The whole experience has been awful, insurance company, claim company, repair centre all hiding behind their individual process seemingly trying to inflate work and cost and not aware of any detail to answer any questions.

 

Thanks in advance for any help

Ian

I’m doing the same thing with a Westfield although it wasn’t mine and it went through an auction and other owner before becoming mine. 
 

I filled out the V62 and got my V5 with the following statement on as soon as I picked up the remains.

 

 

As far as I know once it’s rebuilt (this one is extensive), it’s just a case of get a mot, tax and insurance then hit the road again.

 

No extra inspections required.

[CarbonWest - Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO]

You could speak to @Paul Aspden as I believe his Westy was a salvage rebuild?

[jeff oakley]

The insurance assessors report can be challenged and you could use the Ombudsman as well. What we have to remember is if the car went in for repair they would be liable for hire charges which often exceed the value of the car. 

 

For example years ag my Jaguar had a rear quarter panel damaged by another driver, they accepted the blame. I was put in a Mercedes hire car,. The repair took weeks as a small part was unavailable at the time, the hire cost was almost £6k, the repair was around £2.5k.

 

You need to balance everything up with what the car is worth to you, the hassle of getting it back, the hassle of getting it repaired and then inspected against the hassle of getting a better valuation, and appealing.

 

The car when repaired will still be worth less on the open market afterwards so do the maths carefully 

[SootySport]

There's used to be vosa check called Vehicle Identity Check  VIC, but that's not necessary any more as the VIN is checked at MOT time these days. There's no extra hoops to jump through with categorised cars, buy it, fix it properly, mot it and drive it. 

I've had them before and no extra premium for insuring although I would tell them that it's a cat s.

One big downside is it will be hard to sell on unless it's cheap..   Being a kit car it can be very cheap to repair if doing it yourself if just mechanical parts required.  Body and chassis can be expensive though. 

Your tax for unused month s should be refunded as a matter of course, just start again when you receive the V5.

[jeff oakley]

I wasn't aware that the inspection element by the DVLA had ceased to be required. I checked and found this on line article by Copart which is pretty useful.

 

The Copart Guide to Buying a Category S Car | Copart UK

 

Sorry hyperlink does not seem to work but search google and it will take you to that page

 

 

[stephenh]

10 hours ago, SootySport said:

   Being a kit car it can be very cheap to repair if doing it yourself if just mechanical parts required.  Body and chassis can be expensive though. 

 

It isn't a kit car; the O/P said it was a Mini.

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

If it is your insurance saying that its a write off, surely you can withdraw the claim and repair the car yourself (it sounds minimal if it passed an MOT)

At the end of the day, its your property and you have the right to have the final say about what happens to it if you don't go ahead with the claim.

The only complication would be the third party's claim against you( if there is one)

[Captain Colonial]

Old Jokes Home:
 

At least when the car is fixed and back on the road, people will be able to say “Wow!  Look at that S car go!”

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

37 minutes ago, Scott Young (Captain Colonial) - Club Secretary said:

Old Jokes Home:
 

At least when the car is fixed and back on the road, people will be able to say “Wow!  Look at that S car go!”

Are only the French allowed to get than one ? 😉 

[heawooi]

Thanks for the replies, I have decided to get the car back and will be getting the repairs done. 

As of today I now have a second (independant) opinion on the damage and a complaint has been raised with regard the original assessment and process both with the insurance and logged with the ombudsman

 

To clarify a couple of the points above.

There is no hire car on this policy so that cost didn't come into it

It's a Mini, actually a Cooper S so guess it will be a Cooper SS 🤔 ... i will let you add any further jokes about BMW owning Mini