Frustratingly my wife's car got a knock last Wednesday (she was about to turn into a road, car came out of it, wasnt paying attention and went into the side of her). Difficult to tell on images alone but was hoping for a small bit of advice from anyone potentially in the Insurance trade or who have had similar incidents.
Its a 2018 Hyundai Kona which she has gotten extremely attached to and is getting herself in an emotional mess as someone she works with believes its going to be a write off - If you try to wind down the window you can hear a crunching sound as it gets lower so the door has certainly been dented (as can be clearly seen), whilst there is a small dent on the pillar when you open the door.
Comments
Not sure the insurance company would want to write of a 2018 model though
Should also add that she spoke with the Garage yesterday who advised that they've had one estimator come around and they were waiting for a second as well... So is something else thats got her a bit worried.
£13k is a lot of money to write off.
My missus did the whole of one side of her 2 year old Qashqai a couple of years ago, when she drove too close to a parked truck with a hook sticking out. Did front and rear wing panels and both door skins. Not sure how much the repair was in total but the parts and paint were over £3k. Insurance company didn't even question it.
Couldnt see any damage to the floor, but of course you dont know what might be wrong underneath the vehicle as someone went into the back of her old car on the M25, couldnt see any damage but still needed repair
Looks like there is a slight dent on the B post (if its where I think you mean) which is visible when you open the driver door
I'd say at a £13k value, the insurers will very likely have it repaired, but the other option if it's not economical to repair (and again assuming nothing structural) is to find out if you might be able to get it repaired cheaper yourself (got any mates who may be able to get a second hand door off a breaker etc?), and if so, you offer to knock the salvage value off the settlement, and then repair it yourselves/through a mate.
The caveat - the used value of an N category, and especially an S category, would plummet! I really don't see the value is personally salvaging a write-off.
Blimey she must of been hit quite hard. Hope she was not too shaken up mate?
Its just frustrating we're in that limbo period now where we're just waiting for further news (Car was collected on Friday)
Ironically she was on the phone to me at the time (coming through the Apple CarPlay) and I didnt even hear any impact, was just talking and all of a sudden she was saying she had to put the phone down because someone had hit her
A 300ml bottle of T-Cut will cost £6, whereas a 500g tub of this is only £3.99.
As for the doors, most garages and insurance Cos will go down the replace rather than repair road.
My wife has spoken with the Garage this morning, repairs are going to come to £6k (new doors instead of repairing the old) which is just over the automatically repaired value meaning they'll need authorisation from the Insurance Company...
As a few of you have suggested the "B" Pillar is the decisive bit, the garage feel they can repair it but arent 100% confident so have said if given the all clear to attempt repair they'll do so, the moment they dont think it can be done though, they'll stop and the car will be written off.
The one good thing is they've valued the car at £12k which is the sort of price we'd been wanting to hear.
Really appreciate everyone's advice on the matter!!
instead do a search on auto-trader for same make and model of car, and make sure you have Trade Only selected and not public sales.
These cars will usually be for sale for more than what you are offered
Send that link to the insurer when you decline their offer and state that this is the cost of replacing your car like for like.