Welcome to my blog. My name is Ken. One day, I was driving home from work when the engine in my car failed. While I waited for the recovery truck to arrive, I realised I didn’t have a clue what went on underneath the bonnet of my car. I signed up for an auto service course at my local community college, so I could gain the skills I needed to properly maintain my car and repair it if something when wrong while I was on the road. I wanted to start a blog to pass on these skills to other people so that they can look after their automobiles.
If you've been unfortunate enough to be involved in a recent car crash, you may be waiting to hear what happens next. You are dealing with the insurance company, of course, and they have sent an assessor to determine the extent of the damage. As you may know, it will be up to this expert to advise their head office who will, in turn, let you know if the car is repairable or not. However, you may be surprised to hear that there are various different categories involved, and the result may determine what you can and cannot do with your vehicle. Is it repairable or not?
Financial Decisions
While the insurance company is there to protect you in the event of an incident like this, they also want to ensure that they are making some shrewd decisions from a commercial point of view. Certainly, they will need to tell you if the vehicle is too badly damaged to be safe, but they will also want to spend as little money as possible given all the circumstances.
Extent of Damage
If you can plainly see that the car was very badly damaged and that the frame or chassis may be twisted, and the car is several years old, then the answer may be obvious. In this case, the cost of repair would be well in excess of the value of the vehicle, and you would get a payout directly from the company. They may issue you with a notice that forbids you from repairing the vehicle, and it may need to be sent to a breaker's yard.
Surprising Costs
When an insurance company looks at the cost of repair, they take into account both parts and labour during the calculation. Unfortunately, many new panels and ancillaries are very expensive or made from more exotic materials, and it doesn't take much for the overall bill to add up.
Salvageable Repair
In the majority of cases, however, a vehicle will be salvageable and can be repaired economically by your local panel beater. You can trust them to restore the car to its former glory so that you can continue to enjoy ownership.
Other Options
Alternatively, the insurance company may want to limit their financial damage and may find that certain nonstructural elements are not economical to repair. Still, they may decide to sell the car back to you, and you may, in turn, be able to repair it yourself. In this case, talk with your local panel beater and ask them for their advice. They may well be able to repair it more economically by using used parts or an entirely different approach.
For more information about insurance car repair, contact a local provider.
Share6 October 2020
