A Quick Guide to Accident Write-Offs and the Different Damage Categories 

 

When you are involved in a traffic accident – could be in Birmingham, could be anywhere – and as a result make a car accident claim, you or your accident management company may very well be informed that your vehicle is a write-off. What this means is either that your vehicle is so damaged that it is unsafe to go back on the road, or that the price of repairing it is too high for repair to make economic sense. The implications could be different if you are hit by an uninsured driver.

 

In the latter case, which means the price of repair is more than the actual value of the vehicle ,your insurance company will make a judgement based on the difference between the cost of repair and the value of your vehicle. This judgement can vary depending on which accident claim company you talk to. There are also important things you must remember so that you protect your legal claim. 

 

As an example, let’s say you have an accident in the Midlands and your vehicle is worth £4,000. If your insurance company applies a repair-to-value ratio of 60%, the vehicle would be considered a write-off if the cost of repair were to exceed £2,400. Cars are often written off if the repair costs are equal to 50% of the vehicle’s value. 

 

When is a write-off not really a write-off? 

Insurance companies are obliged to return cars to their pre-crash condition, which naturally can be very costly. What this means is that sometimes the damage to a car does not have to be very serious for the car to be written off. Sometimes fairly cosmetic damage can mean that the expense of repairing, painting and returning the car to its pre-crash state can be prohibitively expensive and the car may be declared a write-off. Sometimes accident car replacement is the only solution. 

 

What do the different categories mean? 

Insurance assessors use four different write-off categories to grade the severity of vehicle damage. The first two categories represent extremely serious damage, whereas the remaining two categories represent economic write-offs. 

 

What is Category A ?

Cat A is reserved for cars that are so severely damaged that there is no alternative but to crush them. In this case, even re-usable parts must be destroyed. 

 

What is Category B ?

This is for when there is extensive damage, but some parts may be salvageable. The vehicle chassis in this case must be crushed, but reclaimed parts may be re-used in other roadworthy vehicles. 

 

What is Category C ?

Cat C is for when the vehicle is fixable but the cost of repair exceeds the value of the vehicle. (See above.) Legally, however, this vehicle can be driven on the road again. 

 

What is Category D ?

Similar to Cat C, this category is for vehicles where the cost of repair is significant in comparison to the value of the vehicle. Cat D cars are often sold on at prices up to 25% less than other similar secondhand cars. 

 

While Cat A and B cars must never appear on the road again, Cat C and D vehicles may be sold on by insurance companies, who can claim up to 65% of a vehicle’s value from salvage companies. This means that often they can make a profit by writing off your car and then selling it on for another company to repair it.

If you or anyone you know has been involved in an accident and is trying to establish what is write off and how this could affect your accident claim, call One Call Accident Management now on 0800 999 4042. One Call Accident Management can deal with your accident claim and the damage to your vehicle so from liaising with your insurance company to the third party (the responsible party’s insurance company) One Call accident management will deal with everything.