Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Something is niggling me......

For the last few weeks, I have been occupied with the aftermath of an RTA in our Morgan. On a couple of occasions, I have asked the car's custodians for a break-down of what needs to be replaced (i.e. the detailed repair estimate).

This has been politely, but firmly, refused.

OK, this is a completely academic question, but can anyone explain to me why (as the vehicle owner) my request for details has been refused even AFTER the insurance company has gone down the "write off" path?

I'm not after the information for anything other than sheer curiosity.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

Well possibly because there are others in the background who are seeing a profit opportunity ?...

You should be asking the insurance company, not the garage where it is held.

Typically, when a car is written off, it is sold for around 10% of what you are being paid out.

You can ask the insurance company about buying it yourself. Some policies X include salvage options automatically.

You are the owner of the car , but the one paid the invoice is the insurance company and the garage want to take the car from the hand of the insurance company, start to ask to move the car from the garage to your home and you will see the garage will ask you to paid big invoice for several reasons.

Car write off it's a big business and a mafia.

The remain value is around 10% of the actual price of the car, if you want it you must said it to the insurance and insist on it, they will not agree at the beginning because if the garage keep it they have no invoice to paid if you take it they have to paid the parking fee , the transportation 2 times and maybe some others invoice.

The garage can only claim storage and recovery fees from the owner of the car.This could be you or the insurance company,depending which way the setlment has gone. If the insurance have paid out they are the legal owners,unless you agreed a retension clause when you insured.

You are right, but this in theory, but when i write of mine long time ago, the garage start to claim more, like time spend in investigation etc etc , i have to fight for take back the remain and don't paid, but that paid off for me an other garage give me 30% more for the remain.

But my car be less than a year and the price much more than a Mog

Your post and situation has prompted me to ring my Morgan insurers to get a few more details on what would happen in the event of a write off, values and procedures etc

I've invested a lot of money in time and extras shiny bits on the Morgan over the last couple of years and so would want some of these back or to be recompensed in the event of a write off

I have my insurance with Hedley insurance brokers and the insurer is Hiscox

I have an agreed settlement figure of £24K which was a valuation given to me for insurance purposes by Lifes Motors last year which I think is a fair one considering the model, age and mileage.

I'm confident with time I could find a like for like replacement for something around that figure however it probably doesn't include the value of all the bits I and Lifes have put on it - sports exhaust and manifold etc

I was told this morning by Hedley insurance that because i have an agreed figure then the insurer would likely sanction paying out anything up to that figure for a repair in the event of an accident.

24K would cover quite a bit I am sure even at Morgan dealers rates!

There is a premium i could pay that would give me salvage rights on the vehicle but I would then get the salvage value less the agreed settlement but as the salvage value is in the hands of the insurer, I'm guessing i wouldn't get good value and for the sake of salvaging a few nice bits and pieces it might not be worth it

plus I would then have issues with storage if wanted the damaged car back.

So my advice to other Morgan owners is get a proper valuation from a Morgan dealer and insurance that has that agreed settlement in the event of a total loss.

Whether it's still worth the paper its written on, remains to be seen. hopefully I won't have to put it to the test

Things work very differently in Portugal so what I have to say is of no interest to UK owners. However, and just for added knowledge for anyone interested, tipically we are given the option of remaining owners of the salvage and then its value is subtracted to the value of the car as it was before the crash.

So, my Morgan has an agreed settlement figure, that is renewed and revised every year (I think it now is 35.000 €).

If it is stolen that's what the insurance company will pay me (after losing hope of recovery).

If crashed beyond the point of repair, they'll inform me of the salvage value and give me 2 options:

1) They pay me the agreed amount in full. The car, or what's left of it, is theirs to do as they please.

2) They'll pay me the agreed amount minus the salvage value, and I keep the car.

Garage storage, towing of the car, and whatever other services have been done are always free for me and fully covered by the insurance policy, so they're not an issue in this "negotiation".

As my car is over 35 years I get salvage rights automatically from my insurer. They will also pay me to do the repairs.

Its not clear from your post exactly who the "custodians" are. The decision to write off will be made by your insurance company based on the comments of the insurance assessor. He may well not have sat down and itemised every last bit and piece needed. In fact I doubt very much that he will have done so. More likely he will have made a judgement and its likely to be influenced by the car not being a standard vehicle that the normal car repairers would want to know about. And quite likely he will have spoken to a Morgan dealer to get an idea of the scrap value.

Depends a bit on the value. The lower the value, the less time they will spend in assessing the repair cost.