Companies now write off cars more than 4 years old rather than repair...

Had an accident just before Christmas and have been told that what we used to call a scrapyard would pick the car up and assess whether the car is repairable rather than take it to a bodyshop who will estimate the cost of repair. (i.e. presumption of write off first)

As car isn't that badly damaged I queried this and was told that the assessment is made by the scrapyard's engineer and they "negotiate" with you.

As the yard is only a couple of miles from me I rang them and their office bod told me that anything over 4 years old is normally written off whatever the damage is as the cost of parts etc is so high.

It appears that because there is a thriving "salvage" market the Insurance companies are balancing the cost of repair against the amount they can recover from resale value and total loss payout because everyone has to buy insurance.

Posted By: Ruttles, Dec 28, 12:19:39