If you have been involved in some kind of accident on the road, you
may have been lucky enough to walk away with very little or no damage
yourself. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that your car will have suffered
the same fate.
There are three categories that are usually used to describe what state a
car is left in after an accident: Write Off, Category Loss and Total
Loss. When a vehicle has been in an accident, the owner will generally
contact their insurance company, fill out an accident report and get an
insurance assessor (either freelance or employed by the company) to
inspect the vehicle and assess damage. The assessment takes financial
cost into consideration and it will be up to the assessor along with the
owner of the vehicle to decide whether it should be repaired or
declared a write off - in other words, a total insurance loss. Usually,
if it will cost more to repair the vehicle than it would to buy a new
one, most owners will not make a claim.
Although it is possible to repair a write off, it is best to check the
history when buying a pre-owned car. Previously written off vehicles are
put into four different categories:
Category A
Usually meaning it was too damaged to be repairable with little or no
salvageable parts. For example, it would have had to be burnt out,
completely submerged in water or has/had bodywork or frame damage.
Category B
Vehicles in this category are usually too damaged to be repaired but had
salvageable parts; for example, a bent chassis or repairable damage to
body work or frame.
Category C
These vehicles are usually repairable, but the repair costs went over
the insured sum. The damage may be extensive but not structural and the
vehicle may have been submerged in water up to floor level.
Category D
Usually, these vehicles would have been repairable, but compared to the
overall value of the vehicle, the repair costs were significant. In this
category, it usually means that the owner chose not to repair for
economic reasons - they probably just replaced it instead!
If you have been in a car accident and you want to discuss compensation for car accident injuries with a legal professional then you can visit www.irwinmitchell.com.
