Insurance dilemma

[MSTRKRFTSMN]

A couple of weeks ago some plonker decided to switch lanes as I was turning left and poked his front left all down my right side. It was at v low speed in busy traffic and was just a scraping down my right side. Luckily he admitted fault and 2 weeks later his insurer's repair co. have assessed the damage as £1,250 - 2 new panels, paint and a wheel refurb. No write off. I've asked them if they'll pay it out as cash so I can get my own repairs done.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Are they likely to pay out cash as an alternative? Am I within my rights to get my own repairs done?

And if you had a spare 2k would you throw anything at a 140k 2002 S3, dolphin grey in decent condition?

Or is it a sign that the time has come to get a cheap repair done and use the cash to part-ex my way to a BMW 135i?

 

[Stuart B]

pretty sure you can get your own repairs done with the money, and you are not forced to spend it on the car, but you wont be able to claim the same damage again if it is not repaired.

There are quite a lot of 8L S3's for sale at the moment - most for under 3K and the occasional 7.5K one.

 

[ayfreetee]

Definitely wouldn't spend it on a 135i (yuk), but you are able to use any repairer you choose, they may have to supply a pro former to the insurers though, not sure if they will just hand over the money directly to you.

 

[Gops]

Definitely wouldn't spend it on a 135i (yuk), but you are able to use any repairer you choose, they may have to supply a pro former to the insurers though, not sure if they will just hand over the money directly to you.

Nowt wrong with the m135i! Fantastic cars, even bill has warmed to mine

But on a serious note, no they won't pay you cash unless you write it off. They may accept a garage of your choice if it is a trusted garage of theirs otherwise they won't garuntee the work.

If you choose to not claim then that's fine too, but you can still claim for injuries.

I'd say claim your injuries and get your car fixed!! Because they havnt wrote your car off they won't settle a fee.

 

[jojo]

I think you can only claim the cash for the repair(minus the vat) if the car is a write off. I had this happen to my Passat, I told them I didn't want the car written off, and they offered me a cash settlement and to keep the car.

 

[ayfreetee]

135i is a fine car, but just a bit ugly, unless of course it's the coup'e, which is very nice.

 

[MSTRKRFTSMN]

Thanks for the responses. For anyone interested, the insurance company were happy to pay out the cash instead of repairing. They said I had to get my wheel alignment done and then they would pay repair costs less VAT. They even said I didn't have to get the repairs done, but if/when I did I could then claim the VAT costs back.