Message Forums

Hi all, 

I have a 2000 caravan which was damaged coming out of our drive on the concrete gate post.  Contacted the insurance company who requested 2 quotes, took it to a local dealer with £600-£1500 repair in mind.  Only to be told it is beyond economical repair!!!!!!!  We have only purchased the van in May this year, she is very good nick (except for the damage now obviously) and we hae enjoyed our holidays in it.

I am wondering if I should phone the insurance company and tell them that we will repair it ourselves without sending them the quotes as the dealer said he could repair it for £600, just not to insurance standards, I'm terrified I might lose the van and not receive a good amount for it if we proceed with the insurance.

Any advice would be welcome.

Just a question - is the £6k for Swift Alouettes the current trade in value or is that what they are up for sale at on forecourts? Insurance companies usually offer you the value you'd get if you traded it in, not the price you would pay to replace it.

Swift allouette 2000 in caravanpriceguide.com private £4000. An insurance company is not going to be looking at the purchase price but what it would have been worth had you been able to dispose of it. I believe an insurance company will offer you considerably less than £4000 but if you can then buy the salvage from the insurers and get it repaired out of what they give you then you are on a winner.

I have done this with a car and came out at a profit and got my car back on the road.

Quote: Originally posted by MrPete on 04/10/2010

---

One thing to note (or maybe me ask!) is, once a car has been written off and then repaired by the owner, it must undergo a VDI check & MOT to confirm that it is indeed roadworthy

---

OH had a car written off a few years ago when someone rear-ended him & it would have cost more for the repair (rear bumper) than the car was worth.  He bought it back & repaired it but had to have it MOTd before the insurance company would cover it again even tho it still had several months left.

Wouldn't have thought this would apply to a caravan as there's no MOT type test for them anyway?