Hi all.

I was involved in an accident in March where whilst I was stopped at traffic lights a lady drove into me. Causing minor damage although the door hinges/area were allready suffering from corrosion, which when lifted by the accident snapped the remaining metal on the lower hinges. A cheap fix for me would have been knocking the bumper back into shape and repairing the hinges.

Anyway they wrote it off as a "category B" which means it can never go back on the road and can only be bought by people with the breakers license. I wanted to be able to buy it back which I could have done if they had done it to a category C. I spoke to the engineer who was a @#$%&#, he said he thought it was too dangerous to put back on the road because of the doors. I told him it was ridiculous blah blah blah, he said he'd never recategorised a vehicle in 20 years.

Anyway I've appealed and now they are saying I can buy it back. Once I get it back I'll need to get it repaired, call the insurers back up where an engineer can assess the repairs and then reclassify the van as a category C if they think the repairs are to a sufficient standard?

Can they do this? Shouldn't they just give it me back as a Category C, as cars/vans are sold as cat c's without any conditions?

 

Regards Vertical

No idea.  From what you are saying, it sounds like the insurers are unsure as to whether the van can be repaired to a roadworthy condition - the only thing they have to go on is the engineers report.

They need convincing that it CAN be repaired to a satisfactory standard - unfortunately, the only way of doing this is by actually doing the repair then having it assessed.

They can't give it back as a Cat C at the moment because of this.  Other vehicles sold as Cat C's will have been deemed a Cat C based on the level of damage done (i.e.without the need for repairs to be done first).

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I'm an old bastard - that's why Rach calls me Dad. We both like it...

what kind of van is it? Is i reeli worth the bother? Im a mechanic and we have vans coming in all the time were the doors are hanging on by a thread because they have been caught by the wind and the hinges are cracking away so if the engineer has come to the conclusion that it is not safe to be on the road then maybe there is abit more work to be done than first thought

only a sugestion mate but it may be easyer to buy a new van as door repairs need to be done professionally or the welds will keep cracking away