The post-accident pages in that thread are insightful
There's something I don't understand. Why is it often the case that the insurance company is more eager than the policy holder to write a car off, given that this means the insurance company writes a cheque for circa value of car pre-accident? Naively, aren't they incentivized to be fairly 'honest' with their assessment? Or is the idea that they reckon the price you'll accept for the write-off minus their internal repairs/auction turnaround will be less than the repairs costs they'd otherwise be on the hook for if the policy holder insists? I guess the insurance company is obliged to pay OEM prices and the rest of it.
Yeah, which again shows how important it is to know what was repaired so you can double check e.g. panels line up correctly. Boot shuts correctly, etc. As for the insurance. I have no idea on that one. If I recall, I think I paid £1900 for the car. After the accident, I was quite surprised at how high the repair could go before write off (think it was 60% of the total value). So I had about £1100 to play with. Great I thought. Then the bodyshop estimate came in at £1140 and the insurance want to write off the car and pay me £2200?!?!?
I think the only explanation is... the "estimate" is already at the threshold. So... if they sign it off, car goes in and then they realise actually the real damage is more like £3000 and they've already stripped the car down, etc. Then we're in a bit of a deadlock. So it's easier to just pay the car off. However, I needed a first car for my kid and writing it off + new driver + 0 no claims + a no fault accident wasn't going to see him getting a car anytime soon. So I requested they replace the bumper, lights, etc and I'll repair the scuffs and scratches on the quarter panels etc privately. Which they agreed.
Another thing to watch out for in all of the above. So.. the quote for a new bumper (parts only) was £380 for a "genuine" Seat bumper. However, not known to most is that the insurance and repair
shop have an agreement that if a cars older than 6 years (I think they said). They can quote the price for Genuine Seat but in fact can replace it with "Lucky Golden Hedgehog" brand. So initially I thought... ace... new Seat bumper, but it was basically a moulded imitation bumper. Which I guess is another thing to watch out for buying an older Cat N or S. The parts will be no brand. Fortunately for me, they tried a no brand bumper twice which I rejected and in the end they had to get a proper Seat one anyway! Oh and the price of the imitation bumper was £80 I think they said.