My motorhome was written off (cat N) - should I buy it off the insurance company?

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mysomic

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Dethleffs T 6767
My pride and joy was stolen, recovered and then written off by my insurance company (category N). It has quite a bit of dashboard damage, needs a new steering wheel and has a few various dents and dings around the body-work. It's a 2017 Dethleffs Trend, and the habitation area seems completely undamaged.

The insurance company have offered to sell it back to me for 30% of the final settlement fee, which I'm very tempted by. I had a lot of nice memories in it, and I had a lot of work done to make it exactly how I wanted it.

Does anyone have any experience of trying to get new insurance on a Cat N write-off motorhome? I know that the re-sale value would be drastically affected, but I've no idea by how much. What should I be considering? Is it a good idea?

My head is spinning with all the possibilities here, so any help or guidance from those knowledgeable about such things would be gratefully appreciated.
 
mysomic said:
Does anyone have any experience of trying to get new insurance on a Cat N write-off motorhome? I know that the re-sale value would be drastically affected, but I've no idea by how much.
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Shop around. The dash shouldn’t be a massive problem, find one from a commercial van that’s been rear ended 👍
Good luck.
 
I'm not so worried about the repair cost, so much as not wanting to be lumped with an uninsurable, unsaleable motorhome.
 
Category N means that it is a non-structural write off and uneconomic in the insurer's opinion to repair. The category N classification will remain on the vehicle for the rest of its day's so future buyers are aware of it previous history and some insures will insure it and some will not.

I bought back my category N Vauxhall Frontera some years back and having repaired it, it went back on the road and I had no problem insuring it.

I would ask if your present insurance company will insure the MH once repaired and MOT-ed, and if so, how much would the premium to get a rough comparison to its undamaged premium.
If you're going to go ahead and buy it back from the insurers, then I would counter their offer down to 25% as I'm sure that they will be happy to off load it from their books.
 
I've bought back and rebuilt two classic British motorbikes that were Cat N write-offs. I'm pretty sure the V5 wasn't endorsed accordingly or in any way at all and I didn't have the slightest trouble insuring them.
Edit: I have just looked at the V5 for the one that I still have and it's free of any write-off indication.
This will give you some guidance.............

What is a Cat A, B, S or N Insurance write-off? | RAC Drive

What is an insurance 'write-off'? How do Cat A, Cat B, Cat S and Cat N write-off categories work? Find out with the RAC's in-depth guide.
www.rac.co.uk www.rac.co.uk

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Last edited:
Spriddler said:
I've bought back and rebuilt two classic British motorbikes that were Cat N write-offs. I'm pretty sure the V5 wasn't endorsed accordingly or in any way at all and I didn't have the slightest trouble insuring them.
Edit: I have just looked at the V5 for the one that I still have and it's free of any write-off indication.
This will give you some guidance.............

What is a Cat A, B, S or N Insurance write-off? | RAC Drive

What is an insurance 'write-off'? How do Cat A, Cat B, Cat S and Cat N write-off categories work? Find out with the RAC's in-depth guide.
www.rac.co.uk www.rac.co.uk
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From my Googling, everything points to a Cat N definitely staying with the V5.
Two on Tour said:
I would ask if your present insurance company will insure the MH once repaired and MOT-ed, and if so, how much would the premium to get a rough comparison to its undamaged premium.
If you're going to go ahead and buy it back from the insurers, then I would counter their offer down to 25% as I'm sure that they will be happy to off load it from their books.
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Don't know why I didn't think of trying to negotiate! I just asked and they said no... 30% it is
 
DavidG58 said:
Personally I would let it go and move on, had it been undamaged but returned, would you be happy to have it back I wouldn’t
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I definitely understand that sentiment, but the fact is that I had loads of work done to it with solar, electrical and gas to make it exactly how I wanted. Did big long trips and it never let us down and we never needed for a thing. I think I'd get over the icky side of things after a good clean and a spruce up.
 
I assume that the damage to the steering wheel and dashboard was done in order to get the engine started. That should be relatively straight forwards to be repaired and be as good as new.

Do you know how far it was driven, was it run off road to try and hide it? wash it chased by police to recover it?
If it hadn't gone far and police found it parked up then maybe I would agree that it would be worth purchasing. If it has been raced across ploughed fields I wouldn't be so keen!
 
Pay for someone to do a deep clean after you’ve fixed it… that way, it’s been ‘professionally’ cleaned and you can distance yourself from anything that may have made you feel differently about the vehicle.

Dash is very bolt in replaceable. Cosmetics are the usual, how much do you want or need to spend to get them to a level you’re happy with? I’ve got a very talented man and van, ‘on the drive repairer’ who did some great work on race car bodywork for me in the past… great value. I’ve also had rear C pillar repair on one of my M5’s where an HGV box hinge did a bit of damage. Full on paint job amazing work on blends and paint lay up etc, but 10 times the price of the man on the drive.

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Why not ask the insurance company what the score will be for re-insuring it? Or perhaps find a cat n on autotrader and do an insurance quote for it?
 
Is this a done deal in that you have allowed the insurers to 'buy' you mh from you?
 
mysomic said:
I definitely understand that sentiment, but the fact is that I had loads of work done to it with solar, electrical and gas to make it exactly how I wanted. Did big long trips and it never let us down and we never needed for a thing. I think I'd get over the icky side of things after a good clean and a spruce up.
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Had a disco that was trashed by theives, then repaired. The electrics never worked the same again, central locking, sunroofs etc.

So you may be disappointed with the repaired version?
 
I may be talking through a hole in my backside here, is there not something about paying out on a vehicle that’s already written off. I had a car written off several years ago and was offered the car back at a price like yourself, it was a while ago but I’m sure I was told if I wrote it off again I wouldn’t get a payout as you can’t write off a vehicle twice, this was about 15 years ago so memory may be wrong 😂

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Memory just started working again, they didn’t say they wouldn’t payout it was more the value. The assessor advised me if I bought off the insurance company then fixed it up and subsequently crashed it and wrote it off I would probably not get paid enough to cover what I’d spent, i decided not to buy it back just Incase.
 
dna said:
I assume that the damage to the steering wheel and dashboard was done in order to get the engine started. That should be relatively straight forwards to be repaired and be as good as new.

Do you know how far it was driven, was it run off road to try and hide it? wash it chased by police to recover it?
If it hadn't gone far and police found it parked up then maybe I would agree that it would be worth purchasing. If it has been raced across ploughed fields I wouldn't be so keen!
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The steering wheel was cut to remove one of those after-market yellow bar locks...that's a lesson to get a round one that fully covers the steering wheel.

From what I gather, the dashboard was busted up in the hunt for a tracker and when it wasn't found, they parked it up to see if there was a tracker somewhere and whether someone would then come and get it.
 
I bought back a bike i dropped about 10 years back. Akso got £4k from the insurer. Repaired it for less than £1200 with mostly second hand bits and pocketed the other £3k. Had no issues insuring it and was told by insurers it would be worth 20% less due to it being a Cat D insurance loss.
Sold it a few years later and with the £3k the insurers gave me, actually had more than i paid for it 8 years previously.
 
lorger said:
Memory just started working again, they didn’t say they wouldn’t payout it was more the value. The assessor advised me if I bought off the insurance company then fixed it up and subsequently crashed it and wrote it off I would probably not get paid enough to cover what I’d spent, i decided not to buy it back just Incase.
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My understanding also. If it's a write-off, the market re-sale drops and any future pay-out would take that into account. That's fair enough, I would expect it.
 
If you walk away from it which I think is the best option, tell them you want to collect your personal items if they have been left in the van. Then if you have refillable gas bottles go & get them with any other stuff thats still there like solar regulator etc., may even be possible to get the solar panels off.

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ianp said:
Is this a done deal in that you have allowed the insurers to 'buy' you mh from you?
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That's relevant as the vehicle is still your property with access until you agree a settlement. As Lenny said, you can remove items and I very much doubt that they would lower its settlement value.
 
Have you bought a replacement?
How much exactly will it cost you to buy it back?
What model is it ?
All those things need to be considered. My first instinct would be to jump at it ....
 
If you’ve done a lot to it and if you bought it back and we’re to keep it a long time then go for it. You know the van and when it’s fixed you know it’s ok then if you keep it for a many years you know it’s a cheep van and when it’s gone it’ll still be a cheep van…
Get a few ins quotes
Go for it…👍🏼
 
I personally would buy it back and enjoy using it
Just remember how long and the cost was to getting it too how you wanted it
That is off course you can’t go out and buy something the same with the payout you got
Your insurance is likely to be more anyway because of the claim you had
 
Do you have any photos of the damage? Anything cab wise is a van. It's the motorhome bodywork that could get expensive.

Don't worry about cat n.

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mysomic said:
I'm not so worried about the repair cost, so much as not wanting to be lumped with an uninsurable, unsaleable motorhome.
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Why is it uninsurable? Loads of vehicles on the road that are cat whatever. It’s just cheaper for them to not repair. Wife’s VW was a damaged repairable… 9 years later, still get insurance 👍
 
If the vehicle is still your property, that is to say you have not yet accepted a settlement then if you want to keep it it would be best to ask your insureres about a cash in lieu of repair settlement that would then remove the need the categorization as the insureres are not involved in any kind of repair scenario...... further the vehicle is your property and you may want to consult someone like this fella who may or may not have good advice for you.......
www.motorclaimguru.co.uk

Motor Claim Guru - Motor Claim Guru

www.motorclaimguru.co.uk www.motorclaimguru.co.uk
 
Have you seen the van that may make your decision easy.

When my car was stolen I was advised not to look at by the guy at the pound as they had trashed it
 
As you say, it’s your pride and joy and you are not worried about the repair requirements so I would research the future insurance costs v a similar vehicle with a clear history first. Assuming the cost is reasonable for what you may get back should you claim again, you will be owning the cheapest motorhome of that year, condition and specifications.
The longer you keep it, the less it will owe you and with full photo evidence of before and after you will probably get more back than you paid for it.
Nothing is guaranteed but I would be laughing all the way to the bank if I was in your position.
 
Cat whatever insurance same as non cat my van and car and last 4 cars all cat 2 daughters cars both cat.Wifes last cat car written off by 3 party we were paid 50%more than we bought it for nearly a year before(already repaired),financially a no brainer,you could sell on quickly at a profit without touching it

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