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

[mysomic]

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.

Also posted to insurance forum

 

[JimmE]

I've no direct experience of this myself, but I've pondered what I would do myself in this scenario. The layout in our PVC is not so common, but works perfectly for us - so I'd certainly be tempted if the figures worked out and the damage was not too severe.

Essentially I guess you need to have an idea how much the repairs would cost, and then offset the remainder of the money you receive from the insurance company against a (theoretical) future resale value.

Re-insuring the van isn't something I'd thought about though - perhaps worth finding out if your current insurance company would still re-insure you in that scenario? Your current policy will end when they send the payout - the question is whether they will take the same van on risk again after already having paid out themselves.

 

[Phill D]

Personally if the settlement figure is current market value I would take the settlement and move on.
Even if the 30% + rebuild costs are realistic you will undoubtedly have trouble both insuring it and selling it in the future.
I very much doubt that your current insurer will touch it as they have already made it a total loss.

But that’s me , we all have different opinions and perspectives.

 

[Spriddler]

Also see replies in your identical thread in the Insurance forum.........

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

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...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[DT]

Watch Salvage Rebuilds on YT. Those guys do many cars and vans no MHs as yet. Always sell and they do say insurance is not an issue. A few episodes may help your research.

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[DavidG58]

Really bad luck having two stolen

 

[Carpmart]

Watch Salvage Rebuilds on YT. Those guys do many cars and vans no MHs as yet. Always sell and they do say insurance is not an issue. A few episodes may help your research.

Or better still, offer it to them, Salvage rebuilds. Rob and Chris love this kind of unusual thing.

 

[mysomic]

Or better still, offer it to them, Salvage rebuilds. Rob and Chris love this kind of unusual thing.

I'll definitely take a look, thanks

 

[Tony50]

I'll definitely take a look, thanks

Why don't you ask your insurance company saying if I bought salvage , repaired it had professional check carried out what would it cost to reinsure ?
As a side issue , did vehicle have alarm / tracker, were there warnings on vehicle saying you had any of these anti theft devices on vehicle?
As I put on this website before an Ex Metropolitan Police Officer told never advertise devices as they will rip the dash to pieces and anywhere else they think devices are hidden.
I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[Archie H]

I own a cat N write off Audi Q5 and had absolutely no trouble insuring it with Aviva. Hope that helps with your dilemma.

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[G-RMPS]

My plane was written off! I rebuilt it and it’s still insured with the same company. Indeed they insured it while I was rebuilding it too.

 

[Richard J]

Category N is the most trivial write off, N is for No structural damage. You should have no trouble getting insurance. Insurance companies seem to write off everything these days, my daughter’s rear-ended Berlingo insurance paid out £4000 without looking at the car, and let her keep the car so I got her a second hand tailgate and when resprayed and fitted she did quite well. And they just carried on the insurance… hers was deemed category S. So get a quote for the repair, it might be well worth your while!

 

[mitzimad]

without knowing the figures its hard to say if the repair and buy back cost exceeds the retail value its not worth the bother there will always be a reduction in the resale value with any cat marker and future insurance will take that into account

 

[aitcheeboy]

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.

Also posted to insurance forum

My adria twin was stolen/ recovered.. they ripped the dash to shreds and stole the ECU.. I had a tracker which they did not find. However the repairs took 6 months.. I might now remove the ‘tracker’ stickers. They did not start it, apparently lifted the front and towed it.. all this on a busy London street . I now park on a steep hill , with wheel and steering wheel clamps.. pain in a***e !

 

[mysomic]

My adria twin was stolen/ recovered.. they ripped the dash to shreds and stole the ECU.. I had a tracker which they did not find. However the repairs took 6 months.. I might now remove the ‘tracker’ stickers. They did not start it, apparently lifted the front and towed it.. all this on a busy London street . I now park on a steep hill , with wheel and steering wheel clamps.. pain in a***e !

Was it an insurance claim / write-off? If not a write-off, then strange that they wrote mine off for (seemingly) less damage.

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[TonyEmm]

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.

Also posted to insurance forum

cat N & cat S insurance write -offs are perfectly legal if repaired correctly. They are ‘written off’ for (the insurance company’s) economic reasons rather than the actual damage.

Most will reinsure. If you particularly like what you have, I’d be tempted to keep it, if it can be repaired economically…

 

[coopc]

So long as you can get repairs that need doing IE dash / Steering at sensible cost and are happy to live with the dents around van @ 30% seems like a no brainer to me to keep
Cat N will be no issue to insure most insurance companies dont even ask if its been a previous write off - It only become an issue if you have a further loss and they will offer you less as its been a previous write off
Resale value will be less as well because of the dents and being a previous Tloss
If you are happy to accept these issues then as I said earlier I would go for it
I purchased a cat N car my insurance company wrote off during covid - 1 headlamp and a bend back of the wing, bumper and front panel and all was good for less than £50 ! and if you look at the car you would not know and been using and insured ever since no issue

 

[Tonks]

My plane was written off! I rebuilt it and it’s still insured with the same company. Indeed they insured it while I was rebuilding it too.

Out of admittedly 'none of my business' curiosity, how was your plane written off? Some local aircraft were damaged in high winds earlier this year. I'm impressed that you built it and fly it.

 

[G-RMPS]

My (ex)flying partner crashed it while I was in Spain in our moho.