Insurance write off - Salvage

[eyelight]

Not strictly Mercedes related other than the car involved being a W124.

Is anyone familiar with the ins and outs of claiming salvage on your car after it's been declared beyond economic repair?

My car was hit and declared a CAT B write off, and while forced to settle for what I think was a low payment, (but more than their original offer), I was told I could keep the car for salvage and sell it for parts.

Phoned the repair facility today to find that the car has been removed by a company called Copart, working for the insurance company, and has been moved halfway across the country to their yard north of London. They won't release car to me without clearance from insurance company and when I called them, this is first they've heard of salvage. One department not talking to another.

Anyway, the guy I've just talked to 10 minutes ago kept saying that they generally are not allowed to release Cat B vehicles, and was asking if I knew my responsibilities if I took car. Said police might be in touch with me to confirm that car has been scrapped.

Now, has anyone done this before? Can I legally sell this car to a Merc breaker? (2 of them interested in buying) Or would it be a case of me having to dismantle it myself to satisfy the law?

Thanks for any info.

 

[jberks]

If you had an agreement that you could keep the car and sell the parts then that forms part of the legally binding settlement. Clearly you can show that you wouldn't have accepted the financial part of the offer without the car being part of it. So, IMO, by definition, that can belongs to you and they had no right to ship it out, accidentally or not.

I've been here with a cat D. Fortunatley it was sat in my drive so when the salvage co rang to arrange collection I was able to send them packing, but it's standard practice with all write offs so I'm not suprised they automatically collected it.

I would put it back in the hands of the insurance company. Either pay you the amount you'd expect to recieve from breaking it yourself (saving you the trouble) or deliver the car back to your location.
It's not your problem, it's theirs. They effectively stole your property and need to return it.

However as regards the breaking issue. If you have a reciept from a Merc breaker then that would be fine for the police I'm sure. At the end of the day, CAT B's are not to be repaired and returned to the road. That's all the police would want proof of, so provided you didn't repair it and have a reciept from the breaker to prove the fact, then it's no longer your responsibility.

But as I say, it may be easier for you, and cheaper for the insurance company, for them to simply send you a cheque for the amount the breaker would have paid you, saving them the transport costs and you the hassle of selling it. That's what I'd push for anyway.