Hymer surprisingly written off

Guy

Guest
I recently had a scrape against a rock in my Hymer 534 from the front side 6 metres down to the rear.
Today the insurers said it is uneconomical to repair, which it obviously isnt. The body work isnt to bad and even the damage on the doors and bumper can be repaired.
Because its an insurance quote i think the Hymer repair place went a bit mental and quoted £15,500 to repair it.
I have had a payout offer or buy it back offer, i will be taking the latter but this now means my vehicle will become a category D write off.
Does anyone know if there are any bad points to having a cat D vehicle.
 
Cat D is the lower level of damage. Provided the repair is done properly and signed off it shouldn't have too much impact on its value, and if your keeping it, so much the better, use it and enjoy it. I would take photos so if you do want to sell it in the future you can show prospective buyers how slight the damage was.
 
Guy said:
I recently had a scrape against a rock in my Hymer 534 from the front side 6 metres down to the rear.
Today the insurers said it is uneconomical to repair, which it obviously isnt. The body work isnt to bad and even the damage on the doors and bumper can be repaired.
Because its an insurance quote i think the Hymer repair place went a bit mental and quoted £15,500 to repair it.
I have had a payout offer or buy it back offer, i will be taking the latter but this now means my vehicle will become a category D write off.
Does anyone know if there are any bad points to having a cat D vehicle.
Click to expand...

Yes some insurance companies will not insure you, also when you sell it you will have to declare that has been previously been written off.
 
They do take the mick now with 'write offs'
The term Write off is the economics of repair.

I recently bought a 3 month old , 130 miles on the clock motorbike.

New price £9,300, I paid £5K and spent 300 to put it back to 'as new'

The biggest problem is the Cat d stigma, rather the the actual damage.

Good luck you've got yourself a bargain,they are paying you to keep your MoHo, as said take photos of the damage before repairs which may help a future sale.
I have heard some insures wont insure Cat vehicles though not had a problem myself, nor was a VOSA inspection required
:have fun:
 
CAT D or CAT C

Having got involved in these types of vehicle in the last year some actual facts.
1. You do not need to have the vehicle inspected using VIC system. It stopped last October.
2. A category C has to pass the MOT.
3. Insurers take differing views - Cat C vehicles will usually be valued at 25% below book price, also you are asked to pay higher excess. Cat D about 10% - also excess is higher.
4. Stigma only is that you must declare if Cat C or D when selling it, also repair expected to be by competent person. What is easy is to make a repair look good so photos are good evidence.

My wife drives a Cat C, and I have a cat D in the garden ready to go on the road. Both repaired by me in spare time.

The other problem is some insurers are just scrapping repairable vehicles as there are so many on the market, also evidence of examiners not inspecting vehicles is aplenty.

I would certainly have it repaired if it is just body parts that do not affect the main house assembly.
 
Good luck with repair, it's the option I would have taken in your position. Keep as much evidence as you can re repair for sale time, photos, engineer report, repair photos ongoing, repair bills.
 
Before you accept their offer try to negotiate a better price insurance company's first offer isn't final usually a settlement can be made more in your favor
 
I bet the repair cost was for new parts and labour etc, i bet there not allowed to just fill in and repair dents.
 
Yes the repairs were for all new parts, plus 140 hours labour @ £40.00 per hour which was £5,600 plus vat.
No wonder they wrote it off.
Ive just taken all the duck tape off i had on to hold the bumper in place and cleaned it up and to me it all looks repairable at a decent body shop for a fraction of the price.
To be fair the insurance company has offered me a good price for it and have given me the chance to buy it back deducting the scrap value price from the original offer and giving me the balance. Cant argue with that really.
Its just down to getting quotes from body shops now.
 
140 hours labour !!! wow.

Insurance engineers are not daft people, If the bodyshop was taking the mick on hours they would put it elsewhere or drive the hours down, So the engineer must have thought that reasonable.

£48 per hour inc vat seems reasonable too, unless you are capable of the work yourself, Is this an economical repair for yourself ?

Others have mentioned when you get shut , a lot of dealers wont take cat c d in px , the ones that do wont retail it again 99% of the time . They will put it auction and offer what the think it will fetch net of charges.

I am aware I sound a bit doom mongerish and not my intention to put you off..but give careful consideration

Channa
 
The repair will be for myself as we like the motorhome and its in very good condition despite its age,(1999). The damage assessor did comment on what a good vehicle it was hence the good offer.
We have no intentions of selling it on once its been repaired.
 
Guy said:
The repair will be for myself as we like the motorhome and its in very good condition despite its age,(1999). The damage assessor did comment on what a good vehicle it was hence the good offer.
We have no intentions of selling it on once its been repaired.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information,it's useful to find out how insurance companies deal with a claim like this.As you intend to keep the Hymer after it's repaired I think the insurance company have done you a favour.Hopefully the van will be restored to it's former glory and you will have a few quid in the back pocket as well.
 
Hymer 534 repair

What at first seemed like a simple body repair job is now, according to a body repair shop, looking more difficult.
The aluminium trim around the doors and door frames has been scraped and pushed slightly out of place. The body repair shop said they dont think they can repair the aluminium so may have to replace the doors and door frame trims.
This will be quite costly, running into thousands for parts only from Hymer.
I cant find any Hymers for salvage, just hoping its this one particular body shop that cant repair aluminium, i am in the process of looking for others. Going to Peter Hambiltons tomorrow for a quote.
I will put some pics on of the damage.
 
Hymer 534 damage

Here are some pics of the damage.
 

Attachments

  • BR3B5038.jpg
    BR3B5038.jpg
    143 KB · Views: 188
  • BR3B5041.jpg
    BR3B5041.jpg
    131.6 KB · Views: 204
  • BR3B5042.jpg
    BR3B5042.jpg
    136.9 KB · Views: 185
  • BR3B5046.jpg
    BR3B5046.jpg
    138.9 KB · Views: 188
  • BR3B5048.jpg
    BR3B5048.jpg
    222 KB · Views: 176
Perhaps the insurance engineer knows his job. the bodyshop too ...they are writing it off for good reason ...I am slightly baffled how people outside the industry seem to assume they know more than the people who do it day in day out.

Channa
 
There was a post

On this forum re a boat builder in Essex who may be able to do a repair eg glass fibre.

You need a very very good bodger. by that I mean an alternative repair which will look very good.
Then you can continue to use your MH with it looking very good.

I had a problem with my Wheel spats (Arch trims) but found a glass fibre fabricator who used the original to make a mould and then fix them

If you pm me with your email address I will provide pictures and other details
 
channa said:
Perhaps the insurance engineer knows his job. the bodyshop too ...they are writing it off for good reason ...I am slightly baffled how people outside the industry seem to assume they know more than the people who do it day in day out.

Channa
Click to expand...

Now its not going through the insurance for repair, the first quote i had has been reduced by £10,000. Its not that i know better than the repairers but do think that the job can be done for less than some quotes i had which this second quote proves.
 
Guy said:
Now its not going through the insurance for repair, the first quote i had has been reduced by £10,000. Its not that i know better than the repairers but do think that the job can be done for less than some quotes i had which this second quote proves.
Click to expand...
Fair enough . but quality is remembered long after the price .

Good luck

Channa
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top