And people worry about insurance write-offs...

[Deleted member 37751]

Coming to a road near you soon, it’s HPi clear...

JAGUAR XF S PORTFOLIO V6 D, SPARES OR REPAIRS, SALVAGE, CRASH DAMAGED, TRADE | eBay

Low mileage too...

 

[PobodY]

I'm actually more concerned that it suffered that kind of damage and the air bags haven't deployed. - Looks like the entire drive train has been shunted; at the very least the suspension has collapsed on the rear off-side.

 

[markjay]

I'm actually more concerned that it suffered that kind of damage and the air bags haven't deployed. - Looks like the entire drive train has been shunted; at the very least the suspension has collapsed on the rear off-side.

I can't imagine that the side airbag / curtain did not deploy.

 

[John]

OK sure, it might need a wheel alignment at Halfords but £30 odd and you are laughing... it's pretty much perfect otherwise.

Just look at those seat bolsters - no wear!

 

[DavidL]

It would be useful to actually have wheels mind..

 

[tron]

Looks to have been squeezed into armco. It may therefore have decelerated relatively slowly without tripping the sensors

 

[Deleted member 37751]

My point is that people make a lot of noise about insurance write-offs and how they’d never own one yet this could end up back on the road and a buyer could be none the wiser - especially with the low mileage that many buyers place great emphasis on - just goes to show that until you’ve seen a car in the flesh and done those checks that you never can tell..

 

[markjay]

My point is that people make a lot of noise about insurance write-offs and how they’d never own one yet this could end up back on the road and a buyer could be none the wiser - especially with the low mileage that many buyers place great emphasis on - just goes to show that until you’ve seen a car in the flesh and done those checks that you never can tell..

If it was written-off, wouldn't it have to be declared? I can't see how a future buyer won't know that the car was written-off by the insurer? If nothing else, they will find out about it's history when they try to insure it...

I think that the issue arrises when a high-value car is damaged, because the insurer will have it repaired rather than written-off and this way future buyers may never be aware of the extensive repair.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

If it was written-off, wouldn't it have to be declared? I can't see how a future buyer won't know that the car was written-off by the insurer? If nothing else, they will find out about it's history when they try to insure it...

I think that the issue arrises when a high-value car is damaged, because the insurer will have it repaired rather than written-off and this way future buyers may never be aware of the extensive repair.

A Cat D etc car won’t show up when you insure it, only if you make a claim for whatever reason.

Think my earlier post wasn’t clear - this car is HPI clear and as such, once repaired, could be up for sale with some unsuspecting buyer viewing it then driving about in it when that same buyer wouldn’t dream of normally buying a car that’s had a whack but is actually *on* the register.

 

[ringway]

I owned the 3.0 V6 - S Portfolio estate version for around 6 months and they are nice cars.
However, even a bodyshop owner would need a stout heart to get involved with the one listed above.

Do your MOT history checks and look for low mileage between tests.

I currently have a lovely A6 Avant Bi-Turbo as my daily.
I was going to buy one with a mahoosive spec in York until I checked the MOT history which revealed just 500 miles in a year.
I asked the owner why and he said he had 4 other cars and only used the A6 for taking the dogs to the park.
The car started to cover normal mileage in around January this year.

Here's the first listing for the car.
audi a6 estate bitdi quattro 2013 s line | eBay

And the second listing...
audi a6 estate bitdi quattro 2013 s line | eBay

Both lengthy listings, first starting bid £19,500 and second starting bid dropped near duration end to £17,400 but no bids.

Google the reg of this Audi and up pops an old advert on YouTube showing a mileage of 88k almost two years ago - I asked the original seller.


I recall (may have posted on here) an expensive M-B for sale in Lancs that "Little Bro had taken for a trip" and therefore not insured.
I was a real masher, but won't be on HPI because sellers "Bro" wouldn't have been insured so no contact with insurance.
There looked to be plenty of bunce to be made repairing that one.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I owned the 3.0 V6 - S Portfolio estate version for around 6 months and they are nice cars.
However, even a bodyshop owner would need a stout heart to get involved with the one listed above.

Do your MOT history checks and look for low mileage between tests.

I currently have a lovely A6 Avant Bi-Turbo as my daily.
I was going to buy one with a mahoosive spec in York until I checked the MOT history which revealed just 500 miles in a year.
I asked the owner why and he said he had 4 other cars and only used the A6 for taking the dogs to the park.
The car started to cover normal mileage in around January this year.

Here's the first listing for the car.
audi a6 estate bitdi quattro 2013 s line | eBay

And the second listing...
audi a6 estate bitdi quattro 2013 s line | eBay

Both lengthy listings, first starting bid £19,500 and second starting bid dropped near duration end to £17,400 but no bids.

Google the reg of this Audi and up pops an old advert on YouTube showing a mileage of 88k almost two years ago - I asked the original seller.


I recall (may have posted on here) an expensive M-B for sale in Lancs that "Little Bro had taken for a trip" and therefore not insured.
I was a real masher, but won't be on HPI because sellers "Bro" wouldn't have been insured so no contact with insurance.
There looked to be plenty of bunce to be made repairing that one.

Some great examples there Paul, especially the note of caution on cars with super low mileage between MOT’s.

Unless the car is a sports car that only comes out in the summer for the odd Sunday, why would “normal” cars have such low miles?

 

[ringway]

I really wanted that A6 with the Pano roof - carp colour interior bot I could have changed that.
The guy answered my calls/texts, but when I asked about the mileage, he made excuses about being busy for viewing and stopped replying with the car unsold.

Another MOT thing to watch is a long gap, say 15-16 months.
Yes, we can all forget, but a gap like that signifies being off the road for repair after a smash or other problem near the end of an MOT period.

 

[gaz_l]

My old boss decided he would do some track days in his 911 GT3 - and why not, great car to take to the circuit. Anyway, fairly early on in his track career he took it to Goodwood and ran out of talent half way round a corner. Ended up reversing it into the tyre wall at about 40MPH, causing £15K of damage in the process. Ouch.

Now he had insurance (strangely enough, the last time he was offered it at anything like sensible money) and the car was fixed. But, he said it never drove 100% after that and he ended up part exing it against a new one.

Some time afterwards, he was contacted by the new owner (back in the day when the previous owner's details were listed on the V5), wanting to find out more about the car's history. Having spent his life savings on the car, he wasn't best pleased to find out it had been heavily stuffed. But the car had never been recorded as damaged, so there was little he could do. My boss told me that even if the car had been an economic write off and subsequently repaired, it wouldn't have been listed on HPI as the damage happened off the highway and was covered by the track day policy not his regular insurance.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[John]

Just demonstrates even these days, the used car market is an absolute minefield of cockpiggery.

I knew of a written off Astra GTE which was stuffed on a u-ey and the chassis was bent and required a lot of repairs.

Was never recorded on insurance (3PFT) and got repaired and put back on the road.

I even know of people buying crash-damaged cars and them being taken abroad to East Europe to be repaired on the cheap and brought back over to be sold for a profit.

I guess even with an HPI-type check, if nothing is recorded, I guess they are not liable for compensation as per their guarantee.