When I bought my first car, I went big straight away, and having learned to drive on relatively compact vehicles, parking was a bit of a challenge. Especially as I had the smallest parking space in the world. Ok, maybe it is a bit much, but really, it was super small. So many times during the few months I owned the car, I made a little bump in the back by hitting the columns of the parking space. Every time, I thought “oh great, the car value has just dropped by £100”. It may be exaggerating a bit, but what if a bigger fender bender happens? What is your car worth? What do you do with it?
In the UK, the hourly rate of garage labour is generally above £80. So my estimate of losing £100 was not so crazy, as they usually charge you by the hour to fix your car. For a bigger damage, the bill can go up quickly. So not you are faced with several options for your car:
1. You can see how much your insurance would give you for it. Normally, you would have to pay the excess, which can be anywhere from nothing to £1,000 and up, and then if the vehicle is in such a bad shape it can’t be fixed up, even if you have coverage like Youi car insurance, the company will just leave it where you have it, and you are now the proud owner of a heavy piece of metal.
2. You can get a damaged car valuation to know how much your car is worth as is, and compare that quote with the cost of fixing it up. If the insurance offered you a very small check to help with the repairs, or if your premium would go up drastically for cashing the check, and you prefer to take matters in your own hands, that is a good option.
3. You can try to dismantle the car yourself and sell it for parts. Especially if your car is a bit old but has a few parts in good shapes, you can try to sell them on Ebay or Gumtree. I have been on the lookout for used parts for my cars here and there, and they are always sold at a high premium by the original manufacturer, so buying second hand parts is an affordable option. Still, you can command a pretty good price as your product is rare and in demand. That is if you have a quite popular model and make of car, otherwise it may be a bit more complicated to sell the parts.
4. You can try to fix it up yourself, or with another garage. Garages who work with insurances often get a bad rap for pushing up prices for insurance companies. So how about you go around a bit and get more quotes? It is possible that, once you discount your deductible and add your potential premium raise for next year, you would be better off having the car fixed privately. Also, there are lots of tutorials online on how to perform car maintenance and repairs, so you may be able to do the simpler fixes on your own and save a little more there.
Almost all dealerships around here will take any damaged vehicle and give you a minimum of $1,000 towards a new one!
Here in the US, you can donate a car and get a tax deduction. Of course, scrap is pretty good price too. But if you can get it to run, even better.
It depends on the damaged of the car. If it is okay to fix then I’ll fix it but if it is totally damaged then I will sell the parts so that I can make money out of it. Thanks for sharing this article.
My grand father brought his old and classic car to car repair shop who did some renovation and tricks. He paid so much money but he was able to make more when he sold it online with my help. Collectors are willing to pay more just to have this type of car.
There are a lot of charities that will take old cars even if they’re not running. It’s a decent way to get a tax break if the car is not worth fixing.
I didn’t know about Gumtree. Thanks for sharing!
I usually taking my personal mechanic to check used car before buy it and check certain condition of the car being sell. A smell test from interior also important and had to ask the history of the car from who used it, where and when also checking the tachometer how long and distances the car being used.