I am saddened at reading your experience. In hindsight, as Mattp states, he'd "like to think that if (he) was in your boat, the insurance company would be forced to find a similar car to replace with, as opposed to just handing over a pitiful wad of cash" this situation can be avoided by having an Agreed Valuation Policy. But that is not the case in this instance. As the fault was third party, have you considered legal advice to sue the third party for damages and repairs? I don't know what assets the third party has of course but there might be parents/siblings that may chip in to help pay any damages and costs awarded if successful by you. Option C looks the best of a range of bad options as it avoids Cat D/N status. But the repairs may be extensive or they may be covered by the cash in lieu settlement. Hope you get it sorted.
Well British Transport Police took my statement today. They are charging the other driver with leaving the scene of an accident etc.
The other driver is, unfortunately, currently serving a prison sentence for multiple theft, police assault etc. I very much doubt he has assets. They plan to arrest him literally as he leaves the prison in a few weeks.
BTP don't think he had insurance.
So it will probably be back with Aviva. Which is a pity because I'd love to keep it all off my record and negotiate a sweet deal with the 3rd party insurer.
Good news is the repairs can probably be done for under £2,000 with a good indie bodyworker. Headlight was just the fitting and can be plastic welded.
I'm going to come out ahead on this in all likelihood.
Even at a the measly PAV of £10,000 (that Aviva have already internally discussed) less £3,000 salvage buy back and £2,000 repairs... Do the math.
Gives me a nice repair fund - and I need it more than half of it for the clutch.
If we can do a cash-in-lieu deal (which Aviva where openly happy to discuss) then it will keep the Cat D/Cat N off the car's history.
