EM51 AAM - be careful if offered it

[Cruiser459]

After a driver pulled into the side of us in mid Dec and did minor damage to the rear wheel arch of our 2001 RX the insurance company said they'd treat it as a total loss as obviously the cost of repair to them was uneconomical. Not impressed we left it until a week ago before finding out what the numbers would be if we did write it off "out of interest"

To our amazement they immediately offered us close to what we paid for it three years ago, and with a big bill looming (exhaust, major brake overhaul, rears inside and out plus abs rings) it became a bit of a no brainer. 

As a second car it was a luxury - even at 120k and 15 years old it was superb but we always said it couldn't justify a large expenditure and so the insurers offer was just too good to turn down.

I guess our concern is that the bodywork will be repaired and someone will buy it without knowing the mechanical work needed and find themselves landed with a big bill on what seems to be a bargain. 

 

 

 

 

 

[katabrontes]

A helpful warning.  I hope the current owners don't see it as they may re-register it with a different number.

[Cruiser459]

It was originally AJ51 MJE - we changed it to EM51 AAM.

It's potentially a lovely car but needs a serious spend before the next MOT in 5/16

[rayaans]

Id assume if its been written off it'll be flagged up as Cat C or D anyway?

[Parrot of Doom]

The insurance company may write it off but that's a bureaucratic measure only.  There's nothing to keep anyone from buying it from the insurance company, fixing the faults, and putting it back on the road.

[rayaans]

26 minutes ago, Parrot of Doom said:

The insurance company may write it off but that's a bureaucratic measure only.  There's nothing to keep anyone from buying it from the insurance company, fixing the faults, and putting it back on the road.

Yes but it'll be labelled as a Cat D or C which will be on the V5 so they'll know what they're buying

[Cruiser459]

I know that - I was just trying to maybe help someone as visually the car will look fine but has a number of issues that wont be obvious on a test drive. If the bills were likely to have been reasonable we wouldn't have let it go. It will be cat c