{"id":4148,"date":"2020-03-06T20:57:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T20:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carexamer.com\/blog\/?p=4148"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:43:11","slug":"what-is-insurance-write-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carexamer.com\/blog\/what-is-insurance-write-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurance Write offs & What to do With Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Answering what is a insurance write off takes more than just a simple answer, and it’s not always the end of your car’s story either. Here’s what we know Cars are complicated at the best of times. They are engineering and mechanical marvels, but one of their biggest flaws as a result of that is how much can go wrong. Worse still is how much that can cost. When you insure your car and the worst happens, in many cases, the cost to fix your car is just too much to justify. That’s when it’s time to look at insurance write-offs, and what is a write off, more specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, this is something you never really need to learn\nabout completely. It\u2019s more of a blanket term that can mean a lot of things,\nand in an ideal world, it\u2019s all stuff that will never happen. To help give you\nthe peace of mind it has or ever does, however, we\u2019re here to answer the\nquestion of what is a write off, and what does it really mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Write off?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start by going from the top. The very basics of what a\nwrite off is comes from your insurance company. The idea is that when you have\nan accident, no matter who is at fault, in many cases, it can be an expensive\njob to put right. Different things can happen to your car after all. Whatever\nit is, a car can be a write off for any reason, and it all comes down to cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s all when and good but keeping it to the very minimum\nof what is a write off, it comes down to this. A write off is a car with enough\ndamage to mean it is not worth the cost to repair and make road legal in the\neyes of the insurer. That\u2019s it in a nutshell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What classes as a Write Off?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve already touched on what a write off is, but it\u2019s also\ntime to what can actually happen in the process. A write off can happen for a load\nof different reasons, after all, ranging from the tiny things that are too complex\nthrough to the massive that are near the impossible. It\u2019s a broad spectrum.\nThat can include anything like a crash damaging your bodywork all the way\nthrough to even having serious engine issues that happen naturally over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an issue to be big enough to actually be classed as a write off in the first place, there are some rough guidelines you can use. It generally refers to anything that is going to reach close to 75% of the car’s value. That\u2019s the current value of the car, and not when it was new. That means of course that a small run around from 20 years ago many be a write off even at a few hundred pounds, whereas a supercar may be at a few million. It\u2019s a bit of a grey area and it all comes down to a percentage figure. You may be able to buy a new car for the cost of repairing the old one. What can happen when poor parts are used.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Happens to the Car?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, but a write off isn\u2019t actually always the end of the story for your car. It\u2019s odd to think since it was deemed too expensive by insurers, but actually, if there is enough of a reason for an external party to buy the car. It can be saved. It depends of course on how bad; we can\u2019t stress that enough. When this does happen, that\u2019s when different insurance categories are applied to cars. To make the car road legal again, when a write off is repaired, it is allocated to an insurance category. That is CAT A, B, C or D, also known as CAT S & N. all of these have different meanings, and that’s because they all vary in how big the issue was. We have a separate article all about that here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when you write off a car?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we need to talk about what happens to you if it ever does happen. You\u2019re the one who is losing your car after all, and that’s a huge thing to go through. It could even have been a life-threatening experience if not just a sad way to part with your car. Scrapp cars<\/a>. If it ever does happen, it does come down a lot to if the fault was yours, someone else\u2019s, or just a part of general wear and tear. There\u2019s no one answer, but typically, you should get a cash payout to put toward a new car after due inspection has taken place to prevent fraud. Sadly, that can take a serious amount of time. Brace yourself. If it wasn\u2019t your fault, then you should see that in a matter of weeks. If it was, it may be open to interpretation, affect your no claims bonus, and even mean you lose the pay-out. That\u2019s in extreme cases though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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