My Van is Cat S. My wife's car is too.
But it was me driving when the little scrote pulled across in front of me and wrote it off.
That was July 2023.
Insurance (with Howdens/A-Plan) no different.
But. I know what happened. If I didn't then I would want to be very sure it was thoroughly checked over by a competent person and try to find how it happened.
I also have a Cat S VW Touran! Saw the Transit slowly reverse into it and crease the front wing. As it was 19 years old it was written off.
Got paid £1300 after buying the salvage for £300. Got a pre-painted new pattern wing for £150 and paid Dan the Man £300 to fit it.
But. Again - I saw it happen in 2025.
Cat s is structural damage and or suspension damage so a dent only in a wing isn’t cat s
That's what I said to the insurance company. They insisted it was because it was a significant dent and 'might' have caused damage to the inner wing and/or suspension (it didn't but I didn't definitely know until the wing came off) the value of damage exceeded the value to repair.
It’s very easy to assess if the inner wing and chassis leg are damaged by simply lifting the bonnet and taking a look the crumple zones will clearly be damaged, to check quickly and simply if there is suspension damage just measure the wheel centres both sides of the car that will show up anything untoward in a couple of muinits , I was a sprayer / panel beater years ago and we used to do the assessments for several insurance companies
Because in insurance terms it wasn't worth their effort with a payout of around £1000. So they asked me to take photos for them to assess from.
Initially they even said the front wheel was damaged. It wasn't touched in the prang at all.
They insisted on writing it off and it being categorised Cat S. At the end of the day it's a 20 year old car.
Just gone through its MOT and going well.
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