Insurance question

[parky]

I've just had a prang with my GTS totally my fault bike leapt forward when putting it on it's stand and smacked into my mates GTS which is brand new only done 200 miles. The repairers have quoted a repair to him of £4,100 which seems ludicrously exhorbitant as damage is only cosmetic to panels and a broken clutch lever. As of yet I have not received the estimate for my scoot which I value at about £2,500. Damage to my scoot is mostly superficial a few light scratches and damage to leg shield trim
My question is, if the repairers come back to my insurance company with a figure they deem to be unacceptable and therefore want to write my scoot off and offer me a payment, do I have to accept it? or can I just have my scoot returned to me without payment as the damage is so small I can live with it.

Any advice would be appreciated as this is all new to me.

[Burnside]

If written off I would advise to never accept 1st offer from the insurance company, they will go in low. You will need to provide evidence of why you think you should get more, i.e. for sale ads of same scooter in similar condition, etc. on the basis of it will cost you that much to replace.

How can a repairer justify over £4k for bodywork damage and a broken clutch? At the price it would be a write-off as well

[gaz_powell]

Can't you sort it out between yourselves and a Vespa friendly body shop not the rip off merchants who the insurers use.

[parky]

I have just received the estimate for repair for my GTS which the Piaggio dealer says would be just over £2100 and have deemed it a category B write off. In my opinion this is just ludicrous as as far as I could see all it needed was a repaint of left hand upper and lower panel and some new leg shield trims. The quote I have received appears to have completely ignored the things I asked them to look at and included just about everything you can think of including numerous parts that had absolutely no bearing on the accident damage.
I have spoken to my insurance company who have agreed to get a second opinion. However my question is who actually decides if it is a cat b write off? Is it the insurance company or the insurance assessor who has the final say, and if I disagree can I challenge the decision as I would happily have the scoot back and use it as it is with no problem or is the decision now completely out of my hands.

[Burnside]

It would be the insurance company, they would deem any repair costs of more than 60% of vehicle value to be uneconomical to repair. Currently you are valuing your GTS at £2500 and the repair cost is £2100, so that would automatically fall into the insurance write-off category. Ideally you need to be looking for a quote of less than £1300 to avoid it being written off.