Morris Minor Owners Club

I notice FJ insurance mention "Salvage retention available, subject to categorisation" in their blurb now. Does anybody know what the subject to categorisation bit means? I take it salvage retention available means it isn't automatically part of the policy.

Contact Dave@FJ directly as he'll be the best person to advise on specifics.

Will do, thanks Louise. Just wondered if anyone had any experiences of it....

And do please let us all know.....

Yup ,, and we all know what to do, ,, choose with your wallet
my insurance company ,,,,,,, if it can't be repaired economically,,,,,, will pay out the agreed valuation,,,, AND,,,,,, return the car to me ,,, with no fee charged for its return,, for me to do with as i please parts etc

Will do chaps...

Vehicle salvage is subject to categorisation depending on the severity of the damage. Category D (the least damage) and Category C vehicles can be retained by the owner to be repaired and returned to the road. Category B vehicles can only be broken for spares (normally by a licensed waste carrier) and Category A vehicles would be fit for scrap only as it would be deemed to have no serviceable parts remaining. This would normally be the case if the vehicle was destroyed by fire for example.

The same conditions would apply to all insurers. The ABI guide to salvage categorisation can be found using the link below

https://www.abi.org.uk/~/media/Files/Do ... lvage.ashx

Best regards

Dave

From personal experience. Three years ago our '71 traveller was hit hard and fast by a Mercedes from behind and pushed into the car infront. I was (and still am) insuranced through the club scheme with Footman James. I was declared at no fault and the car was classed as a category B write-off. The agreed value was paid with few problems, with a small optional deduction made for me to salvage parts. I cannot remember the exact charge at the moment, but it was a lot less than the cost of the disc brake kit that I transfered to our latest minor. Once I had gutted the car Footman James arranged to have the body shell taken and destroyed (this was about seven months later).

The one big thing in my favour, was that I had possession of the car from the start of the process. The police had wanted to arrange their recovery contractor to take the car, as it was blocking a main road. But some very keen firemen lifted the car on to the verge, and the police agreed to let me arrange recovery myself later. If the car had gone to the police's contractors yard, who would charge storage, the insurers would of wanted to save money and destroy it totally as soon as possible.

If I had not been in control of the wreck, I think the whole parts salvage process would of been very difficult.
So all in all, the process worked as well as I could expect. I was most satisfied with the service I got from FJ.

All the best.
Andrew
Ps - that was the best Minor I have ever owned and it is very missed.

Sorry to hear of you lost Minor Andrew and thanks for the info Dave@FJ.
So is the salvage retention standard? How is the catB decisions decided then as you say they "can only be broken for spares (normally by a licensed waste carrier)" There would probably be lots of bits I would want to take off. Did you get my PM about NCB?
Ta.

M25VAN wrote:Sorry to hear of you lost Minor Andrew and thanks for the info Dave@FJ.
So is the salvage retention standard? How is the catB decisions decided then as you say they "can only be broken for spares (normally by a licensed waste carrier)" There would probably be lots of bits I would want to take off. Did you get my PM about NCB?
Ta.

Sorry Steve, I only answered half the question.

The option to retain salvage is standard on all our classic policies subject to category. There is usually a nominal fee based on a percentage of the vehicle's pre-accident value. The decision would be taken by an insurance assessor as to the level of damage, they will take a number of factors into consideration and you would expect that a classic would be viewed differently to a modern eurobox.

Classic insurance policies rarely accrue no claims bonus although modern vehicle insurers will often take into consideration the number of years that you have been claim free - driving a classic or company car for example. we would be happy to provide you with a letter stating the number of years you have been insured with us without a claim. You might be better phoning a decent modern car insurance broker rather than comparing meerkats so that your claim free driving years would be taken into consideration. I've just completed a very similar exercise after opting out of a company car scheme for the first time in nearly 20 years. I don't have any no claims bonus but Tesco (underwritten by Ageas) offered the equivalent discount on the basis that I could evidence claim free driving. I insured a modern Saab with them including business use up to 20k miles for a few pence over £400

Thanks for the reply. That seems to be in line with what I have been quoted elsewhere this morning.
One last question (honest ), when towing a trailer or caravan (small folding type like a trailer tent) is it correct that my van's cover would drop to third party cover only (from fully comp.)? I was told this when I asked for clarification and thought it odd that by adding a trailer I would lose my comprehensive and fire & theft cover on the van. I can understand the trailer etc. not being covered and although I rarely tow I would want a proper level of cover when I do.
Hopefully these queries will help others.
Thanks again.

I've never heard of that one! Cover for the trailer itself would only be on a third party basis, so if you clipped someone with the trailer for example you would be covered for the damage caused to the other vehicle but not any damage caused to the trailer itself. I don't understand how the cover for the towing vehicle can vary depending on whether it's towing or not. I'd wonder what other caveats they would include whereby cover is reduced.

Might be worth phoning and asking the same question, maybe the operator got confused and though the 'van' being referred to meant a caravan rather than the actual insured vehicle.

Just to clarify Dave, these questions relate to renewal of my current policy with FJ. I think the wording of the reply I had when querying with FJ about tow cover got lost a bit in translation. I had asked if I was covered to tow a trailer and a caravan (obviously not at the same time. ). I was told that I was "covered for towing purposes on a third party only basis the item you are towing is not covered." I took that to mean morris minor van covered at third party level and the item the trailer/caravan.

M25VAN wrote:Just to clarify Dave, these questions relate to renewal of my current policy with FJ. I think the wording of the reply I had when querying with FJ about tow cover got lost a bit in translation. I had asked if I was covered to tow a trailer and a caravan (obviously not at the same time. ). I was told that I was "covered for towing purposes on a third party only basis the item you are towing is not covered." I took that to mean morris minor van covered at third party level and the item the trailer/caravan.

If you can PM me your full name and postcode i'll pick this up when I'm back in the office tomorrow. If you can include a contact number i'll give you a call once i've got to the bottom of it. It's a new one on me!

Will do, thanks Dave.

As said above the key is keep possesion of the wreck, while you have the car you have control of the situation, until you agree to a settlement the car is yours and you can do what you like with it.

I had my landrover hit while parked, direct line the third parties insurers were messing me around talking about approved repairers and how I had to follow their process etc, after a couple of weeks, I sent them the bill including my labour, (£900) and stated I would be hiring the closest vehicle I could (a defender at £200 per day) from the following weekend until they settled, cheque arrived in a couple of days.

If I didn't have the car this would have been more difficult.

Hi Steve

Thanks for your message

I've checked your query and can confirm my initial thoughts.

Cover would not be reduced for the insured vehicle whilst towing a trailer. Cover would be extended to cover the trailer on a third party only basis whilst it is attached to the insured vehicle.

Best regards

Dave

That's great, thanks for clearing up those points Dave an everybody else's comments. Now I just need to find a folding caravan.