Scrapping your vehicle and insurance write-offs

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Insurance write-offs

When you make an insurance claim because your vehicle is damaged, your insurance company will tell you:

  • if your vehicle is being ‘written off’
  • how much they’ll pay you

When your vehicle is written off, your insurance company pays you the current value of the vehicle, instead of the cost of repairing it.

Your insurance company will decide if the vehicle should be written off or not.

Write-off categories

What you do next depends on which category your vehicle is in.

Category Repairing the vehicle Using the vehicle
A Cannot be repaired Entire vehicle has to be crushed
B Cannot be repaired Body shell has to be crushed, but you can salvage other parts from it
C Can be repaired, but it would cost more than the vehicle’s worth You can use the vehicle again if it’s repaired to a roadworthy condition
D Can be repaired and would cost less than the vehicle’s worth, but other costs (such as transporting your vehicle) take it over the vehicle’s value You can use the vehicle again if it’s repaired to a roadworthy condition
N Can be repaired following non-structural damage You can use the vehicle again if it’s repaired to a roadworthy condition
S Can be repaired following structural damage You can use the vehicle again if it’s repaired to a roadworthy condition

What you need to do

Your insurance company will usually deal with getting the vehicle scrapped for you. You need to follow these steps.

  1. Apply to take the registration number off the vehicle if you want to keep it.

  2. Send the vehicle log book (V5C) to your insurance company, but keep the yellow ‘sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade’ section from it.

  3. Tell DVLA your vehicle has been written off.

You can be fined £1,000 if you do not tell DVLA.

Keeping the vehicle

If you want to keep a vehicle in category C, D, N or S, the insurance company will give you an insurance payout and sell the vehicle back to you.

To keep a category C or S vehicle, you also need to:

  • send the complete log book to your insurance company
  • apply for a free duplicate log book using form V62

DVLA will record the vehicle’s category in the log book.

You can keep the log book if you want to keep a category D or N vehicle.