Vehicle collisions of any kind are never pleasant, and even the smallest of accidents can often leave a car with significant damage. Research has shown that being hit by another vehicle from behind is one of the most common types of collisions, along with accidents at busy junctions and roundabouts.
With thousands of traffic accidents taking place throughout the UK every single year, the questions of whether to seek car body repair in Nottingham, leave the vehicle as it is, or try and sell it, are ones that are frequently raised.
If you’ve recently been involved in a collision that left your car with damage to its bodywork, here’s how to determine whether you should get it professionally repaired, along with what steps to take in the immediate aftermath of a collision:
Who should you tell following a collision?
Whether you want to make a claim or not, you should always make contacting your insurer one of the first things you do following a collision in your car. It’s worth remembering that the driver of the other car could easily put a claim in against you, but by telling your insurer exactly what happened according to you, you can get your story across before they do.
Once you’ve done this, you should be able to rely on your insurer to go ahead and take care of the claim on your behalf.
If the driver of the other vehicle collided with you and drove away, it would be worth calling the police to report the incident, and of course, if anyone has been hurt, you should be straight on the phone to emergency services.
How do you know whether bodywork damage is worth repairing?
Once you’ve informed your insurer of the collision, they will take steps to assess your cars’ value and look closely at the extent of the damage. If they advise you to have accident repair work carried out, you should pay for the cost yourself if the work is going to cost less than your insurance excess. Should the repair work be valued higher than that of your car, it will likely be written off and you will receive a settlement from your insurer for it. If you wish, you can buy the car ‘back,’ and have the repairs carried out yourself.
If your insurer won’t pay out for repairs, however, deciding whether to pay for the repairs yourself may depend on any one of the following factors:
- Whether you have some sort of sentimental connection to the vehicle
- If you really need a car to get around, and repairing it would cost less than it would to buy a new car
- You might fully restore and upgrade the car and make money selling it
What should you do once your cars’ bodywork has been repaired?
Your insurance company should still know about the repairs made to your car, even if you footed the bill yourself, as failure to do so can make your insurance policy invalid, meaning that in the event of a major accident, you simply won’t be covered.
Once the repairs have been carried out, be sure to get a formal receipt of the work, with any applicable warranties included.
Whether to have your cars’ damaged bodywork repaired following a collision or not, is almost always a decision for you to make, and you alone. But, by taking note of the information above, you can at least make a decision based upon all contributing factors, and should you decide to have your car repaired, be sure to find an experienced mechanic who will carry out the work in good faith.
