Help needed; insurance claim after crashing 480

[douwe480]

Hello guys,

As some of you already might have heard or seen on the Facebook 480 UK page, while on holiday in England I unfortunately got in a car accident with my Dutch registered 480. It is a complete write-off, the whole chassis is bent. 'Luckily' it wasn't my fault since I got rear ended, but as you of all people understand is that I am at great loss, losing a lot of money and effort I put into the car as well as the great experiences I had. I am just hoping to get a fair amount of money back from the insurance so I can buy another 480, and cover all of the extra expenses to get home.

My insurer is unfortunately not helping me out with claiming the other insurer because it is not in my policy. I know; that is stupid of myself, to cheap out on insurance. That is why I made this post; I am hoping that somebody on the forum has experience with the way claiming works in the UK, or maybe knows somebody in the law world who might be able to help me out. I already have a draft for a letter that officially holds the other insurer liable, but I still have a couple of questions.

Right now, the car with all of our camping gear and other stuff is still in a depot in Midhurst, costing money every day it is there. I want to bring it to the Netherlands as quickly as possible to keep those costs down, and to use the parts for a next car.

My question is; how does this usually work? Will the other insurer want their own expert to look at the car in the UK, and do they usually take ownership of the car when I receive compensation? Or can I just make the call to ship the car home this week and then put in my letter?

Thanks!

[Alan 480]

Try Mr H, might be able to point you in the correct direction, sounds like a 'nightmare'

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[jifflemon]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I doubt you'll ever get your car back.

They should allow you collect personal effects from the vehicle, but the car itself? no.

I'm surprised your insurance isn't taking action - You were driven into, it's a fairly open and shut case.

What would "normally" happen in the uk is:

Insurance company would immediately seek to get you into a hire car. Would have your vehcile assessed and repair costs estimated.
If the value of the repairs exceeds 40% of the cars current value, the vehicle is written off. They pay its insured value, and retain the vehicle.
Finally all your incurred expenses (hire car, personal injury etc) would be claimed from the other parties insurance.

[douwe480]

Try Mr H, might be able to point you in the correct direction, sounds like a 'nightmare'

It is an absolute nightmare. Thanks - I have contacted him.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I doubt you'll ever get your car back.

I understand - that is also what makes it difficult obviously. It is a Dutch registration, it seems to me that it is quite difficult to scrap it in the UK because of the registration. They will have to prove to the Dutch government it has in fact been scrapped.

Isn't it usually possible to negotiate buying the car back from the insurer?

[edie_fox]

Yes, I don’t think you will be able to retain the ‘salvage’ (written off vehicle) unless that’s part of your policy. Here, especially on classic policies, it would be something you’d pay extra for and only certain insurers would probably offer it.

Did you get travel insurance? This should help you with accommodation and transport at least.

As Jeff mentioned, do check out your own policy to see if they offer a hire car/legal etc.

Did you have breakdown cover? This could also potentially support you to get home.

Hope you are both ok. So sorry you lost your car

[dragonflyjewels]

Rotten news about the car, but at least no-one was hurt.

Some years ago our 940 estate was rammed up the rear which did far more damage to the culprit than the Volvo. Even so, the broken bracket on the rear bumper was enough to write it off. When they rang to tell me I asked about buying the car back and they were fine about it. It wasn't anything in my policy as the other guy's insurance was paying for it. I'm guessing it's the cheapest option for them. Being a Dutch car I rather doubt the insurers will want the headache of the paperwork. Will your own insurers handle the claim for you ?

It will leave you with the expense of transport back though unless, as Edie said, you had breakdown cover.

[Martin63]

Glad you and Wyan are ok Douwe and veel succes with finding your next 480 at a sensible price. I know they go for pretty crazy money in NL and DE these days.

There have been some great suggestions here already. Hopefully your insurance company will be fair and will also not want to get too involved in a potentially very complex administrative and legal minefield.

They may be prepared to do some kind of a deal with you - the car is definitely going to be worth more as a parts car in the Netherlands than in the UK. But they probably don't know that ..... and they might just want to cut their losses and close the door on a complex claim.

Fingers crossed!

[douwe480]

Hey guys!

I got in touch with Ben who was very nice and helpful to me. As some of you also said; they probably want to assess it while it is still in the UK.

Today, my insurance company agreed to bring the car home. They only wanted to do that if the transportation costs are lower than the value of the car, so I am really happy they went through with it.

Then, I got in touch with the Dutch representative of the other insurance company. The great news is that they told me that they will assess the car when it is back in the Netherlands. I am relieved that I can just bring it home, get my stuff out of it and then get the assessment done by a Dutch company, instead of having to keep storing it in the UK.

Thank you all for your kind words and great advice. It really means a lot to get so much support from the 480 community. Will definitely see you all at the 2026 meeting in another 480!

[MisterH]

Hey guys!

I got in touch with Ben who was very nice and helpful to me. As some of you also said; they probably want to assess it while it is still in the UK.

Today, my insurance company agreed to bring the car home. They only wanted to do that if the transportation costs are lower than the value of the car, so I am really happy they went through with it.

Then, I got in touch with the Dutch representative of the other insurance company. The great news is that they told me that they will assess the car when it is back in the Netherlands. I am relieved that I can just bring it home, get my stuff out of it and then get the assessment done by a Dutch company, instead of having to keep storing it in the UK.

Thank you all for your kind words and great advice. It really means a lot to get so much support from the 480 community. Will definitely see you all at the 2026 meeting in another 480!

Was a pleasure to help out and as I said earlier, hope we can meet in '26!

[Martin63]

Hey guys!

I got in touch with Ben who was very nice and helpful to me. As some of you also said; they probably want to assess it while it is still in the UK.

Today, my insurance company agreed to bring the car home. They only wanted to do that if the transportation costs are lower than the value of the car, so I am really happy they went through with it.

Then, I got in touch with the Dutch representative of the other insurance company. The great news is that they told me that they will assess the car when it is back in the Netherlands. I am relieved that I can just bring it home, get my stuff out of it and then get the assessment done by a Dutch company, instead of having to keep storing it in the UK.

Thank you all for your kind words and great advice. It really means a lot to get so much support from the 480 community. Will definitely see you all at the 2026 meeting in another 480!

Was a pleasure to help out and as I said earlier, hope we can meet in '26!

At this rate Ben you are going to become the 480 insurance expert

[douwe480]

Hello all! I just wanted to provide you with an update after the call for help. I just wanted to share how this went, for anyone who might be in the same situation. Spoiler alert; it turned out fine.

First, my insurer agreed to take the car back to the Netherlands, so it got delivered to my storage unit 2 weeks ago. I got all my stuff that was left in the car, and except for the crash damaged things, all in good shape. I was afraid that water/rain might have been able to get in the car, but that wasn't really the case. It helps that it is summer of course.

A few days before the car was delivered, I sent an official claim letter via e-mail to a Dutch law firm that represents the insurer of the other party for foreign claims. A few days later I got a call that an damage expert was coming to take a look at the car at my storage unit. It was a really nice guy, with actual interest for older cars. Instead of him looking around and then deciding what it was worth by himself, he really asked for my input, what I thought it was worth and why. Thanks to a taxation report of a similar car and my Instagram page where I kept a log of all the things I did, he was able to put up a really fair amount. So not the 500 euro's of remaining value I was afraid of, but actually the market value of the car. Let's say it is enough money to finance my new 480 with some change for maintenance. I am going to keep my blue 480 for parts.

All in all, everything turned out better than I hoped. The car is back, I get a fair amount of money, and a very valuable life lesson. The first few days were horrific, but looking back, there are way worse things that happen to us in life. Shit happens, but we don't have any injuries and in the end I bought myself an even better 480 that is going to last me a lifetime (hopefully!).

Thanks again for all the comments and support!

[Martin63]

Great to hear that it worked out well in the end Douwe. A horrible experience but at least you have been able to rapidly buy a very nice replacement 480 very quickly.

It was great to meet you both, albeit under pretty awful circumstances at the time.