Although some insurers specifically refuse to insure any vehicle that has previously been ‘witten off’ by an insurer, generally it’s fairly easy to obtain insurance, even with many of the ‘mainstream’ insurers such as Admiral.

Insurance companies however, typically value salvage cars at approximately 20% less than their clean counterparts. This valuation reflects the perceived risk and potential costs associated with repairing an ‘already-repaired’ vehicle.

Sometimes the insurer may charge a slightly increased premium for the car being previously written off, but often the premium is the same as a regular clean’ car. In the event of another total-loss claim, the insurer will usually make a 20% ‘adjustment’ to your payout amount to reflect the drop in value for the car being salvage-repaired.

In some cases, insurers may allow policyholders to buy back the salvaged car and repair it themselves. However, it’s essential to check with the insurer regarding their salvage retention policy. It’s also worth considering the headache of selling the car later if it’s effectiveley been written off, twice.

Another thing to consider when insuring a salvage repaired vehicle is the MOT. Prior to october 2015, a Category C (not known as Category S) write-off had to be VIC (Vehicle Identity Check) inspected before it could back on the road. The VIC scheme was introduced by Government in 2003 following prolonged problems with car crime in the UK during the 1990s. It was aimed at the salvage deemed to be at greatest risk of being involved in ‘ringing’ – category. Legislation required insurers to destroy the V5 registration document and a new V5 would only be issued by DVLA once the salvage had undergone a physical inspection, to check the identity of the vehicle, at a Government premises.  Until a VIC was performed, the vehicle couldn’t be taxed or used on the road.

The VIC scheme was scrapped in October 2015 which was great news for salvage dealers, but the vehicle needs to pass an MOT before it can go back on the road. This applies to CAT S (structural damage) vehicles regardless of the remaining MOT. For example, if the car still has 11 months MOT remaining, this is effectiveley voided once the car had been declared a CAT S. Although the car will still show that the MOT is valid, your insurer could refuse to payout on the car if you needed to make a claim and they discover that the car was never re-MOT’d before it went back on the road.

The MOT requirement above doesn’t apply to CAT N (non-structural) cars.