[mayankk]

Oh man! That's such a bad way to lose a trusted companion! Really sorry about this, and I can understand how much that must have hurt. I felt bad when I sold mine, can only imagine how much worse this just have felt.

[vnabhi]

Thank you friends, for all your words of sympathy. Really helps in troubled times!

I got a call from Reliance General Insurance Hyderabad office today, and I was informed that they have the approval for declaring the car as a total loss. I have been given two options:-

1. They will give me a letter, on the basis of which I have to apply for RC cancellation. After that is done, they will give me the full IDV. They might give me an advance for the meantime, roughly 35% of the IDV

1. They will get quotations from scrap dealers. Whoever gives the highest, I can choose to get paid the amount quoted by them. Assuming it is around 30 to 50K, the rest of the IDV will be paid by Reliance General Insurance

I believe option 1 is time-taking, as the RTO normally takes 2 months or more for cancelling the RC. I am tempted for option 2, but am not aware of the pitfalls. I was told that once I accept the scrap bid, I will get the balance amount from Reliance General Insurance in a couple of days.

Would greatly appreciate your inputs.

[hserus]

If you take option 2 they will patch your car up and sell it to some poor soul as a superb bhpian owned pocket rocket. And they might not even change the car to their own name - if after that there’s an accident or something the cops may land at your door.

Get the rc cancelled - it takes time but not like a 13 year old car has much idv so wait for it.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by hserus

If you take option 2 they will patch your car up and sell it to some poor soul as a superb bhpian owned pocket rocket. And they might not even change the car to their own name - if after that there’s an accident or something the cops may land at your door.

Get the rc cancelled - it takes time but not like a 13 year old car has much idv so wait for it.

Thanks. The IDV is 2.79 lakhs. I am skeptical of how long the RTA will take, considering that 100s of cars have got damaged by the deluge in Hyderabad.

This apart, who will remove the car after the RC is cancelled?


Further, how can they repair a car that was under 10 feet of water for a week? Even if they do, they might not get the price of repairs if they sell it. The repair was estimated for be 5 lakhs by Ford.

Had the flooding not happened, the market value was below 3 lakhs for a pristinely maintained car.

[hserus]

Ford estimates for repair vs what a FNG will make of it - drying everything out including the wiring loom, changing oil and fluids etc and a few other things - are entirely different.

Ford will replace quite a lot of parts to be safe, given that even if the car runs after this, there is a huge risk of rusting and structural issues if the chassis rusted. The fng who is patching it up to sell will do the job at a fraction of the money and not care about such petty details.

Part of the RC cancellation process is that the car has to be scrapped at a registered scrap yard.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks. The IDV is 2.79 lakhs. I am skeptical of how long the RTA will take, considering that 100s of cars have got damaged by the deluge in Hyderabad.

This apart, who will remove the car after the RC is cancelled?


Further, how can they repair a car that was under 10 feet of water for a week? Even if they do, they might not get the price of repairs if they sell it. The repair was estimated for be 5 lakhs by Ford.

Had the flooding not happened, the market value was below 3 lakhs for a pristinely maintained car.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I believe option 1 is time-taking, as the RTO normally takes 2 months or more for cancelling the RC

Close your eyes and choose option 1 even if it takes long . Option 2 has pitfalls like hserus mentioned. The car can then be scrapped at cero recycling or similar.

While 100's of cars might be damaged, very few will end up at the RTO for RC cancellation. The insurer is providing this option to you only because the car is old and resale value is actually far lower than even the IDV value you mention and hence the loss to the insurer is minimum.

If the vehicle was worth more , the insurer would have given only option 2. That would ensure they pay out only a small % to you while the buyer would have paid a good portion of the amount.

[pathik@2020]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks. The IDV is 2.79 lakhs. I am skeptical of how long the RTA will take, considering that 100s of cars have got damaged by the deluge in Hyderabad.

This apart, who will remove the car after the RC is cancelled?


Further, how can they repair a car that was under 10 feet of water for a week? Even if they do, they might not get the price of repairs if they sell it. The repair was estimated for be 5 lakhs by Ford.

Had the flooding not happened, the market value was below 3 lakhs for a pristinely maintained car.

First up, I am very sorry for your loss - that is no way to lose ones car. And I can identify with your feelings - my 7 year old Honda City drowned under 5 feet of water in Mumbai floods in 2017. It was very disheartening for me to see my car after the water had emptied off the next day. I have for keepsakes, the photos I clicked for insurance and it makes me sad every time I look at them. The bright side was that I upgraded to Jeep Compass.

However, I wanted to share my experience about the options that insurance companies give in such circumstances. Usually, if the repair estimate given by an authorised workshop is more than 70% of IDV, the insurance company prefers to declare a total loss and compensate insured for IDV. I suppose that is because of the assumption that if a car takes more than 70% of its IDV to repair then it will keep returning to the workshop and cost more than IDV in claims.

My insurance was with IFFCO-TOKIO and they advised me to go for the second option as mentioned in your earlier post. It was a time taking exercise but I got my car's IDV in 5 months. The reason for the long time taken was not because of any hassle with insurance company. It took me about a month to get a repair quote from the workshop and get the car surveyed by insurance surveyor - they had more than 50 cars lined up from flood damage. After that the insurance company took a fortnight to get the process started and another one month to find a buyer. Thereafter two months for the entire claim to be processed.

My responsibilities were:
Getting repair quote from workshop and arranging inspection by the insurance surveyor.
Completing sale process and handing over documents to insurance company.

Responsibility of getting quotes from scrap dealers was with insurance company - my responsibility was to give them access to the car for inspection. Quotes were given to insurance company and they selected the highest bidder and sent him over to me. Responsibility to complete paper work with the buyer rested with me and the Team-BHP guide on How to Sell a Used Car was very helpful. Do ensure that you have all documents complete. I periodically also checked on VAHAN sms service to check if the buyer had registered the car in his name. Buyer was from Gujarat and he owned a workshop himself, he said that he will either cannibalize it for usable parts or repair to run as taxi - whatever gave him a better ROI. I followed up with him till new owner name reflected in VAHAN database.

Once I had signed the sales deed with buyer and submitted a copy of that and other documents and my bank details to insurance company, they processed my claim for IDV less sales proceeds. Insurance company took about two months to credit the money in my account.

My personal effort / time in entire process involved 1 day to tow my car to workshop, 1 day for surveyor inspection, 1 day to get it towed back to my place and 3 or 4 trips to insurance company office. Apart from this major hassle was showing the car to prospective buyers and showing them documents every time someone came. I had it towed to my office parking since most prospective buyers came during working hours. The buyer I dealt with was very professional and got all required forms once his quote was approved. Also, since he had to tow it from Mumbai to Gujarat it was in his interest to get all papers in place.

[sumeethaldankar]

Sorry about your loss. I know what it feels to lose something loved and taken care off. When we decided to let go of our 1984 Premier Padmini which was parked unused for years, we sold it to the scrap yard dealer who gave back the registration number and chassis no plate cut out from the chassis. The car was used for parts and it was destroyed in the sense it remained only in bits and pieces like door/bonnet/engine etc. We took the registration no plate and the cut off chassis no plate to the RTO to get the same cancelled. I am not sure if the same process can be applied in your case. The car in our case had exceeded it's registration renewal and the RTO guys were arguing that there will be some charge as the car was deemed used beyond it's registration period renewal even though we knew the car was parked for it's last many years.

[clementw]

Sorry for your loss. The flood damage to cars is heart breaking. I remember in the Chennai floods dealer yards were inundated and many cars were written off. But the loss of personal cars like this is difficult to digest.

[viscosity]

I felt so much ache while going through these posts. Life usually seems unfair and sometimes bordering cruel when you hear about such incidents. Seems like this is life's way of showing who is truly the boss and while we think we can take care of stuff but then we realise we are so limited in things we can control. Can't imagine the pain of losing a vehicle close to heart in such a manner.

As recommended by other fellow mates, please go through the option 1 as I assume you don't have any real urgency to get the money as option 1 is the right process and will save you from long term troubles.

[TheHelix0202]

That's a truly heartbreaking end to such an odyssey. Even before I was a member here, yours was one of the few threads I'd read again and again, drooling over the lovely Fiesta. Rip Red Injun.

[viscosity]

Heart wrenching story. Can't imagine the pain you had to go through. Life is usually unfair but in incidences like this it seems downright cruel. This even is like the one in those horror movies where death comes in the most unexpected ways. As other fellow Bhpians have suggested, please go with option 1 unless you have a real urgent need of money as that will save you hassles (or even serious troubles) in long term even though it will cause short term pain.

[Ultim8]

Sorry for your loss sir!

As a person who enjoys driving dad's Fiesta 1.6 SXi, reading the title of your thread shook me inside for a moment. :(

While reading about Ford Fiesta 1.6 SXi & the 1.6 S, and opinions regarding the car, I came across your extensively detailed and candid posts about your experiences with the Red Injun and the interesting mods you've done on her.

If you're interested in looking for a used Fiesta 1.6, they do sell at relatively low prices in classifieds. I happened to see a MH-registered Aquarius Blue Ford Fiesta 1.6 S in Team-Bhp classifieds, whose ad is a few months old though.

[Fernang]

My sympathies sir. Narration about my first rental ride with a 1.6 fiesta netted me the team-bhp membership. It'll always have a special place in my heart.

Atrocious sound effects assigned, I just love this as

https://youtu.be/w5JP3d8XXsI

[amolathalye]

Hi Vnabhi ,

Sorry to hear this. I can very well relate to your loss. I had to sell off my 10 years old Ford Fiesta 1.6 SXI petrol very recently. It was a rock solid car and showed no ageing anywhere. She always enjoyed the covered parking all the years she was with me. I also wanted to keep her for few more years , as no other car would put smile on my face the way the Fiesta did. I had shifted it to my native in Ratnagiri 2 years back , due to limited parking place here in my Mumbai housing society. There rats troubled her very frequently , finally forcing me to say good bye to her with heavy heart. One known local car enthusiast bought it happily. Now we have to leave with the lovely memories , stay blessed.