If the vehicle is badly damaged

If the vehicle is badly damaged

After a serious accident, the question arises to what extent damaged cars can be put back into circulation. The Highway Code provides for an expertise procedure, which has been strengthened and simplified, following a European directive.
Four security criteria

The objective is to detect vehicles that present an immediate danger to safety, in order to withdraw them from circulation, temporarily or permanently. The new procedure provides that the expert studies four major security criteria:

    Significant deformations of the body;
    The connection to the ground (in particular braking);
    The direction ;
    Passenger safety elements.

If the car has at least one deficiency among these four criteria, the expert initiates a procedure with the prefecture to oppose the return to service of the vehicle and to oppose the transfer of the registration certificate (the new registration certificate). . The prefecture then sets up a procedure prohibiting the owner of the vehicle from driving, giving it away or selling it. The latter is informed by mail: his car can only be put back into service after repairing the items listed by the expert. Previously, the security criteria were 31, which made the procedure more cumbersome and slower.

Once the repairs have been made, the expert must examine the vehicle again to certify that it meets the safety criteria. If this is the case, the owner is notified of a "waiver of objection" to circulate. The registration certificate is returned to him and he can resume driving in his car.

    The new vehicle registration system
    The speed of the new procedure is based on the new remote transmission tool, implemented as part of the new vehicle registration system (SIV). Thus, instead of the traditional gray card, cars are given a "registration certificate", with a license number for life.
    This is how, from their offices, the experts authorized by the prefectures can activate or deactivate the opposition to recirculation of damaged vehicles.

The vehicle is economically irreparable

When the expert report establishes that the amount of repairs is greater than the value of the car itself, the Highway Code provides that insurance companies must offer compensation for total loss, within the following 15 days. submission of the expert's report. But at the same time, this assumes that the insurer collects the vehicle.

The owner of the vehicle has 30 days to respond: either he accepts the compensation and transfers his car to the insurer, or he refuses. The owner can also decide to have his car repaired, even if the work is very expensive. In this case, the vehicle can only be re-registered and put back into service after an expert report certifying:

    That it was the subject of the repairs provided for in the first expert report;
    That it is in a condition to circulate under normal safety conditions;
    That it has not undergone any significant transformation or transformation likely to modify the characteristics indicated on the registration certificate.

The different values ​​used to reimburse the vehicle

When the vehicle is destroyed, to determine the amount of compensation to be paid to the insured, insurance contracts provide four possibilities:

    Replacement value: this is the total cost price of a used vehicle of the same type and in similar condition. Today, this is the most common compensation method in France since it is applied by members of the Irsa convention;
    The market value: this is the price at which the insured could have resold his vehicle if the accident had not occurred. This value is based on Argus and any repair costs;
    The catalog value: this is the sale value of the new vehicle, indicated in the manufacturer's catalog. This compensation is only possible for cars whose entry into service, on the day of the accident, dates back less than 6 months, or even 12 months depending on the contracts;
    The agreed value: this is the price contractually determined by an expert when the contract is taken out and accepted by the insurance company. As part of an auto or motorcycle insurance contract, this guarantee is only offered for prestige cars or vintage vehicles.