Bongo Fury

Hi,

I'm on my Bongo search! I've come up with an issue twice now - Cat N insurance write off. These are vehicles which have had non-structural damage, but are deemed uneconomical to repair by the insurance company, and are sold as salvage.

The first Bongo I looked at was Cat N, through a private sale. I backed out, as there were too many unknowns for me.
The one I'm looking at now is through a well respected garage (lots of positive feedback on these forums), so I trust that the van is otherwise sound, and the garage has been v upfront. 2.5l LPG, 2001 8 seater.

've already got an insurance quote, it was £390 through Admiral, or £320 when combined with my other car. Seems pricey, but Admiral usually are in my experience. I haven't yet rung around other specialist insurers.

Does anyone have any experience of buying an insurance write-off? Any tips or pitfalls to avoid?
Thanks,

Chris

Has the damage been repaired?

The insurance companies are quick to want to write bongos off when they suffer any damage, even cosmetic so it wouldn't cause me to rule it out straight off the bat in any case.

Once you're satisfied the vehicle is all good you should still be looking at a decent discount, but remember when you come to sell it on it could be difficult to shift and buyers will also want a good bit off the price. This may negate your original saving.

However, this may not be an issue if you plan to keep it long term.

Insurer might ask if the car has been previously written off. This will affect their payout. Expect to be paying 20% less for a previously written off vehicle.

On a Bongo, most insurers will try and write them off due to their age.


Make sure you're checking the MOT history on the vans using check-mot.service.gov.uk and be suspect of mileage jumps, any mention of corrosion and vans going from a giant fail list to a clean pass the next day.

Thanks everyone! There is still a dent above the windscreen I'm told - the garage owner bought it as their own van and didn't see the need to fix the cosmetic damage. Prior to that was imported by Southern.

That's round about what I thought. I'm going to see it soon, so fingers crossed all is as expected. Hope to be doing the Bongo wave in a few weeks time.

When i was bongo hunting i went to view one that had been a write off, it was only glass damage, every window had been smashed. I ended up having to give it a miss is I couldn’t insure it. Most insurance companies were ok with write offs and imports but not both. I only found a couple that would insure a previously written off import but the price was ridiculous.