Hi y'all
As far as the Cat A,B, C or D goes - A and B are automatic write offs, C and D not; insider info from 'those that know'
name no names though; no chance of Chas being able to 'buy it back from the insurers and drive it away if its deemed A or B; the insurers will send an engineer out and conclude its a write off; believe me when I say this; I've been there (three times; 1 with the Honda, and 2 with my LC; one was the recent steering column damage (19 April) and the other a fire under the bonnet back in November 2003).
Best you can hope for Chas is to get it fixed independently, as you've now decided to do, and this way it won't even get mentioned on your next insurance policy - years back I owned a Honda Sports Car and it would have been a complete 'Write off' if I'd gotten the insurance peeps involved; the dirty deed was done in garage forecourt here in Bristol (as did Chas the other day, 'cept in his case it was a different Bristol garage) all in all it cost me £8k; for repair of their garage forecourt display/window/etc and my car.
Cheers
Renate