Nup,
I stopped the insurance claim itself; I got the lo-down from four people each involved in a different trade/industry, and each confirmed what the others said - and they don't know one another, so I took the uncertainty out of the equation and cancelled it because there was a chance that I'd lose the vehicle.
I asked the insurance company about category 1,2,3 and 4; they valued the vehicle as is for £1500 and offered me £750 for its scrap value if it came to this, as it would have fallen in the group 1 or 2; the damage, I may add, was substantial, the garage said that the SC sustained a continual barrage of abuse; and the guy who told me this is someone I know who was a toyo mechanic before he defected somewhere else and had had to assess a 4x4 that had been stolen and used as a 'job' vehicle. It was also disclosed to me that it would have taken around 20 odd minutes to damage the steering that much.
At the end of the day people could have been hurt if the vehicle had been stolen, get my drift?
So this is one of the reasons why I cancelled the claim, the other being that it is, at the end of the day, still a survey vehicle as I work in the Sahara when I secure contract work, and there is, of course, no way I could have bought another 'equivalent' vehicle on £750.
And at the other end of the spectrum, this is why I'm considering a Thatcham Cat 1 security for l'beast; in fact I asked for a quote yesterday; common sense, because I am aware that my vehicle could easily have been used as a ram raid vehicle.
Cheers
Renate