French write-off procedures for damaged vehicles (VEI and VGE)

When a crashed vehicle costs more to repair than its replacement value, the assessor declares it economically beyond repair. The French Highway Code then sets a procedure: the insurer offers to pay the owner the replacement value and take over the wreck, which it resells to a trader. If the owner refuses and keeps the vehicle, the insurer informs the authorities, who register a block on the registration certificate; the vehicle cannot be sold or driven until repaired and checked by an assessor. The seriously damaged vehicle procedure, a separate one, targets safety rather than economics: after an accident, police may withdraw the registration certificate of a vehicle whose damage compromises safety, and an assessor must certify the repair before it returns to the road. These procedures serve two purposes. They protect used-car buyers against disguised wrecks by ensuring the traceability of serious damage. And they set how the indemnity is calculated: replacement value as assessed, less the wreck's value if the insured keeps it. For the insurer, reselling wrecks through specialist auction platforms is a meaningful source of recovery.