Extensive hail damage

[Allegiance]

Anyone know what sort of price range these cars are going to be in?

[Flighter]

Hi Nic
I am looking for a car for my son so I wonder if its easiy enough to buy and re-register in QLD. Anyone have any experience in registering these cars that have been written off?

Be absolutely certain that you can insure it before you buy it. Here in Perth there are reports of people buying hail damaged cars only to find they can only get 3rd party insurance for it, and not comprehensive (after a week of trying every insurance company, or so they say). I'm assuming this is because the cosmetic damage had not been repaired.

[trueman]

Thanks fighter thats good advice

[Corey_R]

Be absolutely certain that you can insure it before you buy it. Here in Perth there are reports of people buying hail damaged cars only to find they can only get 3rd party insurance for it, and not comprehensive (after a week of trying every insurance company, or so they say). I'm assuming this is because the cosmetic damage had not been repaired.

Yeah - this is very true actually. Once a car has been written off, it's difficult to insure - even IF the damage is fixed. There are some insurance companies that will insure them - but make sure that you disclose immediately that it has been written off - as you may get a nasty shock come claim time!

[nicandlance]

AAMI would not even give 3rd party to a hail damaged car we were looking at at one stage for my husband. We ended up steering clear of it altogether....

[Corey_R]

Most of these cars are not "written off" as such, they are just economic write off's. There is a difference.

I understand, but at the same time, I've been through this with my family, and nic and other's here are reporting the same thing. The insurance companies will only offer 3rd party, and sometimes not even that, with these economic write offs due to hail damage.

I do know someone driving around with a hail damaged write off with comprehensive insurance. But I'm not convinced he was totally open with the insurance company. I know several people (including family) who only have 3rd party since they couldn't get comprehensive.

[cme2c]

Most of these cars are not "written off" as such, they are just economic write off's. There is a difference.

I understand, but at the same time, I've been through this with my family, and nic and other's here are reporting the same thing. The insurance companies will only offer 3rd party, and sometimes not even that, with these economic write offs due to hail damage.

I do know someone driving around with a hail damaged write off with comprehensive insurance. But I'm not convinced he was totally open with the insurance company. I know several people (including family) who only have 3rd party since they couldn't get comprehensive.

The term in NSW is "repairable write off" One of the reasons insurance companies will not touch them is that a lot have been used for "numbers jobs" on stolen cars. This is getting to be so much of a problem that you will NEVER be able to re register a written off car in NSW come August.

[Corey_R]

The term in NSW is "repairable write off" One of the reasons insurance companies will not touch them is that a lot have been used for "numbers jobs" on stolen cars. This is getting to be so much of a problem that you will NEVER be able to re register a written off car in NSW come August.

Seriously? Do you have a link to an article or RTA document which states this? Does it mention anything about existing owners of cars which have been written off and re-registered? Or even future owners of those cars already written-off and re-registered?

Thanks.

[Corey_R]

Seriously? Do you have a link to an article or RTA document which states this? Does it mention anything about existing owners of cars which have been written off and re-registered? Or even future owners of those cars already written-off and re-registered?

Thanks.

Actually, I've found this official release on the RTA website. It does mention that "“There will be very limited exemptions to the new laws – for some vehicles written off because of hail damage".

They're basically saying that they've been forced to do this as up to 60% of the 20,000 written off cars re-registered in 2009 have "posed serious questions about the origin of the parts used to repair them", and that the government believes that the 5700 unrecovered stolen cars from the same year are probably the source of those parts. This makes sense, since a 'repairable write off' is done because these cars are too expensive to repair. So if someone does repair them for re-registering, there has to be something 'interesting' going on!

Unfortunately the article do not state what the situation for existing owners is.

[nicandlance]

Change of date for auction of my Golf - 28/04/2010.

[Maverick]

They're basically saying that they've been forced to do this as up to 60% of the 20,000 written off cars re-registered in 2009 have "posed serious questions about the origin of the parts used to repair them", and that the government believes that the 5700 unrecovered stolen cars from the same year are probably the source of those parts. This makes sense, since a 'repairable write off' is done because these cars are too expensive to repair. So if someone does repair them for re-registering, there has to be something 'interesting' going on!

It's ridiculous when you look at the environmental implications of tossing away cars that are perfectly good but have been written off. Insurance companies write cars off as I mentioned earlier if the return on the sale of the car + the cost of a new car is around the price of the repair. What will occur now is that the cars can't be sold so the insurance companies won't write cars off unless the repair cost is going to exceed the cost of a new car so Nic wouldn't have received a new car (assuming they bring these laws into VIC).

A lot of reputable body shops buy these cars and use second hand parts and parts from wreckers and repair the cars during times they are not busy and there are people that buy them to repair them at home. They're shutting down this market that allows people to get newer cars on the road and recycle vehicles.

The reasons given are bulls**t, newer cars are harder to steal and many parts have identifiers on them. If the government would actually crack down on the scum that steal cars instead if letting them go free along with allowing them to drive off knowing the police can't pursue them we wouldn't have this problem. Once again they're penalising the law abiding public because they can't/won't tackle the real issue.

[Corey_R]

Yeah - I am too concerned that they appear to be saying that financial write offs will no longer be able to be sold. This seems ridiculous. You'd think that they should still be able to be sold, and therefore used as parts or whatever, and only the ability to re-register them should be banned. Having said that, it also says this. So there seems to be some conflicting information. Like what's the need to be the re-registration if you can't buy them in the first place?

I'd say we'll see some updates to this once the legislation goes through.

[cme2c]

This concerns me greatly as I have a 29 year old van, that would be really easy to write off. One reasonable size dent would do it, despite heaps being spent on mechanicals. I contacted my insurance company, but they couldn't help me, unless I drove it less than I do. . They gave me the NSW RTA phone number, but it was out of order (not too surprising, really). If the 118TSI or my 206GTi got written off, they could easily be replaced, but not my Bedford. I suspect there are many people here with old and/or rare cars in the same boat.

As I understand it, the ability to re-register writeoffs is what is supposed to be banned, to stop numbers jobs. The way most modern cars are stolen is to get hold of the key, either by carjacking, or break, enter and steal. So if you have a 2 story house, don't leave the keys downstairs when the bedroom is upstairs...

[gareth_oau]

I think there is a distinct difference between cars written off because they are unroadworthy, eg significant chassis damage, versus cars that are written off by the insurance company because they are uneconomic to repair

[Maverick]

I think there is a distinct difference between cars written off because they are unroadworthy, eg significant chassis damage, versus cars that are written off by the insurance company because they are uneconomic to repair

There is but cars that are statutory write offs (terms vary by state) are not able to be registered ever whereas uneconomic writeoffs are able to be registered (just not in NSW after August). Uneconomic writeoffs will include Nics 1 month old Golf with only panel damage and it will end up in the crushers although now they can't sell it they will end up bogging the roof and replacing the panels instead of writing it off.