Insurance write offs- please explain to a mere car owner

[tea lady]

Our car got a bit of a sprinkling of dings form the hail a couple of weeks ago. Which I wouldn't have worried about except the windscreen gt cracked too, which I HAVE to worry about. Anyway, so that's OK I guess. So we were getting the dings assessed to see how much they will cost to get repaired and thought we could just decide after the assessment whether we'll bother. Windscreen will cost $390 to replace. Excess of $500. But now the insurance has told my husband that if they assess it as a write off we can't drive it any more. Like not even home. And if they don't assess it they can't insure it anymore anyway, cos they don't know what state its in. It is a 1994 Camry wagon, which is only worth $2500ish I think, in the car yards. But its a great car. Never broken down. A little on the boring side, but you can't have everything. I thought a "financial write off" and "un-roadworthy" were two different things. Is it true we can't drive it home? Or can we just insure it for third party, fire and theft.

[weisyboy]

it wont be unroad worthy if they assess it as a wright off they keep if nd give you the money it took us 4 weks to get the money.

they should give you a hire car in teh mean time but it depends on what company u are with. u can jsut keep it and uninsure it that just means if u crash it then you have to bu a new one. ctp is diferent and it will still be covered by that..

[DJ’s Timber]

Actually Carl the car is unroadworthy as it is, because it has a cracked windscreen.

The following is just an opinion as I see it.

I think you'll find that if they assess it as write off, the car then becomes their property as they'll be paying you for either Market Value or Agreed Value at the time of insuring it. But I'm sure that you'll have an option of buying it back, which will probably be about a 1/3rd or less of whatever they pay you for it.

So if you buy it back, you'll have to pay out of your own pocket to get it fixed and then re-insure it.

[nihilism]

If you want to keep it as is, buy a new windscreen, cancel your insurace policy and take out a third party only policy. You may get a refund on the remainder of your policy.
If you don't want to keep it get it assessed and they will write it off and pay you out market value or agreed value depending on your policy. It will be a write off if it's only worth $2500.

In my opinion it's not worth having full comp insurace on cars worth less than $10000.

[Chesand]

This issue was discussed on Jon Faine's program on 774 a week or so ago.

You might be able to check it out on the ABC website but as I remember it was pretty much as DJ said. They will pay out but you should be able to buy it back,

[tea lady]

Actually Carl the car is unroadworthy as it is, because it has a cracked windscreen.Yes! That bit I'm not quibbling about.

The following is just an opinion as I see it.

I think you'll find that if they assess it as write off, the car then becomes their property as they'll be paying you for either Market Value or Agreed Value at the time of insuring it. But I'm sure that you'll have an option of buying it back, which will probably be about a 1/3rd or less of whatever they pay you for it. So we could buy it back and make a profit? :dunce:

So if you buy it back, you'll have to pay out of your own pocket to get it fixed and then re-insure it.

In my opinion it's not worth having full comp insurace on cars worth less than $10000.

It wasn't worth under $10.000 when we first got it. I guess the value has crept down on us while we weren't looking.

This issue was discussed on Jon Faine's program on 774 a week or so ago.

You might be able to check it out on the ABC website but as I remember it was pretty much as DJ said. They will pay out but you should be able to buy it back,

Might try and see if it is still available to listen to in the web. Thanks.

[rsser]

AFAIK there's two kinds of write-off. One, statutory I think, is where the vehicle is damaged and unrepairable for safety reasons. This cannot be reregistered and may go to a wrecker for parts.

The other is where the repair costs exceed the insured value of the vehicle. If market value, the insurer will use an av. value for a vehicle of that age. You can challenge this by showing that it was actually in better nick than the av., esp if it had lower k's. Find 2nd hand ads showing higher values for vehicles that have travelled a similar distance.

Good luck.

[DJ’s Timber]

You could buy it back, you'll need to do some homework and see which way it work out the cheapest.

If assessed as a write off and market value was $2500 less buy back price of say $800 plus cost of new w/screen $390 plus any other hidden costs, you may end up with car plus approx $1300 of which you'll still have to pay third party insurance. Just be sure to do you homework well though, as part of been written off, the rego may be cancelled as well, which means you'll be up for a roadworthy and new rego fees

Or do as nihilism said.

[rsser]

Yes. If it's a 'financial' write-off and you've accepted the pay-out, the insurer owns the car and in many cases will also claim the refund of the balance of the rego/TAC costs.

[rsser]

On reflection, I smell a rat about the insurer's statement that you couldn't drive it home if assessed as a write-off.

I'm not in the business so may be talking through my hat.

If the windscreen was shattered, it may be unsafe to drive as the thing is part of the structure of the car. It's bonded in place.

But if there's just some star cracks .... ?

My advice TL would be to take it to an independent crash repairer and get their view.

At a guess, your best option might be just to replace the screen, live with the dings and drive the thing into the ground. With care, those models are good for 3-400,000 km.

In partic, make sure the CV joints are looked at from time to time and that their rubber boots are in good nick.

[Chesand]

Yes. If it's a 'financial' write-off and you've accepted the pay-out, the insurer owns the car and in many cases will also claim the refund of the balance of the rego/TAC costs.

My daughter had a complete write-off a couple of years ago.

We went to storage area, took off the plates and got a refund of balance of Rego from VicRoads.

[tea lady]

My daughter had a complete write-off a couple of years ago.

We went to storage area, took off the plates and got a refund of balance of Rego from VicRoads.

I think the rego is due next month so there wouldn't be much in that.

More inwestigating is in order I think. Maybe I should read :the book"

[rrobor]

Nihilism is correct. If you value your car above what they will pay out cancel and fit a windscreen. They will pay you minimum, If your car is worth more to you than they pay then you are wasting your money with full comp. get third party +. Any car over say 8 years old its debatable if insurance is worth it. My car is 3Y It got a ding going to the wood show. Guy slid back and hit the front with a tow ball. Quote for a paint scuff $750. Robbery yes but how do you fix it. If the guy that did it reads this, they painted it 3 times before they got it correct. First time they painted a spider in the finish.

[tea lady]

First time they painted a spider in the finish.

[weisyboy]

we wer not able to buy back the ute when it got writen off it had to go to public auction. we had to go to auction to buy it.

it was auctioned be for we got payout so we couldnt buy it.