It's Bent, But Will It Be The Same?

[smicky]

:banghead:

I had an old car of mine seriously binned - into a table drain ditch - head on!

let off the road due to a punchered tyre and straight into a bend with a table drain...

Front end was all but gone - engine was back against the firewall, engine mounts all rooted, and both railer bent - etc...

Car was sent from country vic/nsw to Sydney (at my own expense) for repair and done by Parra Smash... as they were one of my preferred repairers...

Assessor came out and I was called dropped in and went over the car with him... they classed it a total loss at 35K damage! Problem was the car was not replaceable as there was no current model to change it with at the time and I didnt want anything else...

Repairer said - it will take some time but we can get this all back to good... So the insurance said take the engine out send it to some place (cant remember now) who ran it on a trolly fully testing it and said all good...

So 3 months later I got the car back and well suprise suprise all was good - minus a few minor paint dust arear which were fixed up and the engine bay colour was incorrect to stock... but again they fixed it up...

Had it for about 18 months after that before I decided to upgrade - just cos I had more money to play with!!!

Good shop should get it back to spec or better!

Good luck mate, and you can always off load it if its not right!

[freeze_dk]

dont they give you the choice if you wanna write it off or not if it's a MAJOR?

[smicky]

dont they give you the choice if you wanna write it off or not if it's a MAJOR?

I dont believe so...

From memory it is based on the extent of damage and cost of repair v's the total cost of your car/replacement...

I think it is somewhere around the 65-75% of the total cost (market or agreed) value of the car - which will give you the basic guide to a total loss... Hence if its your 'BABY' over insure the value - however if its 'just a car' then leave it at whatever u want... the higher it is insured the greater the greater amount of damage that is required before a total loss can/will be granted...

You normally do have an option to buy the total loss if you wish and then with the pay out have the repairs carried out - however this is totally up to you as the owner...

When it is border line or in an event where the car can not be replaced with a like for like new (under a 2 or 3 yrs replacement) then you can request for the repair - not to sure if 'all' insurance companies will offer this but...

Most people will just take the cut and run and buy something new if its not replaced anyways...

Edited 06/12/08 01:40 PM by smicky

[BFHOON]

I drove my killer xr8 au directly from the panel beaters to the nearest ford dealer and traded her in looking nice and shiny with a new paint job.

I was hit in the side by a drunk driver who fled the scene with his carton of beer under his arm, this dude looked mean with tats and all, I was not stopping him.

anyway my car was totaled but they still fixed it 12k damage using one of those robots.

[obsty]

go to a place that have a global jig setup, they are the best system I have seen and your car is bolted to the rack and all measuring points are bolted

[Chich]

what sort of car was it you took to parra smash and roughly how long ago smicky? I was working there as a beater for my whole apprenticeship, plus a yr or 2... great shop when it comes to quality I must admit, nothing was ever just "good enough"