Repairable Write Offs

[tevita6T]

Has anybody had dealings with repairable write off's? Is it something to steer clear of?

If the car has been repaired, inspected and has been registered and back on road for a few months will it be able to be transferred to another state for registration (I.e NSW to QLD)? or will another inpsection need to be done in QLD?

Finally, are repairable write-offs more than likely just cars with serious cosmetic damage and able to be fixed or can they be worse (nothing structural in my understanding)?

[xhxrsix]

have a look on the auction websites, they list the cars as repairable or stat right offs. some of them on there are pretty busted up.. so I guess it depends from car to car.

[dule]

As far as I know, if a car is registered you can transfer it to another state no problem.

As for extent of damage... it's a mixed bag. Mainly because there can be those which were not repaired properly. It can be a good buy as it's cheaper than other similar cars but just make sure you know why it was written off and that it was repaired properly.

But you got to be careful with any car you buy as sometimes if it was in an accident and repaired by the insurance it can still be a dodgy job. Last time I made an insurance claim I sent the car back twice to fix problems, first time it had 18 faults. AAMI and their dodgy workshops...

And rule No 1, be especialy carefull if buying from a dude called Muhamed...

[tevita6T]

some good tips/ info there.. I've asked the owner of the car I was looking at what happened to it exactly and they were a bit vague (although they were upfront about it being a repairable write off in the first place). All they said was that it wasn't in an accident, but the bumper needed replacing/ respraying and the plates were taken off the car, which is why they needed it to be inspected for re-registration.

leaves a little to the imagination and not too much confidence to buy, unless it was a bit cheaper (it is cheaper than others like it on the market but not enough to persuade me yet).

[RHR]

your not looking at a black phoon on car sales are ya?

[ZAP]

Hail and Flood damage are both capable of writing off a car.

Personally I would not touch it, unless you plan to drive it into the ground.

It is like buying a house on a main road, it is cheap because most people will not want to own it.

It will always be a writeoff and will always be difficult to sell.

[carbz]

If it has been repaired in say NSW and you bring it up to QLD u will need to take it for another written off vehicle inspection (WOVI) to be able to get QLD rego and the car transferred into your name. costs about $400-$500 for a 1 hour inspection. then a roadworthy on top of that.

I think a write off is if the repairs cost more that 80% of the cars market value.

[F6turbo]

There is nothing wrong with buying a repairable write off as long as it has been repaired properly. I'd say if you are going to buy a car that someone has repaired make sure they have owned it for a while before they sell it. Otherwise it just shows that they have fixed it to make a profit and more likely than not they would have cut corners to maximise that profit.

This is why most people steer clear of them as there are too many dodgy repairs out on the roads. If you dont know what you are looking for take someone that does.

[tevita6T]

no, not looking at a black phoon. Still playing with the idea of downsizing from the falcon to maybe a focus.

[arm79]

If you ring the state roads authority it was written off in you can ask what damage was done. They will tell you what area was hit and generally whether it was light, mild or heavy.

The only things that will cause a stat write off is water immersion, fire or piercing a firewall. Things that will affect the materials that the car is made out of.

Repairable can be anything else. The insurance company has just said its not economical to repair based on the insured. So the chassis could be twisted into an S and its still allowed to be repaired. Then its upto whoever repairs the thing as to how good a job is done.

If its just cosmetic (panel dents, paint, bumpers, etc, etc) then I'd consider it. If it required chassis straightening or cutting and replacing, I'd personally steer clear. But that's upto you.