Car and Insurance Problems

[watson01]

Hey people
I just got a problem that arised today.
I got my Ps in Jan this year, now my mom has a 1990 vn commodore series 2 obviously and i started driving that, im under her insurance which increased hers another $44 a month coz its full comp.
Since then ive done a few things to it such as extractors, exhaust, cold air intake, K&N panel filter, top gun ignition leads 8.8mm, steering wheel and boss kit, tacho, stereo system includin head unit, 6x9s, amp and sub plus all the cables and stuff, 17inch wheels and clear tail lights and window tint.
Like the idiot i am i had not told the insurance that i have done all this to the car. Now a couple weeks ago i ran up the arse of sum guy. I prob hit him below 10 kilometers and did little damage to his car while mine looks like crap. The bumper, bonnet, lights, grill needs to b replaced and under the hood, the frame is a bit bent in sum places, no engine damage. Excess is $850 and everything was pretty much sorted out, i was about pay that this week and my mom just got a call that RACV wants to write off the car. Fair enuf but im a bit worred wot will happen to all my things i have done to the car, i will take the rims off and put the original stockies on there, but things such as the exhaust and stuff. I am a tafe student so all my money pretty much goes in2 the car so i cant rly afford to get another car right now.
They should offer me to buy the car bak but im not sure, any help would b good, thx. included are sum pics of the car.

[craigvk]

What ever is on the policy regarding contents like a sound system or things, they keep if you have it written off.

If they deduct a salvage fee so you can buy it back off them and get the remaining pay out, that's fine. I did that.

The big problem is if a car less than 15 years old is written off, the insurance company will notify Vic roads/RTA and have your car de registered and not able to be registered again. Luckily for me when it happened, my car is older than 15 years.

[watson01]

Just another thing on my story, RACV is taking my car on monday.
Now my parents had asked them if we could purchase the car back, and they said no and that they were going to take it to the auctions (sum place called Fowlers in melbourne). This is crap, i dont know much about these situations but can they do this?
When my mom took out insurance she did the value to 5000 and now they are saying that she is lying, now wat is going to happen is they are giving us 2200 bux for the car and then they take 850 excesss off it then that leaves us with about 1300 bux...
Its funny coz 5000 bux worth of repairs were done last year like suspension etc. and ive done alot of stuff which add up to much more to wat they wana give us. Thx, ill keep information up when i hear more.

[craigvk]

Depending on the insurance company, some let you buy it back, some don't. Fowlers is a big car auction joint. Someone would probably pick your car up for 400 bucks and sell it for 2000.

Mate, no one is forcing you to let the insurance company take it. If you don't like their bullcrap, tell them to rack off and go to another insurance company and fix the repairs yourself.

[craigvk]

Dude, they can't take the bloody excess of it unless you are getting it repaired! Do you really think you should have to pay excess for them taking your car away? If the agreed market value was say 5 grand and it was delclared a write-off, they have to pay you 5 grand. If you had comp insurance, they must pay up, unless of course you want to fix the repairs yourself but it doesn't help if they don't let you buy it back off them.

[craigvk]

Forgot to add, in any case of a write-off, there will be no refund on your insurance policy which you had paid. So if you paid 500 bucks for comp insurance in September and your car was written off in October, you won't get your policy refunded + the write-off pay out.

[stocky]

thats a write off? wow

[watson01]

Just curious right now. Is there any way that i will know when they will action the car? coz i rly liked that one and i would like to get it bak, i drop the car off on monday. The funny thing is the 1st place where i got a quote which RACV recommended was bout 3500-4500. Then yesterday i went to another RACV refered place and they wanted 2200, then i went to another place not sure if they were recommended by RACV and they wanted 1100, a few of my mates and family members had already sed to me that sumthin dodgy is goin on and it also sounded a bit funny to me.
Another part that could lead to this story is that more that a year ago sum guy ran up the ass of the car when my mom was driving it, that guy did not have any insurance, not even third party, and that left RACV to fix the whole cost, they didnt get a cent out of that guy. the rear bumper have to b fixed and the boot did not close after that which they had to fix sumhow and they resprayed the whole car except the doors, coz u know how they did a shit job on the paint with the Vn's.
Anyways any info would help thx.

[s0sage]

ill fix your car back to brand new and give it a new paintjob for $1000 hhah


(in all seriousness, thats about $200 in parts they havent even looked at the car have they????)

[craigvk]

I am in the process of fixing my car. Repairers quoted my insurance company $3400 to fix mine and I got a payout of 3 grand and I can fix it for less than $300.
All that was wrong with mine is the bumper bar smashed, quarter panel crushed and back door dented.

[Ripcell]

take the shit outta it before monday?

[V-ahhh]

yeah i was gonna say if you still had/have the car take your stereo and you mags off and put the stock ones back on, thats what i was aloud 2 do but its a different company.

[watson01]

My mom insured the car for 5000 and they sayin my moms is lying so now we are gona find the paper work and take this further til they give is the correct amount, this is my main concern and the exhaust.
Me and a mate started ripping everything out 2day, everything is goin, i am taking out everything that i have done 2 it and that is not insured, luckily enuf recently my mom bought a vn wagon 1990, same year as mine and i am putting most i my stuff in there, such as cold air intake and sum other things, i made my decision and i am screwing the car off, i can tell u guys now i hate RACV coz they have not had a look at the car since it had the accident and they made a decision to write the car off without looking at it????? how does that sound to u guys? not fair 2 me i can say and that just means that they dont rly value there customers, it might sound like a fair enuf decision but i dont rly care anymore, I can say in the future i will neva take any insurance out wit RACV again..... who do u guys recommend? i heard sum good things bout Just Car Insurance? The other thing that made me change my mind of lettin the car go is that i dont have $850 for the excess to fix the others guys car so ye, im at tafe full time in a pre apprenticeship in carpentry so i would only have to money after i finish it so ahh well. im gona pik up a few crappy rims from the wreckers 2moz and i will take mine off there, the thing im willing to give up is the tinting on the windows but since i wont benifit from it, i am goin to rip it off. Now the only thing is the exhaust, that cost me a fair bit and i am gona c if i can get it off, pik up a stock system and get it on there but i got extractors aswell, the system coz it me round 800 to get it on coz i got a contact at this exhaust joint, so if i can get it off and sell it to one of my mates who also has a vn and even if i make no profit out of it its no big deal coz at least they are not makin money off my loss, so now ive been lookin round and my folks want me to get a 1999 car up, so mayb vt or vx im loookin at, but thats in the future, let me know if i can get the exhaust off and any way i can screw them like they screwed me, thx guys, ill keep u posted

[fluxxx]

a few months ago i was driving my old vt down a dirt road in the middle of outback wa when i hit a couple of roos, the car wasnt too bad but i ended up leaving it on the side of the road because the radiator was damaged. when i rang the insurance company and explained the situation they decided to write the car off and within a week they had paid out the money (they did deduct the excess however).. all without seeing the car.

they didnt even bother towing the car, they just left it on the side of the road until a few weeks later when the police and the shire responsible for the road contacted me and told me to get rid of it.

check your insurance certificate of currency to make sure youre covered for $5000 agreed value, it sounds like they are really trying to screw you over. If you didnt have to worry about the other persons car I would have said you should tell the insurance company to stick the claim and their policy and fix the car yourself but at least youre getting all your stuff out of it before they get their hands on it

good luck

[1vngal]

Wow, sounds a little off to me....

But I noticed you mentioned before that you would like to buy the car back from Fowles Auction Group, it can be a little risky, as I've seen commodores go for way more than they are worth, but hey? You could get lucky.

To find out when it's coming up in auction, keep checking the website under Salvage Simulcast Vehicles.

http://www.fowles.com.au/auctions/au...px?office=AU10

They have a full listing of what cars are in which auction, and they time and date the auction will take place.

[VNCalais98K]

I work in insurance, so from 1 company point of view...

Modifications;
Worth points depending on modifications. Points add up and result in either extra premium being charged and double excess, or worst case insurance being declined.
Same with driving history.

Claims;
The definition of the excess is the amount YOU contribute towards a claim. So in the example of a car being insured for $5000, if the excess is $400, then the amount you will get back will be $4600, because the assumption is that you will contribute to some of the costs. unless it is a not at fault accident, whereby the excess does not apply.

In the case of modifications when involved in an accident, it really depends on the nature of the modifications.
For example. If the modifications we find (had you told us about them) would have attracted a 25% increase in your premium, them we will charge that and any applicable excesses before making a payment. If those modifications would have meant that we would have declined cover, then we would most likely NOT pay the claim.

If you havent told us about the modifications and after the accident you remove them and replace them with the standard accessories, then (i didnt say this) noone would be the wiser.
Just make sure you do it before the assessor comes out.

Unfortunately, even if it seems unfair when you have had an accident, there are certain guidelines when you apply for insurance that need to be followed. One of which is when it mentions that you have not withheld any information that may affect the decision to cover you.

Insurance guidelines differ between companies, so this may not apply to your specific circumstance, you would need to check out the Policy Wording Booklet for the details applicable to your policy.

Sometimes we write off cars because based on the average cost of repair, its more financially viable for us to pay out the claim, than to repair the car. which is decided by the statistics that we hold on particular vehicles.

[mattman]

Return it to stock before they see it, easy done. If the exhaust is the only thing you can't change, I can't see it being a huuuuge issue, however i wouldn't mention it unless they ask either