Is my car a write-off?

[JBDrifter]

Had a little accident last week (not my fault) which has left my car a little bit beaten up and I'm wondering if I should expect it to be a write off or not.

It's a standard 95 VS Exec v6, no mods other than gas, it runs dual fuel.
I have it insured for $4500.

Damages are;
*broken front bumper
*left front quarter panel
*left passenger door
*left front wheel is sitting crooked, looks like its on a very bad camber
*front wheels are way out of allignment and steering pulls to the right
*windscreen somehow cracked, right where the rear vision mirror is mounted, no idea how this happened. Maybe it was already cracked where I couldn't see it and this collission made it worse?
*something has happened to the heater/AC vents, only the foot well vents work now and it is stuck on that setting, changing the selector knob does nothing.

The collission was on the left front corner of the car. Someone came out of side street in front of me, but the collission was light as I was slowing down already for a red light. The dent in the left passenger door leads me to believe there may be damage to the chassis, as the door was not hit in the collission.
I'm hoping it is considered a write-off so it can paid out and I can get a new car. I was looking at buying a new car mid next year anyway, now I hopefully have a perfect reason to do it a bit earlier.

If you want photos I can get some, maybe tomorrow.

[TUF UTE]

ur air con condensor is stoping the air con from working, long as your chassis rails are straight is should be ok , how bent is the rad support ? if window is cracked id say its prob twisted the frame

[Harvs82]

Without seeing any photos its probably a bit difficult to tell, however from your description it sounds as though the car will be written off. Assuming a value of $4500, it will be written off if the repairs come to more than 70% of that figure, or if there is significant damage, ie to the chassis rails. It doesn't take much to cause several thousand dollars damage, especially on cars such as the VS, as they are getting on a bit now.

Regarding your air con vents not working, thats because the vacuum ball is broken, it sits behind the left front bumper, in front of the left wheel.

[fuzzy2308]

need pix........................................

[vlv8vic]

Don't like your chances of it being repaired.

[TUF UTE]

hes hoping for the same thing ... so he can pay out loan lol

[Lumps of cheese]

Don't like your chances of it being repaired.

Agree. Would be very suprised if they fixed it.

[JBDrifter]

I'll post pics tomorrow... the damage doesn't look horrible but I'm hoping it's bad enough to be a total loss.

hes hoping for the same thing ... so he can pay out loan lol

Loan? This car was given to me, it has been in the family for a long time. It definitely has no money owing to it.
I'm hoping it's a write-off so I get the $4500 for it and can put that towards a new car. There's no way I would have been able to sell it for that much.

[jokerflingo]

I'll post pics tomorrow... the damage doesn't look horrible but I'm hoping it's bad enough to be a total loss.



Loan? This car was given to me, it has been in the family for a long time. It definitely has no money owing to it.
I'm hoping it's a write-off so I get the $4500 for it and can put that towards a new car. There's no way I would have been able to sell it for that much.

Get in a real ****ed off mood then find the biggest sledge hammer and have some fun lol then it'll be a write off :P
Or is that some type of fraud?

[redcv6]

sounds bad enough to me

[AttaBoy]

Depends on the value of the car. If it exceeds it, then most likely a write off.

[JBDrifter]

Depends on the value of the car. If it exceeds it, then most likely a write off.

Well it's insured at an agreed value of $4500, so the damages would have to be at least 70% (or whatever the threshold is) of that for it to be a write-off I think.
Realised today that the front right wheel is also sitting on a slight angle.
Will try to get some pics up later tonight... busy with my kids at the moment.

[JBDrifter]

Here's two pics of the car... was kinda hard to get any better ones in my street.

[social]

JB, sorry to say man but it doesnt look like your car would be a rideoff, a simple bumper removal, putty and respray + a guard from upullit or something + wheel alignment and a dent knocked out of your door is all that wud really happen, ul have a better chance if u park it infront of a moving truck at 100kms/h

[vnv8driver]

sounds like its could be reapired but would at least need to see a pic, did it touch the sills at all?? dont even touch it if it did.

[JBDrifter]

JB, sorry to say man but it doesnt look like your car would be a rideoff, a simple bumper removal, putty and respray + a guard from upullit or something + wheel alignment and a dent knocked out of your door is all that wud really happen, ul have a better chance if u park it infront of a moving truck at 100kms/h

yeah like I said it doesn't look that bad, but the only impact was to the quarter panel. The consequent damage to the passenger door has got me hoping there is some major damage somewhere. Well I can only hope hey. I'll be taking it to a couple of panel beaters tomorrow after work to see what they think.

[vnv8driver]

Its called a guard, if it as the quarter pne (the panel which your fuel cap resied in) then i would say not to both as well....

[JBDrifter]

Its called a guard, if it as the quarter pne (the panel which your fuel cap resied in) then i would say not to both as well....

Sorry... I've always called it the front quarter panel and no one's ever corrected me lol. Thanks though.
Well I'll see a couple panel beaters tomorrow and see what they say... I'll report back here in case anyone was interested.

[Zuicider]

is that all? haha i got t boned in my vn years ago well 3 years ago, two doors busted and the center pillar was ****ed. if the quote was 100 bucks more they were gonna write off my car, to think about it i wish they had

[CHEETR]

dono what drugs you guys are on, but thats a write off.

that passenger side rail is bent.

is $4500 the agreed value or the market value? i would say that is the agreed value.

in that case, im pretty sure market value is around the 3500 mark, to make it a right off it needs to exceed 75% of the MARKET value not the agreed value to be classed as a right off.

so sugggesting the market value is around 3500 it would need to be anything over 2600 in repairs to be a right off meaning you are payed out your agreed value of 4500

[redcv6]

that is definitely a write off mate, serious boys take a close look. if they didn't write that off i would be very surprised. there could be close to a grands work just underneath the car.

[Tasmaniak]

cars done...looks like the wheel took most of the impact judging by the position of the dent in the guard. In which case your frame is almost definetly bent.

[alien]

If that little what looks like a bend to me on my screen in the frame running along the side of your windscreen then yea it's a write off. If not based on that then yea, based on figures (like the other guys have said) it will most likely be a write off.

[vnv8driver]

Easily repaired but your insurance company will most likely class it as a write off, the wheel bent would be 500 in parts from a wreckers (i know as ive fixed problems likethis before) and the panel damage shown does not indicate a bent rail at all.

As a home repair job it may be worth it but you would need to get the rail mesaured up, by the look of those pics it doesnt seem like it would have bent

[JBDrifter]

Pretty sure the rail isn't bent, but I'm no expert.

I took it to two repairers today after work, neither could give me a quote or a definite opinion on whether it is a write off or not.
The first said he wouldn't give me a quote because it's going through RACV and he's not a recommended reparier for them, and he also said from past experience they are pricks to do work for. I asked his opinion though and he said it's possible that it's a write off. He estimated ~$100 each for second hand bar, guard and door, ~$600 for paint work, and the labour for that would bring it close to $1500. Then there's the damage to wheel/suspension, so it would depend on exactly what has happened there.

The second guy looked at it and thought it wouldn't be a write off just by looking at it, but couldn't tell me for sure without putting up on a hoist and having a proper look at it.

So I guess I'm just going to have to wait till I have it assessed by RACV's repairer to see what's going to happen. It is booked in for Monday.