Hopefully there are some of you whom have been through this.
There are a few cars that have been "Hail damaged" or "Flood damaged" but have been repaired, inspected by VICRoads and re-registered. Are they worth purchasing as they are usually cheaper? Also will the insurance premium increase for a vehicle that has been written off before?
Some claimed to have fixed it and have the papers and receipt but no time to register it. Is it worth the hassle to get such cars?
Well… not fussed about resale value… will be looking to drive them to the ground (if they can actually last that long)
Ring the RTA Vic, surely they can give you information, may need to have the engine number etc first.
Hail damaged? Maybe, though insurance will probably be antsy about it. No experience regarding these though.
Flood damaged? Hell no… my friend's Camry has a leak in its roof. One day of rain and a few days later, it was infested with mold - no exaggeration, we had to get some professionals to clean it out as it had taken over the driver's seat. So if some dripping water that hasn't even touched the electronics can cause that much trouble, imagine what a car that's been submerged in the stuff would be like!
Accident damaged? Don't touch one - my mechanic told me once that he would never let anyone he knows drive an accident-damaged vehicle, as once that metal has been bent once, it won't take nearly as much force to bend or even collapse again. In other words, it won't protect you as well as it should in the event of an accident.
But in general - written off cars aren't worth the trouble. They might have been repaired, but to what standards? Where have the parts been sourced from - brand new (unlikely), used wrecked cars, stolen cars? How extensively have they repaired it - have they just replaced the obviously broken things like headlights and external body parts, or have they looked inside and fixed up bad wiring, rusted parts, buckled structure etc? It might be cheap now, but even if you don't care about resale value you might find yourself paying more to fix up the things the repair guys missed (or skimped out on).
If you are looking for a cheap runabout, there are tons of bombs that have never had write-off damage that you can get. Old corollas for instance are bulletproof, plentiful, cheap and mostly driven by the matured crowd - I would highly advise spending a bit more upfront on one of those rather than open another can of worms getting a written-off car.
Just thinking of your wallet and safety here mate. :)
EDIT:
Some claimed to have fixed it and have the papers and receipt but no time to register it.
Don't know about VIC, but here in NSW all cars over 5 years old are required to get a yearly inspection before being registered (Pink Slip or RWC if the rego is expired). If the seller doesn't have one of those then expect some trouble. Also - doesn't have the time to register it? Sounds like the seller is trying to offload a problem here!
Cheers mate :) thanks for the input
I recommend going to one of the Pickles car auctions:
http://www.pickles.com.au/
Most of the cars sold there are usually fleet cars (owned by governments and car rental companies). So they tend to be in fairly good nick and well looked after.
It all depends on what it is you're buying, and who from.
I have family in the business of fixing cars. We only buy economic write-off cars from auctions. Even then, only those with light damage. Nothing with deployed aitbags, or chasis damage. Airbags are a killer. For example Audi airbags are ~$1500 each. Once airbags are deployed, then the computer controlling them will also need to be replaced at a cost of ~$2000.
To give you an example, I bought a Feb 2010 Lexus IS250 w/ 6700KM's on the clock for $9800 from Pickles damaged car auctions. Replaced bumper bar, head lights, Grille and air-con condensor.
All said-and-done inc. on-road costs, the car cost me ~$18000. This for a car worth 50K+.
Never, ever buy a car until it has passed inspection and is registered. You just don't know what you're getting.
Thank you for the advise.
Is there anyway of finding out what exact damage was done to the car? Or do you just fix it and provide the buyers the receipt on what was fixed?
Also do you bring the car in for the inspection and registration first and then sell it or get the buyer to do the inspection and registration?
There are numbers you can call to get reports on cars. How much detail they give out, varies state-by-state. Sorry, I don't know Victoria numbers. VicRoads should be able to help you out with this. This service used to be free in SA, but now there is a small charge ($20), well worth paying for. Make sure you have the VIN/Chasis numbers of the vehicle handy.
I have always registered my cars before sale.
In the past I have bought cars which have passed inspection from close friends, and then registered them myself. This saves both of us paying stamp duty. This was only done with cars purchased from a person I highly trust. Never from a stanger. I can't stress enough that unless, do not buy the car before it has passed motor registration inspections.
I can't stress enough that unless, do not buy the car before it has passed motor registration inspections.
+1!
Maybe you can see if the police, VicRoads or the former insurance company is willing to tell you what wiped out the car, as that would have a big factor in whether the car is OK to drive.
Around my area (western Sydney) there are tons of backyard rebirthers in operation - encountered at least three the last time I went car shopping. All had little giveaways like mismatching headlights, oversprayed paint under the bonnet, etc. And all of the owners claimed they had purchased the car from someone else and had no idea about the history. =/
Pretty sure the ratio of dodgy to legit repairers here is at least 2:1. YMMV!
Would the insurance be higher as compare to the non accidental?
Not as far as I'm aware as insurance premiums don't take this into consideration.
They're more interested in the person looking to insure (past driving history, offenses, etc.), or other info such as (i.e. has it ever been modified from factory spec.? Will it be used for business?, etc.)
thanks, I even checked with my current insurer and got the conformation that this will not effect the premium.
Dunno about Victoria, but in NSW you can no longer re-register a statutory write off…
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/written_off_vehicles/…
"All NSW light vehicles written-off after 31 January 2011 are classified as 'statutory written-off'. This means they cannot be registered and can only be used for parts or scrap metal."
Maybe many of these cars are now being shipped interstate for rebirth?
Impossible to resell. Don't buy.