Car Unnecessarily Written Off

[dule]

Hi Guys,

Figured there must be few of you here to know a thing or two about how insurance companies work so here goes the storry.

Wife's brother had a minor accident in his 01 Type R, rear ended a rav4. Rav4 damage so small that the owner said not to worry about it. The Honda bonet, lights, bumper, radiator and radiator support need changing. Anyway had insurance (AAMI), so sent it off to them and they come back saying it's being written off. This generally wouldn't be a problem but the idiot insured the car for 12 when he paid 18000 for the car only few months earlier. When he heard this he told them not to do anything just to return him the car and he'll get it fixed but apparently it was too late as it was already written off and it could not be reverted.

The best thing it's a statutory write off, and while he purchased the car back from them he can only use it for parts, can't register it again. Statutory write off on a car without ANY structural damage, not even guards are damaged? I can't understand it.

Does this sound right to anyone? Does he have any options or just cop it and shut the F up?

Thanks

[Worm]

Maybe the chassis is f*cked?

[ratter]

From what I understand that when a repair exceeds a certain % of insured value then it will be written off, Honda parts can be expensive so it may not take much damage to exceed what ever that percentage is and as worn mentioned, there may be some underlying damage that is not evident.

[Never had any say Panda]

If Rav 4 had a towball damage could be alot worse then it appears.. I rear ended a sigma in a proton satria. Towball went through the radiator and while it all looked fine it had actually displaced the engine about 4 inches..

[Aust_Monty]

That sounds a little strange, I cant see it being a stat write off as they are only paying out the sum insured, not the market value. What if it was only insured for $5,000?

If he has cashed the cheque or signed a release agreeing to that figure hes probably stuffed now.

If he hasnt then he might be better off negotiating a cash settlement outside a total loss.

If the insurer wont move and it was post 31/01/2012 you may have some luck still. http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/written_off_vehicles/vehicle_owners/index.html

[1600dave]

Wouldn't there be some sort of report as to whats wrong and why it was written off??

[XR64LT]

Reduced his car value for a lower premium maybe?

[freeze_dk]

From what I understand that when a repair exceeds a certain % of insured value then it will be written off, Honda parts can be expensive so it may not take much damage to exceed what ever that percentage is and as worn mentioned, there may be some underlying damage that is not evident.

72% or 75% I cant remember what the assesor told me last week

[dule]

That sounds a little strange, I cant see it being a stat write off as they are only paying out the sum insured, not the market value. What if it was only insured for $5,000?

If he has cashed the cheque or signed a release agreeing to that figure hes probably stuffed now.

If he hasnt then he might be better off negotiating a cash settlement outside a total loss.

If the insurer wont move and it was post 31/01/2012 you may have some luck still. http://www.rta.nsw.g...ners/index.html

Thanks mate, that was helpfull. Looks like everything is a statuttory write off now but you can get an approval to repair some cars.

He hasn't signed any papers or received the check yet but has verbally agreed to it as they said that was the only option. Might give them a call myself and see if anything can be negotiated. The worst thing was they wrote it off without consolting him first, he only had the option of buying the car back. Can they reverse a write off if they want to?

There was no tow bar on the Rav4, I had a quick look couple of days ago and even the aircon condenser is fine.

[dule]

Reduced his car value for a lower premium maybe?

Yeah something like that...