Happy Birthday

[tigger19]

I'm certainly due for some luck.
Yesterday I had the wonderful experience of a Telstra landcruiser roll off an embankment and from a 3 metre drop land square onto the front of my pride and joy which was parked on a lower level car-park at work.
I was in a meeting and took a call from a colleague "You are not going to believe this, but..."
Apparently the truck hand-brake was faulty, but the driver was very lucky that from that height the cruiser didn't flip over. No-one was hurt fortunately, but as the car was in gear, etc. the damage bill may creep into the repairable write-off category. After the recent hail damage in Melbourne it looks like the repairers have a fair back-log already - so even if it is repairable it might be a few months. Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing (repairable write-off)? What should expect my options to be?

The image shows where the car WAS parked (next to the citroen) before being shoved back despite the hand brake being on and in first gear.

And just to rub it in, it just happened to be my birthday!

[Speed]

Sorry to hear it.
At first I interpreted the accident to mean that the Landcruiser had landed square on your roof.

Depending upon your insurance co. if the car is a write off you can buy it from them, that is if you really want to keep it.
Otherwise you will be paid out.

If the car is not written off, then the insurance co. will cover the repairs.
Obviously they will have to asses the car and you may have to get a quote or two before you can get repaired.

Oh and happy birthday.

[The_Hawk]

Thats terrible news, hope you get it sorted quickly.

At least in NSW the laws are changing in October (or at least every soon if not Oct) so that there will be no more repairable write offs, it's either repairable or it's not. I do wonder if this means insurers will invent a new category something along the lines of "not ecenomically repairable" to help keep some older cars on the road or if it's going to be a case of so sad too bad.

What that also means is that repairers are trying rush in alot of cars before the cut off which in turn means lots of dodgy cars trying to sneak through. Al this means the NSW RTA are flagging and inspecting lots more cars to ensure everything is above board. Long story short, the process can take much longer at the moment (not that I know if VIC is having similar issues or not).

[Speed]

Aaron, Is only in NSW and I thought that the cutoff date was 1 August. May have been held back?
I don't understand how dodgy cars will get thru, when you have to show receipts and get inspected. Unless of course someone at the RTA is dodgy and passing without inspections/receipts.
Don't believe that there will be any new categories either. The way I understand it is that there will be stat write offs only, unless ofcourse the insurance company stops listing cars on the WOVR and sells to third parties which IMO is much dodgier then going thru a process to re register a repairable W/O.

[The_Hawk]

I was only half listening so August is probably right.

The only reason I know anything about this is when I registered the Multivan I needed a blueslip since it was coming form interstate and when I was registering it at the RTA the girl was saying that the system is randomly picking cars for an inspection (which they may very well have done before all this, but she said they are doing lots with the new regs). Anyway, when questioned she said the inspection stations are in Unanderra, Penrith or Wollongong (I was at Campbelltown so I assume thats just the local ones) but she went on to say that they were booked out for the next three weeks and the vehicle CANNOT be registered until it passes that inspection. She didn't mention costs and I didn't ask, so have no clue there. Luckily I wasn't hit becuase I can tell you I would be pretty pissed to have a brand spanking new car sitting on the grass and unregisterable.

Back to the "new category", it's just a question of what happens with cheap cars that have minor bingles. It wouldn't take much to turn a Mk3 into a write off in the insurance companies eyes considering their current value... Mk1's and Mk2's would almost be one parking lot ding away from there too

[tigger19]

I didn't get a chance to even turn the engine over before the tow truck arrived so no idea of the mechanical damage (other than radiator which was obvious). The repairable write-off comment was from the tow driver which makes me worry that given the age of the car it will be far easier for the assessor to say write-off than examine the mechanicals closely. Is this the experience of others? What damage would occur if a manual vehicle is shunted 5m while parked in first gear with handbrake on?

[YellowDieselGolf]

Ouch. Not good . . . Just another reason to hate telstra.

[The_Hawk]

makes me worry that given the age of the car it will be far easier for the assessor to say write-off than examine the mechanicals closely.

The assessor will look at the car purely from a cost perspective. They will have a magical number (which essentially the insured amount less the salvage value) and if the repairs exceed that number they will write it off, simple as that. It's worth keeping close tabs on them if you think that's a possibility and you want to keep the car.

Ouch. Not good . . . Just another reason to hate telstra.

Funny you say that, one of my mates had a car written off by a Telstra van cornering on a country road drifting onto the wrong side of the road...

[tigger19]

UPDATE.
Turns out it was repairable. I got my car back yesterday- so I'm still in shock. They told me it was going to take ages and I couldn't get any information regarding the assessment - so I had no idea what was going on. The repairers said they have been so sick of just doing hail damage jobs they bumped this up the list. The bill apparently came to close to $8K - I had the bonnet, rhs guard and pretty much the front of the car replaced including new radiator, condensor, bumper and even a new valance. The gear box was rebuilt new first synchro - and so far everything seems OK. I'll know for sure after a more 'spirited' drive (legally of course), but I'm happier than I expected to be. Not sure I would have have been given the option to repair by my insurance if they had been paying for it but at least now I don't have any stone chips on the bonnet

[Rybky]

Only $8k for all that? If they did a gearbox rebuild as well I would expect a higher amount than that.

Great news that you got it back and so quick too!

Adam