wreckers writing off undamaged vehicles

blackf6 · 22-10-2011, 07:38 PM

Went to my local wreckers today. I was looking for a au-bf wagon rolling shell. Found a nice candidate. An au wagon in excellent condition, bar needed two new doors, which there were plenty of at the wreckers. Any way walked around the front and the vehicles sticker states statuary write off, never to be re registered, for parts dismantling only.

Asked about the wagon and as the sticker stated can no longer be bought as a whole vehicle for the purpose of registering. Any way went to the next wreckers down the road asked about any wagons and was told, that if they take one part off the vehicle they are bound by law (and can cop a 500 dollar fine), to class the vehicle as a statuary write off.

So wreckers are writing off perfectly good shells, made me angry to say the least.

Danny · 22-10-2011, 07:43 PM

Oh no, we didn't lose a couple of au wagons did we??

HenryFordJr · 22-10-2011, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny

Oh no, we didn't lose a couple of au wagons did we??

Haha I think there is plenty to go around..

At least you know the parts from it will be in good condition

blackf6 · 22-10-2011, 07:46 PM

not just the wagons the implications are wide spread. i just don't think that they should be writing cars off that aren't technically speaking a write off.

Jim Goose · 22-10-2011, 08:04 PM

Hmm sounds interesting... have to ask my mate who has a wrecking yard if the rules have changed.

Sounds like a very stupid new regulation and i understand what you mean.

But i wonder if they put the sticker on the car are they writing down the VIN and giving the details to TMR that the car is no longer?? Or are they just doing it to cover themselves?

Pis-ton broke · 22-10-2011, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teak81

, that if they take one part off the vehicle they are bound by law (and can cop a 500 dollar fine), to class the vehicle as a statuary write off.

So wreckers are writing off perfectly good shells,

what are you saying? the wrecker cant take a part off a stat write off?

i didn,t know a wrecker could write off a vehicle, they are only wreckers and have no autherty to do so.

fmc351 · 22-10-2011, 08:18 PM

Couldnt it just be that they bought it as a stat write off? Ive seen plenty of vehicles at auctions that are stat write off that dont appear to have any obvious reason for it.

As for wreckers having no choice, I have no idea about.

nstg8a · 22-10-2011, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

But i wonder if they put the sticker on the car are they writing down the VIN and giving the details to TMR that the car is no longer?? Or are they just doing it to cover themselves?

this was my first thought

calais · 22-10-2011, 08:40 PM

Did the car look flood damaged?

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 08:55 PM

Its not wreckers writing cars off.
Its insurance companies. They are the only ones who can do it.
Flood damaged cars as a rule are alway stat writeoffs as the real damage shows its head months down the track.
In NSW now there is no repairable writeoffs anymore. They are all stat write offs.
We can thank the rebirthing industry for this wonderful change of rules.

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 08:57 PM

I can never understand why some vehicles are written off. Sure, they arent worth anything according to market value, etc to repair. But seriously, ive come across some SWO cars that could easily be fit for RWC, where conversely ive seen some cars that *should* be SWO but are back on the road...

Confusing to say the least.

Jim Goose · 22-10-2011, 09:04 PM

No, the OP stating the wrecking yard is putting the sticker on the car once the car has been parted out for spares....

i.e: The car arrives whole... a part is removed from the car, the car is no longer "whole" and therefor its written off.

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 09:05 PM

Its all about the dollars.
Flood damaged cars are well known to be huge dollar fixes but you cant really see anything wrong with them. Same as hail damaged vehicles.
Give it another 6 to 12 months and it will be all over the current affairs shows about people buying cars from yards with questionable morals and the cars are lemons and stuffing up left right and centre. If they trace the vehicles back they would of originally come from the Queensland and Victoria flood areas from earlier in the year.
The dodgy sharks would of got in and bought vehicles that were uninsured off people for next to nothing , bring them back , pressure wash and deodorise them chck some rego on and move them on before the true damage shows its face.

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

No, the OP stating the wrecking yard is putting the sticker on the car once the car has been parted out for spares....

i.e: The car arrives whole... a part is removed from the car, the car is no longer "whole" and therefor its written off.

Either way, a sad state of affairs for a car that, assumingly, still has structual integrity.

Why write off a perfectly good vehicle just because its had removable (without destruction) components taken off it? Sad but true, thats all.

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

No, the OP stating the wrecking yard is putting the sticker on the car once the car has been parted out for spares....

i.e: The car arrives whole... a part is removed from the car, the car is no longer "whole" and therefor its written off.

I am aware that is what he is stating but it is not correct.
The only way the wrecker can do anything like that is if they pick the vehicle up from a council retrieval. They can only sell as parts as even though they have the contract to pick up dumped cars for the council they dont officially have the ownership rights to the vehicle to sell it.
In this case they destroy the VIN and the car is dead.

JC · 22-10-2011, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotty85

Either way, a sad state of affairs for a car that, assumingly, still has structual integrity.

Why write off a perfectly good vehicle just because its had removable (without destruction) components taken off it? Sad but true, thats all.

It's a car. It has no feelings. It wouldn't care.

The rule is there to slow down the rebirthing industry.

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC

It's a car. It has no feelings. It wouldn't care.

The rule is there to slow down the rebirthing industry.

Yeah.... but I have feelings

And I dont see this practice slowing down rebirthing by any means. Where ever theres a will, theres a way. I think all illegal activities live by that statement.

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 09:18 PM

Well I have to admit that I am wrong.
The wrecker does have to notify the rego authority that the car is being stripped if it hasnt been notified already.
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Registrati...-register.aspx

Sounds fair to me. It slows down the rebirthing industry. Really at the end of the day an AU wagon isnt going to be valued much differently wehter you get a decent running concern or a shell from the wreckers. It would actually cost you more to put a shell on the road then to get a half decent car for your project.

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotty85

Yeah.... but I have feelings

And I dont see this practice slowing down rebirthing by any means. Where ever theres a will, theres a way. I think all illegal activities live by that statement.

It would slow down rebirthing a bit as the source of readily available VIN numbers and compliance plates dries up.
Look on the good side of things. The more AU's get written off the more valuable the remaining ones are.
The leyland P76 would of been the 70's equivilent to an AU.
Look at what they are worth now!

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAV50L

It would slow down rebirthing a bit as the source of readily available VIN numbers and compliance plates dries up.
Look on the good side of things. The more AU's get written off the more valuable the remaining ones are.
The leyland P76 would of been the 70's equivilent to an AU.
Look at what they are worth now!

All it will do is increase the amount of unregistered vehicles on the road. The will & way prevails as always....At least until we are all forced to drive electric toyotas with GPS tracking systems in them. Sleeping pills would look mighty pleasant to me when that day comes...

Besides, I dont want AUs becoming rare! That would make them cost more, & that sucks!

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotty85

All it will do is increase the amount of unregistered vehicles on the road. The will & way prevails as always....At least until we are all forced to drive electric toyotas with GPS tracking systems in them. Sleeping pills would look mighty pleasant to me when that day comes...

Besides, I dont want AUs becoming rare! That would make them cost more, & that sucks!

Seriously how will it increase the number of unregistered vehicles on the road?
I am fasinated on how it could do so.

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAV50L

Seriously how will it increase the number of unregistered vehicles on the road?
I am fasinated on how it could do so.

Simple, cant register a rebirthed vehicle because of lack of VINs? Easy! lets just whack some fake plates on it instead....

Not that this would really apply to the calibre of vehicle in the topic, but it just gives more reason to resist the law in different ways, thats all.

BTW, this is a tinfoil-hat theory, based on the idea of how far lawbreakers are willing to go to earn their crust...

blackf6 · 22-10-2011, 09:49 PM

Well. I was wanting a wagon ,as i have a family. and as ford doesn't make what i want in a wagon, i want to strip my xr6 turbo and put the parts into a wagon. But i don't want to buy a hack from a car yard for an inflated price, so thought the wreckers would be a good choice. But little did i know that even if somebody sells them the vehicle that they are allowed to statuary write them off. Oh well back to the drawing board.

blackf6 · 22-10-2011, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Hmm sounds interesting... have to ask my mate who has a wrecking yard if the rules have changed.

Sounds like a very stupid new regulation and i understand what you mean.

But i wonder if they put the sticker on the car are they writing down the VIN and giving the details to TMR that the car is no longer?? Or are they just doing it to cover themselves?

the wreckers told me that the vehicle can no longer be registered and when i asked why was told that they statuary wrote it off because an assessor would be around in a few weeks and if parts were taken off the vehicle that they could incur a fine if they did not stat write it.

flappist · 22-10-2011, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teak81

Well. I was wanting a wagon ,as i have a family. and as ford doesn't make what i want in a wagon, i want to strip my xr6 turbo and put the parts into a wagon. But i don't want to buy a hack from a car yard for an inflated price, so thought the wreckers would be a good choice. But little did i know that even if somebody sells them the vehicle that they are allowed to statuary write them off. Oh well back to the drawing board.

You don't want to buy a hack from a car yard but you are quite happy to buy a hack that is so crappy the car yards don't want it?

There are several low km (40-60) BF3s in car yards down here for $10k +/-, what is wrong with that idea?

blackf6 · 22-10-2011, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

You don't want to buy a hack from a car yard but you are quite happy to buy a hack that is so crappy the car yards don't want it?

There are several low km (40-60) BF3s in car yards down here for $10k +/-, what is wrong with that idea?

looked at some bf series 3 wagons. waste of money in my opinion if i am going to dump basically the whole car, save for the shell and rolling chassis. If i could of picked up a wagon for cheap with a good body that would of been the way to go for me. Any way i just wanted a cheap project car not having to pay through the nose through a car yard, and when i find a good vehicle find that the wreckers has written it off. The whole thread is about why would they write of a vehicle that obviously still has a good body. bet they wouldn't do that with any x series now days. And the car in question wasn't all that crap either it just needed two new doors on the shell, and obviously i couldn't car about the running gear( except the diff and housing).

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teak81

looked at some bf series 3 wagons. waste of money in my opinion if i am going to dump basically the whole car, save for the shell and rolling chassis. If i could of picked up a wagon for cheap with a good body that would of been the way to go for me. Any way i just wanted a cheap project car not having to pay through the nose through a car yard, and when i find a good vehicle find that the wreckers has written it off. The whole thread is about why would they write of a vehicle that obviously still has a good body. bet they wouldn't do that with any x series now days.

Go a private sale AU Wagon. They can be had for peanuts, since no one wants a wagon let alone an AU wagon....

Unless you consider $500-$2000 a lot of money.......

JC · 22-10-2011, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teak81

Well. I was wanting a wagon ,as i have a family. and as ford doesn't make what i want in a wagon, i want to strip my xr6 turbo and put the parts into a wagon. But i don't want to buy a hack from a car yard for an inflated price, so thought the wreckers would be a good choice. But little did i know that even if somebody sells them the vehicle that they are allowed to statuary write them off. Oh well back to the drawing board.

Too easy. Just buy this one:

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...08#post3947308

MAV50L · 22-10-2011, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotty85

Simple, cant register a rebirthed vehicle because of lack of VINs? Easy! lets just whack some fake plates on it instead....

Not that this would really apply to the calibre of vehicle in the topic, but it just gives more reason to resist the law in different ways, thats all.

BTW, this is a tinfoil-hat theory, based on the idea of how far lawbreakers are willing to go to earn their crust...

Seriously someone who would be willing to put fake plates on a stolen car and drive it around because they couldnt get a VIN isnt real bright.
They wouldnt bother going to the effort of rebirthing a car. They would just pinch one and drive it.
Thats not the element of criminal the new rules are out to shut down.

**SSD-85** · 22-10-2011, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAV50L

Seriously someone who would be willing to put fake plates on a stolen car and drive it around because they couldnt get a VIN isnt real bright.
They wouldnt bother going to the effort of rebirthing a car. They would just pinch one and drive it.
Thats not the element of criminal the new rules are out to shut down.

Who said they had to be bright...? Either way, as you say, no one would go to the effort of rebirthing a car of this type anyway.

So to focus on the crims these rules affect, yes it will diminish the amount. But hey, like most people, theyre resilient & will find another illicit means of profiting. One thats more difficult to shut out with legislation.

I guess the main complaint from me is insurance mobs writing off perfectly usable cars for no good reason other than cost to them for repair.