Car written off by insurance.

[mellos]

Good day
I am in desperate need of some advice,I recently had an incident with my car which resulted in it being damaged.
Long story short my insurance company wrote the vehicle off and I managed to convince them to let me get another quote which came in lower
than the write off value so I got the car repaired and they paid me out the value of the second quote which I used to pay the panel beater,now guys this is a reputable panel beater that I got to repair the vehicle not some backyard panel beater,it was repaired at his shop and all his work is guaranteed.
Is it true that to get the car insured again I am going to have to put it through a roadworthy test again?
This car was not scrapped and the damage was bonnet,fender.bumper,bumper stiffener,aircon radiator and main radiator,no damage was done to the suspension in any way.
Anyone have this happen to them or know of someone who experienced this.
Is a roadworthy test really necessary?Can't an assessor just inspect the vehicle and give a certificate of the job or repair being done to their
standards and insure the car.

Thanks.....

[panic-mechanic]

why not simply speak to your insurance broker or helpdesk and ask them?

[Supervan II]

So was the car written off or not?
No? Then no RWC required.
Yes? The car is a code 3 and most likely would never be insured for market value, irrespective of RWC being issued or not.

[mellos]

@panic mechanic the insurance broker is the one that is saying that the car must go for RWC,it is classified as written off by them not scrapped.
@Supervan the insurance company or broker did not tell us that once the decision was made to write the car off
it cannot be reversed so even if we got paid out to repair the car the status still remains as written off.
Correct me if I am wrong but in my understanding written off does not mean it cannot be repaired but it is just a term
insurances use when it is going to cost them too much to repaired,scrapped means it cannot be repaired and you have
to go to your relevant licensing department and take it off the books,so in short even though written off it still has a valid RWC.
Scrapped on the other hand means that you have to go to your licensing department and apply for a RWC.
Does that make sense?

[mellos]

@panic mechanic the insurance broker is the one that is saying that the car must go for RWC,it is classified as written off by them not scrapped.
@Supervan the insurance company or broker did not tell us that once the decision was made to write the car off
it cannot be reversed so even if we got paid out to repair the car the status still remains as written off.
Correct me if I am wrong but in my understanding written off does not mean it cannot be repaired but it is just a term
insurances use when it is going to cost them too much to repaired,scrapped means it cannot be repaired and you have
to go to your relevant licensing department and take it off the books,so in short even though written off it still has a valid RWC.
Scrapped on the other hand means that you have to go to your licensing department and apply for a RWC.
Does that make sense?

[Gielie]

@panic mechanic the insurance broker is the one that is saying that the car must go for RWC,it is classified as written off by them not scrapped.
@Supervan the insurance company or broker did not tell us that once the decision was made to write the car off
it cannot be reversed so even if we got paid out to repair the car the status still remains as written off.
Correct me if I am wrong but in my understanding written off does not mean it cannot be repaired but it is just a term
insurances use when it is going to cost them too much to repaired,scrapped means it cannot be repaired and you have
to go to your relevant licensing department and take it off the books,so in short even though written off it still has a valid RWC.
Scrapped on the other hand means that you have to go to your licensing department and apply for a RWC.
Does that make sense?

Mellos

I suggest you speak to your broker. Lots of confusion exist when it comes to insurance companies. A writeoff is just that, the vehicle is written off or scrapped. This is not the same as a vehicle that is uneconomical to repair or seen as a "total loss"

Did you hand the papers over to the insurance company during the claim process? As if you did not the vehicles status could not have been changed to code 3 unless you had the vehicle deregistered or scrapped. If it was handed over you would need to reregister the vehicle and that requires a road worthy certiticate.

If the insurance company deemed the vehicle to be uneconomical to repair and you chose to take a cash in lue to pay for the repairs yourself, most insurers requires the vehicle to pass a roadworthy test or inspection by an engineer with a report to ensure that the vehicle was repaired to a suitable standard. Without this they will not insure the vehicle again.

I suggest you read the documentstion you have signed when they paid you the CIL.

As the insurance company did not pay the repaired and has no obligation to them, they have no obligation to take care of any errors, issues, or parts that where replaced and or repaires to an unacceptible standard. This is why they require the vehicle to be inspected by a professional.


In short go read ypur policy documentation and wording. It will state that a vehicle needs to be in a roadworthy condition to be insured. By having an accident you have placed the vehicle in an unroadworthy condition and notified your insurer of this. You have also taken the responsibility of the repait upon yourself. Thus you now need to prove that the vehicle has been placed back in a roadworthy condition and proven to your insurer before they will assume the risk transfer (insure the vehicle) again.

A dekra report should be sufficient dependant on what your insurer has requested.


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[jaret]

As far as im aware of a write off is more or less 70% in damages/cost of repairs of the value of the vehicle. If the cost to repair exceeds that amount they will write the car off. Some people choose to try to “save” the cars by recommending pirate parts or second hand parts on the cars to lower the cost of repairs. But like the previous comment states the insurer needs proof that the work carried out was of a certain standard

[amstel18]

As far as im aware of a write off is more or less 70% in damages/cost of repairs of the value of the vehicle. If the cost to repair exceeds that amount they will write the car off. Some people choose to try to “save” the cars by recommending pirate parts or second hand parts on the cars to lower the cost of repairs. But like the previous comment states the insurer needs proof that the work carried out was of a certain standard

Nope, different insurers have different limits according to different brands. It's not set in stone.

@ the OP. What's the issue? Roadworthy is like R500 MAX. problem solved, and atleast you'll also have peace of mind that your car is 100's.

[turbowheelchair]

it seems like its becoming common practice to remove the licence of smashed cars, when i smashed my dads van. it was just a minor smash, the radiator wasnt even damaged, but the cops pulled the disk and i had to do the road worthy stuff again to get a new disk.

just bite the bullet and get it done.

[mellos]

@Gielie no I did not hand in any papers to the insurance company I still have all the papers with me,it was not deregistered or scrapped.Thanks a lot for your input as it has made me understand the insurance company request better.
@Jaret you are hundred percent correct that if the damages exceed the insured value it is written off,thanks for your input as well.
@amstel18 it will benefit me if I send it for RWC and have peace of mind that all is well with the repair and the rest of the vehicle,thanks.
@turbowheelchair lucky for me the disc was not removed but as I said previously the car is still roadworthy,thanks.

[kingr]

You dont need a RWC. Will only need it in your scenario when you sell the car.

[mellos]

Thanks @kingr.