Last Thursday my daughter was driving her car and another lady decided that she wanted to be in he same lane as my daughter. End result the whole of my daughter's car on the drivers side is damaged.

On the way home my daughter called into a smash repairer. He told her that the car might be a right off.
My daughter has only 3rd party “bomb” insurance in NSW so no figure on the value of her car is recognised.
The car is a 2007 Honda Jazz. Looking on Gumtree I figure it's worth around $5,000.

The lady who caused the accident contacted her own insurer, NRMA and has admitted she was totally in the wrong. She gave my daughter the accident report number. My daughter called the NRMA and they told her to go to the NRMA's local recommended smash repairer for a quote.

My daughter is in tears, she just wants the car fixed. The car doesn't look badly damaged but when you add up all the damaged panels I guess the repairer is right to think it could be a right off.

My daughter fears her car could be written off and a figure of $3,000 or less could be shoved at her.
What rights does she have to refuse an unreasonable offer?

In the old days you could re purchased the damaged car back from the insurer but I heard they don't do that any more.

You are under no obligation to use the nrma repairer. Go and get a quote from an independant and ask for a cash settlement. You could also use a 3rd party recovery service. Most independent shops should have a contact for this.

Buy her a (near?) new Honda Jazz. It'll have all the modern safety devices, side airbags, stability control etc. Much better to be in for the next prang.

Firstly take emotion out of the situation......

Is a car of 4-5k$ value worth repairing with 3k$ of labour / parts?...... short answer NO.
The reason is that if the car was to be repaired it 'should' now be worth 7-8K$ (original value + repairs), and it's not ...right.

Owners of cars often add emotion into the situation and think that has value.. it doesn't.

Move on, find another car, learn from the experience, don't look back......

^^^^

And then add some logic to the maths....

The damaged car is probably worth, say, $500 as a wreck, so by spending $3K on repairs, you get yourself a $4K to $5K car, which could be worth doing.

Why would you add the $3K of repairs to the undamaged value of the car?

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Knottedup said..
Last Thursday my daughter was driving her car and another lady decided that she wanted to be in he same lane as my daughter. End result the whole of my daughter's car on the drivers side is damaged.

On the way home my daughter called into a smash repairer. He told her that the car might be a right off.
My daughter has only 3rd party “bomb” insurance in NSW so no figure on the value of her car is recognised.
The car is a 2007 Honda Jazz. Looking on Gumtree I figure it's worth around $5,000.

The lady who caused the accident contacted her own insurer, NRMA and has admitted she was totally in the wrong. She gave my daughter the accident report number. My daughter called the NRMA and they told her to go to the NRMA's local recommended smash repairer for a quote.

My daughter is in tears, she just wants the car fixed. The car doesn't look badly damaged but when you add up all the damaged panels I guess the repairer is right to think it could be a right off.

My daughter fears her car could be written off and a figure of $3,000 or less could be shoved at her.
What rights does she have to refuse an unreasonable offer?

In the old days you could re purchased the damaged car back from the insurer but I heard they don't do that any more.

Call my cynical, but this rings a bell. Didn't this exact question get asked a while back? Then again, it probably happens a lot.

Either way, why not answer it again...

The other insurance company does not own or have any rights over your daughters car. They can't determine it to be a write off but they can determine the value that they think it will take to repair or replace, and/or they can organise the repairs. You don't have to accept this, and you can chase them through a statement of claim.

You are perfectly fine to take the value of the repairs and the car and get it repaired yourself. They will probably argue some nominal small value for the car and remove it from the amount they give you. These days, this amount is not much.

Why not get red book values of a car in similar condition and use this as a starting point? Similar condition and mileage, and this sets your replacement value. Ask for this amount from the other insurer. If it gets difficult and the insurance company stalls, serve a statement of claim on the other party, and see what happens.

Thanks guys,
The last reply was really the information I was more after.
I just wanted to know my rights before I was pushed about.
As said the damage isn't bad on any panel.
I often see plenty of cars in way worse condition driving around.
It's more that the number of panels damaged could right it off.
I won't know until tomorrow what their panel beater says.

My wife and I have never been involved in an accident so it's all new to us.
I keep hearing panel beaters don't like to panel beat that much anymore.
I hear it's more about them getting a new or second hand part and attaching and spraying it.
Who can blame them.

There is no way I'd spend $3,000 on the car.
If I could buy the car back cheaply as is I'd make it look a bit better and own it myself.
I just don't like putting all my salty windsurfing gear into a good car. I'd then buy a better car for the daughter.
My wife and I bought the Jazz new then gave it to our daughter a few years ago. I know mechanically it's in A1 condition
and before this accident it was all in A1 condition.