Where public safety is at stake profits cannot be kept as the main priority. Every participant in the motor industry shares a responsibility to ensure that the safety, structural integrity, presentation and utility of a motor vehicle is maintained and restored when damaged. This responsibility is made clear in the Motor Vehicle Insurance and Repair Industry (MVIRI) Code of Conduct. Whilst the Code primarily relates to the body repair industry, due to the connectedness of this industry to the parts recycling industry, the impact of the MVIRI Code filters through.

The MVIRI Code states:

1.1 Insurers will authorise repairs covered by the policy with the objective of:
(a) restoring the safety, structural integrity, presentation and utility of the motor vehicle;
(b) complying with relevant Australian Government, state or territory legislation;

1.2 Insurers will not require Repairers to carry out repairs that:
(a) are not in accordance with:
i) the documented manufacturers’ technical specifications including those supplied by
other industry recognised agencies or authorities; or
ii) any lawful mandatory specifications and/or standards, or
(b) use methods that may compromise vehicle warranty conditions; or
(c) in the absence of (a) and (b) are not in accordance with accepted industry standards
and practice, while having regard to the age and condition of the motor vehicle.

Simply put, it is the repairers’ responsibility to ensure that a vehicle is repaired using the methodology and materials that will ensure structural integrity. It is the insurance companies’ responsibility when allocating, assessing and authorising repairs that the vehicle safety is maintained. As a result, it is then the parts suppliers’ responsibility to supply the necessary parts required that meet manufacturers’ technical specifications and Australian Design Rules. The MVIRI Code makes it unmistakably clear that vehicle safety is paramount and the parts used and repair processes employed need to be at the required standard.

Then there is the question of what happens when a vehicle is too badly damaged to be safely repaired. There are times when a vehicle is so damaged that repairers would advise that it cannot be restored safely, or when the cost of the repairs would be so high that the insurance company would deem the repair economically unviable.

It’s these situations when vehicles are written off. However, insurance companies also write off many more vehicles each year even when the repairs are less than 50% of the sum insured. Insurance companies are writing off damaged vehicles, selling these vehicles at the auction, then using their market power to buy the customer a new replacement vehicle. The insurance companies are able to get a good price for selling the written off vehicle at the auction since the auctions are open to the public and can be repaired and resold by unlicensed people.

To the detriment of the safety of the general public, unscrupulous people that are not licensed repairers, nor working in licensed repair workshop and are not complying with the MVIRI Code, can buy these insurance write offs. These vehicles are cosmetically repaired and put back onto the road, totally worthless but worst of all, death traps.

The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) has reported significant decreases in vehicle theft over the last few years, although unfortunately there has been a dramatic rise in unrecovered stolen vehicles.

What does vehicle theft and written off vehicles have to do with each other?

Just ask the Police, whilst you are at it ask the following; the NMVTRC, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) complaints department, the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) re-registration department, members of the public that have unknowingly purchased a written off vehicle and the media that has been investigating these issues for years. There are some 13,600 vehicle in NSW that are written off and then re-registered each year.

What the general public needs to know is that the NSW Government faces one of its most significant decisions since it took office in NSW. That is, it faces the decision to ban written off vehicles from ever being repaired and put back on our roads. All written off vehicles would be classified as “statutory write offs” so they would be unable to be repaired but certain parts would be reusable. This one act by the NSW Government has the potential to dramatically improve the safety and wellbeing of the general public in such a way that once made, it will seem incredible that this decision had taken so long to reach. This option, among others, was outlined in a paper on the management of written off vehicles that was put out by the NSW State Government late last year. MTA NSW had long lobbied the RTA and State Government MPs to ban repairable write offs and this options paper was welcomed by the Association. A lengthy submission was tabled by the MTA outlining the safety and industry issues with the current system.

If such a decision is made, the benefits that will flow through society will be incredible. Vehicle theft for rebirthing purposes will decrease, freeing up our law enforcement resources such as the police and the court system and reducing the financial burden of stolen vehicles for insurance companies. Several government agencies, such as the OFT and the RTA, will receive fewer complaints and vehicle re-registration problems.