In Queensland, a notifiable vehicle damaged so badly that it is a total economic loss becomes a written-off vehicle, and that status is permanent: it stays on the record after repairs or a sale, and it follows the car if it leaves Queensland. Usually an insurer or another notifier reports it to Transport and Main Roads; when nobody has, the owner must report it before selling or disposing of the car.
General information about Queensland’s scheme, not legal advice about a particular car. Transport and Main Roads runs the Written-off Vehicle Scheme and is the place to check how it applies to yours.
The sum that decides it
Transport and Main Roads counts a car as a total economic loss when its market value before the damage is less than two figures added together: the cost of repairing it, and what the wreck would bring as salvage. The damage can come from a collision, fire, water immersion, a weather event, corrosion, or stripping and dismantling.
Example only
The figures are invented to show how the test works; they say nothing about any real car or market.
- Worth before the damage
- $8,000
- Quoted cost of repairs
- $6,500
- Salvage value of the wreck
- $2,000
- Repairs plus salvage
- $8,500
$8,500 is more than $8,000, so on this test the car is a total economic loss. Had the repairs been quoted at $5,500, repairs plus salvage would come to $7,500, under the car’s $8,000, and it would not be.
Which cars the scheme covers
A car is a notifiable vehicle, and must be written off once it is a total economic loss, when all three of these are true:
- It is registered in Queensland, or it is unregistered and located in Queensland.
- It is 16 years old or younger when it becomes a total loss.
- It is a light vehicle, a motorcycle, a caravan, a camper trailer or a heavy trailer.
Heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes GVM, vehicles more than 16 years old when damaged, light trailers that are not caravans or camper trailers, and vehicles registered in another state cannot be written off in Queensland. An insurer may still call such a car “written off” when it settles a claim. That word alone puts nothing on Queensland’s record: no one has to notify Transport and Main Roads, the registration is untouched, no inspection is needed and nothing reaches the national register. A car already written off, whether interstate or before it turned 16, keeps that status for good.
From the damage to the register
A notifier assesses the car
The notifier is whoever decides the car is a total economic loss, acting for an insurer, a loss adjuster or a self-insurer, for a dealer or an auctioneer, or for an auto parts dismantler. It might be an insurance company’s representative, a third-party assessor, someone at a smash repairer or a self-insured company’s employee.
The details go to Transport and Main Roads
The report carries the car’s VIN or chassis number, its engine number where available, the dates it was written off and assessed, whether it is statutory or repairable, the kind, place and severity of the damage, and the notifier’s details.
A label goes on the car
A written-off car must carry a label saying which status it has. An insurer that tells you your car is written off may give you the label to fix somewhere easily seen.
If nobody reported it, the owner does
This happens when the car was unregistered or uninsured when damaged, or when a notifier assessed it but sent nothing. The owner assesses the damage against Transport and Main Roads’ published criteria, fills in the written-off vehicle notification form (F4069), and lodges it with the registration cancellation, by email to viunit@tmr.qld.gov.au or by post to the Vehicle Identification Unit, GPO Box 5232, Brisbane QLD 4001.
Keeping the car does not change any of this: a written-off car you hold on to is still recorded on the register. Cancelling its registration is covered in the registration and plates guide.
What each status allows in Queensland
| Question | Statutory | Repairable |
|---|---|---|
| Back on the road? | Never: it cannot be registered again anywhere in Australia | Yes, once it passes two inspections |
| Its parts | Working parts may go into other repairs, except the restricted ones listed below | The repair parts themselves are checked at the written-off vehicle inspection |
| Inspections | None, as it can never be registered | A safety certificate inspection, then a written-off vehicle inspection (WOVI) |
| After repair | Not applicable | Stays on the register, so later buyers can see its history; Transport and Main Roads notes this can affect what it sells for |
Restricted parts from a statutory write-off include anything that records the VIN or chassis number; the chassis of a body-on-frame vehicle; and airbags that are damaged or deployed, came from a car damaged by water, smoke or fire, or have been recalled. The written-off vehicle inspection checks the identity of the car and of the parts used to repair it, to curb the illegal use of vehicle identifiers and stop stolen cars being given a new identity. Transport and Main Roads names the contractor that carries out these inspections, and how to book, on its inspections page.
Correcting the record, and other states
Repairing or selling the car leaves its status as it was. Only the notifier who first reported it can ask for a change, and only narrowly: when the damage was assessed wrongly and the car is still unrepaired and in the notifier’s hands, a request that must come with supporting evidence; or to fix a clerical or technical slip, such as a mistyped VIN or damage recorded on the wrong side, which can be put right even after repair.
Every Australian state and territory shares one list of written-off vehicles and their inspection results, the written-off vehicle register, which is searched through the Personal Property Securities Register. Re-registering a written-off car in another state can bring that state’s own paperwork or inspections, so its road transport authority is the place to ask first.