Throughout South Africa, concerns are mounting over the increase in damaged vehicles on our roads, including cars that have been written off.
One concerned party is the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (SAMBRA), which noted that the rise in vehicle write-offs is reaching a risk point, with some vehicles written off for as low as 35% of their value.
According to Juan Hanekom, the association’s National Director, this has led to an increase in damaged vehicles entering the market, putting pressure on the systems that ensure tracking and transparency.
“In the past, SAMBRA has strongly supported the introduction of a transparent Vehicle Salvage Database (VSD) as an important step in protecting consumers and improving visibility within the insurance vehicle parc,” he said.
“However, given the growing scale of vehicle write-offs, there is increasing recognition that this alone may not be sufficient to address the broader challenge.”
A database like this would largely apply to insured vehicles, which make up only a portion of South Africa’s total vehicle parc, excluding a significant number of vehicles from formal tracking mechanisms.
The average age of the more than 13 million vehicles on our roads is estimated at around 10.8 years, and coupled with rising write-off volumes, highlights the need for a more holistic view of vehicle lifecycles.
“We are seeing a situation where vehicles that have been declared uneconomical to repair may still find their way back into circulation in different forms,” explained Hanekom.
“This raises important questions around safety, transparency and the integrity of vehicle records.”
He noted that the current process is largely unregulated and could incentivise this practice, and that exploring complementary measures may be the only way to support greater system integrity.
SAMBRA believes it is important for stakeholders to explore measures that have already been adopted globally, including formalised processes for deregistration, dismantling and material recovery.
“This is not about prescribing a single solution, but rather about encouraging ongoing collaboration across insurers, repairers, manufacturers and regulators to strengthen the system as a whole,” added Hanekom.
“As an industry, we have an opportunity to build on existing initiatives and explore practical ways to improve transparency, enhance consumer protection and support safer roads.”
Why insurers write off cars
Insurers may decide to write off a vehicle when it does not believe that repairing the vehicle makes financial sense, or is not safe to put back on the road.
This is according to Naked Car Insurance Co-founder, Ernest North, who explained that an insurer may write off a car involved in a major accident, damaged by severe weather, or recovered in poor condition.
“When you submit a claim, the insurer will appoint an assessor to inspect the vehicle and calculate the cost of repair,” explained North.
“If the repair costs are high compared to the car’s value, the insurer may decide it is a total loss rather than something that should be repaired.”
The threshold for this differs between insurers, but a common rule of thumb is that a car will be written off if the repairs would exceed 50-75% of its value.
“In simple terms, the insurer is weighing up what it would cost to repair the car properly and safely, against what the car is worth,” North explains.
“If the numbers don’t make sense, or there are safety concerns, it’s more likely to be written off.”
The key factors that influence an assessor’s decision are the severity of the damage, the vehicle’s age, and parts availability, especially for luxury or imported vehicles.
Should the assessot write off the vehicle, the insurer will pay the insured value of the vehicle instead of paying for repairs.
The payout amount is based on the terms of the insurance policy, which is usually the insured or market value of the vehicle minus the excess.
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