Hi guys,
I've been looking for something to do with my wreck TL's engine and I thought, maybe I could buy another 3rd gen Magna with a blown a engine. I've been looking and I found a 2001 TJ executive at the auctions. The whole body seems in good condition (no panel or structural damage) and the damage report just says "Engine requires mechanical attention". So really it should not be on the Written-Off vehicle register, right? Well some how it is. So my question is, can a car be put on the written-off vehicle register for mechanical reasons? Thanks

Yes..

Here in QLD the vehicle can be written off as a Repairable Write Off and be put on the WOVR as it has been uneconomical to repair.

If you can get it for a good price, once the work is done, you can have an engineer & mechanic view the vehicle and pay for the vehicle to be removed from the WOVR.

Quick example for you.. My brothers colt was put on the WOVR because the two front seats were stolen out of it.. ($9000 to replace the two seats with Genuine Mitsu parts) Now the seats have been replaced with Ralliart/BRIDEs and the car has been taken off the WOVR.

SuFz :ninja:

Two degress of writeoff - "Structural" and "Repairable"

Structural is gone forever anywhere in Australia - the WOVR is national list - includes flood or fire damaged vehs

Repairable will require post repair inspection for re- registration

Check via QT or (whichever state rego is) or via REVS check to see category so u don't get stuck with a Stat WO

Car once on the WOVR will be on there for ever, will be listed as a repairable writeoff to start with, once inspected will then chenge to inspected write off.

Comment above about structural is incorrect, anything under the mudguards is classified as structural, ie if a rad support is bent, can legally be replaced however will be considered as heavy structural

Goes a lot deeper than this but is an over all picture

BTW< MitsFix forum is not really the place for this thread, mods please move lol

BTW< MitsFix forum is not really the place for this thread, mods please move lol

Sorry man didn't know where to put it. So can I swap the engine from my wreck TL, get the car working as per normal, take it in for an inspection and I should be right? Cause my mate wants a Magna and I told him if I do something like this he will be the first one I tell once I have it up for sale. The car I will be getting the engine from is on the WOVR but it's not on there for engine problems so if I include the documents from purchasing that car and give them the new engine number etc, it should be fine? As I will be doing the engine swap if I do buy it, I won't get a mechanic or anyone like that to do it . Also, for some advice with the Auction, I was thinking I should bid no more than $1000-1200. The car has 179000km (the car that im taking the engine from has 124500 km on it) and is a 2001 TJ executive with mags, spoiler and VRX bodykit and of course it's WOVR status is "Repairable Write-Off"

I am confused, the car the engine is from is on the WOVR but the car this is going into is not, then if this is the case makes jack difference as the engine can come from anywhere. If the car is on the WOVR you will need to call QLD transport and find out what inspections are required

As for where the thread goes, Teck Talk or Thrid Gen teck are both good places to start :)

Here's a pic of it : http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3377/magnaauction.jpg

I am confused, the car the engine is from is on the WOVR but the car this is going into is not, then if this is the case makes jack difference as the engine can come from anywhere. If the car is on the WOVR you will need to call QLD transport and find out what inspections are required

As for where the thread goes, Teck Talk or Thrid Gen teck are both good places to start :)

Could someone please shift the thread to one of those places? Thanks. Also the car that the engine is coming from is on the WOVR for a rear-end smash. The car that I have just posted the pic of (the one I'm looking at buying) is on the WOVR for (I think) engine problems. That is what the damage details on the auction page anyway. I even went into the auction yard today and asked at the office if there are any other problems listed and they basically just said it was the mechanical problems too. Also guys, what do you think of it? Do you guys think $1000-1200 should be my limit?

Queensland.. Two Type of Write Offs..

Statutory - No chance of doing anything but using it for parts..

Repairable - As long as its enginereed & mechanically sound - Both of these sides must be confirmed by an engineer & mechanic it can be REMOVED from the WOVR.

SuFz :ninja:

You'll be bidding against ACE wreckers and he's a real dick to bid against. This something they'll try to buy for sure as they like the easy fixers and sell for a profit. They have about 20 wrecks they can use to get an engine. I wouldn't go higher than $1200. Then you have your auction fees on top, WOVI and rego, fluids and filters. I'd expect to get this car on the road for $3k with your motor from the TL wreck and thats being generous.

There's usually about a 2+ month wait for WOVI inspections too, so expect the car to be sitting around taking up space. I used to buy the motor bike wrecks from pickles and fix them up so I know the process.

$500 WOVI
$600 Rego+plates+compuls insurance
$1200 TJ wreck
$200 fluids and filters
+ budget for unexpected stuff (tow trucks, labor if you aren't doing the swap yourself)

Yeah I know what that ACE wreckers bloke is like. I've seen him at auctions before. And I can see why he makes so much profit. I've been to his wreckers before too and he charges a fortune for his parts (never bought anything from him though). So I'll probably have to sell the car for $3500 to $4000 to make any money I guess. And yeah bout getting it off the WOVR, I'm not in a huge rush to do that. I don't mind waiting till early next year before its registered. I'm most likely selling it to my mate and he will have to save up a fair bit. I'm also saving up for a Gold Coast trip at the end of the year so I will probably basically buy the car, swap the engines, make sure it runs etc, leave the car until I can afford to do all the other stuff, then sell it. I will probably drive it round for a while b4 i sell it to. It will mean less wear and tear will be on my car. I think its actually a very neat (and nice) looking Magna, what do you guys think? Also SAVAGE thanks for your advice and run down on the costs etc. I now have a more calculated view of how I will approach this. I will also have to hire an engine hoist. I know they're about $70 for a whole weekend as my mate had to rent one about 6 months back.

I can vouch for the fact that getting a repairable writeoff back on the road is a long and expensive process - not the repair part, the paperwork and inspection part. Good luck and I hope your patience holds out.

Just call your local smash repairer and they'll be able to put you into contact with someone whVRo's able to help you out with removing the vehicle from the WOVR..

SuFz :ninja:

There's only one person in Townsville that does it. And he flies in from out of town once a month to do it - the WOVI that is.

I goto ACE fairly frequently, he's been pretty good to me, but only if I pull the parts myself. I usually pocket the small clips and screws too, nothing he'd charge me for.

You might get away lucky and buy it for less. If I were you, rip everything from your TL and put into the TJ. That's loom seats and everything and use it as a daily driver. Sell your older TH and keep the "lower km" TJ.

Sorry guys, cars never get REMOVED from the WOVR, this is a national thing. Once listed they will always be listed either as stat, repairable or inspected. The Inspected means that while yes, on a technical note the car has been "removed" when ever anyone does a check, the inspected list will always be there.

As for this car, why not just get this car if you can get it for the right price and then get a random TJ onwards engine (for the Number 6 cams) and pop it in. Surely with all these $900 380 engines around there would be no issues in getting one of these as apparently there is no shortage of them (not that I have ever found one at that price which had not spent a few days as a boat moring lin some floods ol) but seriously, most 3.5 engines will fetch between 5 and 7 hundred or better still, get the car and find out if the engine really does have issues, I have purchased one before with major engine damage, all it needed was a set of injectors and fuel pump as the car was on gas and the fuel system had not been used in years

Oh and I will call this Ace guy and tell him off for daring to make a profit, how dare he make profit to try and stay in business, I assure you all I will put an immedate end to this lol

Further to this in NSW, no car can ever be re-registered once it has been written off, regardless of the triviality of the reason for it

NSW has stat write offs.. QLD have a bit of both.. Lol!

Mal.. You know what I mean.. The WOVR restriction is removed but the tracks are still there..

SuFz

$2000 for a 3.8L with rusted cylinder jackets, and $1200 for a 3.5L engine. There's a difference between profit and ripoff.

There was a pajero exceed 3.8L that sold recently in town if you can find that buy the motor (and the wood grain gear knob and steering wheel, MMCS).

Guys, I already have a TL as my daily driver with 137000km on it and was looked after by my parents for about 4 years before I got it so it is in good condition. I just want the TJ as I have a spare 3.5L engine (from my wreck TL that I bought about a year ago) and all the other uses I can think for it are too complicated and costly. I just want to make a bit of money off the TJ as well as get my mate a better car (as I will probably be selling to my mate). This mate of mine drove our other mate's TL one night and he just couldn't believe how responsive and torquey it was so I told him if I ever sell my TL or buy another Magna, fix it up and register it, I would sell it to him. And to respond to Mal about the ACE bloke making profit, as SAVAGE said, there's a difference between profit and ripoff. He does overprice his stuff a bit. Especially considering what he buys the whole car for. I saw once there was a 3.0L manual TE at an auction, I sort of wanted it for the 'box but didn't have a bidder's number and at the time I wasn't sure and the car had 260000ish kms on it. Anyway, the ACE bloke got it for $200 and could you imagine how much he would have sold everything off it for. I don't have anything against him making profit, but I do against ripping you off. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. So once I spend all the money fixing it up, the whole car will probably end up costing my 2500-3000 on the road and I have looked up a 2001 TJs redbook value and it says $3000-4500 so I think I should sell it for $4000?

market for tj well in qld are not good i got a tj 2003 model 125kms for 3500 with a rwc(blue slip) cant even get anyone interested at the mo cars are worth stuff all
im sure in a few months be worth more 4 cylinder cars shot up in price 6 and 8 down due to petrol costs and the economy
i sold a tj a year a go with 265k on it a little rough for 4600 this day lucky to get 2g for it

Well see how you go with the TJ as you may get it for a good price then either get another with a good motor or get a secondhand motor and drop that in. As I said though, make sure that what is wrong with it when you get hte car and look at it this way, if you find there is more than engine damage and it turns out it is not worth repairing, you will make a good $$ off the parts from the car like the kit etc if you sell them in the right place

Take into account also it is only a series 1 so no climate, no digi dash, no 17" wheels etc etc

Just for the record, purchase price of a wreck has absolutely nothing to do with sell price for the parts. You need to take into accounot the new price if that part was still available, if not available then the secondhand price goes up also. Most places, myself included simply put a base price on a particular part. Sometimes you make a heap from one car, then the next one you may run close to the line or even lose out, they all balance out in time. Also remember that with insurance, lease, workcover, power, gas, tools, equimpment only to name a few of the massive expenses we have that we need to make good money from a wreck, let alone the time to bid, pick up a car, assess and then strip a car, store unsold parts, warranty claims if an item does not work etc etc. Until you have run a business like this you really can not judge how much can be made off a partucular car and what part of that is actually straight profit

People all too often go "hell, that is a lot, you must be making a killing off that" what do you think the bigger shops make of that TV in your lounge, the jeans you are wearing etc etc, oh that is right, a bigger company can make 300% profit on an item made in China but if a little guy like us tries and makes the 15 hour days actually worth it we are ripping people off. Perhaps you should rock up at work and work for free then, after all if your boss is making money ..... do I need to go on .....

Simply put, you can not claim someone is over priced just because YOU dont think that part is not worth that much as many out there including those in the trade will not agree with you. Just because a going Magna is worth a couple grand does not mean the spare secondhand parts will be worth piss all either :)

Yeah mate I see what you mean. I guess if it's your livelihood you have to put a high profit margin on things. Didn't think of it like that. Well anyways that TJ has mags (i think 17" or 18"), clear tail lights and a VR-X front bumper so its a bit better than standard (it's an Executive though). So yeah, do you think I should buy it?