Market value guides
Plain-English answers to the questions people ask when a car is written off and the insurer offers its market value.
- What is market value in car insurance?Market value is what your car was worth just before it was damaged or stolen. How it's worked out, what changes it, and how it differs from what you paid.
- Market value vs agreed value: what's the difference?Agreed value is a fixed amount set when you take out the policy. Market value is what the car was worth just before the loss. How to tell which one you have.
- Insurer's market value offer too low? Your optionsThink your insurer's market value offer for your written-off car is too low? How to check it, what evidence helps, and how the complaints process and AFCA work.
- How insurers work out a car's market valueHow insurers generally value a written-off car: valuation guides, comparable cars, kilometres and accessories, and why two valuations of the same car can differ.
- Car written off: what happens next, step by stepWhat generally happens after an insurer decides your car is a total loss: the assessment, the offer, deductions, the settlement and what happens to the car.
- How to dispute a total loss valuationA step-by-step guide to questioning your insurer's total loss valuation: getting the valuation, gathering evidence, the complaints process and AFCA.
- Statutory vs repairable write-off: what's the difference?What statutory and repairable write-offs mean in Australia, how they're recorded, and why listings with write-off history aren't a like-for-like comparison.
- How kilometres affect your car's market valueWhy kilometres matter so much to a written-off car's market value, which reading counts, and how the difference is adjusted when comparing cars for sale.
- Do accessories add value when a car is written off?How accessories like bull bars, tow bars and canopies are generally valued when a car is written off: today's value, not the purchase price, and what evidence helps.
- Not at fault and not insured: claiming from the other driver's insurerIf another driver caused the accident and you don't have car insurance, you can claim from their insurer. How market value offers work for uninsured drivers.