Assessment
When a vehicle is damaged so severely that it may be beyond repair, it must be assessed against national criteria developed by Austroads and the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC).
The vehicle is checked against 11 different types of damage, grouped into:
- 3 Specific Event criteria, and
- 8 Structural criteria
Specific Event criteria
If the vehicle meets any of these 3 criteria, it must be classified as a SWO:
- Fire - whether internal or external fire damage causes paint blistering on any 3 structural members (roof, pillars, floor pan, firewall, or chassis/rails), if combined interior and exterior fire damage results in total loss.
- Water - where the internal cabin of a vehicle is inundated with any water (fresh, salt and/or brackish water) such that the internal cabin water level rises above the level of the inner door sill for any period.
- Vehicle stripping - where a vehicle is stripped of interior or exterior parts, panels and components such as wheels, bonnet, guards, doors, boot lid and interior parts or a combination of these items and is determined to be a total loss.
Structural criteria
If the vehicle is assessed to have sustained damage to any 3 of the identified structural areas and/or supplementary restraints it must be deemed as a SWO.
- Roof
- Pillars
- Floor pan
- Firewall
- Longitudinal structural rails/chassis
- Suspension
- Supplementary restraints
- Mechanical components
For example, 2 structural areas and 1 supplementary restraint or 3 structural areas.
Note: Each different and separate area of damage to the pillars, floor pan, longitudinal rails or independent suspension mounts must all be counted separately towards meeting the 3-count threshold for SWO status.
Examples of notifiable SWOs
Cars and light-vehicles
A notifiable vehicle is a SWO if:
it has been stripped of all or most of its interior and exterior body parts, panels and other components
it’s burnt to such an extent that it’s suitable only for wrecking or scrap
the internal cabin is inundated with any water (fresh, brackish or salt) above the door sill level such that the internal cabin water level rises above the level of the inner door sill for any period.
Motorcycles, trailers, semi-trailers
A notifiable motorcycle, trailer or semi-trailer is a SWO if it has sustained:
impact damage, (except scratching) to its suspension
structural damage to its frame in 2 or more places
a notifiable motorcycle is a SWO if it has been fully immersed in salt water for any period, or fully immersed in fresh water for more than 48 hours.
For more information about the SWO assessment criteria for passenger and light commercial vehicles, download Austroads' Damage Assessment Criteria for the Classification of Light Vehicle Statutory Write-Offs checklist. Note: You'll need to create a free account to access.
