THE AUTHORITIES yesterday denied press reports that insurance companies were not following the correct procedure regarding write-offs, resulting in unroadworthy vehicles circulating on the roads.
Rumours have been around for a long time that, in order to cover their losses on pay-outs, some companies specialising in motor insurance have attempted to repair heavily-damaged vehicles rather than scrap them.
But a spokesman for the Insurance Association of Cyprus denied the allegations, saying: “An independent accident investigator declares for insurance purposes whether a vehicle is deemed a write-off.”
He then explained that, “a vehicle is classified as a write-off when it is beyond economic repair. This is calculated using a formula based on the percentage of the value of the vehicle. If it is decided that a vehicle is not worth repairing, an insurance company will pay out the value of the vehicle less the value of the scrap, to its owner.”
A spokesman for the Cyprus Automobile Association, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained: “Insurance companies have certain criteria they must meet when deciding whether a vehicle should be classified as a write-off or not. They then decide what course of action to take, taking into consideration financial viability.”
He added that when cars are repaired, “they are forced to pass a strict safety examination carried out by the Road Transport Department in order to ensure that they are in a roadworthy condition.”
Director of the Department, Soteris Kolettas, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail: “In our legislation, there is a provision which states that if a vehicle is damaged to the extent where its repair still leaves question marks hanging over its roadworthiness, the vehicle is deregistered and not allowed to be registered again in the future.”
He added that, when the police visit accident scenes, “if they consider that a vehicle is damaged beyond technically possible repairs, they inform us and we then inspect the vehicle concerned. If, according to our technical judgement it is not safe to repair the vehicle, its owner is informed of the deregistration and the vehicle is then usually dismantled for its spare parts.”
