After You Lodge Your Claim

After assessing your car’s damage and authorising the repairs, we can appoint a repairer.

Our network repairers use the latest equipment and methods and are required to carry out each repair to a high and safe standard.

Alternatively, you may be able to nominate your preferred repairer if you have the Choice of Repairer optional benefit.

Except for essential repairs of up to $500 to make your car driveable following an accident, all repairs must first be authorised by us.

You can nominate your preferred repairer as long as your policy includes the ‘choice of repairer’ policy option.

If you nominate your preferred repairer, we’ll ask you to provide us with the repairer’s quotation for the repairs so we can determine whether:

• the quotation is competitive, and
• the proposed repair method is satisfactory.

If either of these criteria is not met, we may decide not to authorise the repairs, and instead offer you the option of:

• having your car repaired by an alternative repairer chosen by us, or
• paying you the reasonable cost to satisfactorily repair your car.

If the car is unsafe to drive, we will pay the cost to tow the car to your preferred repairer up to a maximum of 100 kilometres.

Note that, if we authorise your nominated repairer to undertake the repairs, we’ll guarantee the quality of the repairs but not the time it takes to complete them.

Each repair job is different, so it’s difficult to say for certain how long each job will take. Some can take a few days, others up to two weeks or more, depending on the severity of the damage.

The repairer will give you an estimate of how long the job is likely to take and keep you informed of progress.

If we decide your car is a write-off, we’ll negotiate with you to either:

• pay you the amount your car is insured for (market or agreed value); or
• replace your car with a new one of the same make, model and specification if you purchased the car new or as a demo model and it becomes a total loss:
  • Within two years or 40,000km (whichever comes first) of the original registration (Gold Comprehensive Car Insurance)

If a new replacement car is not available in Australia, we will pay you the amount you originally paid for the car.

If your car is financed, we’re obliged to pay the finance company any money you still owe them first. We’ll then pay you any residual from the insured amount.

We’ll also arrange and pay for your written-off car to be towed away from the repair shop and disposed of.

Budget Direct considers a car to be a total loss if it’s:

• stolen and not recovered
• damaged to the extent that, having considered all available information and relevant laws, we decide it would be unsafe or uneconomical to repair.

If your policy covers theft and/or damage to your car and it becomes a total loss, we’ll usually settle your claim by paying you the amount your car’s insured for.

Any applicable excesses will be deducted from the settlement amount.

(If you pay your premium in instalments, we’ll also ask you to pay any monies owing for the full period of insurance. Alternatively, we may deduct it from the settlement amount.)

If you purchased your comprehensively insured car new or as a demo model and it becomes a total loss within a certain timeframe, we’ll give you a new-car replacement.

Your written-off car becomes our property and we keep the proceeds of any salvage sale and we will provide you with the necessary documentation to enable you to apply for a refund of the unused portion of your registration and compulsory third party insurance.