Thread: Defenders on "Car Sales."

Curious to hear what the peanut gallery think a 2012 110 with 80k kms in stock condition with ARB bar and 2nd battery and no damage but Revs show that it was a repairable write off. Owner says it was the previous owner that did the repair and it was panel damage from a rollover. Roadworthy came up with no problems and although he didn't know it was a RWO at the time he said he didn't notice any issues. Its too far away for me to inspect easily but looks in good nick. I'm in NSW so walked away at first but have since been told by the RMS that as it has been registered in QLD for a year it can be transferred to NSW with a blue slip inspection. Cheers.

Originally Posted by Geary

Owner says it was the previous owner that did the repair and it was panel damage from a rollover.

I wouldn't touch it personally, unless it was very cheap. A rollover is pretty serious.

What would you consider very cheap and can you elaborate on why a rollover being repaired would possibly be compromised? cheers

Originally Posted by Geary

What would you consider very cheap and can you elaborate on why a rollover being repaired would possibly be compromised? cheers

I would never touch a rollover, I don't see anyone reputable buying a repairable rollover, it's going to be someone looking for a quick buck.

Peace of mind would never allow me to make a decision like that. It's not until you buy and own when everything comes out of the wood works.

But hey if your happy saving money and are prepared to take the gamble then no one is going to stop you.

It's not like you'd be able to tell if things don't line up on a Defender anyway

If you need to sell it one day,finding a buyer for a vehicle with that kind of history may be difficult.

�� surely there's a price that would make it worthwhile? Or are they just unrepairable? I figured if there was a certain risk then one could assume that you would need to redo that part of the repair and adjust the price accordingly I.e cost of repair plus a discount for the effort.

If the repair was done well, it could possibly be better than a factory delivered defender!
The reason written off vehicles where not allowed to be re-registered in NSW was cars being re birthed, so a blue XYZ gets crushed and a dodgy repairer buys the crushed vehicle as well as getting a thief to flog an identical year/model to which he fits the comp plate of the crushed car and changes or swaps the engine number/chassis numbers around. Now bingo here is a fully rebuilt XYZ worth 30-80k thats cost him the scrap value and the thief's fee.
Other more sophisticated ones would import the stolen cars to match the written off plates, and then onsell them.

If its being in a rollover, check the chassis for cracks/bends, but in reality a lot of defenders have their full weight resting on a tiny section of chassis rail when hung up offroad. It really comes down to the speed of the rollover and the attitude of the insurance company. There have been instances I've heard of a defender being written off because the rear chassis member was bent after being run into, when we all know its either a simple cut and weld in a new section , or buy a whole new galv one from the UK and replace, which would cost less than a complete write off.

Depending upon the quality of the repair, aim for about 10% to maybe more than 25% below an equivalent original defender.

If it has been written off that means it wasn't fixed under insurance.

If had been fixed under insurance then it would have went to a specialist, so then the repair might be ok.

Like I said no one reputable would be buying it to fix it to do you a favour, normally those unethical type like mentioned above.

And yes it will be extremely difficult to move it on if you ever have to.

There is plenty of vehicles to choose from out there don't go gambling with this, advising you like a family member.