I heard him on the Radio Today, and he speaks lots of sense and needs the Government 

& Insurance Companies to act.

http://crewchronical.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/cheshire-police-commissioner-appear-8562379

Edited 2 February, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

This webpage is not available ?

No worky

http://chesterchronicle.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/cheshire-police-crime-commissioner-appear-8562210

Edited 2 February, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

He doesn't appear to have taken into account that a car can be written off soley due to a cosmetic repair being required that doesn't impact on the vehicles structure at all.

Actually if you listen to him, he knows all about Write Off categories,

His concern is the None Qualified Repairers,

& vehicles put back on the Road without Air Bags Replaced, sometimes no Air Bags in Place.

Seat Belts not Replaced,

but importantly vehicles that will have probably protected the occupants in the first Major Accident or Incident,

but which were to be scrapped and are actually poorly repaired.

 

The issue he explains is, until the next accident you do not know how the car will be safety wise,

and you have no Record of the Repairers.

Edited 2 February, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

I used to drive a previously written off (Cat C) and repaired Vauxall Corsa without the originally fitted seatbelt pre-tensioners or drivers airbag.

 

The car was jigged by the supplying scrap yard, the rest was repaired or replaced by me.

 

It was sold on privately, registered as a write off, for a profit a few years later, so I can see why this still goes on.

 

This was over 18 years ago but back then it was seen as a low cost way to get into a nice car.

It is still a good way now,

but electrical systems need checked, and that is why the Insurance Companies had agreed to a system 

and Qualified Repairers,

it is the Insurance Companies that are Risk Adverse that are Allowing Vehicles to be repaired by Unqualified Repairers,

only a MOT before cars go back on the road, which is not a check on the Vehicles actual Safety as a Proper Repair.

Mot would pick up air bag tampering

My Corsa had the original steering wheel fitted, but the flap was simply glued back down so that cosmetically it looked close to as it did before the airbag was deployed.

 

No issues with regards to the MOT, but again this was quite some time ago.

MOT's can and should pick up Air Bag tampering or lack of.

 

They do not always though do they, because there are car repairers in the Motor Trade, and we know what that means.

Cars do happen to pass tests, and go to Auction or Trade,

& a Tester or Testing Station can say, we test a car on the day.  and the Test was all correct at the time.

 

I had Air Bags Disabled on  Offroaders, and they passed MOT's,

the Check lights did go on and off as required.

 

PS

John Dwyer is not just a Police and Crime Commissioner without much experience,

He was a Police Officer for 30 years and Cheshire's Assistant Chief Constable,

so has a bit of knowledge of Traffic Accidents and Fatalities.

Edited 2 February, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

The problem at the moment is that Cat C or D is decided on the cost of repair to the value of the car.

D should be non-structural.

C should be structural.

Instead we have expensive cars taking considerable damage to the body structure and suspension, only to be classed as Cat D as the repairs are not more than the vehicle value.

So no inspection needed, just an MOT... and it's back on the road being sold as "Cat D, only light damage mate..."

Then at the other end of the scale a perfectly good 13 year old Fabia gets written off as a Cat C because a new bumper, tailgate and painting is more than 100% of it's value. Because it's worth virtually nothing but still has a lot of life left in it and is structurally sound. But needs an inspection as a Cat C before being allowed back on the road.