Keep your car after a write-off: owner-retained salvage explained

When your insurer writes your vehicle off, you don't always have to hand it over. Many insurers let you keep it, though ICBC in British Columbia generally refuses outside narrow exceptions. The trade calls this owner-retained salvage: you keep the vehicle, the insurer keeps back part of your settlement, and the vehicle's record carries your province's write-off brand.

Insurers and provinces each set their own rules. Your insurer and your registry have the answers for your vehicle.

How keeping it works

Your insurer declares a total loss and tells you what the vehicle was worth, its actual cash value (ACV). You ask to keep it. Not every insurer agrees, and some won't for certain kinds of damage.

If yours does, it works out a salvage deduction, roughly what it would have got by selling the vehicle as salvage, and pays you the settlement minus that amount. You keep the vehicle and its keys.

The write-off is then reported, and the vehicle's record carries your province's brand. For a repairable write-off that's Salvage in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario and Salvageable in Manitoba; severe damage brings Non-Repairable in Alberta and BC or Irreparable in Ontario and Manitoba. Other provinces have their own words. In Alberta, a write-off for hail dents in the body panels alone isn't branded.

Ask for the deduction in writing, and how it was worked out. In effect it's the price of keeping the vehicle, and if you sell, it's the number to compare offers with.

What changes once it's yours

You probably can't drive it. In most provinces a vehicle with a salvage brand can't be registered for the road until it's repaired and passes an inspection. Check your province's rule before you move it under its own power. You'll need somewhere off the road to keep it, and a tow truck or trailer whenever it moves.

The brand stays with the vehicle. Repair it and get it through the inspection and it becomes Rebuilt, or your province's word for that, which stays on the record too.

Your insurance changes as well. Ask what cover you can have on a vehicle that isn't registered for the road, and what you'd need to insure it again after the repairs.

If there's a loan or lease, talk to your lender and your insurer before you decide. The settlement usually goes to the lender first, and the lender may have to agree to you keeping the vehicle. You can't sell it with clear ownership until the loan is paid off, and any buyer who checks for liens will find it.

Repair it, sell it or part it out

Repairing makes sense when the damage is mostly cosmetic, like hail, or when you or a shop you trust can fix it at a sensible cost. Keep a receipt for every part, because the inspection can ask where they came from. The steps differ by province. There are rebuilt inspection guides for Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

You can also sell it as it is. Rebuilders, small shops and enthusiasts buy written-off vehicles to repair, and others want them for parts, so yours may be worth more to them than a scrap yard pays. You don't need a dealer licence to sell your own vehicle. Disclose the brand and the damage, give the buyer a bill of sale with the VIN, and clear any lien first. In Alberta, give the buyer a written statement that it's Salvage, or a current inspection certificate, before the sale.

When the damage is severe, or the vehicle is non-repairable or was in a flood or fire, parts buyers and recyclers may still want it. DNF always lists flood and fire write-offs for parts only.

Listing it on DNF

Listing is free. You enter the VIN, the brand and province from your registration, the damage and the condition, then add at least 4 photos, one of them a close-up of the damage.

You can enter the insurer's salvage deduction too, which buyers don't see and which helps you judge the offers that come in. Buyers offer above or below your asking price, and you choose which to accept.

The full checklist is in selling a written-off car. When you're ready, list your vehicle, or browse vehicles for sale in Alberta to see what similar ones are listed for.