How much is your car to repair? The cost of repairs from a minor collision still varies enormously among cars of a similar size. (Drivelines).

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Australian Consumers' Association

Each year, NRMA INSURANCE picks a number of models new to the market and crashes a pendulum device into their front right-hand corner. This simulates a 15 km/h crash into a fixed barrier or a collision into the rear of another car at about 30 km/h. NRMA technicians then assess the resulting damage.

For models tested in previous years but still available, repair costs are updated using current labour and parts costs.

The insurer wants three outcomes from the test:

* To help determine the insurance premiums for the tested models.

* To encourage manufacturers to keep prices of spare parts low -- they can make up more than 80% of the total repair bill.

* To reveal design weaknesses that can be rectified when a new version of the models is on the drawing board.

ANY IMPROVEMENTS?

The repair cost for the vast majority of models is within [+ or -] 10% of the 2000 bill. There was only one significant improvement: design changes dropped the HOLDEN Barina's bill by an impressive 39%.

The FORD Falcon Forte (pictured above)had the lowest total repair costs, which were also the lowest percentage of the purchase price. Large cars in general cost less to repair than many of the other models in the test.

The DAIHATSU Terios and Sirion and the FORD Ka are now more than 10% dearer to repair than in 2000, making their repair bills the highest in relation to their purchase prices -- over 31%.

High-speed crash tests

The latest round of high-speed crash tests released by the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) looked at a number of small cars.

The good news: due to clever design and airbags becoming standard equipment, more and more models in this...

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