Thousands of Canberra's hail-damaged cars will go under auction in the weeks ahead

Auction house Pickles will begin processing older, generally high-mileage vehicles written off in the January 20 storm through an online auction starting today. These vehicles are unable to be re-registered and destined to be harvested for parts or salvage.

However, the first of the major auctions in which "repairable write-offs" will go under the hammer will be on Monday when giant Sydney-based auction house Manheim puts hundreds of cars up for sale, including many late-model vehicles.

Pickles will follow with its major auction of repairable write-offs on February 15 out of its Fyshwick auction house.

All the vehicles will be viewable online prior to the auction and there will be a description of the physical damage. Cars can also be inspected a day prior to the auction.

It is estimated around 20,000 cars in Canberra were damaged during the January hailstorm which Insurance Group Australia executive manager Dave Wilkes described as one of the most ferocious he had seen for many years.

IAG is the biggest vehicle insurer in the ACT and its brands include NRMA and CGU.

"There was a significant hailstorm which went through Sydney in late 2018 in which around 60,000 cars were damaged," he said.

"But in terms of the number of cars which were badly hail-damaged, broke their front and rear glass and had multiple panels damaged, the Canberra storm certainly hit more cars with greater ferocity.

"So while we have two triage centres with on-site paintless repair technicians and windscreen replacement teams operating in Canberra now and working through over 100 cars each a day, we have still got a way to go to process all our customer claims."

Under ACT legislation, if the car was previously registered in the ACT and has been designated as a repairable write-off, the car can be re-registered after it has passed inspection and provided it has no structural damage. But if the car was registered in another state or territory and was written off, it cannot.

After the car is repaired, there are 83 business authorised inspection stations in the ACT which can conduct roadworthy inspections on hail-damaged vehicles, plus Access Canberra's inspection station in Hume, which is the only facility in the ACT able to conduct a vehicle identity check should it be required.

The maximum fee for an ACT roadworthy inspection is $72.10.

ACT-registered cars damaged by the hailstorm and written off will have their registration refund backdated to the date of the storm.

The national demand for Canberra's repairable write-offs is likely to be significant.

Manheim's head of salvage, Jonothan Ellerton, said there are bargains to be found for people wanting a cheap first car because, aside from the cosmetic damage, the vehicles are structurally sound.

However, he cautioned people to do their research before buying a repairable write-off.

"Most of the vehicles that have been written off by insurers were because they were deemed too expensive to repair. Also, broken windscreens can be costly, especially if there are rain and wiper sensors embedded in the glass," he said.

Industry observers believe that the hailstorm will create a demand and inflate values for new and used cars in the ACT.