Buying a hail damaged car

[mooseman]

Hi All, sorry if this has been covered I did do some searching but to no avail.

I'm currently without a job and without a car and need to get a set of wheels as cheap as possible. I was looking at picking up an e-series from the pickles auctions with hail damage. I am not worried about aesthetics and fixing any mechanical problems will not be an issue. My questions are;

- What is required to register a vehicle that has been written off due to hail damage (if hail damage is the only damage, no water/etc)?

- What costs are involved? One site I read mentioned a cost of around $500 to get the car inspected, this will kind of kill the budget idea as I was looking for a max spend of $1000.

- Am I right in assuming the hail damage does not need to be fixed and as long as the rest of the car is in RW condition then you can just get it inspected and then registered?

Also, has anyone been to the auctions so far and seen what prices the hail damaged eseries are going for? I'll be looking for either an e-series sedan or perhaps an XF/XG Ute.