According to statistics there are about six million car accidents in the United States alone every year. This figure suggests a high probability for anyone to be involved in car crashes. Car accidents can be as minor as just causing mere scratches or can be major accidents which can cause your vehicle to be totaled.
Your insurance company will decide whether to declare your car to be a total loss as a result of a major car accident. There are just two factors that your car insurance provider will consider to know if your car is still repairable or not. The first factor is the current value of your car and the second one is the estimated repair cost of your vehicle. If it happened that repairing your vehicle would cost more than the actual value of your car then your insurance provider will have it totaled instead. Your car will not be repaired for you instead you will just be given some cash settlement. The check that the company will issue to you will amount to your car’s actual value less the deductible you agreed with as stated on the policy.
It is most likely that older inexpensive cars are declared to be total loss even if the accident that caused the damages were just minor ones. Expensive cars are rarely totaled since regardless of how crushed they become from major accidents their repair cost is still cheaper than their actual value.
Totaled cars go to the salvage yard. In here your totally damaged car’s salvageable parts will be auctioned and the money will go to your insurance company.
If for some reason you still wanted to keep your car that is 10 years old already despite being considered as a total loss your insurance company will not go your way. The only difference that will happen is that the amount that the company owes you will be deducted with the estimated value that your car could have had at the auction.
When you decided to have your totaled car be repaired it will be tagged with the salvage title by the state. You should be reminded that your car’s worth will further depreciate once it is given a salvage title. Also it would be hard for you to take your salvaged car back on tract given that you might not find any auto insurance company that would insure your car.
