RIP Zora's Sapphire You Will Be Missed!

[Top_Fuel]

Used a poor choice of words before when I said "write it off." Should have said "totaled."

I was just trying to say that in some states, a car is considered "totaled" when the cost to repair it exceeds a certain percentage of the car's value.

Most states have a "total loss formula" (TLF) for when insurers must total a car. For example, state law might require an insurer to total a car when the cost to repair it is more than 75% of the car's ACV. Other states might set the threshold lower or higher. States without a TLC typically weigh the cost to repair and salvage a car against the car's ACV. An insurer might also total your car if it can't be repaired safely.

Total Loss Thresholds in each state

[Wallythacker]

I forget, what happened to your car Wally?

I met a guy to sell him ham gear, he failed to secure his door and the wind flung it open into my passenger door. It was a SUV tank so the damage is up high.

[Cobrajet]

The title will still be clean but an accident will show up on the report. This is going to hurt the resale value badly. I never planned to sell it anyway.

But of course, the repairs have to bring it to the condition before the crash, so if its not in similar or better I might have to fight the insurance

Man, be careful. My buddy had his two-year-old PriusC 3 get hit in a very similar way and the other party's insurance company decided to have it fixed. It had damage nearly identical to your car. The car looked fine when it was done, but chewed up the driver's side rear tire. When I say 'chewed up' I mean it went through a rear tire within a couple hundred miles after he got it back. The insurance company put up a helluva fight and the body shop was not at all interested in standing by their work. Finally, the insurance company told him to take it to another body shop for an inspection. It turns out that the entire body was a full inch out-of-square! In addition to the work already done another $5,000 had to be spent to make the car right. My friend said getting it done was like pulling teeth. In the end, it would have been much cheaper for the car to have been totaled out.

Hate to say it, but these cars really aren't meant to be hit hard and then fixed. They are meant to sacrifice themselves in an accident to keep you alive.

[7milesout]

Hate to say it, but these cars really aren't meant to be hit hard and then fixed. They are meant to sacrifice themselves in an accident to keep you alive.

That's a slick way of saying that they're built so lightly / inexpensively that they don't fare well in an accident!

[7milesout]

Used a poor choice of words before when I said "write it off." Should have said "totaled."

Top_Fuel - My quote, "You don't even know what it means, to write it off." Was a quote from a TV show. Not a slight toward you.

I thought someone might reply to my quote, and say, "But they do ... and they're the ones, writing it off."

$0.02 to someone that reckonizes that quote!

[Basic]

That's a slick way of saying that they're built so lightly / inexpensively that they don't fare well in an accident!

I know you are joking, but others won't. These things are definitely built inexpensively but there was obviously a good amount of design put in to shear energy in a collision. I know from personal experience. I was THOROUGHLY impressed with how well the car withstood a very hard hit (guy pulled out in front of me doing 60) and that I walked away completely unscathed.

[Marklovski]

Man, be careful. My buddy had his two-year-old PriusC 3 get hit in a very similar way and the other party's insurance company decided to have it fixed. It had damage nearly identical to your car. The car looked fine when it was done, but chewed up the driver's side rear tire. When I say 'chewed up' I mean it went through a rear tire within a couple hundred miles after he got it back. The insurance company put up a helluva fight and the body shop was not at all interested in standing by their work. Finally, the insurance company told him to take it to another body shop for an inspection. It turns out that the entire body was a full inch out-of-square! In addition to the work already done another $5,000 had to be spent to make the car right. My friend said getting it done was like pulling teeth. In the end, it would have been much cheaper for the car to have been totaled out.

Hate to say it, but these cars really aren't meant to be hit hard and then fixed. They are meant to sacrifice themselves in an accident to keep you alive.

Yes I am watching out for this. I told the bodyshop to make sure to do a 4way alignment, which they said they will do. Just gotta wait to see what they say

[Mark]

Yes I am watching out for this. I told the bodyshop to make sure to do a 4way alignment, which they said they will do. Just gotta wait to see what they say

Hopefully, everything will work out for the best. No one wants to be in an accident, but I think their willingness to fix up a 9 year old car is great!

The average vehicle age on the road in the States is currently 12.6 years old (May 2024 data).

[7milesout]

The average vehicle age on the road in the States is currently 12.6 years old (May 2024 data).

I'm pushing that average up. Rather than list my fleet I did the math.

The average age of my vehicles (all are on the road) is: 20.9 years old