Possibly totaled from an accident

Tiny
KATENICOLE14
  • MEMBER
  • 2014 DODGE CHARGER
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 80,000 MILES
Hello, I was involved in an accident (not at fault) and after reading things online, I am concerned that the insurance appraiser could possibly declare it totaled. The air bags did not deploy, the car still runs, no leakage. The only damage is to the right front (picture attached to this). The car (red) was in perfect condition prior to the accident. Red leather heated seats. However, it does have 80,000 miles on it. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.
Friday, July 6th, 2018 AT 8:02 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,755 POSTS
Hi and thanks for using 2CarPros. Com.

The picture is not showing up, so it make it difficult. I know as a rule, once the repair costs exceed approximately 70% to 75% of the vehicle's book value, it is considered a total loss. Please remember, the appraiser makes an educated evaluation of the repair cost. That is what the insurance company will look at.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Take care,
Joe
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Friday, July 6th, 2018 AT 9:07 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 13,470 POSTS
As Joe says, it depends a lot on the actual damage. The Charger has a lot of parts hidden behind the front panels. Depending on where you are there will be one of two methods used to determine if it should be totaled. The first uses a simple formula. The insurance company will look up the actual cash value of the vehicle. Then they will look at the salvage price for the vehicle (what it is worth based on the average salvage prices paid at auctions usually).
They will add those together and then use anything from 65% to 75% (depending on the companies internal determination) of that number as the threshold of repair.
So to make it easy, Say they determine your car has an ACV of $10,000 and the salvage value was $4,000. That is $14,000 times the threshold % so say they use 70% = If it would cost over around $9,800 to repair it, they would likely total it instead.

The other method is almost the same but some states set a threshold level that the insurance companies have to use instead of their own thresholds. Those range from 50% in Iowa to 100% in Texas.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Saturday, July 7th, 2018 AT 6:05 AM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links