Why do they do that?

A tree limb fell on my sons car last week in that storm. Broke out the back window and did a little damage to the unibody. He took it to the body shop Monday. Said this morning they want to total it. Said book value is $7650,cost of repairs is 62xx. Said cost of repair is right at 80% of value. He really doesn't want a different car since he'd been looking for this make and model for quite a while before he got it,so he's going to argue with them.
But why the heck would they want to spend $1400 more to total it than to fix it? Don't seem like real smart business savy to me.

Because they won't give your son 7650 for it. They probably won't even offer 62xx. They will only pay "actual cash value" which is a percentage of "book value"

Because they can sell the car an make a profit the repair shop can fix it for half of the estimate an sell it and make a profit. You get nothing maybe a down payment on another car.
Your rights are.
1. Demand they fix it it they have to.
2. Demand they replace it with a like auto.
Walt
PS get another estimate go to a place reccomended by a friend who has dealt with them.

Because MOST folks want it totaled. Very few folks want a car with extensive repairs..The will settle with you sell the salvage and be thru with the clain with less cost and problems.

the insurance company determines total loss point as actual cash value minus salvage value compared to repair cost.

sooo, lets say you have a 10,000 dollar car with 8000 dollars damage, and the salvage quote is 2500, the total loss point is 7500 on the car. did the shop figure a new roof panel? getting a salvage yard roof is an easier instal and a better repair as you can maintain the majority of the factory welds.

My niece has totaled out 2 vechicles. i had my sister buy them from the insurance company and I fixed them.I've collected from insurance on 2 of my vechicles and fixed them.They may not be perfect but its better than the other options.

They tried that stunt on me one time. I told them flat out,we didn't cause the accident,I didn't have any desire to trade cars,that I had planned to drive that one for a whole lot more years. I walked away. They had to settle the claim,so after a short time with me turning down their offers,they got a lot more willing to deal. It's foolish to ever take what they offer as final.

I hit a telephone pole with a Blazer I had during an ice storm in college. It just about ripped off the front drivers wheel. Totaled the blazer which was only 3 years old saying frame damage, all 4 tires went flat, rims ruined, etc. My uncle owns an auto body so I knew truly the frame wasn't damaged after we put it on the frame rack. Bought the truck back, put on all new mudder tires, got a new fender, put in a solid front axle and a little bit of a lift like I had planned to do anyways, and still had money leftover to buy books that semester. It makes no sense how they do things and my uncle with the auto body will tell you that. They had a tornado go through the area two years ago and he had a lot of totalled cars some due to major hail and not the tornado itself. Insurance company said fix them all, were not totaling any.

Auto body repairs cost way too much these days !!

If you total it and buy it back then at least in Ohio you have another whole mess dealing with salvage titles and inspections.

I guess I got lucky when I got hit last fall. I figured I was going to get the shaft from the other guy's insurance, but I feel they made me a fair offer and settled the claim quickly. I don't remember exactly how close they came to the blue book value for the car at the time of the accident, but I drove the car 3 years, put 35000 miles on it and they gave me $650 less than I paid for it. I had my dad come and haul the car off the road instead of having a tow truck come, and they gave me a check equivilant to what a tow bill would have been, no questions asked.

And as much as I loved that car, I DIDN'T want it fixed. It never would have been "right" ever again. The unibody was twisted, and it started leaking transmission fluid where we came to a screaching hault in the middle of the road.

I ran into that once too. My car was legally parked and got hit. I worked for a dealer at the time and the used car dept manager told me what it would bring easily before the accident. After telling the other guy's agent that "the bill is" or we would be in court and they would at minimum be paying their client's legal fees plus what my car was worth, they saw it my way...

I asked my insurance guy the same question,according to him,after a car is a certain age,they just total it nearly automaticaly. I didnt agree with them but i actually got more from them than i could have realisticaly sold the car for. It was basicaly totally used up. we did have a nearly new car stolen,and they wrote it off as a total loss.the money we actualy recieved was for the actual,same year blue book value.or replacement cost of the same year car. I quite honestly was happy with that,since at that time i could buy a better car here less than blue book. dont know if you could now though since used car prices have gone way up.

Usually you can have the vehicle totaled, then buy it from the insurance company, have it fixed yourself.

Been questioning the same thing myself over the past 6 months or so and still haven't come up with an answer that makes sense.

Wife's '02 PT Criuser was hit in the right rear by the tire of a van. Damage consisted of a bent panel around the tail light housing, a busted tail light housing, a skuff on the 'bumper', and a skint place on the rim. I was actually the one driving when we got hit and drove the thing home. My wife then drove it for nearly a month whilem the insurance company decided what they wanted to do after we gave them two quotes for just under $3000 to repair it.

In our case they finally gave us a choice, repair and get that amount covered in full, plus the cost of a rental for a week, or give it up for savage and recieve x amount, or salvage it, buy it back fior $1000 and keep it. We let them salvage it and bought it back. Took the money from the settlement, added in a couple of hundred and bought a used Surburban like we had been talking about for use on trips, etc. It took mke about 45 minutes one evening to get the sheet metal beat back out just about enough to carry the light assembly like it's supposed to. With about 45 more minutes of hammer time and a bit of bondo and sanding, I'll be able to throw a coat of paint on it and you'll never know it was wrecked......and I'm no body man by any means.

The end result is we get a nice daily driver, with less than 1000,000 miles, that just had full tune up, new timing belt installed, etc, etc all less than a month before the wreck, all for the low price of $1000 and a little bit for paint when the time comes. Too we also got a nice grocery getter, trip maker, kid hauler, tow vehicle, all rolled into one for what amounts to a few hundred dollars. Situations like this really don't make sense to me, but when used and taken advantage of properly you can come out on top. Otherwise, in my opinion, to simply total a car because it has a dent here and there, like often happens, if sheer stupidity at it's finest and one of the reasons this country continues to go downhill as fast as it does.

Two factors: Insurance companies have jacked up the salvage % they sell their salvage for, so as a previous post stated yes the cost to repair damage is less than book or replacement value, but they can minimize their liability or cost to settle the claim by totaling it because total settlement-salvage recovery is less than repair cost. Another factor is insurance companies don't like body shops and vice versa, if they total it they write a check and they're done with it. The insurance companies believe that adjusters are incompetent because they can't identify all the damage OR the body shops are thieves because they keep finding more damage than the adjuster noted. Insurance companies believe auto manufacturers are overcharging for their replacement parts so they require body shops use CRAP parts (Certified Replacement Auto Parts) body shops don't like that because CRAP parts don't fit so they spend more time installing them (that they aren't paid for-hey get flat rate) or last like they should. The insurance industry drank the kool aid and bought the line from CRAP manufacturers that their parts are as good, now that they find out they're not they get to pay for the same claim twice (they really love that). If you live in a No-Fault auto insurance state you're pretty much screwed when you have a claim, the insurance companies have gotten no -fault laws written in their favor. If yo live in a state that still has traditional insurance AND you're not at fault you have a better chance of being made whole, because the other driver's insurance company has to make you happy enough to accept the settlement. As for the first offer being low, that's business you'd be surprised how many people actually accept the offer. If you make it clear your willing to go to court and you have adequate justification for your claim they know they stand to loose and get to pay the claim and court costs and maybe punitive damages, it's out of their control and they like that even less than body shops or paying for the same claim twice.

Let them total it out. Buy it back from them cheap, yes they will negotiate. Then fix it yourself or have it fixed. You will end up with a salvage title that will be good only for you, so you can drive it until it is no more but you won"t be able to resell it except for junk. If the boy likes the car that"s exactly what I would do. You may end up with issues trying to insure it with the same folks though, ask them and find out.
In our area there are lots and lots of cars and trucks for sale on Craigslist that have salvage titles. The unknowing buy them and then find out they can"t transfer title or register them and suddenly the seller is nowhere to be found. Happens almost daily.

Now doesnt that sound all f**ked up.
And we wonder why car insurance and house insurance and stuff is so expensive.

In Ohio, you can sell a car with a salvage title if you do the repairs (or have them done) AND get it inspected by the Highway Patrol. It probably varies from state to state.

You do realize they get a "bonus" from the auto mfg,s don't you? Plus the higher their losses the more the Ins Industry Regs will let them raise their rates. Liability , accounting and if they didn't profit more by doing it , they wouln't do it. Who has the tallest buildings in the city?? (besides the banks)

same in ny state . bill

And the insurance company has everyone convinced it's the lawyers driving up the rates.

OK as a former adjuster..... If the value of salvage added to the cost of repairs comes within 10% of the value of the car it's a total. Reason being is that someone thinks their car should be totaled and they are told no they will try to sue the insurance company for making them having it fixed rather than the check for a total. Like they get rear ended and then dive the car 50K and the engine fails......they try blaming the insurance company.

It's the lawyer action that makes insurance so expensive. Good example is a woman who was a passenger was injured. She had about used up the limit of liability from both companies. She had a lawyer tell her she could sue. She did and got paid about 3,700 dollars because that was the limit. Funny part was that had she not sued she would have received a check for that amount without having to pay the shyster.

If a vehicle is rare the salvage value goes up. Sometimes way up. Don't take much damage to wind up with a total.

Rick

Let them total it, my dad had that happen once, and the car always leaked water. Have your son go find one that has not been wrecked.

Not true. Not in michigan,anyway. I have bought 3 differant pickups with salvage titles. No proplem geting them transfered. No problem getting them insured. Guy in the next town over makes a good living buying and fixing ins. totals. Each is then sold with a salvage title. Like I said I have bought 3 of them. Youre state may be differant.

I'm in Texas and honestly can't say if that is the way it works in every county, but here in Cameron County you can't get a vehicle registered that has an existing salvage title. It was not that way until last year and apperantly the law changed. They even had it posted on the wall at the DMV trying to save people some time from waiting in a long line just to be turned away. Maybe because we are on the Mexico border, not sure.