Totaled Car Options
Unfortunately, not every crash is minor, not every collision repair is simple. Sometimes, you find yourself in a position where your vehicle is “totaled.” If that’s the reality you’re facing, it helps to know what your options are. You don’t have to get rid of it, for example. So what are your actual options? Let’s look a little closer.
Contact Insurance
If you have insurance, the first and most obvious step here is to call your insurance company and begin the process of making a claim. When you do this, you’ll be on the hook for your deductible, but beyond that, the insurance company will be in charge of deciding if the car is beyond repair or not.
How Insurance Decides
This will vary slightly from company to company, but it often comes down to value. If the value of the vehicle itself is less than what it would cost to repair it back to working order, the insurance company will likely declare it “totaled.” In this situation, you have a couple of options. Depending on your insurance, you can work with them to replace your vehicle. Or, if you want to keep your vehicle, your insurance may cut you a check for the value of the car, minus any deductibles you owe. From there, you can pursue repairs on your own.
Consider Vehicle Safety
The first and most important consideration when it comes to repairing a “totaled” car is safety. You may be able to repair the vehicle to a point of functioning again, but that doesn’t mean it’s repaired to a point of being both functional and safe. If the safety of your vehicle cannot be restored through repairs, it might be best to walk away from it and use the insurance money to get a new car.
If you’re uninsured, and repairs are your only financial option, ensure that the safety of your vehicle can be restored and is priority number one for the team you’re working with. If the repairs are prohibitively expensive (getting a car back to safe working order from a totaled state isn’t exactly a cheap task), ask your repair shop if they can work with you to create a payment plan.
Future Insurance
It’s worth considering the fact that your vehicle’s history (and your driving history) is factored into your insurance rates. If you repair a totaled car but it isn’t good as new (which is a very difficult thing to accomplish at a certain point), getting affordable coverage may be difficult. It’s a good idea to factor in potential increases in insurance when you’re looking at the cost of repair versus the cost of investing in a new vehicle. If your car has recently been totaled and you’re not sure what to do next, give us a call at 303-344-2212. We can help provide a collision repair estimate for you so you can make an informed decision.
