You ever looked into how much it costs to replace all the body panels on a car? It could be several thousand bucks. If you’re running a 2000s car, even if it’s well maintained, repairs could easily cost more than the value of the car.
Recently happened to a friend of mine. Got some hail damage that was too big and widespread to hammer out nicely so the panels needed to be replaced. Old car, nothing wrong with it other than hail damage. Insurance said it was totaled. You can still drive it but it required a special title or something, I forget exactly what.
To point 2, do you know how easy it is to total a car? If you have any appreciable damage to the vehicle, it can be enough to total it. 2 of the crashes I’ve been in were parking lot speeds and it’s still enough to total it. Like, a light tap (<15mph) to the pillar separating the front and back doors is enough to total a car if it’s not worth a ton
Where do you live that you total a car every so often you don’t even pay them off
What cars.? There’s no way somebody survives more than 2 totals, are you good?
Do you still want to drive after all of this?
When your car is “totaled” (from the perspective of insurance) it just means that it would cost more to repair your car than your car is worth.
Mild hail damage can total a cheap/old car, even if you only need to replace the windshield for it to be drivable.
How cheap are we talking about???
You ever looked into how much it costs to replace all the body panels on a car? It could be several thousand bucks. If you’re running a 2000s car, even if it’s well maintained, repairs could easily cost more than the value of the car.
Recently happened to a friend of mine. Got some hail damage that was too big and widespread to hammer out nicely so the panels needed to be replaced. Old car, nothing wrong with it other than hail damage. Insurance said it was totaled. You can still drive it but it required a special title or something, I forget exactly what.
To point 2, do you know how easy it is to total a car? If you have any appreciable damage to the vehicle, it can be enough to total it. 2 of the crashes I’ve been in were parking lot speeds and it’s still enough to total it. Like, a light tap (<15mph) to the pillar separating the front and back doors is enough to total a car if it’s not worth a ton