Why Was My Car A Total Loss???

[VanWinkle]

I wonder why that is as they still come out ahead of what they would pay out for a total loss.

IOU, whether it was a wise decision or not, if OP had decided to repair and the insurance company had paid for the $13k of repairs and then say another $5k for diminished value of OP's repaired car having a salvage title, it is still better than paying out $28k for a total loss.

Diminished value is only paid on a repairable vehicle otherwise, there is no diminished value. Since it was deemed a total loss possibly for a reason other than the repair estimate(likely hidden damage or additional structural damage) diminished value would never be discussed with this claim handler. From 45 years of total loss and repair estimating experience, I would be 98% sure that Midpack was better off with a total loss on this vehicle.

 

[2cheap2eat]

I had the same thing last year, my 2 year old Caddy got hit. Other insurance Company determine costs too much to fix (no used body parts available, air bags did not deploy since side body damage).

Pissed me off as I didn’t have a choice, nor would they tell me how much they got for scrap value. My insurance wouldn’t step in because other Company determined total loss (and other driver was 100% at fault).

Net is insurance Companies are profit driven, so have to expect they will act accordingly.

 

[RobbieB]

Yes they will. They know where to find the dough, full time job eh?