Options Available To Owner of Totaled Car

If an insurance company declares that a damaged car has been totaled, then the car’s owner receives a check for the car’s blue book value. The person that receives that check can accept it, and lose the damaged vehicle, or reject it, and keep that same vehicle.

What happens if the automobile’s owner keeps the check?

He or she must look for a reliable auto, one that has a price close to the amount of money received for the totaled vehicle. Otherwise, he or she has extra cash, but has to get from place to place without the aid of an automobile.

What are the options for someone that returns the check and keeps the totaled car?

Minus the money that would have come from the check, the car’s owner needs to pay for repairs to the damaged auto. In addition, the car’s owner must arrange for a way to get the totaled vehicle to the repair shop.

Free towing of the totaled vehicle would be provided to someone that had chosen to sell the totally wrecked set-of-wheels to a junkyard. That particular auto salvage yard (junkyard) would need to be a licensed scrap buyer.

If the damage took the form of dents or scrapes, and nothing else, then the car’s owner might pay for a paint job. An insurance company does not like to pay for a simple paint job, if the totaled vehicle is quite old. The auto’s age has caused that set-of-wheels to be listed as “totaled,” even though it is still drivable.

Finally, any totaled vehicles could be donated to a charity organization. That organization would then sell the parts. The person that had made the donation could list another deduction on his or her tax form.

Another possibility

If the car’s owner had taken pictures of the auto, before it got damaged, then those might show that it is worth more than the insurance company has claimed. In that situation, the pictures might be shown to the insurance company, along with a request for a larger check.

That approach would work best if the damaged automobile had received some expensive accessories, before it got damaged in an accident. Personal Injury Lawyer in Barrie knows that proof that such accessories had been on the auto would push the insurance company to place a higher value on it. Still, anyone that plans to challenge an insurance company, and to ask for the chance to get compensated for a repair job to a totaled vehicle faces an uphill battle. Insurance companies do not agree readily to such an arrangement.

That fact might surprise some policyholders. It might be particularly surprising to a policyholder that trusted the insurer in the past, following involvement in an accident.