Is my car likely totaled?

July 23, 2018 1:52 PM

Tree fell on my parked car. Have filed insurance claim and am waiting to hear back, but would like to start thinking through what I'll do in various scenarios (declared total loss/needs repairs/etc).

Here's a picture of most of the damage. There's also a fairly big dent in the hood. Current KBB on the car is about $10,500, and am in a state where total loss guideline is 75%, if that matters.

The car is financed but I am not underwater - 3-4k less owed than KBB value - so I am not necessarily looking to avoid its being declared totaled, especially if that's the sort of damage that it would be difficult to repair to the point of the car being fully fixed. Especially interested to know if that seems like total-loss-level damage, but also for any advice for dealing with insurance and speculation as to how long that might take to fix in the event that it's not totaled.

posted by pdq to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

In a similar situation, my parents' insurance company did not total the car out, and said it was repairable, but that turned into quite an ordeal, and they really (I think) should have said it was totalled. It took like 2 months to get the car back.
posted by thelonius at 2:01 PM on July 23, 2018

It took like 2 months to get the car back

(That car was a Volvo, and a lot of the wait was for parts, esp. the windshield - also there was some foolishness where they thought they could repair a thing, but, that failed, and it needed to be replaced instead, wasting more time).
posted by thelonius at 2:05 PM on July 23, 2018

You'll find out soon enough. My guess is the entire roof of the car will need to be replaced, which I would estimate at a $5000-$6000 job. Since there's also hood damage of unknown complexity, I'd suggest you'll be over the ~$7500 total for the car to be totaled.

I'm not going to say it's foregone conclusion, but if I were you I'd start looking for a replacement car.
posted by saeculorum at 2:13 PM on July 23, 2018

I'd agree that you're ultimately just going to have to wait on the body shop estimate, but I'd be starting the search for a car. Just jumping in to say that what the benchmark is (or should be) is RETAIL cost of replacing the car, including sales tax, doc, etc. That is, if a used car existed that was just like yours, including mileage, year, equipment, etc., what would a used car lot get for it?

Assuming your $10.5K represents that mark, you're likely to be pretty close to that with the hood damage and all.
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:39 PM on July 23, 2018

If they take you down the repair route, you'll want to secure some kind of warranty of service against leaks. Roof repairs have a high potential for this problem, and they need to seal the crap out of it and do it every time you come with a leak.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:45 PM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Insurance companies vary and you have every right to get independent estimates and to negotiate the reimbursement if you think it's low. Replaced windshields can be a leaky PITA. I'm glad you weren't in it.
posted by theora55 at 3:05 PM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Warning: when a tree fell on our car we got nothing from any insurer, neither the car insurer nor the homeowner's (tree owner's), on the basis that it was an "Act of Nature" and as such not an insured risk. Our car was totaled, damage was a lot more than yours.
posted by anadem at 4:47 PM on July 23, 2018

I think the key will be whether or not the damage to the roof has caused structural damage to the A, B or C pillars of the roof such that repair will be both expensive and might not return the structural integrity of the roof to its original condition thus creating a safety hazard and less secure integrity in a crash. To my untrained eye, it does not appear as if the A pillars are damaged.
posted by AugustWest at 5:00 PM on July 23, 2018

I had almost this exact thing happen to my old Neon way back in 2001! Tree landed square down the middle of the roof, dented it but good and smashed the windshield, but in my case there was no damage to the hood. My insurance did cover the damage, and the car was repaired, not totaled, even though the car only cost $12,000 brand new. Of course, that was 17 years ago, so hard to say. I will say that I had that car for another 8 years and never had any problems with the repair, no leaks or anything like that, and sold it for $5000 when we finally needed a bigger vehicle. Clearly YMMV, but there is a chance that they will decide to fix instead of total.
posted by dellsolace at 7:50 AM on July 24, 2018