Well, Lee...mebby you can 'splain it to a dummy like me?
The whole concept of a vehicle being "TOTALED", is a little fuzzy to me. I've had a couple cars "totaled"; one in particular that concerned me was in very good condition other than being in a wreck that only ended up crushing the front & rear clip. Ran great, new tires, brakes fresh, fresh rebuilt engine and trans (Jeep Cherokee, actually)...totaled???
I got a check for that car, but couldn't find one in anywhere near the condition my wrecked Jeep was before the accident. I felt then and now like I'd been ripped off. What were my options beside buying it back from the salvage yard (which, BTW,
wanted more for it wrecked than the check I got from the insurance company...WTF??...another story tho).
And, is there not a chance for some unsavory
collusion between and insurance company and an auto salvage yard, e.g., totaling a car when repairs would fall well under the market value of the parts
in a majority of cases?
I wouldn't have been the least surprised if my car was 'totaled' after busting up the nose and hood - i.e., how many wrecked ZR-1s does an adjuster have to base his estimates on? Is that even a factor?
Just curious, cuz I'm close to that situation again (my truck got hit as result of 2 others mixing it up on a highway intersection and me getting caught in the "collateral damage".)