It’s wild how “frame damage” gets tossed around like a magic word that justifies anything. I had a ’72 Chevelle that took a pretty solid hit to the rear quarter—nothing catastrophic, just enough to wrinkle the panel. The adjuster comes out, pokes around for five minutes, and suddenly it’s “possible frame compromise.” Never mind that these old frames are basically railroad tracks compared to modern stuff. I took it to my own guy, put it on the lift, and sure enough, nothing was out of spec.
What gets me is how quick they are to total out anything not rolling off the dealership floor. I get that newer cars are full of sensors and modules, but sometimes it feels like an excuse to avoid dealing with repairs they don’t want to pay for. Maybe I’m old school, but if the car runs straight and true, why not fix it? Not every ding needs to be the end of the road.
It does make me wonder if we’re losing some perfectly good cars just because a spreadsheet says so...
It’s pretty frustrating when you see a car get written off over what looks like minor damage. From what I’ve learned, insurance companies usually compare the estimated repair cost to the car’s “actual cash value”—if repairs hit a certain percentage (like 70-80%), they’ll just call it totaled. With older cars, that value is often way lower than what the car means to someone, especially classics. I get that safety matters, especially if there’s any question about the frame, but sometimes it feels like they’re just playing it safe on paper rather than actually checking things out.
- Yeah, it’s wild how fast they’ll write off a car, especially if it’s older.
- From what I’ve seen, it’s all about the numbers—if fixing it costs more than the car’s worth on paper, they just don’t bother.
- I get the safety angle, but sometimes it feels like they don’t even look past the surface.
- Had a buddy with a ‘98 Civic—barely a dent in the rear quarter, but they called it totaled. He swears it drove fine.
- Guess it’s just easier (and cheaper) for them to play it safe, but man, it stings if you’re attached to your ride.
Had a similar thing happen with my old ‘01 Corolla. I swear, that car ran better than half the stuff on the road, but the moment it got a little love tap in the parking lot, insurance was ready to send it off to the scrapyard. Didn’t matter that it still drove straight as an arrow and the AC worked (which is a miracle in itself for a Corolla of that age). They just looked at their little chart, saw “value: $1200, repair: $1500,” and that was that.
It’s kind of funny, though—my neighbor patched up his “totaled” Camry with duct tape and some optimism, drove it for another two years. Guess the real test is if you’re willing to ignore a couple warning lights and some creative bodywork. Still, I get why they do it, but man, sometimes it feels like they’re just waiting for an excuse to write off anything older than a decade.
Yeah, it’s wild how quick they are to call an older car a total loss. I’ve seen cars get written off for stuff that’s basically cosmetic. Honestly, if it still runs and you’re not worried about looks, sometimes it makes more sense to just keep driving it. Insurance math just doesn’t care about sentimental value or reliability, I guess.
