How does an insurance adjuster determine if a car is totalled?

Question

I got into a wreck and a field agent is supposed to come look at my car, my friend says he thinks its totaled, I was wondering how this is determined, what will the agent look for look for?

Answer 1

most of the people who answered here is correct. Estimated cost of repairs which totaled to 60% to 80% of the market value of your vehicle, frame of vehicle, firewall and chassis of vehicle damaged beyond repair-all this will render the vehicle to be classified as total loss. And this will be confirmed by an insurance loss adjuster who will duly report to the insurance company to decide on how best to pay your claim.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

They look at year, make and model. Then they adjust based on mileage and trim packages and overall condition. That gives them a base "worth" to start with.

Now they look at damage and put the damage into their lap top, and they get an estimate of repairs. After subtracting one number from the other, they will have an idea of what they will do, but the chances are they won't tell you at that point. They will go back to the office and download into the main computer. If it would cost more to fix it than its worth, they will total it. If it's on the cusp, and they aren't sure, perhaps they will send out a body shop to hunt for hidden damage.

Whatever your friend does for a living, unless he's an insurance adjuster, he doesn't know.

Answer 4

Totaled Or Totalled

Answer 5

Yes, a percentage, say $60-70 percent repair cost of the toatal value of the vehicle. BUT---
Would an insurance company pay for a total if the owner was willing to accept LESS than the book value of the vehicle? Is it negotiable?
Say the car is worth $5000, the bill comes to $3000, and the owner is willing to take $2500, would they total it?

Answer 6

The agent adds up the costs to repair all of the damages and looks to see if this is higher than the value of the car. If it would cost more to fix the car than it is worth, he will total it. Some main things that they look for are deployed airbags and a bent frame. Obviously the older the car the more likely it will be totalled because it will be worth less money. A 10 year old American car may be totalled when just the bumper, fender, and radiator need to be replaced.

Answer 7

Every insurance uses uses the formula of damage exceeding 60% -80% of the value will deem a vehicle totaled. I educated a peer of this fact but she thought it unfair and criminal. While that formal is a common practice with insurance companies, most people are unaware. That is why it is important to review your policy or ask questions. But like most us, we barely think about our cars being totaled.

Answer 8

ok ok HOLD IT HOLD IT. There are WAY too many answers saying stuff about the frame- frames can be fixed and will not neccessarily total a vehicle.

The answer is simple:

A car is totalled when it cost more to repair the car then to replace it by giving the actual cash value of the vehicle.

Answer 9

The insurance company uses their own software to total your car, when in fact it may not even be totaled. Plus, they come up with a low-ball offer. We hired a public adjuster from AutoDamageClaim.com to help us with our total loss. The initial offer was 16,000, which we felt was pretty low. After about a week, the public adjuster got the offer up to $23,500! We were delighted and highly recommend going this route.

Answer 10

They will look at the car and if the damage is going to cost more than a % of the value of the car then they will say that it is totaled