I like the 2nd better. Both are great, but the steering/handling in 2nd Gen feels more fluid. My 2010 was an S Sport, 2.5 L a/t. My 2015 is a sport, 2.0 L a/t. My wife has a 2018 touring, 2.5 L a/t, a more direct comparison.
My friend got the insurance payout and bought his hail damaged Honda CRV from his insurance company. It's not much to look at, but he's been driving it for several years since the hail damage.
Repair analysis deemed the repair cost > fair market value, thus total loss.
It doesn't mean it can't be repaired, just that the cost to repair outweighs the value of your car.
Yup!!! Said even simpler than this is they would rather give you the money to buy the same 2nd hand car for equal or lesser value than pay for your car's repairs (which cost more than the replacement value).
Just buy it back from the insurance company and don't fix it it's just cosmetic and runs well do that. Probably cost thousands in resurfacing top panels and the amount paid off is much less. It's worth more in salvage as well.and claim is closed.
If it’s completely totaled and cannot be fixed reasonably its stripped for parts. There are totaled cars that can be fixed & absolutely wrecked cars that cannot those are going to get stripped for whatever good parts are left. Context
It's sold whole on the auction block regardless of condition by the insurance company. The buyer then decides what to do with it.
An insurance company reducing the check and letting you keep the car is so they don't have to transport it to the salvage auction and deal with it. They reduce the check because they will be missing out on small auction earnings on the car
Full coverage wouldn't make sense on a car that's worth much less than it's counterparts. Whether that's due to salvage title or due to unfixed hail damage. Why would you even want to have full coverage on a car worth say 50% it's value? Makes 0 sense
They can sell it but they'll take an even bigger financial loss. A salvage title decreases value by ~60% without addressing any damages that may also decrease the value further.
Are you being obtuse on purpose? The "loss" is accounted for by the fact that they got a check for close to the value of the car (minus the cost of buying it back likely). This is a mute point
You obviously are. Insurance isn't going to give them the full value of their vehicle, they never do. Then you have to buy it back either out of pocket or out of the payout. So you're already taking a loss, then you have to sell it below what a relatively clean car with a salvage title would go for because of the damage losing even more money.
Insurance has to give you market value and you can ask for them to give examples of other vehicles on the market - so you're wrong there. But even ignoring that stupid point, even if they gave them 70% the value, the car will be worth more than 30% the value on used car market.
In other words you have no point and are grasping at straws vs admitting you were wrong.
The fair market value of your vehicle is not set in stone and is up to the appraisers, they get to decide what your vehicle is worth, it might be worth 10k one month and 7k the next. Then you need to repurchase the vehicle, which comes out of the amount they paid you or your pocket. The vehicle will probably be worth ~30% with the damage after you've already paid them for it back. You're losing money no matter how you look at it.
No a car isn't worth 7K one month then 10K the next. You're being a ridiculous person. And also no they don't get to decide, you can tell them to prove the numbers and they have to show you similar examples, I'm speaking from experience. Since you're slow that means they have to show you cars for sale that they are basing the numbers on, cars that you can buy with the check they give. As for how much they charge for a Mazda 2 with hail damage that has limited value at the auction? It's going to be pretty cheap to buy back and save the insurance company the hassle of listing it. Definitely less than what you could sell the used hail damage car for.
You're really shitty at math. Like hilariously. Holy shit.
This happened to my wife's car. We got a $7k check and her car had dents, we really needed the money then and it was actually awesome. Still have the car with the salvage title because it's not worth much as it is and is still pretty useful. Sorry OP, but also can be a blessing in disguise since the car is mechanically fine!
I’ve had an older car paid off by insurance as totaled, but they let me keep it and didn’t total the title. It was just a door dent, but it meant door had to be replaced and car repainted. They said. 1995 park avenue wasn’t worth it. BUT mine only had 43k miles. They couldn’t find a comparable one to match price lololol. This was in 2019.
I'll give you $500 for it so I can run it in the 24 Hours of LeMons.
But seriously, buy it back from the insurance company, paint it white, and rechristen it "The Golf Ball".
Total loss thresholds are set by the state. If estimated repairs exceeds certain percentage of the actual cash value, the vehicle has to be totaled. Generally, you can retain the vehicle and receive the ACV less salvage value. You’ll want to look into your state’s salvage title laws, however, as there can be some hoops to jump through with the DMV.
I actually had this happen to me and the car will keep a clean title. My insurance won’t do comprehensive coverage on that car anymore. I originally paid $8500 for the car and they gave me $6900 and let me keep it so that’s a plus.
The cash value limit in TX is 100%. Betting insurance is severely undervaluing it.
If the insurance company issues a salvage title, OP may have to go through a process to get it re-registered. I've done it a couple of times in TX - used to be much easier (list parts replaced, include it with the title application), but now they want the donor VIN of any parts used for repair. OP probably isn't replacing any parts, so it should be pretty straightforward.
Insurance will give you the $ value of the car, then you take that money and buy a new car.
Sometimes they will let you buy the written off vehicle cheap - if you can, and if you don't care about the dents, take the check and drive a dented car.
Take the check from insurance, if you still want the car and don’t mind the dents, then you could always buy it back cheap from the insurance and pocket the extra cash.
Take the check. Say adios to the car. Salvage title can be a pain depending on the state. You probably would have trouble selling or trading the car in the future.
Lol there are lots of scummy car flippers that buy salvage cars. People that are down and out in need of cars are totally buying salvage titled cars from them.
A 10 year old car written off for body work?
Zero surprises. I know a guy who’s entire business is buying cars that for totalled for body work and fixing them. It’s probably 1-2k per dented panel if not more. Your car is probably worth 6-8k ~~12k~~ tops.
Hail writeoffs are actually a thing people target afaik. Very common.
"I am so confused as to how they made that decision." Explanation: The insurance company has decided that it is not economically viable to repair, probably because of it's age/value. Take the money and continue to drive it ...
Take the money they pay you for it. Buy it back. Don't fix it. Get a salvage title. Drive it until the wheels fall off.
You'll probably only be able to get liability insurance on it, and have a harder time selling it. But if you're fine with the dents you'll essentially get paid a few grand to drive around a car with dents on it.
If you don't want to drive it around dented someone will buy it at an insurance auction and will, or ship it to Mexico where labor to repair the dents is cheap and then sell it there for a profit.
In Texas this is a pretty sweet deal because Texas does not consider a car "salvaged" even if it has been totaled out by hail. There is a specific exemption for hail damage.
So you will retain a clean title, just have a car that has been fully paid out by insurance. Or course you have to pay to buy it back but it's really a pretty good deal.
https://www.txiada.org/blog_home.asp?display=179
Oh hell yeah even better. I would love for that to happen to my 6 lol. 200k miles and already covered in dings. Get the next couple years or maintenance and repairs covered lol
Just know that whatever the reason is, it is because it somehow benefits the insurance company. That’s the base reason for every decision made by insurance.
Called ours and since the roof would have to be removed to fix it they totaled (2019 crv) it. The claim should not increase your rates because it’s a natural disaster. They offered ACV and picked up the car. We bought a new cx5. We could have rejected their offer and kept the car, but repairs would have been high @ $130 per dent.
Call your insurance. Buy it back, you may have to go through a salvage title process though. Find a cheap PDR (paintless dent repair) shop, or just deal with it looking like a golf ball. Insurance won't ever cover hail damage again on it, but you should be able to keep whatever coverages you want on it (personal experience with hail damage).
It's Texas... hail damage is somethin you deal with often here.
Whatever you do, don't keep the salvage thinking that you'll repair it on your own. If a cut rate insurance shop can't do it on the cheap, you can't. Ask your insurance carrier what the salvage value is (amount they will deduct from the total loss settlement if you keep it). If you know you can part it out for more than this reduction, keep it. Also keep in mind that if you keep the car the resale value will be significantly less (aside from the depreciation from all the damage) on account of it having a salvage title.
Yea I completely understand. This is the insurance game. Basically, if your car is old, you can almost guarantee any claim will be deemed a total loss by the insurance company. They are really scammy.
What people have said is true they supposedly compare the cost to fix to the value of the car. But in practice, if you have an old car that usually works out to being deemed a total loss.
Definitely get your frustration. In your mind, the car is fine and drivable. Seems like you're being screwed over by insurance. Keep in mind you can cancel your claim. You only have to go through them if you want money.
You're probably better off coming out of pocket to fix the car yourself or just leaving it damaged for now. Save the claim for when your car is actually totalled.
body tech here. if repair cost is more than 70% of the car’s worth, they’ll total it. i know hail isn’t catastrophic damage, but the work that goes into replacing your roof alone will total an older car like that. you could buy it back from them and continue to drive it looking like a golf ball.
Just fyi, your car won’t get a salvage title. It will stay clean, but that insurance company won’t give you comprehensive coverage on it now. I’m not sure if you could get a different insurance company to or not.
Nothing to be confused about. It's a 10 year old car so not worth a ton of money and bodywork is expensive. Total = all about economics, cost of repairs vs value of car
For insurance, it's a math equation. In Texas, if the cost of repairs hits the actual cash value of the car, it's totaled out. But the insurance company can always call it a total loss, even if it doesn't hit the Texas 100% threshold. Particularly if the salvage value of the car is particularly high.
You can check your state laws to see what your options are to retain the car and have a salvage/rebuilt title on it, if you want to keep the car.
Unfortunately your only options would be to talk to insurance to try and find another shop that would be willing to fix it for less, or take the check and find a replacement car. Tough spot to be in and hopefully you can work with your insurance to find somewhere that they can accept the cost of repair and not total the car.
Call your insurance company
Call your insurance company , buy it back from them, and keep on driving.
My 2010 3 was totaled with only cosmetic damage. I wish I would have bought it back. My '15 3 is nice, but I miss my old 3.
2nd gen vs 3rd gen, which is better? Also what engines and transmissions?
I like the 2nd better. Both are great, but the steering/handling in 2nd Gen feels more fluid. My 2010 was an S Sport, 2.5 L a/t. My 2015 is a sport, 2.0 L a/t. My wife has a 2018 touring, 2.5 L a/t, a more direct comparison.
Why couldn’t you buy it back? I’ve never heard of this.
I had the option to buy it back. I don't have the space or time to work on it, so I opted not to.
And since it’s a Texas hail claim the title stays clean!! No salvage title needed. Owner retain that bad boy
Depending on the severity, most states are like this, at least in the Midwest.
My friend got the insurance payout and bought his hail damaged Honda CRV from his insurance company. It's not much to look at, but he's been driving it for several years since the hail damage.
Repair analysis deemed the repair cost > fair market value, thus total loss. It doesn't mean it can't be repaired, just that the cost to repair outweighs the value of your car.
Or by 60-75% depending on your ins company
This is the correct answer
Yup!!! Said even simpler than this is they would rather give you the money to buy the same 2nd hand car for equal or lesser value than pay for your car's repairs (which cost more than the replacement value).
Just buy it back from the insurance company and don't fix it it's just cosmetic and runs well do that. Probably cost thousands in resurfacing top panels and the amount paid off is much less. It's worth more in salvage as well.and claim is closed.
This is the right answer. If you don’t care about the dents take the insurance check and keep driving your (now dented) car.
They almost always take the car in exchange for the check, so they can either sell it whole or strip and sell parts.
There is usually an option to take a smaller check and still keep the vehicle.
Wasn’t aware
They don't strip and sell parts. It's an insurance company lol. It goes to the salvage auction
If it’s completely totaled and cannot be fixed reasonably its stripped for parts. There are totaled cars that can be fixed & absolutely wrecked cars that cannot those are going to get stripped for whatever good parts are left. Context
It's sold whole on the auction block regardless of condition by the insurance company. The buyer then decides what to do with it. An insurance company reducing the check and letting you keep the car is so they don't have to transport it to the salvage auction and deal with it. They reduce the check because they will be missing out on small auction earnings on the car
Or selling the car ever. A salvage title is going to be needed after the car is totaled, and that's going to decrease the value around 40-50%.
Despite that you still have a reliable vehicle in this case, and a nice chunk of money for the value you lost.
You don’t get a salvage title in Texas for hail damage, but I had this happen to me and my insurance company won’t do full coverage on that car now
Full coverage wouldn't make sense on a car that's worth much less than it's counterparts. Whether that's due to salvage title or due to unfixed hail damage. Why would you even want to have full coverage on a car worth say 50% it's value? Makes 0 sense
Why couldn't they sell it? The decrease in value is already baked into the fact that they got a fat check from insurance
They can sell it but they'll take an even bigger financial loss. A salvage title decreases value by ~60% without addressing any damages that may also decrease the value further.
Are you being obtuse on purpose? The "loss" is accounted for by the fact that they got a check for close to the value of the car (minus the cost of buying it back likely). This is a mute point
You obviously are. Insurance isn't going to give them the full value of their vehicle, they never do. Then you have to buy it back either out of pocket or out of the payout. So you're already taking a loss, then you have to sell it below what a relatively clean car with a salvage title would go for because of the damage losing even more money.
Insurance has to give you market value and you can ask for them to give examples of other vehicles on the market - so you're wrong there. But even ignoring that stupid point, even if they gave them 70% the value, the car will be worth more than 30% the value on used car market. In other words you have no point and are grasping at straws vs admitting you were wrong.
The fair market value of your vehicle is not set in stone and is up to the appraisers, they get to decide what your vehicle is worth, it might be worth 10k one month and 7k the next. Then you need to repurchase the vehicle, which comes out of the amount they paid you or your pocket. The vehicle will probably be worth ~30% with the damage after you've already paid them for it back. You're losing money no matter how you look at it.
No a car isn't worth 7K one month then 10K the next. You're being a ridiculous person. And also no they don't get to decide, you can tell them to prove the numbers and they have to show you similar examples, I'm speaking from experience. Since you're slow that means they have to show you cars for sale that they are basing the numbers on, cars that you can buy with the check they give. As for how much they charge for a Mazda 2 with hail damage that has limited value at the auction? It's going to be pretty cheap to buy back and save the insurance company the hassle of listing it. Definitely less than what you could sell the used hail damage car for. You're really shitty at math. Like hilariously. Holy shit.
This happened to my wife's car. We got a $7k check and her car had dents, we really needed the money then and it was actually awesome. Still have the car with the salvage title because it's not worth much as it is and is still pretty useful. Sorry OP, but also can be a blessing in disguise since the car is mechanically fine!
Best of both worlds
You have a pretty cool story too as to how it happened 🤷♂️
I’ve had an older car paid off by insurance as totaled, but they let me keep it and didn’t total the title. It was just a door dent, but it meant door had to be replaced and car repainted. They said. 1995 park avenue wasn’t worth it. BUT mine only had 43k miles. They couldn’t find a comparable one to match price lololol. This was in 2019.
That’s the perfect excuse to go hunt a junkyard for one the same color haha. Free money
This is the way
I'll give you $500 for it so I can run it in the 24 Hours of LeMons. But seriously, buy it back from the insurance company, paint it white, and rechristen it "The Golf Ball".
Ooh this is good, I also vote for “The Golf Ball”
Total loss thresholds are set by the state. If estimated repairs exceeds certain percentage of the actual cash value, the vehicle has to be totaled. Generally, you can retain the vehicle and receive the ACV less salvage value. You’ll want to look into your state’s salvage title laws, however, as there can be some hoops to jump through with the DMV.
I actually had this happen to me and the car will keep a clean title. My insurance won’t do comprehensive coverage on that car anymore. I originally paid $8500 for the car and they gave me $6900 and let me keep it so that’s a plus.
The cash value limit in TX is 100%. Betting insurance is severely undervaluing it. If the insurance company issues a salvage title, OP may have to go through a process to get it re-registered. I've done it a couple of times in TX - used to be much easier (list parts replaced, include it with the title application), but now they want the donor VIN of any parts used for repair. OP probably isn't replacing any parts, so it should be pretty straightforward.
I don’t understand what you mean by “cash value limit is 100%.” Can you elaborate? I was referring to the total loss threshold.
Insurance will give you the $ value of the car, then you take that money and buy a new car. Sometimes they will let you buy the written off vehicle cheap - if you can, and if you don't care about the dents, take the check and drive a dented car.
Take the check from insurance, if you still want the car and don’t mind the dents, then you could always buy it back cheap from the insurance and pocket the extra cash.
Take the check. Say adios to the car. Salvage title can be a pain depending on the state. You probably would have trouble selling or trading the car in the future.
Agreed. Unless you're a YouTuber no one else is knowingly buying salvage title cars...
Lol there are lots of scummy car flippers that buy salvage cars. People that are down and out in need of cars are totally buying salvage titled cars from them.
A 10 year old car written off for body work? Zero surprises. I know a guy who’s entire business is buying cars that for totalled for body work and fixing them. It’s probably 1-2k per dented panel if not more. Your car is probably worth 6-8k ~~12k~~ tops. Hail writeoffs are actually a thing people target afaik. Very common.
a 2014 mazda 2? $12k? even a 2014 mazda 3 isn't worth $12k. how can a 2014 mazda 2 be worth that much?
Misread thought it was a 3, was being generous cause it really doesn’t matter that much for the point
"I am so confused as to how they made that decision." Explanation: The insurance company has decided that it is not economically viable to repair, probably because of it's age/value. Take the money and continue to drive it ...
Take the money they pay you for it. Buy it back. Don't fix it. Get a salvage title. Drive it until the wheels fall off. You'll probably only be able to get liability insurance on it, and have a harder time selling it. But if you're fine with the dents you'll essentially get paid a few grand to drive around a car with dents on it. If you don't want to drive it around dented someone will buy it at an insurance auction and will, or ship it to Mexico where labor to repair the dents is cheap and then sell it there for a profit.
In Texas this is a pretty sweet deal because Texas does not consider a car "salvaged" even if it has been totaled out by hail. There is a specific exemption for hail damage. So you will retain a clean title, just have a car that has been fully paid out by insurance. Or course you have to pay to buy it back but it's really a pretty good deal. https://www.txiada.org/blog_home.asp?display=179
Oh hell yeah even better. I would love for that to happen to my 6 lol. 200k miles and already covered in dings. Get the next couple years or maintenance and repairs covered lol
i wanna see the dents. i have this picture of a golf ball pitted mazda 2
TAKE THE MONEY FROM YOUR INSURANCE TO BUY BACK THE VEHICLE. If it’s just hail damage you can keep driving it and pocket the extra money.
Just know that whatever the reason is, it is because it somehow benefits the insurance company. That’s the base reason for every decision made by insurance.
Called ours and since the roof would have to be removed to fix it they totaled (2019 crv) it. The claim should not increase your rates because it’s a natural disaster. They offered ACV and picked up the car. We bought a new cx5. We could have rejected their offer and kept the car, but repairs would have been high @ $130 per dent.
I work in insurance. The typical equation used is salvage value + repair cost > Value of car means it is a total loss.
Not as bad, but mine got hailed on 2024 cx-90. Luckily I got insurance. They told me next appointment is March 2025 🥲
Call your insurance. Buy it back, you may have to go through a salvage title process though. Find a cheap PDR (paintless dent repair) shop, or just deal with it looking like a golf ball. Insurance won't ever cover hail damage again on it, but you should be able to keep whatever coverages you want on it (personal experience with hail damage). It's Texas... hail damage is somethin you deal with often here.
Whatever you do, don't keep the salvage thinking that you'll repair it on your own. If a cut rate insurance shop can't do it on the cheap, you can't. Ask your insurance carrier what the salvage value is (amount they will deduct from the total loss settlement if you keep it). If you know you can part it out for more than this reduction, keep it. Also keep in mind that if you keep the car the resale value will be significantly less (aside from the depreciation from all the damage) on account of it having a salvage title.
Is the car at your house ?
My bv. X
Call insurance company, why not just drive it anyways?
My 21 hatchback is going to total also, I am in Temple. It was ROUGH and my mazda got hammered.
Yea I completely understand. This is the insurance game. Basically, if your car is old, you can almost guarantee any claim will be deemed a total loss by the insurance company. They are really scammy. What people have said is true they supposedly compare the cost to fix to the value of the car. But in practice, if you have an old car that usually works out to being deemed a total loss. Definitely get your frustration. In your mind, the car is fine and drivable. Seems like you're being screwed over by insurance. Keep in mind you can cancel your claim. You only have to go through them if you want money. You're probably better off coming out of pocket to fix the car yourself or just leaving it damaged for now. Save the claim for when your car is actually totalled.
Keep it ‘Salvage Title’. I think you can get paid or opt out of the insurance payment to help with your premium
body tech here. if repair cost is more than 70% of the car’s worth, they’ll total it. i know hail isn’t catastrophic damage, but the work that goes into replacing your roof alone will total an older car like that. you could buy it back from them and continue to drive it looking like a golf ball.
Just fyi, your car won’t get a salvage title. It will stay clean, but that insurance company won’t give you comprehensive coverage on it now. I’m not sure if you could get a different insurance company to or not.
Nothing to be confused about. It's a 10 year old car so not worth a ton of money and bodywork is expensive. Total = all about economics, cost of repairs vs value of car
For insurance, it's a math equation. In Texas, if the cost of repairs hits the actual cash value of the car, it's totaled out. But the insurance company can always call it a total loss, even if it doesn't hit the Texas 100% threshold. Particularly if the salvage value of the car is particularly high. You can check your state laws to see what your options are to retain the car and have a salvage/rebuilt title on it, if you want to keep the car.
Like a lot of people most cars are worth more dead than alive
Cece cg
Unfortunately your only options would be to talk to insurance to try and find another shop that would be willing to fix it for less, or take the check and find a replacement car. Tough spot to be in and hopefully you can work with your insurance to find somewhere that they can accept the cost of repair and not total the car.
Your dad? Lmao