Salvage Value?

[dishdude]

Don't forget the salvage value will factor into the equation of deciding to total or not. Repairing a 2022 to insurance company standards with the amount of tiny bits broken in the front end make it more cost effective to send it off to auction where some sucker will salivate at buying a 2022 Toyota with 6k miles for $20k+ will offset the payout.

 

[nthach]

GEICO certainly understands this and is pulling coverage in some of those areas.



Trust me, they do not want to lose a customer after only paying a single claim, even if that claim is a total loss. They know the risk of the time value of money equation on the insured and continued leverage of premiums from a captive or existing customer.

A friend is a horrible/unlucky driver - she’s on Geico, and I’m shocked they haven’t dropped her yet. But then again, Geico and Berkshire Hathaway’s other consumer-facing holdings(a certain fast food joint, a high-end brand of paint and a copper-colored brand of alkaline battery) is reliable revenue, Geico probably has a decent ROE despite their underwriting standards(I’m not an insurance nerd).

The “cut-rate” companies like Geico/Progressive and the ones who specialize in high-risk drivers probably have a good ROE for their investors - much like subprime home/car loans are a high-risk/high reward proposition for their investors but there’s not much else a high-risk driver/borrower can turn to, captive clients.

 

[RhondaHonda]

That really doesn’t look bad at all with the damage staying high above the bumper impact bar. As others have said, I bet there’s an issue getting parts in a timely manner. That, coupled with a high salvage value and maybe some sort of new car replacement endorsement and rental costs could’ve pushed the insurer to total it and move on. Parts of northern CA have some extremely high body labor rates as well. If I owned a body shop I’d consider bidding and let the techs work on it during slower times.

 

[atikovi]

Hood, fender, bumper cover, headlight, grille, misc trim pieces. $1200-$1500
Mount on frame machine and straighten frame. $500-$1000
Paintwork. $1,000
Key and programming. $300

I could probably put it together with the body shop I use for around $4,000.

 

[97prizm]

That was a total loss?

I agree with the above, $15-20K. Definitely repairable, they hit something up high it appears, the bumper isn't even crushed in. Got the drivers side pretty good, the gap between the fender and drivers door panel would scare me, probably some structural damage in that area.

I've been saying this for years. The amount of vehicles thrown out or "junk" by American insurance companies is obscene. NPR just had an article about a guy in Tajikistan who repairs vehicles. He had a 2021 Lexus RX350 with 7k miles on it. A local client purchased it from Copart. It was a flood vehicle and deemed a "total loss". It ran and drove.

 

[atikovi]

He had a 2021 Lexus RX350 with 7k miles on it. A local client purchased it from Copart. It was a flood vehicle and deemed a "total loss". It ran and drove.

A lot of folks here would say that car should have been crushed.

 

[BornSlippy]

It doesn't take much for insurance companies to declare a total loss. Many insurance companies offer "Lifetime Warranty" on the repairs performed. I think in certain instances they just don't want the liability of having to guarantee repairs for something further on down the road. Deem it a total loss, and wash their hands of it. So many wiring and electronic gadgets, expensive to fix.

A few years ago my daughter was just learning to drive. Bumped the car into the garage door and the wall of the garage. Was a low speed collision. The car moved maybe three feet from a stand still into the garage door and wall. When I got out of the car (the 2017 Ford Escape) I couldn't believe the damage to the car. Passenger side fender was crunched, hood crunched, headlight crunched. Damage was $9000 to the car alone. A rental car for almost two weeks, and that pushes the bill to over $10K just for repairing cosmetic issues.

The Highlander has collision avoidance that operates at speeds over 10 KM/H. So it's possible that this happened at low speed. Judging by the height of the impact, looks like someone drove into the back end of semi trailer, probably stuck in a traffic jam.

 

[nthach]

Parts of northern CA have some extremely high body labor rates as well. If I owned a body shop I’d consider bidding and let the techs work on it during slower times.

it would also be a good car for aspiring techs to work on in a vocational program - like the ones at a community college. Those classes are usually filled with guys from the shops as per union requirements and they’ll count towards I-CAR certification for the tech and Gold Class/Platinum points for the shop.

And once repairs are done, that car can be donated to someone in need or used at the college. The collision repair trade has a history of sponsoring vocational schools and community colleges with auto body programs with this.

 

[5280]

The biggest thing I see is the non-deployment of the front or side airbags.... hmmmmm....

Could have been hit while parked- hence no power to bags. I'm an adjuster and have seen it a few times.

 

[The Critic]

Look at the damage. It's clear that it hit something up high at a rather low speed.

This vehicle has dual stage airbags, it does not take much speed to set the lower stage off, and if the bumper had been crushed it's almost a guarantee.

This vehicle hit either a semi trailer rear end or a lifted pickup. I'm going with lifted pickup. You can see the level it hit, right above the driver's fog light. As they swerved right (assuming a rear end collision which this looks to be) it pushed the drivers side in further.

It actually hit a midsized sedan.

Sorry for the late response- I wasn’t receiving notifications for some reason.

 

[The Critic]

Could have been hit while parked- hence no power to bags. I'm an adjuster and have seen it a few times.

It was a moving incident.