$300 fender bender plus thousands to replace air bags. The insurance company totals car.
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What are they going to do with it?
Most people do not understand what it really means for a vehicle to be
“totaled”.
It does not mean that the vehicle has been rendered unusable or unroadworthy. It doesn't even necessarily mean that the vehicle is particularly seriously damaged.
What it means is that the cost to properly repair the vehicle, to the condition that it was in before the mishap, is greater than what the vehicle would be worth after those repairs are done. When repairs to a vehicle are covered by insurance, there are standards to which those repairs must be made, that can be very costly to meet. An insurance-covered repair isn't going to involve finding a compatible body panel at a junkyard, and making a crude attempt to paint it a similar color. It's going to involve a new body panel, and careful paint-matching; and a detailed inspection to find any minor damage that might otherwise have never been noticed.
A dent that has no impact whatsoever on the actual drivability or roadworthiness of a vehicle can cost more to properly repair, to insurance standards, than a vehicle is worth. That would be a
“totaled” vehicle.
On a related note, I came across a claim that there is a certain model of McLaren that is literally impossible to total. It sounds a bit dubious to me, but the premise is that that McLaren is so valuable, that no matter how badly it is damaged, once repaired, it is still more valuable than any possible cost to repair it.
