Understanding what to do with a totaled car is a must to reduce the hassle and take advantage of this car. In general, when you have a totaled car, you can either:
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
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Get paid from the insurance company
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Repair the car
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Continue driving the car
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Fix the car yourself
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Scrap the car
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Give the car to charity
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Trade-in your car
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Sell your car to Cash Cars Buyer
Some major car accidents get the vehicles to a point where it's beyond repairs. That's when the insurance company decides not to fix it and claim it as totaled.
Dealing with totaled cars is not an appealing or pleasant situation. However, it is what it is, and you get up to take the most advantage out of your car. While you have many options when dealing with vehicles with mechanical problems, your options are a little limited when dealing with a totaled car.
This article provides you with all that you need to know about what to do with a totaled car. In addition, it highlights all possible options that you can select from to either sell, fix, or donate the totaled vehicle. Deciding between the options depends heavily on your circumstances and your main objectives and goals.
Is your car really totaled?
Before we dive into the details about what to do with a totaled car, we must be on the same page regarding the definition of a totaled car. This is because your car might not be totaled in every state, and if it doesn't fall within certain categories, it might be just a car in bad condition where your options might be different than when dealing with a totaled car.
In general, a vehicle is considered a total loss when it requires more repair than its actual value. Of course, the threshold of values and repair costs might differ significantly from state to state, but the general idea is the same. When repair costs are not worth it to get the vehicle going, you'll have limited options to deal with your totaled car.
To make things clearer regarding the definition of totaled cars, here are some of the categories that you might want to check before tagging your car as totaled:
- You can't repair the car and make it safe to drive
- You will need much more repair costs than the actual value of the vehicle
- The car has major damages reducing its value by more than 50% after the car accident
As we mentioned earlier, the threshold of defining a totaled car differs from a state to another. They are usually calculated by determining the vehicle's scrap value plus any repair costs and comparing it to the car's before accident value.
What to do with a totaled car?
Once you confirm that your car is considered a total loss, you'll be looking for what to do with a totaled car. Based on our decades of experience in the car selling market, we highlighted the very common options that you will have to deal with a totaled car:
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Get paid from the insurance company
When your car gets involved in a major car accident and is damaged beyond the threshold of your state, your insurance company will most likely deem it as totaled. Once they do that, they basically inform you that repair costs are beyond the vehicle's value, and they will offer you a certain amount of money instead of the vehicle itself.
At this point, you might want to take a shortcut and accept their offer or proceed with any of the other following options.
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Repair the car
Sometimes if you own an old vehicle totaled, the trans company will not pay a lot on this vehicle. If that's the case, it's better to keep the vehicle and repairs on your own money.
Keeping the vehicle doesn't necessarily mean that you must repair it and get it to go safely. It is unlikely that you'll be able to save the vehicle without paying a lot of money. However, you might take advantage of selling the car privately to either a scrap yard or a company like Cash Cars Buyer.
Once you sell it privately, you'll have a better chance of making more money than giving it away to the insurance company.
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Continue driving the car
It's not very rare to deal with a total car that does not have major structural damages. Probably the insurance company doesn't want to fix it just because it has cosmetic issues in the exterior.
If you're OK with driving a vehicle with some issues with the external but doesn't impact the safety, you might keep the vehicle and continue driving it.
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Fix the car yourself
If you have a certain level of mechanical skill sets, you might repair your totaled car by yourself. Thus, you'll save a ton on hourly rates by professional mechanics.
However, repairing a totaled car is a big deal, and it takes a lot of time effort, if not money. While you'll save on the actual labor costs, buying the necessary parts is also a big component that you need to evaluate.
Therefore, before you decide to appear your totaled car, we recommend that to evaluate the following items:
- Do you have the necessary level of mechanical skill sets to fix every problem?
- Can you afford to purchase the faulty components?
- Will repairing the car improve its value?
- How long will it take you to fix the car?
Once you evaluate the mentioned elements, you'll have a better idea about whether it's worth fixing your car by yourself or not.
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Scrap the car
Since the car is not in good condition, you might make good money by selling it as scrap metal. You can either sell the car as a whole or scrap the good components and sell it separately.
Most scrap yards and junkyards will not pay you for any nonmetal components. In other words, we recommend that you take away any valuable component that you can sell it separately and then give the metal structure to the scrap yard.
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Give the car to charity
Even if the car is in bad condition, you can still donate it to your favorite charity. The charity will not necessarily use the vehicle as a means of transportation, but they will use the value towards some of their objectives. The charity will have its way of selling the totaled car and making money.
When donating your car to a charity, you can still take advantage of tax reductions at the end of the year. However, to understand how much exactly you'll save on tax, we'd better review your state's specific regulations and requirements because things might be different from a state to another.
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Trade-in your car
Yes, we understand that your car is not in good condition, but surprisingly, there are plenty of dealerships who will accept your car despite its condition. This is valid if your car's make and model are needed around your area. Dealerships can take advantage of any working component and use it as replacement parts to similar vehicles.
Keep in mind that even if you find a dealership that could trade in your totaled car, they won't pay you what you're looking for. In general, even if you're selling a perfectly running car, dealerships usually underestimate the vehicles and do not pay as much. Thus, if money is your top priority, we recommend trading in your car with the dealership.
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Sell your car to Cash Cars Buyer
Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation. We guaranteed to buy your car no matter its time or condition. We value every vehicle and pay you the top dollar that your vehicle can make around your area.
Don't be hesitant about reaching out to us just because your car has major damages. We accept every vehicle, and we categorize it based on its type and condition. For example, we buy running cars, damaged vehicles, and completely totaled cars. Thus, you'll find an offer that satisfies you no matter the condition of your car.
Where do cars go when they are totaled?
Since most totaled cars are not safe to be driven on any public road, they're usually sold as scrap metal. Junkyards and scrap yards take away any active components and sell them separately before scrapping the rest of the middle components and the metal structure.
Of course, deciding where every totaled car depends heavily on your state's regulation because some states might consider your car as totaled but not the other states. Thus, you must review your state's regulations to confirm whether your car is considered totaled in the first place before looking for where it would go.
How do you get money for a totaled car?
Selling a totaled car is not impossible, and there are plenty of ways where you can make money out of your totaled car. Here are some of the common options:
- You might find an experienced mechanic who's looking for totaled cars as projects to teach new stuff
- You might also trade in your car with the dealership, but you won't get the most money out of your car, as we mentioned earlier, because dealerships do not pay much for used vehicles, let alone totaled cars.
- You can take away the working components from your car and sold them separately before sending the vehicle to a scrapyard
- You can also sell your totaled car to a gas cars buyer who will pay you the top dollars your car can make around their area without worrying about the car's condition
Keep in mind that even if you are planning to donate your car, you will still make an indirect profit by reducing taxes, as we indicated previously.
Is it worth it to fix a totaled car?
It depends. The definition of a totaled car is very subjective and differs from state to state. Therefore, some totaled cars might be repairable, but repair costs are high even with repairable totaled cars.
There is one situation where it's worth fixing a totaled car when you fix it by yourself. Then, if you do have this certain level of mechanical skill sets to get your vehicle going after claiming his total, you can make a good profit.
Otherwise, spending on total vehicles is a risk, and unless you are 100% sure that the car's value will improve after repairing it compared to the car's value before the accident, it's not worth it.
If you want to save yourself a lot of headache and hassle, we always recommend that you reach out to Cash Cars Buyer and check how much you can make out of your totaled car. This way, you don't have to worry about fixing it or making it look nice to convince the private buyer because Cash Cars Buyer guarantees to buy it no matter what.
Conclusion
Getting involved in major car accidents is not a rare situation, and if you got safe out of the accident, the car could be taken care of. However, in some severe car accidents, the vehicle gets to a point where it's beyond repairs, and that's where the insurance company claims it as totaled.
Dealing with the total vehicle is not as simple as dealing with a car with some mechanical problems. When you have a totaled car, your options are limited to either getting paid from the insurance company, repairing your car, continue and driving it as is, fixing the car yourself, selling the car as scrap, giving it away to a charity, trade-in your car, or selling it to Cash Cars Buyer.
Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation that guarantees to pay you the top dollars and will provide you with free towing despite your living location around the United States.
Our process is very straightforward and doesn't take more than a couple of days to get your car removed safely and for the most money.
All it takes you is to:
- Describe your car’s type and condition
- Receive our instant free quote
- Accept the quote
- Get your car removed and receive your cash payment on the spot!
To learn more about our process and our teen, you can reach out to us by giving us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page click on the free instant online offer.