If you’ve been in an accident in Indiana and your airbags have deployed, you may be wondering if your insurance company will declare your car a “total loss.” To help drivers in the Plainfield, Indianapolis, Fishers, and Bloomington areas assess their damage, our team at Andy Mohr Collision Center aims to answer this question.
Keep reading to learn more about what it means if your car is totaled and why many drivers think deployed airbags are an automatic totaling.
What Does It Mean When Your Car Is Totaled?
“Totaled” (or a “Total Loss”) is an insurance term used to refer to a car that has damages beyond a certain percentage of the car’s value. That percentage tends to change from state to state, but in general that value sits at around 70%-75%.
Due to the fact that totaling depends on the value of the car itself and not on any specific parts associated with totaling, airbags are not a clear sign of totaling. The result of this is that totaling really depends heavily on the vehicle that’s been in an accident.
Why Are Airbags Associated with Totaling?
If someone has full insurance on a new vehicle and they get into a crash a few weeks later, the value is much higher, meaning it’s unlikely to be a total loss.
Now, if someone is driving a car that’s older and they get into a bad accident, their car is totaled at a much lower value. In that case, the repairs for a damaged frame, new airbags, and perhaps other parts, may cost even more than the car is worth.
One of the biggest reasons why airbags having been deployed is seen as a sign of a total loss is simply due to the value of airbags themselves. A lot of technology goes into these safety devices and replacing can make up a bulk of the repair cost. For drivers who are driving older vehicles, often just the cost of replacing the airbags constitutes a total loss.
What Happens if Your Car Is Deemed a Total Loss?
In the event that your insurance company deems your car to be a total loss after an accident, you’ll still receive some compensation. The insurance company will likely give you a payment for part of the car’s value, usually what they would have covered you with anyway.
From there you can use the compensation on the down payment on a new car and so on. The concept of a total loss is not that insurance won’t cover you, but rather that it doesn’t make sense for them to fix a car that isn’t worth much.
Schedule Your Service at Our Collision Center Today
If you’ve been in an accident recently, we can take care of everything with our skilled team of professionals at Andy Mohr Collision Center. We can help Plainfield, Indianapolis, Fishers, and Bloomington drivers with everything from body work to detailing.
Are you interested in setting up an appointment with us? Contact us online or over the phone to schedule today!
