How long can I drive a car before turning it over to the insurance company?
It makes sense to drive a car while it’s drivable. Otherwise, you’re wasting a (nearly) perfectly good car. It takes a huge amount of natural resources, power, and even water to make a new car, and every car “consumed” represents a new car that’s built somewhere (assuming everyone who wants a car gets one, which I know is flimsy, but you get the idea – OP may buy a used car, that car’s seller might buy a new one, etc.). So, the practice of marking a car “salvage” just because the monetary value of repairs exceeds the probable resale value of the car — may make sense, in a way, from an insurance company point of view, but it definitely does NOT make sense from a using-it-up-before-throwing-it-away point of view. Please pardon my semi-screed here. I think it is as relevant as delmoi’s comment, at least. (no offense, delmoi, your comment did deserve a response). Another, perhaps more directly financial, angle — giving up the car now, on the insurance company’s terms, probably means usin
When a vehicle is totaled by an insurance company, and they buy it, they mark the car as being “salvaged” (the terminology changes by state… PA calls it salvaged. California calls this “junked”). Officially, it is no longer a vehicle at this point, and can not be registered for use on the roads. An automotive dismantler and/or rebuilder can purchase the “junked” car, repair it, get it (thoroughly) inspected by a state agency (frequently the DOT or State Police), and re-title the car — as a “reconstructed” vehicle (again, this is PA terminology, in California, and many other places, they call this “salvaged” — yes, that’s just to confuse you). Reconstructed vehicles can be registered, insured and driven just like any other vehicle on the road. (see also) The inspection between “salvaged” and “reconstructed” is substantial. Most currently registered cars from the 90s would require some work to pass. So, if you want to keep driving you
Thanks again for the comments, everyone. The short answer to the short question at the top of my post is: two years. The results are mostly in. I’m posting them here because I hope they might be useful for others reading this thread later. Since this is long, I’ve placed the most interesting items in bold text, though they are clarified and qualified by context. Just to recap, the only options on the table for me from the at-fault party’s insurance company were either (1) having them total my car and take it away, leaving me with some cash (2) having them total my car and then sell it back to me, leaving me with about 8% less cash. As toxic points out, option (2) is a tough situation—the car would be declared salvaged and getting it un-salvaged is an expensive proposition. There was no option to just have a cash settlement, as koeselitz suggests—either way the car is totaled. First, I called my own insurance company and asked them whether they could find a fix for my battered car t
