Total loss

A total loss, or “totaled” car, is one an insurer decides is not worth repairing because the repair cost, sometimes plus salvage value, exceeds a threshold tied to the car’s value. The insurer pays the owner and usually takes the vehicle, which then gets a salvage or similar brand.

If your car is totaled you can often keep it, called owner-retained, and sell it to a junkyard yourself, but the payout is reduced and the title is still branded. Each state sets its own threshold.

In Florida, a vehicle is a total loss when an insurer pays the owner to replace it (or pays after a theft), or, for an uninsured vehicle, when the cost of repairs is 80 percent or more of the cost of replacing it with one of like kind and quality.¹ Insurers must report total-loss vehicles to NMVTIS monthly.²