Auto Insurance Claims: Declaring my car a salvage tilte, california salvage vehicle

Question
It's Jesse again. I'm in the state of California

Answer
Jesse,

  Here is the applicable part of the California code for your case:

544.  "Total loss salvage vehicle" means either of the following:
  (a) A vehicle, other than a nonrepairable vehicle, of a type
subject to registration that has been wrecked, destroyed, or damaged,
to the extent that the owner, leasing company, financial
institution, or the insurance company that insured or is responsible
for repair of the vehicle, considers it uneconomical to repair the
vehicle and because of this, the vehicle is not repaired by or for
the person who owned the vehicle at the time of the event resulting
in damage.
  (b) A vehicle that was determined to be uneconomical to repair,
for which a total loss payment has been made by an insurer, whether
or not the vehicle is subsequently repaired, if prior to or upon
making the payment to the claimant, the insurer obtains the agreement
of the claimant to the amount of the total loss settlement, and
informs the client that, pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of
Section 11515, the total loss settlement must be reported to the
Department of Motor Vehicles, which will issue a salvage certificate
for the vehicle.


    Pay special attention to (b).  If your insurance company is not making a payment, and you elect to repair your vehicle, then it is not considered a total loss salvage vehicle.  If you can afford to fix it, then you can fix it, period. If you own the vehicle, and you repair it, it is not a salvage vehicle, period.

JP