Auto Insurance Claims: salvage total, salvage, insurer

Question
what dows salvage total mean?

Answer
Karen,

The term salvage total refers to a vehicle's history of being damaged and written off as a total loss by an insurer. That is, the cost of repairing the vehicle has exceeded a percentage (typically 80%) of the car's former pre-loss value. Cars with a salvage total mark on their title records are typically worth substantially less (some say 50%)than those without the classification.

People usually avoid the purchase of such vehicles due to their inherent structural deficiencies and problems.

Charlie