Auto Insurance Claims: Car Accident, salvage title, insurance company

Question
At a stoplight my son's car was hit from behind.  The guy who hit it insurance company said the damage is more than the car is worth.  Why should my son who was not a fault take a loss and pay the remainder to get it fixed.  Does he have any other options to fight this?

Answer
Hi Carol,

Unfortunately no. The decision to repair or total a car is soley up to the insurance company. If the cost to repair the car is 75% or more of the value of the car it is a total loss.

When a car is declared a total loss, the insurance company is basically buying the car from you. They will pay you the fair market value of the car plus sales tax and they will take the car and sell the salvage. In some cases you can keep the car but this is not a good idea because it will have a salvage title. Once the car has a salvage title it will be hard to insure and hard to sell in the future.  You should just let them take the car and use the money to buy another car.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh