Have you ever totaled a car before?

I was not the driver I was the passenger and it was not our fault but I was in an accident where the suv was totaled. A guy in the right hand lane tried to make a left hand turn and evidently didn't see the Ford Explorer that was driving RIGHT next to him!

No thank Goodness!

Oh, I was so ticked.

DH and I were married just a few years. We had a plan for only having 1 car payment. His was paid for, but getting older, and mine was almost done w/ the 4 year loan. So, we were going to pay mine off, buy him a new car. Then, when his was paid off, we would replace mine if needed.

My car was a Pontiac Sunbird - just about 4 years old - nearly paid off - in excellent shape, low mileage, no problems. I'm minding my own business at a stop light when some guy plows right into me without seeing that both lanes of traffic were stopped, about 4-5 cars deep at this light. He was drinking a coke, had his head tipped back & didn't even try to stop. Pushed my car into the one ahead, so it was the middle car. Totalled.

Then I had to buy a new car (another Sunbird but it wasn't as good as the old one), and we had to lease a car for DH as we couldn't afford a high payment for his. That got us stuck in a lease cycle for years before we could break out of that.

The insurance took care of everything - gave me a check for the car. I used it to buy a new one. No issues w/ the insurance company at all. I was panicky for about a year any time I had a more sudden stop or a stop at a light in heavy traffic.

I don't think they use whether or not it is fixable as the criteria for totaled. Isn't it that if it will cost more to fix than it is worth it is totaled? Thats how it was with my moms car who was in an accident like Calimari. 

My first car was totaled only a few weeks after I bought it.  I was rear ended while driving in traffic.  I paid $700 for the car and they gave me $1200 check. 

Well, um, yeah - but we opted to fix it. In a few weeks we'll get a letter from the State of MS and we'll have to take the car to the DMV to have them inspect it - so they can see that it was repaired - to keep the title clear. Because of the severity of the accident, it loses value but we weren't looking to resell it anyway.

BTW, Progressive towed our car to the shop the day of the accident and the claims adjuster was there the next day. We had numbers within a couple of hours.

Other than that yes, we (i.e.: hubby) totaled a car but the loss wasn't covered by insurance. The car was older and hubby got this great idea that he'd put some weird chemical in the oil to "clean out the engine" and make it last longer. Well he cleaned out the engine. The oil build up inside the engine came up and immediately gunked-up the small flow tubes inside. The engine was completely gone and the car wasn't worth it to put a new one in (or a rebuilt or a used one). I was so p!ssed. It was a really good car.