Originally Posted by racefan318

Because I spent the last 2 years writing estimates and doing VIR's (vehicle inspection reports) for our body shop. We are direct-repair for State farm and TN farm bureau, so I did plenty of total loss evaluations. And yes, where you live does make a big difference, but that only comes into play once it becomes a 'total'. Which is a value set by the particular insurance company, and can be adjusted on a case by case situation, depending on the vehicle... I have seen them decide to fix a 98 Cherokee that was nailed in the side, but should have totalled... and I've seen them total a 1 year old Acura TSX that "on paper" was not technically a total, but the car ran off into a ditch and the entire car was twisted from front to back...

from my experience, anyone who walks up to a car and says "Dang, looks like the frames bent... definetly gonna total now..." They have no clue what they are talking about...