[ineedtosleep]

I guess it depends on the state. A friend recently was hit and had their car only slightly damaged. They went to insurance car shops that insurance recommended, but they all declined to fix the car. They ended up getting paid out and fixed it themselves since they're already skilled with maintaining vehicles, and they pocketed the rest.

[_puk]

Does this not affect insurance?

We have categories of write off, so if insurance has paid out it affects the future value of the car.

This would be a category D [0], which makes a big difference on resell.

0: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/what-is-a-catego...

[deadly_penguin]

Just as a note, since 2017 it's cat N for Non-structural damage: https://www.bikerandbike.co.uk/cat-b-s-n-motorbikes-new-insu...

[bityard]

In the US, firstly it is considered unfashionable by many to buy a used car altogether ("you're just buying someone else's problems!") and secondly, the only thing that can reliably affect resale value is if it condemned with a "salvage title." Which can mean a few things but usually means the car suffered more damage than it is economical to fix. But just the fact that a car was in a collision or had a claim against it does not automatically affect the car's future insurance rates or resale value.

We have a company called CarFax that produces vehicle history reports for used cars, but there are many problems with it. Starting with the fact that all reports are voluntary. I have looked at cars that were clearly in floods when you know what to look for and yet the CarFax was squeaky clean.