[dsalfdslfdsa]

The OP's article was careful to make this distinction, and I think it's very interesting (as well as being the crucial point of the article). Cars are now more reliable and last longer, but when they do develop a problem, it's less economically viable to repair them.

[dragontamer]

The definition of 'Totaled' is when a comparable car on the used market can replace your vehicle for less than or equal to the repair costs.

As such, it makes no sense to repair a totaled vehicle. You should instead buy a comparable used vehicle.

But saying the word 'Disposable' is pretty bad with regards to the headline. It doesn't capture the full effect of what the stats are showing. That is, we are all keeping vehicles for longer. Longer miles, longer life.

Repair costs for old vehicles always grows as old parts tend to be harder to find (factories have shifted production to newer vehicles. So you are forced to look for scrap). Meanwhile, older cars lose more and more value as they age.

[SoftTalker]

As GP said, the author recognized that people are keeping cars longer and that they are more durable. However a new wrinkle is that "the proportion of brand new vehicles being written off has increased." This is due to the costs of repairing "Advanced Driver Assistance Systems” such as automatic braking and lane-keeping assistance. These systems include sensors, cameras, and other equipment that must be carefully calibrated, which adds a lot of skilled labor costs to the repairs. It's no longer the case that a repair is just hammering out dents and spraying some paint.

[kube-system]

> The definition of 'Totaled' is when a comparable car on the used market can replace your vehicle for less than or equal to the repair costs.

Only in Texas and Colorado. Almost all states require cars to be declared a total loss before that.

The most common definitions are

1. The Total Loss Formula, which is when the value of the car is less than or equal to the repair costs plus the salvage value of the vehicle

2. 75% threshold -- which is when the repair costs are 75% of the price to replace your vehicle

https://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/total-loss-thresholds....

[StableAlkyne]

> As such, it makes no sense to repair a totaled vehicle. You should instead buy a comparable used vehicle.

I sometimes wonder how much the carbon footprint of the auto industry would change if people preferred to fix them instead of throwing the whole thing away just because of a fender bender or an expensive part broke

[nradov]

It makes sense to repair a totaled vehicle if you can do most of the repair work yourself instead of paying the market rate. A friend has an older Volkswagen Jetta that was hit from behind at an intersection. There was no frame damage or airbag deployment but the insurance company totaled it because inflation has driven labor charges for simple repairs to ridiculous levels. My friend took the insurance payout and repaired it himself using a junkyard bumper. Works fine. But he had more free time and better mechanical skills than most people.

[ToucanLoucan]

I can't get the link to work at the moment so I was wondering: are the stats being covered here including or excluding EVs? I've read elsewhere that EV repair costs are artificially high due to various other factors surrounding the manufacture and distribution of their parts versus ICE vehicles, not only but especially the batteries being SO expensive that it borderline out-prices a new car.

[SkyPuncher]

This has largely become my wife and is attitude.

We generally get about 8 years out of a car before we start running into larger repairs. This tends to become the point we decide to trade it in for something new.

[jazzyjackson]

isn't it the more economically viable thing to not have to make any repairs?