Why was this car Considred Totaled?

The hybrid battery doesn't contain battery acid, so it can't be that. Besides, both the 12V battery and hybrid battery are located in back. This sounds to me like a misinformed claims adjuster who panicked because the car was a hybrid.

Tom

 

Mine was hit in the same place, had about $5000 damage. I bet the thermos was leaking and no one could identify it.

 

Another possibility is that the inverter case cracked and leaked coolant.

 

take the money and run. that's what I would do if my 10 was hit like that. I'll put that money toward 12 phev.

 

I'm gonna go with the coolant thermos idea. They saw fluid and freaked out. Morons. I'd buy the car for cheap!

 

+1
We live in a wastefull & disposable society. Anyone with spare room in their garage, and a few tools can make a mint on parting a salvaged Gen II out (with damage limited to what shows in the pictures above). If the insurance company says they'd only get somewhere between $1,000 - $2,000 from the scrap yard, it'd be a bargain. You can sell just 2 of the doors and be way ahead of the game. From the photos - it doesn't even look like the windshield cracked, nor even the fog light lenses.

.

 

Sorry about the accident!
I'm not sure what totaled the car either, but since your friend's daughter didn't buy the car from the insurance co and have it repaired with the remainder of her claim, it doesn't really matter.
FWIW, the pix make it look like it's a little more than a $5K wreck....but I'm sure that somebody will repair it (and maybe its title) and it'll be back on the road someday.

 

Mine looked similar which was an $8k repair. You want to make sure that the frame stays completely intact. I was lucky that the frame of mine was perfectly fine.
If it is damaged, the repair cost might go up considerably and the structural integrity of the car will be permanently compromised (you can't replace a frame and any kind of repairs will only make it weaker)

The so called "sub prime" in the lower front might be damaged. It is an expensive $3500 replacement (if the price is similar for a gen. 3 Prius).

There can be many reasons why an insurance company chooses to call it totalled.

 

that's a lot of damage to the fuse boxes and inverter area. most damages like that (5k range) don't usually touch the engine or inverter... push it but not break it.

crushing the fuse box and inverter may have made a bigger short throughout the system. maybe the whole drivetrain (ice/psd/inverter) was destroyed in the front leading to a repair that outweighs the current value of that car.

 

IF ( v_prior_value - v_rebuilt_value ) + v_repair_cost + v_repair_admin_costs < v_prior_value_payout - v_parts_value + v_writeoff_admin_costs THEN
Write_Off( v_vehicle_id );
RETURN;
END IF;

 

From Ultimate Nerd Operating Manual...

When low technical knowledge is present : coolant may become battery acid, or whatever!

 

In shopping for a car I was amazed at how many salvaged title cars are out there. About 1/3rd of the cars I called on were salvaged titles.

But one guy had multiple, and he explained to me why. He said that the insurance companies are increasingly disregarding their own 80% rules. Paticularily in high demand vehicles like the prius because they will sell for such a high dollar despite their salvage title. Most of the salvaged title cars I saw were selling for about a 10% discount. So I rebuilder can pick them up at a 40-50% discount, spend 10% on parts and have 20-30% to cover labor and for profits.

He also said that a lot of body shops will over bid repairs on the prius (esp front end) simply because they don't understand or are afraid of the voltage.

 

how much did they give her for it?

 

I would guess the inverter?

Looks similar to my ex's Prius when she totaled her car. This was apparently 21k in repairs according to her insurance...

 

My guess is inverter & thermos damage. Can the door open? Perhaps there is frame damage.

 

How many times do we get threads where a car is not totalled when the owners believes it should be and now we have the opposite.

There could be frame damage, the hybrid system/inverter could be damaged etc etc etc. Let the car go, get a good settlement and move on.

We get this all the time in our job. Someone runs into the back of you and there's hardly a mark - a cracked bumper or deep scratched paint. The person doesn't want to go through the insurance and offers to pay cash. You pop down to the bodyshop, get a repair quote for £1,000 and the guy that hit you freaks thinking you're ripping him off. Car repair is expensive, even minor damage if done correctly.

I say let the insurers do their thing and look for a nice new(er) car.

 

Actually the aluminum hood from Toyota was less than $200 when I bought one. I could fix that car for about $1000 or so in parts.

 

Everyone is correct. The cost of bodywork is expensive and even what seems to be minimal damage can quickly escalate. That is quite a bit of repair work for a vehicle that could be as old as a 2006. That being said, I think it was a lazy or uniformed adjuster that feared battery acid. In a conventional car in a crash like that, you WOULD think it was battery acid...but not in a Prius. I suspect the adjuster was simply wrong about that. But that still doesn't mean it wouldn't of reached "Totaled" status. Personally if I was the owner, I'd be happy it was totaled. Despite the loss, I think I'd rather reset than worry about all the work being done correctly and future problems that might arise.

So basically I think everyone is right. I think the vehicle probably should be totaled, and I think the adjuster was off-base or flat out wrong about an "exploded battery".