Help! 2016 prius rear ended. Is this totaled?

That looks pretty nasty. But to be honest, it's nearly impossible for anyone here to give you a yes/no answer. There's just too many things that can happen in an accident. I once totaled a CJ5, but to look at it you would have thought it only needed a fender.

It wouldn't hurt to at least browse around and see what kind of deals are out there.

 

welcome!
agreed, hard to know how into the frame the damage goes. any wrinkles on the front of the fenders? around the hatch glass? rear doors work?

air bags deploy?

is it drivable? dash lights?

 

The basic concept is the outer body parts like the hatch, rear bumper skirt, tail lights can be removed and replaced, but the frame those parts bolt into may not line up and will need to be straightened. Body shops can do a fair amount of straightening of bent metal but if the whole car is bent it's fairly difficult/impossible to bend back into place precisely.

The other issue is insurance companies don't do like DIY, so the cost of buying all brand new parts and painting them and installing them and making the car like new at standard hourly rates is almost always more than the check they give you if it's totaled. And of course if they give the check to you for it being totaled you don't get to keep the car.

On the other hand if you're the person at the auction who has a chance to buy the wreck, you could buy used bumper parts, skirts, hatch, tail lights and if the frame isn't bent too much have the car back on the road for $1K worth of used parts.

Also as Bisco asked about air bags... Know that once air bags blow the cost of repair of those alone via an insurance claim will lead to the car being totaled.

 

Sometimes the insurer will tell you how much they would want to deduct from the total check if you want to keep the car. It might not be a huge amount, more or less what they'd expect for it at an auction. I did that with my crunched Gen 1, just let them keep a few hundred out of my check, and then I sold the car on PriusChat to somebody who actually would nicely fix up a Gen 1, rather than having it go at auction to whomever.

 

ya, might be rubbing the axle

 

If they repair it, just go ahead and drive it. That's about all you can do anyways. May as well get every last dime you spent on it back out of it. Now if it starts giving you issues, then sure, do your best to sell it. But otherwise, drive it till it drops.

 

Salvageable?
Yup.
More on that in a bit....but for NOW the question is going to be whether or not the other driver's insurance is going to total out the car, and we're going to need some side shots of the car to even guess at it.....

Do the rear doors open and close freely?
Did any of the airbags deploy?
How many miles?

Be sure and keep all of the receipts for rental cars, hospital visits, etc....and SIGN NOTHING without a firm understanding of what you're signing, and even then it might not be a bad idea to buy an hour of an attorney's time, because even if they fix the car you may be looking at diminished value.....delayed onset soft tissue or spinal/neck injury...etc.

Not telling you to be one of those jerks who run to a slip and fall lawyer, but (presumably) you were sitting still and somebody turned your car into a source for used parts.
Probably.

OK...

So you CAN ABSOLUTELY repair the car or have it repaired.....BUT(!!) a salvage car has NO warranty at all.

You live in the Louisville area, so there's no CARB warranty to miss out on but there are still hybrid components on a 2016 that may or may not be covered by the mothership that will NOT be covered at all following a salvage title rebuild.

Your call.

Would I do it?

...Maybe......but I would also KNOW what I'm getting into!

Good Luck!

GO HOOSIERS!!

 

What region do you live in? If you identify your region you can get some help finding a good one. The license plate frame indicates a dealership in Kentucky. Is that where you're at? If so hopefully someone near you will see this?

 

Probably the best - I've generally been of the opinion that if they'll write-off/total a (newish) car, you're best to take that.

That said - if it was a cheap run-about - like happened to me twice with old cars where fairly minimal damage caused them to be totalled, I bought the driveable "wreck" and fixed it myself. But nothing like this - looks serious.

 

Sorry to hear of your accident! But glad that you got a decent settlement.

With all the careless drivers these days I have pondered what I would do if my car were totaled. I think if I were in your shoes, I would take a hard look at either a new Honda Insight or an immaculate 1 or 2 year old Accord Hybrid. They get slightly lower mpg, but should be very reliable and have a few advantages over the Prius. The Insight is a much better looking car with a nicer interior. The Accord is more comfortable and quieter. Just a suggestion to keep your options open as you look for a replacement.

 

My Gen 3 was totaled this spring if I recall. They offered me $6000 for the car and if I wanted to buy it back, I couldn't afford to buy half the parts used I needed to fix it.

In the end I found a very low mileage Gen 4 at a Hertz sales store.

Besides us, who usually rents a Prius?

 

Well, taxis mostly I would think since the savings in fuel would be greater. Maybe insurance companies that have to send people to distant places as well?

 

I hope they total that vehicle for you I wouldn't want back

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