WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – If you have a car with new technology, it’s more likely to be deemed totaled after a crash. When the damage to a vehicle is 70% of the vehicle’s value, that car is now considered totaled. So if you have a $20,000 car, and $14,000 of damage, that car is a total loss.
Features like heated mirrors and backup cameras are expensive to fix. That means cars are total losses, sooner than you’d think. In the past five years, there’s been a 42% increase in the number of cars labeled as totaled.
“Your amount of technology in the vehicles, it’s almost like dropping your laptop,” said Kevin Malovrh, the president of Advantage Insurance. “There are some people who spend $2,500 on a laptop, drop it. It is gone, because now it doesn’t work anymore.”
Malovrh says this new technology in cars includes windshields with cameras, lane detection sensors and bigger, brighter headlights.
Bob Yach, president of Precision Body & Frame, has been repairing cars for decades. New technology in cars is making his job more difficult.
“The more sophisticated they get, the harder it is to repair them. Because you got more technology involved and you need more equipment, you need more, better-trained people,” said Yach.
Since COVID-19, Yach’s seen the cost of parts to fix cars go up, but mostly due to expensive technology. Customers expecting to pay $500 to have a windshield replaced may now have to cough up $2,500. Headlights range from $600 to $3,500.
“I always recommend to people for controlling their costs is some of the policies allow you to have accident, forgiveness and violation forgiveness,” Malovrh said.
If a new car is totaled and you still have a loan on it, there’s a way to avoid owing money on the car. Gap insurance.
“According to an insurance company, let’s say the vehicle is worth $20,000 and you owe $23,000 on your loan, so now you’re $3,000 short. OK, that gap coverage would cover that $3000. So you’re not left with a loan to still pay for, even if your vehicle is totaled, you don’t have a vehicle,” Malovrh said.
This is about $5 a month, depending on your insurance and where you have a loan from.
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