The insurance company is always looking at: - what it would cost them to repair it (including the risk of having to get additional work done, etc) - what the

The insurance company is always looking at: - what it would cost them to repair it (including the risk of having to get additional work done, etc) - what the car was worth minus what they can sell it for at auction. If the values get close, they total the car. Then someone else buys it: maybe for parts, or maybe to repair it to a standard that the original owner wouldn't have been happy with.