# What happens if an older car is in an accident, insurance-wise? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614 "2024-03-30T20:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/21 "2024-03-31T14:32:15Z")
I had two old cars that were totaled, neither because of me. One was 15 years old and the other was 20 years old. I got $1100 and $1500, respectively, for the cars. I paid $750 for the first and had driven it for eight years. For the other I paid $1000 and drove it for over seven years. That may sound like I made out but there was no way to replace those cars with similar ones then. Finding another 1983 Datsun Nissan Sentra Diesel in 1998 and a 1988 Ford Festiva in 2008 wasn’t happening, and any newer car with similar fuel efficiency was going to cost much more. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/22 "2024-03-31T16:32:52Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > “Older” is kind of relative…reading the subject line I have to say I wasn’t expecting an ‘07 anything to be considered older, but I guess it really is. Anything past 5 years is “older” in insurance parlance. At least around here. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/23 "2024-03-31T18:04:05Z")
Our 2nd car is a 2008 Prius with 200K miles on it. It’s been hit in parking lots leaving some damage on a few panels, we certainly don’t bother reporting those anymore. Anything that doesn’t impact the ability to drive it we ignore. We’re driving it until the wheels fall off. Maybe 1-2K miles a year at most. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/24 "2024-03-31T18:52:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Or did you mean you bought a Pinto with the proceeds of the payoff on something even shittier? If so, we could have a fun thread “Guess which car @Voyager had that was so awful that a Pinto was an improvement?” 😁 That was it. The car in question was a Galaxie 500, bought for me by my father without asking me. The Pinto was better than you might think. It had a good Bosch engine, and nobody tailgated you. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/25 "2024-03-31T19:02:41Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > At what point would the car be declared totaled, and what would happen next if it is? Well, you can dispute the value the insurance company puts on your car. You can also ask for a check, instead of repairs. > [@dolphinboy](#): > > She will get a check for the fair market value of the car before it was damaged. But you can argue that. used car prices have gone up, you can show three for sale listing for the same car with higher asking prices, and the Insurance co has to take that into consideration. > [@wolfpup](#): > > You’re not going to get more than book value. Yes, you can- depending on whose “book” they want to try to use- Kelly Blue book trade in? Bogus. As you said- > [@wolfpup](#): > > That said, sometimes negotiations can be fruitful. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > As a data point, my 2010 Honda Fit was sideswiped about six months ago. I went to a body shop recommended by Allstate, and they repaired the damage (mostly cosmetic) for over $6,000. Googling, that’s quite close to the Kelley Blue Book value. Yeah, a neighbor smashed the tail end of my 2019 sedan, which I bought used at a great price of $10K (very low milage). The damages were somewhat over $9k, which his boss just paid for him (apparently it will come out of him paycheck in installments0. But if we had gone thru Insurance companies they might have argued it was totalled. So, you can negotiate with the insurance company. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/26 "2024-03-31T20:31:45Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > It had a good Bosch engine, and nobody tailgated you. Umm, I’m not sure what you mean here. Most Pintos came with the Lima four cylinder. It might have had a Bosch ignition system, but I think that would be aftermarket, as most came with a Duraspark. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/27 "2024-03-31T22:41:51Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > That is probably an entirely unhelpful anecdote, but there you are. I think I talked to someone insurance related at some point that wanted to know whether any lights had broken-- apparently on a car the vintage mine was, the cost of replacing a head or taillight was a pretty good chunk of the value of the car. Saturn doesn’t exist anymore & there weren’t a ton of 'em produced. It’s very hard to find body specific parts for them (as opposed to a generic GM engine that was also in other vehicles). Finding certain parts for them are like striking gold. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614/28 "2024-03-31T23:32:02Z")
Makes sense, it was just one of those questions I hadn’t expected to be asked. And I didn’t know the answer to it-- I knew the hood was angled funny from running under the Jeep’s bumper (the Jeep appeared fine, and drove away from the scene). And I knew the back bumper was messed up (and how expensive those were to replace, because I’d been rear-ended before). And I knew it wasn’t drivable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-an-older-car-is-in-an-accident-insurance-wise/999614.md?page=1)