A total loss call usually comes a few days after the accident. The adjuster has looked at the damage, compared the repair estimate with the car’s value, and decided the insurer would rather pay you for the car than fix it. Then comes the question people ask us most: can I keep it?
In Illinois, the answer is mostly no, with two exceptions.
What Illinois does with a totaled car
When an insurance company pays a total loss claim, the Illinois Vehicle Code treats the insurer as the owner and the car as salvage. The insurer sends the title to the Secretary of State and a salvage certificate is issued in the insurer’s name (625 ILCS 5/3-117.1).
The Illinois Department of Insurance puts it bluntly: to limit chop-shop crime, the code doesn’t give you the right to keep the salvage once the insurer has called it a total loss.
The two cases where you can keep it
The same section allows the registered owner to keep the car, by agreement with the insurer, when:
- the only damage is hail that doesn’t affect the car’s operational safety, or
- the car is nine model years old or older.
Older cars are the ones most often totaled after a modest accident, so the second exception covers a lot of the cars we’re called about on the Far South Side. If yours qualifies and you want to keep it, tell the adjuster before the settlement is final, and ask how keeping it changes the payment and which title paperwork follows.
While you’re deciding
A few rules from the Department of Insurance that are easy to miss:
- Value. A cash settlement starts from the car’s retail value, normally from guidebooks or computerized data. Ads usually aren’t acceptable evidence.
- Deductions. Wear and tear, missing parts and rust can come off, but no more than $500 combined. Old unrepaired collision damage can come off without a limit. Each deduction must be itemized.
- Sales tax. If you buy or lease another vehicle within 30 days of a cash settlement and can prove it, the insurer must pay the applicable sales tax, transfer and title fees, up to the value of the totaled car.
- Your duties. Most policies require a sworn proof of loss within 91 days, and you’re expected to protect the car from more damage, such as covering a broken window.
Keep it, let it go, or keep it and sell
| Choice | When it fits | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Let the insurer take it | The car isn’t 9 model years old and the damage isn’t hail only, or you just want it gone | You’re paid the settlement; the insurer handles the car |
| Keep it and repair it | It qualifies, and the repair is worth it to you | Expect a branded title and an inspection before it’s back on the road |
| Keep it and sell it for junk | It qualifies, and the payout plus a junk sale beats the alternative | We buy it as it is, tow it free and pay at pickup |
The third option is where we come in. A wrecked car that runs badly or not at all is exactly what we buy; our page on wrecked cars explains how. If the car ends up with a salvage certificate, our guide to salvage and out-of-state titles explains how that paper works in a sale, and what sets a junk car offer covers the price.
We pick up totaled cars from body shops, tow lots and driveways from Beverly to Auburn Gresham. Once it’s released to you, send us the details or call (773) 200-7724.