I got a call the other day from a former student of JSE Damage Appraisal Training and she asked a great question. "If I think a car is going to total should I have it torn down to find all the damage?" My answer to her was no. The vehicle in question was a 2000 year vehicle hit in the left rear; the quarter needed to be replaced, needed a rear bumper and trunk lid. I told her the first step was to identify the major assemblies that needed replacement, locate LKQ prices and determine the value of the vehicle from http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars . If the prices of the LKQ parts and labor exceeded the value of the vehicle then there would not be any need to have the vehicle torn down. Itemize the major assemblies on the estimate, create an estimate note that the major assemblies exceeded the value of the vehicle, copy and paste the valuation sheet from NADA to the note, and note that this is not a complete estimate. Identifying the major assemblies took less than five minutes and in less than ten minutes the entire appraisal was complete. The insurance company got the answer they needed quickly and she was able to move on to a job that was going to generate dollars.
Wasting your technicians time to tear down a vehicle that would more than likely be a total loss is a real morale killer. Even if they received the generous donation of 3.0 hrs from the insurance company for the tear down they would still feel they were spinning their wheels. Additionally the insurance company would applaud the decision not to tear down a vehicle that was a potential total loss.
In a similar situation there was a vehicle that looked like it could have been a total but the major assemblies were less than the value of the vehicle and a simple tear down proved the vehicle to be reparable.
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