Is Your Car Totaled? Assess the Damage in 5 Simple Steps

River North Collision Repair • May 9, 2025

A blue vehicle with its front bumper and hood crumpled due to a head-on collision. There is a silver car nearby.

Colliding with another car or an obstacle on the road can leave serious dents, bumps, or scrapes on the body of your vehicle. Sometimes, these damages are easy to repair, but other times, it may be more cost-effective to replace your vehicle entirely. If you encounter an accident that leaves your car totaled, assess the damage in these simple steps to get a replacement vehicle quickly and safely.

1. Check for Visible Damage

Once you make sure everyone is safe, start with a close visual inspection of the vehicle. Look for major dents, crushed panels, or warped frames.

Is the hood crumpled? Are any doors stuck shut or missing completely? If the damage makes it impossible to open, close, or properly secure your vehicle, it’s a sign the car’s structural integrity might be beyond repair.

2. Evaluate Airbags and Safety Features

Deployed airbags indicate severe impact damage, and they can be difficult to replace once initiated. After an accident, check if airbags have gone off and inspect other safety features like seatbelts and collision sensors. If multiple airbags deploy, the cost of replacing and repairing those systems, combined with bodywork expenses, might total your car’s value.

3. Estimate Repair Costs

Before considering your vehicle a total loss, create a rough estimate of repair costs. Repainting panels, fixing warped frames, or replacing multiple body parts often adds up quickly, so compare this amount to your car’s market value. If repairs exceed 70 percent of its current value, insurance adjusters might declare the vehicle totaled.

4. Check for Hidden Damage

It may be difficult to find all the damage immediately after an accident. For example, damage to the car’s unibody or chassis might stay hidden under seemingly minor scrapes or dents.

While you can’t see it all yourself, an experienced body shop can give a thorough assessment. If you’re unsure if you totaled your car, assess the damage with a specialist to determine the next step.

5. Contact Your Insurance Provider

Once you’ve assessed the damage, it’s time to share your findings and photographs with your insurance company. They’ll evaluate the extent of the damage and provide a detailed report. If they recommend a repair instead of labeling your car a total loss, trust the experts to guide you toward safe, affordable solutions.

Not every accident will result in a totaled car, so determine the severity of the damage and contact your insurance company for support. If your insurance specialists recommend simple repairs, schedule an auto accident repair appointment with our team at River North Collision Repair! After a quick service with our team, you’ll have a safe vehicle ready to drive with ease.

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Why Ignoring Small Dents Can Lead to Bigger Problems

January 30, 2026

It is an awful feeling when you walk out to your car after a long day and see a small dent on your passenger door. While it may appear to be just a cosmetic issue, you should still get it fixed, because ignoring small dents can lead to bigger problems for your vehicle. Don’t let small dents on your car go untreated; let's talk about why you need to tackle these issues ASAP. Rust Loves Chicago Winters We all know the drill here in the Windy City. We have beautiful summers, sure, but we also pay the price with brutal winters. And what comes with winter? Salt. Tons of it. Your car’s paint job acts as a suit of armor protecting the metal body underneath. Even a minor dent often comes with microscopic cracks in the paint—sometimes too small to see with the naked eye. Once that seal is broken, moisture and road salt sneak in. They settle against the bare metal and start a chemical party you definitely don’t want to host. Oxidation begins immediately. By the time you notice bubbling paint or that tell-tale orange stain a few months later, the rust has already been eating away at your door panel from the inside out. Resale Value Takes a Nosedive For many people, maintaining their car is a valuable part of purchasing a new vehicle. When that day comes, curb appeal is everything. Used car buyers (and dealership appraisers) will judge your car by its exterior appearance. If they see a vehicle riddled with door dings, bumper scrapes, and ignored scratches, they see a car that wasn't cared for. They assume that if you didn't care enough to fix the outside, you probably didn't care about the rest of it either. It lowers the perceived value instantly. Maintaining your car’s body and its paint is an investment in your future trade-in value. Paint Damage Spreads Like a Virus When a dent or scrape compromises the integrity of the paint, the surrounding paint loses its grip. High-pressure car washes, wind, and temperature fluctuations cause the paint to flake away from the initial injury site. A scratch the size of a quarter can grow into a patch the size of a softball over a couple of seasons. It’s Easier (and Cheaper) Than You Think Here is the good news: fixing these things early is surprisingly affordable. Modern body shop technology is amazing. For many small dings where the paint isn't cracked, we can use techniques that massage the metal back into place without spraying a drop of paint. River North Collision Repair offers paintless dent repair in Chicago to fix minor dents. Regardless of what nicked your door, we can help remove the dents and maintain a seamless look for your vehicle. Don’t Wait for Problems Don't let minor dents turn into a big nightmare. Save your future self the headache (and the cash). Swing by River North Collision Repair for your quick and easy repairs. Because driving a car you’re proud of? That’s a feeling you can’t put a price on.