California has no fixed percentage at which a car is written off, whatever you have read. And if you keep the car, a ten-day clock starts that catches most people out.
Outside California? This page covers the California procedure. For the general guide to selling a car declared a total loss anywhere in the US, see our national guide.
The threshold everyone quotes is an insurer's internal policy, not law.
California uses a formula rather than a percentage. Under 10 CCR §2695.8, an insurer declares a total loss when the estimated repair cost plus the salvage value equals or exceeds the vehicle's actual cash value.
Plenty of insurers apply an internal rule of thumb somewhere around 70–80% of value, and that is where the figure you have seen comes from. It is their policy, not a statutory threshold, and it is not what the regulation says.
Why it matters: the number that decides your outcome is the actual cash value they assign your car. That is the figure worth scrutinising, and the one worth arguing about if it looks low.
You can usually keep a totalled vehicle. The trade is straightforward:
The insurer pays the settlement minus the salvage value — what a salvage pool, licensed salvage dealer, wholesale auction or dismantler would have paid them for it. They then file a Notice of Retention by Owner (REG 481) with the DMV.
They must also tell you in writing that retaining the salvage has to be reported to the DMV and may affect the vehicle's future resale value and its insured value. If that disclosure did not reach you, that is worth raising.
Then the clock starts. Sources point to a 10-day requirement under Vehicle Code §11515 to apply for a salvage certificate (REG 488C) and surrender the plates. Ten days is short, and it begins at settlement, not whenever you get round to it.
Take the full settlement when the car is badly damaged, when you do not want the repair project, or when the salvage deduction is small relative to the hassle. Cleanest outcome, and the insurer handles the paperwork.
Keep it when the damage looks worse on paper than it is — airbag deployment on an otherwise sound car, cosmetic damage on a late-model vehicle, or a repair you can do yourself for far less than the estimate.
The arithmetic is simply: settlement minus salvage deduction, against what the car is worth to you repaired or sold as salvage. Our estimate gives you the second half of that in about ten seconds — choose "Salvage or rebuilt" under title status.
A retained total loss becomes a salvage vehicle, and from there it behaves like any other salvage car. You can sell it on the certificate without reviving it, ownership transfers, and the buyer handles revival if they want it road-legal.
Our guide to selling a salvage title car covers the rest, including the fact that brake and lamp certificates no longer exist — they were replaced by a single Vehicle Safety Systems Inspection.
Two things worth knowing before you decide:
This is the part most people accept without question, and it is the part with the most money in it.
The actual cash value is an opinion, built from comparable sales. If the comparables are wrong — different trim, higher mileage, a different market — the number is wrong, and it is the number everything else is calculated from.
Gather your own comparables for the same year, make, model, trim and mileage in your area, and put them in front of the adjuster. Our estimate shows the live retail range for your exact vehicle near you, which is a reasonable starting point for that conversation even though it is not an appraisal.
If it stays unresolved, California's Department of Insurance takes consumer complaints. Nothing here is insurance or legal advice, and a dispute of any size is worth an hour of a professional's time.
There is no fixed percentage. Under 10 CCR section 2695.8 an insurer declares a total loss when the estimated repair cost plus the salvage value equals or exceeds the vehicle's actual cash value. Many insurers apply an internal rule around 70 to 80 percent, but that is company policy rather than California law.
Usually yes. The insurer pays the settlement minus the salvage value and files a Notice of Retention by Owner, form REG 481, with the DMV. The vehicle then becomes a salvage vehicle and you take on the paperwork.
Sources point to 10 days under Vehicle Code section 11515 to apply for a salvage certificate, form REG 488C, and surrender the plates. The clock starts at settlement, so it is short. Confirm the current requirement with the DMV.
Yes, and your insurer is required to tell you so in writing. A retained total loss becomes a salvage vehicle, and even after revival it carries the revived salvage brand permanently, which affects the value at every future sale.
Yes. Once it is a salvage vehicle you can sell it on the salvage certificate as it stands. Ownership transfers; the right to drive it does not, and the buyer completes revival if they want it road-legal.
The actual cash value is an opinion built from comparable sales, and it is the figure everything else derives from. Gather your own comparables for the same year, make, model, trim and mileage in your area and put them to the adjuster. California's Department of Insurance takes consumer complaints if it stays unresolved.