When a car counts as a total loss

"Totaled" sounds like a physical fact about a car. It is not. It is a decision, and in most states the insurer makes it.

Understanding which rule applies where matters for one specific reason: several of the percentages people quote are titling rules, about when a vehicle gets a salvage brand, not settlement rules about when an insurer may declare a total loss. Arguing the wrong one is an easy way to be dismissed.

What each state actually says

State	What the rule says	Citation
Alabama	Threshold 75%: a total loss occurs where an insurer or other person pays or makes a monetary settlement for damage greater than or equal to 75 percent of the vehicle's fair retail value before the damage, taken from a current nationally recognized compilation of retail values. Separately, a vehicle becomes salvage once an insurer has paid or settled a total loss on it, whatever the percentage.	Ala. Code § 32-8-87(b), (d) checked Sep 5, 2026
Alaska confirmed: no rule	No percentage located. Alaska's claim regulation prescribes how a total loss must be SETTLED without defining when a vehicle becomes one; secondary sources describe Alaska as applying a total loss formula — repair cost plus salvage value exceeding actual cash value — but no statutory or regulatory text stating that was retrieved.	3 AAC 26.080 (settlement standards; no threshold) checked Sep 5, 2026
Arizona	insurer discretion / none — Arizona sets no repair-cost percentage. The salvage-title definition turns on the owner's or insurer's judgment that repair is uneconomical, not on a threshold.	A.R.S. § 28-2091(T)(3) checked Sep 5, 2026
Arkansas	Threshold 70%: a salvage vehicle is one that is water-damaged, or that sustains any other damage in an amount equal to or exceeding 70 percent of its average retail value. No vehicle-age limit attaches.	Ark. Code § 27-14-2301(6) checked Sep 5, 2026
California	insurer discretion / none (no statutory repair-cost percentage; Veh. Code § 544 defines a 'total loss salvage vehicle' by the owner's or insurer's determination that repair is uneconomical)	Cal. Veh. Code § 544(a)-(b) checked Sep 4, 2026
Colorado	Titling threshold 100% or insurer discretion — a vehicle is a salvage vehicle when the insurer determines it a total loss, or when the cost of repairing it to a roadworthy condition exceeds its retail fair market value immediately before the damage. Hail damage and theft are excluded from the definition.	C.R.S. § 42-6-102(17)(a)(I) checked Sep 5, 2026
Connecticut	Threshold 100% in substance: a 'constructive total loss' is where the cost to repair damaged property, or to salvage it, or to do both, equals or exceeds the total value of the property at the time of the loss. Connecticut fixes no lower percentage.	Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-816(16) checked Sep 6, 2026
Delaware partly verified	No percentage. Delaware governs what happens to the TITLE after a total-loss settlement without prescribing when a vehicle becomes one: where a titled vehicle is transferred as salvage as a result of a total loss insurance settlement, the insurer must send the certificate of title to the Department within 30 days of the settlement date.	21 Del. C. § 2512 (transfer for salvage) checked Sep 5, 2026
Florida	insurer discretion for insured vehicles (total loss = insurer pays to replace); Threshold 80% applies only to uninsured vehicles	Fla. Stat. § 319.30(3)(a)1.a-b; § 319.30(3)(a)2 checked Sep 4, 2026
Georgia	insurer discretion / none (no percentage threshold; a vehicle becomes 'salvage' when an insurer pays a total-loss claim or two or more major component parts need replacement)	O.C.G.A. § 40-3-2(11)(A)-(B); see also § 40-3-36 checked Sep 4, 2026
Hawaii confirmed: no rule	No percentage located. Hawaii's insurance code prescribes the SETTLEMENT method for a total loss (HRS §§ 431:10C-309 to 311) without defining when a vehicle becomes one; the choice between the replacement method and the cash settlement method is what the statute governs.	HRS § 431:10C-309 checked Sep 6, 2026
Idaho	A formula, not a percentage. A salvage vehicle is one damaged to the extent that the owner, insurer or other person acting on the owner's behalf determines that the cost of parts and labor MINUS the salvage value makes it uneconomical to repair or rebuild. A total loss vehicle is simply one deemed uneconomical to repair, occurring when an insurer pays or settles on that basis. No percentage appears in either definition.	Idaho Code § 49-123(2)(o), (2)(s) checked Sep 5, 2026
Illinois	insurer discretion / none — no statutory repair-cost percentage governs insurers; the title code treats any vehicle on which an insurer pays a 'total loss claim' as salvage. The 70% test in 3-117.1(b)(1.1) applies only to self-insurers; 50% tests in (b)(3)-(4) apply to repossessed and fleet vehicles.	625 ILCS 5/3-117.1(b)(1) checked Sep 4, 2026
Indiana	No repair-cost percentage decides an insured total loss. For a vehicle manufactured within the last seven model years, a salvage title is required once the insurer has determined that repair is economically impractical and has made an agreed settlement with the insured or claimant. The 70 percent test in the same section applies only where the owner is a business that insures its own vehicles or acquired the vehicle after it was damaged.	IC 9-22-3-3(a)(1), (a)(2); IC 9-22-3-2 checked Sep 13, 2026
Iowa	Threshold 70%: a 'wrecked or salvage vehicle' is a damaged vehicle subject to registration for which the cost of repair exceeds 70 percent of its fair market value before the damage, determined under rules adopted by the department.	Iowa Code § 321.52(4)(e) checked Sep 6, 2026
Kansas	Threshold 75%, but only for LATE MODEL vehicles: a late model vehicle is a salvage vehicle where the total cost of repair is 75 percent or more of its fair market value, excluding mere exterior cosmetic damage from windstorm or hail. Separately, any vehicle an insurer declares a total loss and takes title to becomes salvage regardless of the percentage. 'Late model' reaches back six years from the year of damage.	K.S.A. 8-197(b)(2)(B), (b)(2)(C), (6) checked Sep 6, 2026
Kentucky	Threshold 75%: a salvage title must be obtained where the total estimated or actual cost of parts and labor to rebuild the vehicle to its pre-accident condition and for legal road operation exceeds 75 percent of its retail value. The cost of reinstalling a deployed airbag system is EXCLUDED from that calculation. No vehicle-age limit attaches.	KRS 186A.520(1)(a), (1)(d) checked Sep 5, 2026
Louisiana	Threshold 75%: a total loss is a motor vehicle that has sustained damage equivalent to 75 percent or more of its market value, determined using the National Automobile Dealers Association Handbook. No vehicle-age limit attaches.	La. R.S. 32:702(14) checked Sep 5, 2026
Maine confirmed: no rule	No percentage located in the insurance code. Maine regulates what follows a total loss rather than fixing when one occurs, and separately gives the insured a right to KEEP a vehicle the insurer has declared a total loss on producing a credible repair estimate showing it can be brought to inspection standards.	24-A M.R.S. (no total-loss percentage located); retention right reported in the motor vehicle insurance provisions checked Sep 5, 2026
Maryland	Insurer-set, within a regulatory frame. A vehicle is a total loss where the cost of repairs equals or exceeds the actual cash value, or a percentage of actual cash value established by the insurer — so Maryland does not fix the percentage but does define the test the insurer's own threshold must fit.	COMAR 31.15.12.02B(9) checked Sep 5, 2026
Massachusetts	A formula, not a percentage: the insurer must determine actual cash value whenever the appraised cost of repair PLUS the probable salvage value may reasonably be expected to exceed the vehicle's actual cash value. The separate titling definition turns on the owner's or insurer's judgment that repair is uneconomical.	211 CMR 133.05; M.G.L. c. 90D § 1 (definition of total loss salvage motor vehicle) checked Sep 5, 2026
Michigan	Threshold 75% (title/branding rule only): repair cost 75%–<91% of pre-damage ACV = salvage title; ≥91% = scrap title. No insurance-code rule compels the total-loss decision itself — insurer discretion under the policy, subject to the titling duty once ownership is acquired.	MCL 257.217c(2)(a)(ii) (Michigan Vehicle Code) checked Sep 6, 2026
Minnesota	For an insurer or other person acquiring a damaged late-model or high-value vehicle, the test is whether the cost of repairs exceeds the vehicle's value — not a percentage. The widely-quoted 80 percent figure applies ONLY to a self-insured owner.	Minn. Stat. § 168A.151 subd. 1(d), 1(f) checked Sep 5, 2026
Mississippi confirmed: no rule	No percentage located. Mississippi's title code triggers salvage branding from the insurer's payment and acquisition of title rather than from a repair-cost test, and § 63-21-39 contains no repair-cost percentage at all.	Miss. Code § 63-21-39 (no percentage); § 83-11-551 (total loss title handling) checked Sep 5, 2026
Missouri	Threshold 80%, but only for newer vehicles: a vehicle damaged within six years of its manufacturer's model year designation is a salvage vehicle where the total cost of repairs to rebuild it to its pre-damage condition for legal road operation exceeds 80 percent of its fair market value immediately before the damage. Vehicles older than that fall outside the definition.	Mo. Rev. Stat. § 301.010(55) checked Sep 5, 2026
Montana	insurer discretion / none — Montana sets no repair-cost percentage. A salvage vehicle is one damaged to the extent that the owner, an insurer, or another person acting on the owner's behalf determines that the cost of parts and labor makes it uneconomical to repair.	MCA § 61-3-210 (definition of salvage vehicle) checked Sep 5, 2026
Nebraska	Threshold 75%, but only for LATE MODEL vehicles: a late model vehicle wrecked, damaged or destroyed to the extent that the estimated total cost of repair meets or exceeds 75 percent of its retail value is salvage. 'Late model' means within six model years of the damage date, or meeting stated retail value thresholds. An owner may also VOLUNTARILY designate a vehicle as salvage.	Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-171(7)(a), (7)(b); § 60-171(3) checked Sep 5, 2026
Nevada	Threshold 65 percent: a vehicle is a total loss vehicle when the cost of repair is 65 percent or more of its fair market value immediately before the damage. Painting, replacing electronic components to the manufacturer's specifications and towing are left out of the cost of repair, and some vehicles 10 model years old or older that need only certain panel or light replacements are excluded.	NRS 487.790(1)(b), (2); NRS 487.770; NRS 487.800(1) checked Sep 13, 2026
New Hampshire	Two limbs. A total loss vehicle is an unrecovered stolen vehicle, or a damaged vehicle either (a) determined to be physically or economically impractical to repair in connection with an insurance claim settlement, or (b) where the cost of repair is 75 percent or more of fair market value before the damage — but limb (b) applies ONLY if the damage occurs during the model year or the 4 subsequent calendar years.	N.H. RSA 261:22, VI(a), VI(b) checked Sep 5, 2026
New Jersey	insurer discretion / none — New Jersey sets no repair-cost percentage. A vehicle is a salvage motor vehicle when it is stolen or damaged to the extent that repair is economically impractical; for a vehicle eight or fewer model years old that turns on repair costs equalling or exceeding fair market value.	N.J.A.C. 13:21-22.3 (definitions); N.J.S.A. 39:10-31 et seq. checked Sep 5, 2026
New Mexico	insurer discretion / none — New Mexico sets no repair-cost percentage. A salvage vehicle is one damaged to the extent that the owner, financial institution or insurer 'considers it uneconomical to repair'. A second limb reaches a vehicle determined uneconomical to repair on which a total loss payment is made — but only where the insurer first obtained the CLAIMANT'S AGREEMENT to the settlement amount and told them the title must be branded.	NMSA § 66-1-4.16(C)(1), (C)(2) checked Sep 13, 2026
New York partly verified	insurer discretion / none in insurance law (Regulation 64 sets no repair-cost percentage). DMV salvage-brand rule: a vehicle is a 'salvage vehicle' when acquired by an insurer with a Salvage Certificate (MV-907A), or when repair costs exceed 75% of pre-damage retail value (applied by DMV to vehicles 8 model years old or newer), or when branded/declared a wreck. Veh. & Traf. Law § 429(1)(a) requires an insurer acquiring a vehicle in settlement to surrender title to DMV.	N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 429(1)(a); NY DMV 'Salvage Vehicles' (75% rule stated as 'by law'; implementing DMV regulation section not pinned down) checked Sep 4, 2026
North Carolina	Threshold 75%	11 NCAC 04 .0418(c); N.C.G.S. § 20-4.01(33)d checked Sep 4, 2026
North Dakota	Threshold 75%, with two exclusions: a vehicle is salvage when damaged in excess of 75 percent of its retail value as determined by the National Automobile Dealers Association official used car guide — but GLASS DAMAGE AND HAIL DAMAGE must be excluded from that calculation. The owner must forward the title within 10 days once the threshold is met.	N.D.C.C. § 39-05-20.2(1) checked Sep 5, 2026
Ohio	insurer discretion / none — Ohio sets no repair-cost percentage; the title statute is triggered when the insurer 'declares it economically impractical to repair' the vehicle and pays the claim, after which the insurer (or an owner who retains the vehicle) must obtain a salvage certificate of title.	ORC 4505.11(C)(1), (C)(4) checked Sep 23, 2026
Oklahoma	Two tests, for two purposes. For the title, a vehicle from the last ten model years whose cost of repair for safe operation on the highway exceeds 60 percent of its fair market value must go to a salvage title, even when the insurer pays a claim for less than a total loss; the figure becomes 70 percent on November 1, 2026. For settlement, 36 O.S. § 1250.8(M) defines a total loss as repair costs plus salvage value meeting or exceeding the vehicle's actual cash value before the loss.	47 O.S. § 1111(A), (C)(1); 36 O.S. § 1250.8(M) checked Sep 13, 2026
Oregon	insurer discretion for an insured vehicle. A vehicle is 'totaled' when an insurer obligated to cover the loss declares it a total loss or takes possession of or title to it. The 80 percent figure applies ONLY to damage that is NOT covered by an insurer — it is not a threshold an insurer must reach.	ORS 801.527(1), (3) checked Sep 5, 2026
Pennsylvania	Total-loss-formula style regulatory test: the loss is settled at replacement value (i.e., treated as a total loss) when the cost of repair exceeds the vehicle's appraised value less salvage value, or the vehicle cannot be repaired to its predamaged condition. Title code defines 'salvage vehicle' as one whose repair cost would exceed the value of the repaired vehicle (75 Pa.C.S. § 102). No fixed percentage.	31 Pa. Code § 62.3(e); 75 Pa.C.S. § 102 ('Salvage vehicle') checked Sep 4, 2026
Rhode Island	A FLOOR, not a ceiling — and this is the reverse of how most states work. It is an unfair claims practice to designate a motor vehicle a total loss where the cost to rebuild or reconstruct it to pre-accident condition is LESS THAN 75 to 85 percent of fair market value. Once repairs reach 75 percent but stay under 85 percent, the consumer may designate the car a total loss. The provision protects an owner from having a repairable car totaled prematurely.	R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-9.1-4(29), as amended by P.L. 2026, ch. 286 and ch. 287 checked Sep 13, 2026
South Carolina	Threshold 75%: a vehicle is a salvage vehicle and a vehicle declared to be a total loss where the cost of repair, including parts and reasonable market charges for labor, equals or exceeds 75 percent of its fair market value. No vehicle-age limit attaches to the definition.	S.C. Code § 56-19-480(G) checked Sep 5, 2026
South Dakota	No repair-cost percentage. A salvage vehicle is any motor vehicle an insurer determines to be a total loss because of theft or damage from fire, vandalism, collision, weather, submersion in water or flood. The definition does not reach a vehicle more than ten model years old or with a gross vehicle weight rating over 16,000 pounds.	SDCL 32-3-51.19; SDCL 32-3-51.20; SDCL 32-3-51.21 checked Sep 13, 2026
Tennessee	Titling threshold 75%: a passenger motor vehicle is a salvage vehicle where the estimated or actual cost of parts and labor to rebuild it to pre-accident condition and for legal operation exceeds 75% of its retail value, taken from a current nationally recognized compilation of retail values (automated databases included). An owner may also designate a vehicle as salvage voluntarily, and that designation imposes no obligation on the insurer.	T.C.A. § 55-3-201(11)(A) (2025 code; formerly § 55-3-211) checked Sep 6, 2026
Texas	Threshold 100% (salvage when cost of repairs exceeds ACV; insurers may still total below that)	Tex. Transp. Code § 501.091(15)(A); § 501.091(1) checked Sep 4, 2026
Utah	Threshold 100% or insurer declaration — NOT 80 percent. A salvage vehicle is one damaged to the extent that the cost of repairing it for safe operation exceeds its fair market value, or one that has been declared a salvage vehicle by an insurer or another jurisdiction. No percentage figure appears in the definition.	Utah Code § 41-1a-1001(8)(a), (8)(b) checked Sep 5, 2026
Vermont partly verified	No percentage. A 'totaled motor vehicle' is one that has been declared by an insurance company to be a total loss — the trigger is the insurer's own declaration. An insurer declaring a total loss must apply for a salvage certificate of title within 15 days of the declaration.	23 V.S.A. § 2001 (definitions); § 2091 (salvage certificates of title) checked Sep 5, 2026
Virginia	A formula, not a percentage, for ordinary damage: a late model vehicle is a salvage vehicle where the estimated cost of repair would exceed its actual cash value LESS its current salvage value. The widely-quoted 75% figure applies only to recovered stolen vehicles. Towing, storage, rental and diminished-value payments are excluded from the repair-cost calculation.	Va. Code § 46.2-1600 (definitions of 'salvage vehicle', clauses (i) and (ii); 'actual cash value') checked Sep 5, 2026
Washington	insurer discretion / none — Washington sets no repair-cost percentage. The salvage-title definition turns on the cost of parts and labor plus salvage value making repair uneconomical, a judgment left to the owner or insurer.	RCW 46.04.514 checked Sep 5, 2026
West Virginia	Threshold 75%: a total loss is a motor vehicle that has sustained damages equivalent to 75 percent or more of its market value as determined by a nationally accepted used car value guide, or that meets the statute's definition of a flood-damaged vehicle. No vehicle-age limit attaches.	W. Va. Code § 17A-4-10(a) checked Sep 5, 2026
Wisconsin	Threshold 70%, but only for newer vehicles: a vehicle less than 7 years old is a salvage vehicle where the estimated or actual cost of repair, whichever is greater, exceeds 70 percent of its fair market value. Hail-damaged vehicles are excluded unless repaired with replacement parts.	Wis. Stat. § 340.01(55g) checked Sep 5, 2026
Wyoming	insurer discretion where an insurer is involved; Threshold 75% only where one is not. A vehicle is a total loss when declared so by the insurance company — or, IN THE EVENT AN INSURANCE COMPANY IS NOT INVOLVED in the settlement, where damage exceeds 75 percent of actual retail cash value taken from a current nationally recognized automotive appraisal guide or another source approved by the Wyoming insurance department.	Wyo. Stat. § 31-2-107(a) checked Sep 6, 2026

The three kinds of rule

A repair-cost percentage. A minority of states fix a share of value at which the car is a total loss whether anyone likes it or not. Where the percentage is mandatory there is no discretion in it, which cuts both ways: it can total a car you wanted repaired, and it can stop an insurer totaling one you wanted to keep.

A formula. Some states compare the cost of repair against value less salvage rather than against value. That is a different test from a flat percentage and can produce a different answer on the same car with the same estimate, which is why quoting a percentage at a state that uses a formula lands badly.

Insurer discretion. In most states the decision is the insurer's: it may declare a total loss when it judges repair uneconomical. Those states' vehicle codes still define what gets a salvage title once the decision is made, but that is a consequence of the decision rather than a constraint on it — and it is the single most common confusion in this area, because the titling percentage is the number that circulates online.

Why the distinction matters

Two of the most widely repeated figures in this area are titling rules that do not bind an insurer at all, and one of them applies only to uninsured vehicles.

Read those two rows carefully before you rely on either. Quoting a titling percentage at an adjuster who is making a settlement decision tells them you are working from a web page rather than from the rule, and it costs you credibility you will want later in the same conversation — usually about the valuation, which is the argument that actually moves money.

The safest habit is to check what your own state's row says the percentage governs, not just what the percentage is. A number that brands a title and a number that forces a settlement decision look identical on a search results page.

When the threshold is mandatory

Most states leave the decision to the insurer. Where a state does not, the detail of how its threshold is calculated is worth reading closely if you are anywhere near the line.

The point that catches people is the treatment of supplemental claims. Repair estimates commonly grow once a shop opens the car up and finds damage the first estimate missed, and where the rule counts the original and the supplement together, a repair that started comfortably below the threshold can cross it part-way through. That is not the insurer changing its mind — it is the arithmetic the rule requires.

If you are close to the line and would rather the car were repaired, ask for the estimate and each supplement as separate documents, and ask which value the percentage is being measured against. You cannot check a percentage you have only been told the answer to, and the two inputs — repair cost and value — are each arguable on their own terms.

It is worth knowing that the value in that fraction is usually the same actual-cash-value figure you may end up disputing. A low valuation makes the repair-cost ratio higher, which makes a total loss more likely. If you think the value is too low, that is not only an argument about the check; in a mandatory-threshold state it can be an argument about whether the car should have been totaled at all.

The states with no percentage at all

A handful of states have been read and confirmed to set no repair-cost threshold of any kind. That is a different answer from "we could not find one", and it is worth knowing which you are in before you go looking for a number that does not exist.

In those states the total-loss decision is governed by the policy and by the general duty to handle a claim in good faith, and nothing else. There is no arithmetic to check, which sounds like bad news and mostly is — but it also means an insurer has no percentage to hide behind. It cannot tell you the car is a total loss because the state says so at some figure, because the state says nothing at all. The decision is its own, made on its own judgment, and judgment is a thing you can ask it to explain in writing.

That is the practical move in a no-threshold state: ask what the repair estimate was, what value it was measured against, and on what basis the car was declared uneconomical to repair. None of those questions has a statutory deadline behind it, but all three have to be answered by someone who put a number in a settlement letter, and the answers are where a valuation dispute usually starts.

Where the figure you have read is not the rule

One further trap sits underneath all of this. A percentage that circulates widely for a state is often accurate about something — it is simply accurate about the titling code rather than the settlement decision, or about an older version of a statute that has since been renumbered or amended.

The rows above each say what their percentage governs, and that sentence is the one to read before you quote it. Where a widely repeated figure has no located primary source behind it, the row says that too, rather than repeating the number because everyone else does. A state page that declines to print a percentage other sites print freely is not an omission; it is the row telling you that nobody has shown where the number comes from, which is exactly what you would want to know before putting it in a letter.

What this changes about your claim

Usually, less than people hope. If your state leaves the decision to the insurer, disputing that the car is a total loss is normally the weakest available argument, and it distracts from the strong one — that the value they assigned is too low.

The threshold matters most in three situations. If you are in a mandatory-threshold state and the repair estimate falls clearly below it, the declaration itself is arguable. If you want to keep the car, the threshold determines what happens to its title, which is a separate question worth understanding before you decide. And if the estimate sits just above the line, the value in the denominator is worth contesting first, because winning that argument can move the ratio as well as the check.

Everywhere else, take the total-loss decision as given and spend your effort on the number. The valuation is where the money is, it is where the rules are most specific, and it is the argument an adjuster has the authority to settle without escalating.