Frame and Unibody Repair
If My Vehicle’s Frame is Damaged, Is It a Total Loss?
A common myth regarding car accidents is that unibody frame damage always results in the car being a total loss. This is simply not true. In fact, in most cases our skilled auto body technicians can handle extensive frame damage. Here is a guide to everything you need to know about how we can keep your frame damage from resulting in your car being a total write-off.
Determine if Accident Results in a Total Loss?
The fact is that the insurance companies do simple math in order to determine if your car is a total loss following an accident. Your insurer will add up the cost to repair the unibody frame damage, and then they will compare that figure to the determined value of the car. If the repairs exceed a certain percentage or will cost more than the car is worth, then the vehicle will be deemed a total loss. However, even with significant frame damage, it will usually cost less for our technicians to repair the vehicle than the total value of the vehicle.
Modern Car Construction
The thing that makes modern cars handle accidents so well is the unibody construction that car companies now use. Unibody construction means that the frame and the body of the car are one. That means that if there is damage to the body, usually there will also be damage to the frame. However, unibody frame damage is much easier to repair in modern vehicles than older vehicles. This is because the frames on modern cars come in pieces. Even if one section of the frame is completely totaled, it doesn’t make the whole frame a total loss. Instead, the damaged section or sections of the frame can be replaced, leaving the undamaged sections of the frame untouched. This makes it a very economical repair process