America's Totaled Cars Drive Again in the Third World

Anyone interested in this kind of thing, I recommend the YouTube channel "Les Routes de l'Impossible" [0]. Their videos are in French and the auto-generated subtitles can be a bit er... random... But it's amazing to see how the various drivers have to battle through all kinds of conditions in vans and trucks which are often little more than scrap, held together with string and snot. Watch a few of those and you'll never complain about your car's squeaky brakes again.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/c/LesRoutesdelimpossible

An insurance company declares a vehicle "totaled" when the cost of repair exceeds the market value of the vehicle, more or or less. Of course, they make certain calculations about cost of repair and market value. For example, replacing an airbag that has deployed is expensive, for reasons that will be obvious with a moment's reflection. A vehicle that has had a relatively minor collision may still be "totaled" if all the airbags deployed.

At least in the US, using the market value and cost of repair numbers the insurance companies use.

That leaves plenty of perfectly serviceable vehicles for people that don't need everything repaired to original condition, just road-legal.