Came across this 2023 IS500 at a Lexus-certified collision repair facility on Kent Island, MD. Owner told me that the car had 17K miles on it, and had been rear-ended. Was taken to his shop for repair.

A week or so later, I asked him about the status of the car. He said that GEICO had totaled out the car, because it had some modest frame damage from the rear-end hit. You can see where the shop flagged the frame damage on the lower right side of the image with a paint pen, as well as other areas of damage marked, once the bumper cover came off.

Asked him about the fate of the car. He said "for sure" it is going to be sold off at auction to another shop or used car dealer (or an individual) and then a crappy repair will be done that will make the car look new cosmetically, likely with little to no actual frame repair, and then resold for big $$$ as a low-miles, running IS500.

So, look out for a white-over-black 2023 in the future, with an accident in Maryland on the CarFax or AutoCheck.

 

It will have a salvaged title so I don't think they will be able to pull a fast one on anyone. I believe the repair has to be inspected and approved to get the salvage title status. That being said I believe cars get totaled out way too easily these days. Cost to repair is outrageous.

 

Totally agree, in most states, repairs have to pass an inspection to get proper "rebuilt" status.

I saw this damage up close and it is completely fixable. Frame or not, it is sad to see such a nice car get totaled out for damage that is really not horrible. I was under the impression that insurance companies only totaled out cars if the damage cost was something like 70% of the vehicle's value, but perhaps that has changed. The body shop owner estimated (off the cuff) that this damage would be somewhere around $15K (give or take) to properly repair.

I think to what extent/thoroughness is the question ... will the repair be done right or just enough to pass a salvage/rebuilt inspection. What I was getting at was that someone will buy this car at a salvage auction and then slap-dash repair it to save $$$, then mark it up and sell it as a near-new low-miles car. Perhaps to the odometer-buyers on Bring-a-Trailer.....

 

Really surprised that 15K will total that car. I have a IS350 (about 10k miles at the time) which was involved in an accident (my fault) that caused about 12K in damages. That car is now my beater as I got an IS500 last year

 

Here in Maryland the threshhold to total a car is if the cost of repair equals 75% of the car's value. Other states vary. Even if the repair costs $20K, including pulling out the frame, that's nowhere near 75% of the car's value. Insurance will also total a car out if they feel that it is unsafe to drive. Again, this damage wasn't near enough to make the car unsafe. Something else is going on here, or else GEICO just figures it's not worth the hassle and wrote it off so they don't have to hassle with it. I'll try to learn more from the shop owner as to why it was totaled.

 

If anything, pictures of the rear area without the bumper is interesting. The location of the rear cross-traffic sensors, side bumper clips, hatch release wiring and bottom diffuser attach points .

 

I hope the owner got a fair amount for the totaled payout. Back in 2016 I had two cars totaled by Geico due to flood water damage. They seriously low-balled me on the 10-year-old car, but gave me enough for the 1 year-old car to buy another new one. The younger car was all jacked up. Battery dead, Christmas tree dashboard when a fresh battery was tested. I haggled with them on the older car because it still started and ran without any apparent problems. Almost considered keeping it but I did not want to have a car with a flood title.