While roads
are safer than ever, more cars are totaled each year—a stat than can be linked
to the economic recession, MSN Money reports.

According
to MSN, about 9 percent of cars appraised for repairs in 2000 were judged
totaled. The report, which cites insurance claims analyst CCC Information
Services, says that number jumped to 14 percent in 2010.

The article
generated quite a bit of feedback from viewers. Several weeks after its
publication, 198 people commented.

Some
commenters were concerned the article didn’t tackle the issue of insurance
companies deeming a car simply for profit.

Here is
feedback from Musicman912:

“Too
bad the guy that wrote this article is so misinformed.  The reason so many vehicles are being totaled
today is because of greed and poor ethics on the insurance company’s part.
 The totaled cars are part of a complex economy themselves.  Many of
these totaled cars are being bought and shipped to mexico and even around the
globe.  Not even shipped.  One of the top totaled car markets in
Colorado is Klode salvage.  Many cars that are supposedly totaled are
driven to mexico and sold. (Salvage cars are bought in pairs, and one tows
the other, so two can be transported at a time, on US roads)   Many
totaled cars are poorly patched together and end up for sale to unsuspecting
buyers.  These vehicles are not repaired correctly and are another
accident waiting to happen.  The insurance company is (sic) getting double
the amount they used to for crashed cars at the auction.”

Another
commenter was concerned about the tracking of damaged cars and wondered whether
publications were doing enough to detail these wrecked vehicles.

“The
biggest problem is that these cars are ending up back on the roads without
damage titles,” wrote Mike Yarbrough. He went on:

“
There are more and more salvage yards selling these cars with clear titles.
Whether it is the customers (sic) responsibility or the insurance companies,
these cars are not being branded SALVAGE!! We have been in the used car
business since 1967 and we see more and more cars that have been fixed and put
up for sale that have clear titles. Carfax and Autocheck do not report EVERY
accident!!. Buyer beware when buying a used vehicle on the side of the road,
more body shops are building these cars and selling them in parking lots.”

Totaled to
a car insurance company means simply that the repairs to the car don’t make
financial sense. That decision, according to the article, depends on the car’s
value, its age and repair costs.

For
instance, if the total for repairs — plus rental, any storage fees and salvage
value — is more than the pre-crash value of the car, the insurance agent will
probably take title to the car and write you a check, the article contends.

If the
estimate of repairs exceeds your state’s threshold, he’ll write you a check.
About half the states set a threshold, ranging from Iowa’s 50% of actual cash
value to Texas’ 100%.

The trend
during the recession years was that people started buying and insuring older
cars. According to Automotive News, these are the new car sales over the past
five years: 16 million in 2007; 13 million in 2008; 10 million in 2009; 11.6
million in 2010; and a projected 12.2 million sales in 2011.

Last year,
according to MSN, the price of used cars rose 12.7 percent because of the
growing demand.

As people
either buy used cars or keep their current ones longer, the average age of cars
on American roads has risen over two years, from 8.5 years old to 10.7, CCC
Information Services told MSN.

Another
change leading to likelihood of totaled cars is the trend towards smaller
vehicles to save money on fuel costs. Smaller vehicles, according to MSN, are
totaled more easily when in an accident.