Your insurer totaled the car: keep it, buy it back or let it go

The phone call from the adjuster usually comes with a number and a question: do you want to keep the car? In Illinois, that question has firmer limits than most people expect. Here is what the state’s rules say, what a settlement must include, and when keeping the wreck and selling it to us makes more sense than handing it over.

Who owns a totaled car in Illinois

Once an insurer pays a total-loss claim, Illinois treats the insurer as the owner and the car as salvage. Under 625 ILCS 5/3-117.1(b)(1), the insurer must send the title, an application and the fee to the Secretary of State within 20 days, and the salvage certificate is issued in the insurer’s name. Source: 625 ILCS 5/3-117.1.

The same subsection names the only two exceptions, and the Illinois Department of Insurance repeats them on its total loss claims page:

1. the car has hail damage only, and the damage doesn’t affect its operational safety; or
2. the car is nine model years old or older.

In either case, you can keep it only by agreement with the insurer. A newer car with collision damage goes to the insurer.

What the settlement has to include

The Department of Insurance sets out how a total-loss claim must be handled under 50 Illinois Administrative Code Part 919:

• Three options. The insurer can replace the car, repair it, or pay cash.
• Cash is based on retail value, usually from guidebooks or computerized data. Advertisements ordinarily don’t count as market value.
• Deductions are capped, mostly. Wear and tear, missing parts and rust can be deducted, but those deductions together may not exceed $500. Old, unrepaired collision damage has no cap. Every deduction must be itemized in dollars.
• Sales tax. If you buy or lease another vehicle within 30 days of a cash settlement and can prove it, the insurer pays the sales tax and the transfer and title fees, up to the amount for a car of the totaled car’s value.
• Your side of it. Most policies ask for a sworn proof of loss within 91 days, and you must protect the car from further damage in the meantime.

If the insurer can’t find you a comparable car at its number, the page also explains your right of recourse.

Keep it or let it go: a comparison

Option	When it fits	What you end up with
Take the full settlement, insurer keeps the car	Newer cars, or you don’t want the wreck	The settlement; the insurer handles the title
Keep the car and repair it	Hail-only or older car, repair is cheap and you trust the shop	A repaired car; ask the insurer what title paperwork follows
Keep the car and sell it as junk	Older car, the wreck is in your driveway, you’d rather have cash than parts	Whatever the insurer pays when you keep it, plus our offer for the wreck

The third row is where we come in. Before agreeing to keep the car, ask the adjuster in writing how the payout changes if you do. Then compare that difference with our offer for the wreck, which we give on the phone and which doesn’t expire.

Before you sell a car you kept

• Confirm the paperwork. Ask the insurer which ownership document you will hold once the claim closes, and don’t sell until it’s in your hand. Our guide to out-of-state, salvage and rebuilt titles explains each kind.
• Get it out of storage. Tow yards charge daily. If the car went to a Chicago pound after the crash, read the Doty Avenue pound article before you decide.
• Clear your things out and remove the plates.

The rest is the same as any wrecked car sale: we tow it free from where it sits and pay by cash, Zelle or Cash App at pickup.

Next step

Once you know the car is yours, request an offer or call (708) 578-8868 and describe the damage. We buy total-loss cars across our area, including Chicago Heights and Glenwood. See all our guides on the articles page.