{"id":1208,"date":"2026-02-03T19:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T19:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/?p=1208"},"modified":"2026-02-03T19:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T19:11:27","slug":"why-60-is-the-new-100-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/?p=1208","title":{"rendered":"Why 60% is the New 100% in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For decades, a car was considered &#8220;totaled&#8221; only if the repair costs reached 75% to 80% of its value. In 2026, that threshold has plummeted. Many insurers are now declaring a vehicle a\u00a0<strong>Total Loss<\/strong>\u00a0when repair estimates hit just\u00a0<strong>60% of its Actual Cash Value (ACV)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1209\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The &#8220;Hidden Damage&#8221; Hedge<\/strong>&nbsp;Insurers have lowered the bar because 2026 vehicles are too complex to estimate accurately upfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The &#8220;Supplement&#8221; Surge:<\/strong>\u00a0Once a shop begins a repair, they often find damaged sensors or calibrated modules deep inside the frame. These &#8220;supplements&#8221; can easily add $5,000 to a bill. By totaling the car at 60%, the insurer avoids the risk of a repair bill that eventually exceeds the car&#8217;s entire value.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Salvage Returns:<\/strong>\u00a0In 2026, the demand for recycled EV batteries and microchips is at an all-time high. Insurers can recoup a larger percentage of their payout by selling your totaled car to a high-tech salvage auction than by paying for a lengthy, uncertain repair.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, a car was considered &#8220;totaled&#8221; only if the repair costs reached 75% to 80% of its value. In 2026, that threshold has plummeted. Many insurers are now declaring a vehicle a\u00a0Total Loss\u00a0when repair estimates hit just\u00a060% of its Actual Cash Value (ACV). The &#8220;Hidden Damage&#8221; Hedge&nbsp;Insurers have lowered the bar because 2026 vehicles [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1210,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions\/1210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autoquoteblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}