<VV> what the hell was that? / Continued

[FrankDuVal]

"a friend at a local body shop said they, more than likely because of 
their ages, would total them both."

The term Total is an economic term. It has nothing to do with the damage 
being repairable or not. It has nothing to do with not making it safe to 
drive again.

And you state the Mercury has no collision insurance, so your insurance 
company will not state it is a total. If a body shop says they are 
totaled, that just means they do not want to fix them. Period. Back in 
my day we fixed many a "total" if we could make money on it. OTL is 
slang for Obvious Total Loss, meaning someone looked at the car (even 
just in pictures) and without writing a real estimate, decided the 
repair costs were higher than ACV (actual cash value) less salvage value.

Nowadays there are title rules concerning "totals", so just do not let 
the insurance company buy the car from you, as that is when the title 
gets branded. Then again, who cares if a Corvair has a branded title? 
You can still drive and enjoy it.

Start collecting sales information for similar Mercurys and Corvairs so 
you will be armed with ACV values you find from actual recent sales. 
Then you can make sure you get treated properly (economically) by any 
insurance company involved. Be forewarned by being forearmed!

If you do not want to repair your cars, that is YOUR decision alone! Do 
not let insurance companies or shops not interested in repairing them 
make your decision for you.

Frank DuVal