Lots of vehicles are being written off that can be repaired and lots of repairs are being authorised above the value of the vehicle.

I started watching this one YouTube channel that's an independent body repair guy / vehicle rebuilder. He buys vehicles from insurance auctions and puts them back together. His commentary and transparency was fascinating.

One of the things I have been struck by is the cost of all these parts and pieces. For example the front bumper and clip area of the vehicle will have two $800 headlamps with upgraded LEDs, various crash and parking sensors, an important vehicle engine wiring harness junction, a grill shutter motor etc etc. So you get into a relatively minor front end collision and you're doing a new AC system, new radiator and radiator support PLUS paint and body work PLUS a bonus $3000 in electronic gadgetry that pretty much always needs replacing.

At full retail markup that writes off every car that has a small repairable collision, like the price to get a collision repair place to fix all that is really prohibitive. Lots of the electronics he has to source from the dealerships at absurd pricing.

Lots of the vehicles he's working on start, run and drive fine and don't even need suspension or alignment work. He's basically just replacing all this expensive cladding.

The vehicles seem disposable.