total loss
Beyond all repair
Total loss describes something damaged beyond repair or recovery—the cost to fix exceeds its value.
Insurance companies declare vehicles or property a total loss when replacement makes more economic sense than restoration.
The phrase extends to anything ruined beyond saving: The cake was a total loss after I dropped it.
Informally, calling a person a total loss suggests they're hopeless or incompetent.
Destroyed vessel or vehicle
- ruinComplete destruction or collapse
- devastationSevere widespread destruction
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- demolitionDeliberate structural destruction
obliteration · wreckage · debris · rubble · decimation · disintegration · irreparable · beyond repair
Statement of ownership or truth
- write-offRecorded value reduction
- salvageRecovering damaged goods
- adjusterOne who calibrates
- settlementResolved dispute or colony
payout · totaled · valuation · deductible · premium · underwriting · reimbursement · policyholder
wreck
Destroyed vessel or vehicle
- ruinComplete destruction or collapse
- devastationSevere widespread destruction
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
demolition · obliteration · wreckage · debris · rubble · decimation · disintegration · irreparable · beyond repair · catastrophe
claim
Statement of ownership or truth
settlement · payout · totaled · valuation · deductible · premium · underwriting · reimbursement · policyholder · coverage
- wreckagedebris, wreckage, rubble, remains, remnants
- Car Damagedent, scratch, dents, scratches, scrape
- failingfail, fails, collapse, flop, bomb
- shipwrecksshipwreck, shipwrecks, sunken ships, capsized, derelict
- auto bodybody filler, bodywork, collision repair, dent repair, dent removal
- damage claimsproperty damage, fire damage, water damage, storm damage, hail damage
total lossundamaged
Free from harm
intact · mint condition · repairable · good as new · pristine