Legal Question in Personal Injury in Louisiana

Under Louisiana Law, an insurance company is allowed to total a vehicle where the damage exceeds the cost of reparis/value of the vehicle. The insurance company is liable for the current market value of your vehicle. The value, in most cases, is less than the total cost of repairs. You can request to purchase the vehicle back as a salvage or take less for the vehicle and be paid the difference after purchase. You will be responsible for the repair of the salvaged vehicle.

Therefore, to answer your question, yes, an insurance company can total your vehicle after if the percentage of damages exceeds the value of the vehicle or cost of repairs. Second, you can refuse their assessment but can not force them to repair the vehicle. What you can do is get an estimate for repairs, compare it to the current value and if the repairs are less than the value, you can submit this to the insurance company requesting a reassessment. You can also hire another expert appraisor to assess the damage of the vehicle and submit his/her appraisal to the insurance company. If the cost is only off by a few hundred, it is my guess that the insurance company's position will not change, given that the percentage will not change much.