Total loss

For depreciation in accounting or taxes, see Write-off.
This building will be a "total loss" if its insurer determines that the cost of repairing it exceeds that of its insured value.
Even though only partially sunk in shallow water, in 2012 the relatively new cruise liner Costa Concordia was declared a "constructive total loss" due to escalating environmental and salvage clean-up costs.

In insurance claims, a total loss or write-off is a situation where the lost value, repair cost or salvage cost of a damaged property exceeds its insured value, and simply replacing the old property with a new equivalent is more cost-effective.[1][2]

Such a loss may be an "actual total loss" or a "constructive total loss". Constructive total loss considers further incidental expenses beyond repair, such as force majeure.

  1. ^ "Business Dictionary: "Total Loss"". Dictionary. BusinessDictionary.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  2. ^ "Glossary of Insurance Terms". Dictionary. Trafalgar International, Ltd. Retrieved January 6, 2013.