Total loss
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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.
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.
A severely damaged automobile with repair costs greatly exceeding its value
Richard Byrd's Fokker "America" was completely written off after its forced ditching in the Atlantic in June 1927. Byrd and three others survived. The original destination Paris was socked in by fog making a landing impossible at LeBourget. Souvenir hunters stripped the aircraft of its fabric skin and other components.
Vehicle insurance
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Vehicle insurance is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise from incidents in a vehicle. Vehicle insurance may additionally offer financial protection against theft of the vehicle, and against damage to the vehicle sustained from events other than traffic collisions, such as keying, weather or natural disasters, and damage sustained by colliding with stationary objects. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region.
Uninsured cars seized by Merseyside Police on display outside the force's headquarters in 2006
A sample Vehicle Insurance Certificate in India