California Vehicle Code term for certain damaged vehicles considered uneconomical to repair, excluding nonrepairable vehicles.
Total loss salvage vehicle is a California-specific vehicle status term. It is useful for US auto-circularity evidence because it marks a path into salvage, title, dismantling, parts, or repair workflows, but it is not the same as EU or China ELV status.
California Vehicle Code — dismantler and salvage vehicle provisions
“Total loss salvage vehicle” means either of the following: (a) A vehicle, other than a nonrepairable vehicle, of a type subject to registration that has been wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, to the extent that the owner, leasing company, financial institution, or the insurance company that insured or is responsible for repair of the vehicle, considers it uneconomical to repair the vehicle and because of this, the vehicle is not repaired by or for the person who owned the vehicle at the time of the event resulting in damage.
Reference: Vehicle Code § 544(a)
Implementation records should capture loss event, damage basis, insurer or owner determination, title/salvage certificate status, vehicle identity, and any dismantler, repair, parts, or recycling pathway.
For Minespider, this term should support US state salvage-chain evidence while preserving the boundary between salvage status and legal end-of-life/waste status in other jurisdictions.