70,000 "totalled"cars a year go to Ghana?

I heard on the radio today that many US vehicle that are “totaled” by the owners insurance company don’t in fact go to the junkyard for their parts, but instead are put on a big boat and transported to Ghana, and presumably “repaired” and put back on the road.

So when you insurance company says your fender-bender-ed 2007 Camry has been “totaled”, a write-off, in a week or two it may actually be in Ghana on the lift, being wrenched & readied for its second life.

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I suppose the bright side is the totaled cars are not on our roads.

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Good point. The radio program said the reason it’s economically feasible is b/c car repair work done in Ghana is much less expensive than in the USA, much lower wages for the mechanics etc. I expect there’s less-stringent rules for the acceptable emissions levels too. If the cat is bad for example maybe all they do is replace it w/a pipe, saving a good deal of money getting the car back on the road.