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Valuing the loss

Frame damage and resale value

What counts as frame damage on a modern car, why auctions and certified pre-owned programs treat it differently, and why no flat percentage holds up.

Last reviewed 2026-09-238 min read

The short answer

Frame or structural damage costs more at resale than cosmetic damage because it changes who will buy the car. Auctions require it to be announced, some certified pre-owned programs exclude it outright, and buyers who see it on a history report walk away. No reliable study puts a single percentage on it, so treat any flat figure with suspicion.

"Frame damage" is one of the most expensive entries a history report can carry, short of a branded title. It is also widely misunderstood, because most cars built in the last few decades do not have a frame in the old sense.

What frame damage means on a modern car

Most passenger cars and crossover SUVs are unibody vehicles. The body shell and the structure are built as one unit, so there is no separate ladder frame underneath. Kelley Blue Book and Carfax both describe unibody construction as the norm for modern cars. Trucks and some large SUVs still use a separate frame.

On a unibody car, "frame damage" really means damage to a structural part of the body. The National Auto Auction Association (NAAA), whose arbitration guidelines many US wholesale auctions adopt, including Manheim, defines structural damage as damage to the structure or a structural component of the vehicle, and notes that it is "often referred to as frame damage."

The NAAA guidelines treat these as structural when they are permanently damaged:

  • Frame rails and the floor pan
  • Aprons (the inner fender structure at the front)
  • Inner wheelhouses
  • Pillars, including the D pillar and, depending on the manufacturer, the C pillar area

Two parts that people often assume are structural are not, on their own. Under the same guidelines, a damaged or replaced radiator core support or rear body panel does not require a structural disclosure, unless the damage extends into the structure they attach to.

The guidelines also set a measurement test. A vehicle's structure is expected to be within 8 millimeters of the manufacturer's published dimensions.

How to tell from your repair invoice

Look for any of these words on the estimate or final invoice:

  • Rail, apron, pillar, floor pan, wheelhouse
  • Sectioning (cutting out and replacing part of a structural panel)
  • Frame machine, frame pull or bench time
  • Measure or measuring charges, which usually mean the shop checked the structure against factory dimensions

If you see them, you are dealing with structural repair, whatever the adjuster called it on the phone.

Where it shows up

Carfax reports "structural damage" when the main structure, or a component designed to give the vehicle its structural integrity, was damaged. Its glossary gives damage to the frame or unibody as the example.

AutoCheck has an entry called "Auction Announced as Frame Damage," which means a wholesale auction reported it. That wording matters, because it tells you where many of these records come from: the auction lane.

If your accident has not reached either report yet, read when an accident shows up on Carfax before you do anything else.

Why it costs more than other damage

Much of the drop comes from the sales channels a structurally repaired car gets shut out of.

Auctions have to announce it

When you trade in a car, the dealer either sells it on their lot or sends it to a wholesale auction, and they price your trade-in against what it would bring there.

The NAAA arbitration guidelines require sellers to disclose structural damage, structural alterations, and structural repairs or replacements, "certified or non-certified," regardless of sales channel. So a correctly repaired car is still announced. If the seller fails to announce it, the buying dealer can usually file for arbitration within about seven days of the sale.

Manheim, the Cox Automotive auction business, applies the same rule. Its post-sale inspection policy says structural damage must be announced under the NAAA guidelines, and announced damage is not covered by the post-sale inspection.

In practice, the car crosses the block with a structural announcement, and dealers bid knowing they will have to disclose it to their own customers. One caveat: NAAA does not enforce these guidelines itself. Each auction adopts them in whole or in part.

Some certified pre-owned programs exclude it

Certified pre-owned status lets a dealer charge more for a used car. Several manufacturer programs rule out frame damage:

  • Stellantis, the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler group, lists "No frame damage" among the qualification standards for its FCA Certified program.
  • Hyundai requires a non-branded title with no frame damage shown on a Carfax report. Its brochure says repairs that did not affect the frame may still qualify.
  • Ford runs a Carfax report on every candidate and lists frame damage among the things it checks, though its page stops short of saying frame damage disqualifies a car.

When a car cannot be certified, a dealer loses the ability to sell it at a certified price. That cost gets passed back to whoever is trading it in.

Private buyers read the same report

A private buyer who sees "structural damage" on a Carfax report has plenty of clean cars to choose from. Many simply move on. The ones who stay expect a discount large enough to make the risk feel worth taking.

So how much does it cost?

Plenty of sites quote a confident number here. Most of them cannot show where it came from.

What published data exists. In a March 2022 release, Carfax estimated that damage history lowers a vehicle's value by about $300 wholesale and $400 retail on average, rising to nearly $1,200 wholesale and $1,500 retail for severe damage. Carfax's later consumer pages give different severe-damage averages: $2,100 in February 2025 and $1,700 in July 2025. None of these figures isolates frame damage, and all of them average across every age and price of vehicle, so older and cheaper cars pull the average down.

What does not exist. We could not find any published study, auction dataset or industry report that puts a reliable percentage on frame damage specifically. Figures such as "30 to 50 percent" appear on appraiser and repair-shop blogs without any data behind them. They may be right for some cars and badly wrong for others.

What the insurer will use. The 17c formula that many insurers open with treats "severe structural damage" as its highest damage multiplier. That sounds generous until you remember the formula caps the whole loss at 10% of the car's value before reducing it again for mileage.

What actually tells you. The most persuasive evidence is the market for your own car. Search listings for your exact year, model and trim. Separate the ones that disclose an accident from the clean ones, adjust for mileage, and compare the prices. If you can find listings that disclose structural damage, even better. Our general guide to value after an accident walks through the other factors that move the number.

Repair quality matters more here than anywhere

Structural repair is where a shortcut does the most harm, and it is also where the manufacturer's rules are strictest. Some examples from published manufacturer and I-CAR guidance:

  • Stellantis says that if heat is used to straighten high-strength or ultra-high-strength steel, the part must be replaced.
  • I-CAR notes that sectioning a structural part is only allowed when the vehicle maker's repair information supports it.
  • I-CAR's best practice is that parts made of very high-strength steel should be replaced only at factory seams, unless the maker says otherwise.
  • Some fasteners and parts are one-time use and cannot be reused once removed.

A structural repair that ignored these rules can be found later by a knowledgeable inspector, and it gives the next buyer a reason to walk away or pay less. Ask your shop for the repair procedures it followed and a copy of the post-repair measurement printout. Our guide to how collision repair affects resale value covers parts, paint and paperwork in more detail.

If the damage was someone else's fault

Structural repair is one of the biggest drivers of a diminished value claim, and it is the part the insurer's formula understates most.

  1. Get the invoice lines. Highlight every structural item listed above. Your demand should name them.
  2. Check the history report. Confirm that the accident is on it and see whether it is recorded as structural damage.
  3. Run the numbers. The calculator asks directly whether there was structural or frame repair and weights it accordingly. The methodology shows how.
  4. Consider an appraisal if the car is newer or valuable. Structural claims often run large enough that a licensed diminished value appraisal pays for itself.

If the repair came close to the total-loss threshold, read diminished value vs total loss. Cars repaired just under that line tend to produce the largest claims.

Sources

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