New cars are far more complex than ever before, and with the rise in the use of new materials – hot pressed high tensile steel, aluminium, and composites – plus space age methods of joining them together, it’s becoming harder for the panel beater to easily repair.

It’s not as easy to cut out or remove a body part and replace it as it used to be , with increasing complexity and added technologies in newer vehicles hiking up the repair time and cost, says UK website Accident Exchange.

More than one in 10 collisions is now resulting in a write-off, says the website, with new cars “surprisingly susceptible”.

In the past year or so, more than two percent of vehicles written-off are less than 12-months old, says accidentexchange.com.

Liz Fisher, sales director at Accident Exchange, commented:  “A total loss generally indicates that a serious accident has taken place, and the research shows that they are perhaps more prevalent than anyone expects. Our analysis also highlights the staggering value of vehicles written-off annually.”

The website noted that the places on a car most vulnerable to crashes, such as bumpers and fenders, are often loaded with newer tech in the form of ultrasonic sensors, radar, and cameras.

The tech pieces are also attached to or embedded in an increasingly wide range of vehicle body materials, often chosen or designed to trim weight while maintaining strength, which further adds to the cost of repairs.

In fact, it is becoming so expensive to repair or replace damaged parts of cars in crashes that insurance companies are concerned that a car’s life cycle “tipping point” — when it’s a write-off — is coming sooner.

“Given how technology-laden and potentially expensive to repair cars have become, it doesn’t always require a huge impact to cause considerable damage,” says Accident Exchange’s director of operations Scott Hamilton-Cooper.

One specific problem with modern cars is that you can’t just chop out damaged panels because you might cut through a sensor or its wires.

As a result, for example, to replace the front wing on the current BMW 5 Series takes three times longer than on its predecessor, because first you’ve got to strip out the whole boot lid and disconnect all sorts of ECUs and batteries in it.

Another example was that you no longer patch up a bumper after a light impact, because the extra layers of paint and filler will affect the calibrations or performance of the sensors fitted to it – so you have to fit a new one.