Totaled or Totalled

I don't understand how anyone could "total" a car. It doesn't make sense. The spelling is easy, though. If the stress is on the first syllable of a disyllabic verb ending in an l preceded by a short vowel, the l is doubled in British English before ed and ing but remains unchanged in AmE:

travelled / traveled / travelling / traveling

totalled / totaled /

@ Cool Breeze

To "total" a car means that you were in an accident and the car is not repairable.

saying that your car is totaled is a shorter version of saying that your car is called a total loss.

Hi CB,

I had a couple of "toteled experiences" in my earlier days. When a vehicle suffered a collision and the physical damage, which requires x number of parts and Y numbers of labor hours for the repair, exceeds its market value, it's "totaled".

It came from the bottom line of the bodyshop estimate.

Cool BreezeI don't understand how anyone could "to

Cool Breeze... how anyone could "total" a car.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/total?show=3&t=1312762182


to make a total wreck of : demolish; specifically : to damage so badly that the cost of repairs exceeds the market value

Isn't it the vowel right before the l that needs to stressed for it to double, as in "occur >> occurring"?

As far as I know, the stress in total is on the "o", not the "a", so the l wouldn't be doubled in either Br or Am English…

The (American) dictionary link above shows both spellings, the single-l form first. I believe the double-l form would be more characteristic of British spelling.

CJ

Hello! The answer is "totaled."

The action of totalling a car is quite simple to understand: it's when something happens (usually an accident) that damages the car so badly that insurance companies call it a "TOTAL loss", hence totalled.

It could mean one of two things either it is wrecked beyond repiar or they repair cost is more than the vehicle's worth