Matching every listing to its model year's rollover rating, then checking what share carry a salvage or rebuilt title.
| Rollover rating | Branded titles | Listings |
|---|---|---|
| 3 stars | 4.38% | 11,148 |
| 4 stars | 6.94% | 81,039 |
| 5 stars | 11.05% | 11,795 |
It isn't a price effect
The obvious objection is that five-star cars are cheap cars, and cheap cars get written off more easily. So the same comparison, split by price band:
Between $5,000 and $10,000: 2.99% at three stars, 9.55% at five. Between $10,000 and $20,000: 4.92% against 12.45%. Above $20,000: 4.38% against 10.53%.
The pattern holds everywhere, so it isn't about the money.
What a five-star rollover score actually measures
Rollover resistance is essentially the ratio of a vehicle's centre of gravity to its track width. Low and wide scores well; tall and narrow scores badly. That's why pickups take three stars or fewer 38.4% of the time against 2.8% for cars.
So five stars for rollover is, in practice, a label meaning "this is a low car".
And low cars get totalled more readily. They sit closer to the ground with less structure between the bodywork and the road, they're cheaper to begin with so the write-off threshold arrives sooner, and their damage more often reaches structural components rather than bolt-on panels.
The tall vehicle that scores three stars for rollover is expensive, body-on-frame and economic to repair. It survives what would total a saloon.
Two ratings measuring opposite things
That's the useful reading. The rollover star tells you how unlikely the vehicle is to tip over. It says nothing about how it fares in the collisions that actually happen — and by proxy, it flags the cars most likely to be written off in one.
Neither number is wrong. They just answer different questions, and only one appears on the listing.
What to do
Don't read a high rollover score as durability. It's a geometry measurement, not a survivability one.
On low cars, check the title harder. At 11.05% it's roughly one in nine — and the models topping the branded-title tables are exactly these, as we found in one in five Crosstreks has been rebuilt.
Read the crash scores separately. The overall star averages three tests, and frontal impact runs 0.6 stars behind side impact.
A VIN check returns title status in seconds — the one thing the star rating will never tell you.
Frequently asked questions
Do cars with five-star rollover ratings get written off more?
Yes — 11.05% of their listings carry a branded title against 4.38% for three-star vehicles. The pattern holds in every price band, so it isn't an effect of cheap cars being written off more easily.
Why would a safer-rated car be written off more often?
A five-star rollover score effectively means a low car. Low vehicles sit closer to the road with less structure absorbing impacts, cost less so the write-off threshold arrives sooner, and their damage more often reaches structural components.
What does the rollover rating actually measure?
The ratio of centre of gravity to track width — geometry, not durability. Low and wide scores well, tall and narrow scores badly, which is why pickups take three stars or fewer 38.4% of the time against 2.8% for cars.
Should I avoid cars with high rollover ratings?
No, but check the title before buying. At roughly one in nine carrying a branded title, the score tells you nothing about whether that specific car has been written off and rebuilt.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
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