Although being in an accident where your car is declared a total loss can cause your insurance premiums to increase, the incident doesn’t affect your credit. The only way a totaled car would impact your credit score is if the reimbursement from your insurance company for the total loss vehicle wasn’t enough to cover your outstanding car loan and you failed to make the required payments. If you miss payments on your loan, even if you no longer have the car and it’s been totaled, the lender will report the late payments to the credit bureaus. Missed payments can cause significant damage to your credit.