To avoid an accident I swerved into a ditch and my front end slammed down. My radiator is hanging and I know somthing cracked cause I smelled it. I was 5min from home, was able to drive home and no air bags deployed. Hope likely is out that my car is repairable or does this mean total loss? It is a 2017 VW Passat
Keep in mind that "total loss" is very much an insurance term. Insurance companies have a criteria, usually proprietary, where if the damage as they assess it exceeds a certain percentage of the car's value, they term it "totaled" and offer you a settlement based on the market value of the car. Most people are under the mistaken belief that when they say "totaled" then you are bound to accept their deal and hand over the title to the car. (Also note that if you have a loan on the car, the lender may have a say in this as well, so in that case it's not necessarily up to you.)
Sometimes they total a car over some relatively insignificant damage and you may believe that you can repair it yourself or have it repaired and be on your way again. In that case you can request a settlement that is probably less than the car's market value, since they are not getting the car, and take the money and do what you will with it.
Some people take the first option and then "buy the car back" from the insurance company. That's also an option but it's a separate deal from the settlement. But when you do this, in almost all cases you get a "SALVAGE" title. This indicates to any future buyer that the car was totaled. If you take the second option you keep your original title and it will not say SALVAGE.
Now to your specific question: Only someone who knows auto repair can determine if it's repairable or not but generally unless the car looks as if it came out of a crushing machine, it's repairable. Either assess the damage yourself and get some quotes for parts and any repairs you cannot do yourself or take it to a shop you trust and get their estimate. Insurance companies usually have "adjusters" who will take a look, usually a quick look, and make an estimate. They may or may not be all that accurate.
I'll give you an example: My high-school aged daughter rear ended a school bus with her Ford Escape. The damage was pretty extensive but after looking it over I determined that all the damaged parts were bolt-on and I could fix it for not a lot more than my $1000 insurance deductible. So I ordered the parts and repaired the car for about $1100. The only thing I was unable to do myself was to paint the hood which came primed but not painted. So I took it to a local shop and had it painted to match.
All we well until she rear-ended someone else, but that's another story...
