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Car Totaled!! Insurance won't cover all, HELP!!! (1 Viewer)

Beau B

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
147
Hello to all, I have a BIG Problem. I was in a accident last week and just found out my car is totaled. The other driver had no insurance. It was his fault. My insurance is State Farm, and they only want to give me $10,000 for my car and I owe $16,000 on it.

What are my options? I need a car for my job [Pizza Guy]

What will my bank make me do, pay all at once or make same payments for the car until paid off?

Will they take less money knowing car is totaled?
Will they give me another loan and just tack on the rest of my other balance to a new car?

I can't afford 2 different car payments. My bank now is National City in Northwest Indiana.

Thanks to all

Beau
 

Holadem

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2000
Messages
8,967
I lost $5000 that way 2 years ago, in that same situation. Only that I had taken measures to avoid: I paid for GAP Insurance (forgot what it stands for) which pays the difference between what the insurance company reimbourses and the market value of the car from the KBB I believe.

I ended up loosing $5000 for 2 reasons:

1- I overpaid on the car to begin with: what I owed on the car at the moment of the accident which occured 2 month after the purchase was $4000 more than the market value. I hadn't done my homework.

2- I lost the last $1000 because the GAP company went belly up after the accident :rolleyes

You are situation #1. You didn't necessarely overpay, but the fact is that the amount left on the loan is higher than current market value of the car. Insurance companies pay the latter, not the former, they could care less about how much you borrowed. They pay what the car is worth according to the KBB. If the difference between that worth and your loan balance is a whopping $6000, I suspect you also overpaid onthe vehicle. [EDIT]I forgot to mention that very fast depreciation on certain brands can account for such a difference

That has been my experience, I sincerly hope your turns out differently.
Good luck.
--
Holadem
 

DonnyD

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 12, 1999
Messages
1,145
Good luck with your situation..... State Farm is notorious for UNDERPAYING claims on property damage. Being in the remodeling/home repair business, we have lots of business with insurance companies and we simply loathe several of them, especially STATE FARM. They always low ball and also try to send their clients to someone who'll work for what they will pay and the client usually gets shoddy work out of it.
We also had a State Farm agent here who ADDED extras to claims and pocketed the money.

You do need to look into sueing and getting judgement against the uninsured driver you collided with and perhaps in the long run you'll get a little money out of it to help with your excess. If that driver works..... then you'll get something but it will be up to you to pursue it.
 

Michael*K

Screenwriter
Joined
May 24, 2001
Messages
1,806
There can be a big difference between what people owe on cars and what the market value is. A car's biggest depreciation is in its first year, so if you get into an accident the first year or two, you can be left holding the bag for the difference.

As for the people that plan on coming here ripping State Farm, I've had a homeowner's claim and several auto claims over the years and I've NEVER had a problem with them. The estimates were more than fair and in fact, a few times I actually wound up making money by pocketing the difference. :D
 

Shawn Sefranek

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 30, 1998
Messages
258
Beau B,

Give us a little info on the model and condition of the car and we might be able to offer suggestions.

As mentioned before, GAP insurance covers the “gap” in value between what the car is worth and what you borrowed.
It’s primarily used when purchasing a NEW car if you finance 90% or more.
For instance you buy a fancy SUV for 35,000-dollars plus tax and get a 5-year loan.
After 12 months if you’re lucky your shiny new truck is only worth about 25-26 thousand.
But because of interest, your 34,000-dollar loan still has a balance of about 30,000 dollars.
If your vehicle were stolen or totaled your GAP insurance would pay the difference.

If you purchased the car used and it’s an older vehicle your best bet is to try and argue the value up a bit if you can prove the condition of the car.
I went through this a few years back when my wife’s car was stolen and totaled.
The insurance only offered me WHOLESALE value for the payoff.
Since I can’t buy a replacement car at wholesale I though they should pay more.
I opened up the phone book and contacted every Chevrolet dealer within 50-miles of me to determine what the car was worth if it were on their lot.
After gathering the info I sent a 25-page FAX to the agent and told them to call me.
While I still didn’t get the full RETAIL value of the car I was able to up the payoff by over 3,000-dollars which helped towards the cost of a replacement vehicle.

Shawn S
 

Beau B

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
147
Yes I overpaid for the car. I was upside down from car before this one. The car is a 2000 Dodge Stratus. Blue Book is $10,500. I just wantto know options for when I go get a New car.

Will a Bank add the difference to a new loan? Do I have to use my same bank for the next car or will I need to get a loan with someone else?
 

Patrick Sun

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1999
Messages
39,660
On the flipside, I was one of the classic cases of driving a car for 12 years, and then bought a newer car and wrecked that newer car within a month. The wreck was not my fault. I had paid cash for the newer car, so I wasn't upsidedown on the car. My insurance company was State Farm, and they paid me $1000 more than what I'd paid for the car (they wound up going though abrogration with the insurance company of the guy who hit me head on to get the money), plus my $250 deductible as well. So I took the money, and got the same model, but one year younger (a 2 year old car vs. the older 3 year old car, or roughly 11,000 less miles on the newer car). Then I took the medical settlement money and bought a RPTV with it back in 1996.
 

Tim Markley

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 12, 1999
Messages
1,279
I think that you should contact an Attorney. You should be able to get a free consultation with one to go over your options. If the accident was the other drivers fault, then you should be able to easily win a court case against them for the amount of money that you're losing out on from your car. Good luck!
 

Philip Hamm

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 23, 1999
Messages
6,874
If the accident was the other drivers fault, then you should be able to easily win a court case against them for the amount of money that you're losing out on from your car. Good luck!
Yeah, but the chances of actually collecting that money are between zero and none. Consider that this driver wasn't even insured.
 

Chris Shelly

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 16, 2001
Messages
274
Back in 1997 I bought a brand new SUV. It was about $30,000. 2 months after I bought it I got into a nasty car accident. It was a complicated situation. 5 different witnesses telling 5 different stories and the police could not make anything out of it. As I was driving through an intersection the light went from green to yellow. A lady was on the opposite side stopped in the middle of the intersection waiting to turn left. It was one of those left turn must yield kind of deals. As soon as the light turned yellow she pulled out in front of me and smash. In the end we both got tickets. I got a speeding ticket (Why I don't know I was not speeding) and she got a ticket for failing to yield for incoming traffic. After traffic court She managed to get out of her ticket but I only got mine reduced to $25. I thought I had lost this one. After 10 months my insurance company ruled in my favor.

Because I was upside down about $5,000 I borrowed money from my folks to pay off the car loan. I could not finance another car unless I paid the first one off. Like you I went upside down and around and around with my insurance company. They are only obligated to pay the blue book value.

When the accident was ruled in my favor I promptly hired a lawyer and sued this lady for the difference plus another $5,000 for damages. During the investigation my insurance premiums doubled plus I had to come up with the down payment for another vehicle. It never went to trial and 30 days later I got a check for $10,000.

I finely won this one but it was the worst 12 months of my life.

Chris
 

Clinton McClure

Rocket Science Department
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When I was in high school, my dad was rearended and his truck totalled (IE: rolled 3.5 times and stopped upside down in a 4' ditch) by a motorist who was not only speeding (75 in a 35) but was also intoxicated. My dad's insurance was Shelter and the other guy's insurance company was State Farm (who kept dragging their feet on the whole deal). Finally 2 months later, after not only offering $2000 less than KBB value of the truck, refusing to cooperate with our insurance company's inquries as to why they were doing so, AND refusing to pay my dad's medical bills from the accident, OUR insurance company paid my dad full KBB value, his medical bills, plus a little extra for his trouble and sued State Farm who had to pay everything mentioned above back to our insurance company plus all court costs. Luckily we've never had to deal with those pirates again.
 

Ryan Wright

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Messages
1,875
I have State Farm. I've had a vehicle totaled (also not my fault). Some tips:

1. Drag it out. Drag it out as long as possible. They don't like that. I let mine go for a month before finally agreeing to a settlement and got much more for it than their initial offer.

2. Don't play their stupid bullshit games. In my case, we were dealing with a much older car - a 1985 Pontiac Fiero. Mine was in pristine condition and had less than 20k miles on a new 3.1l engine - as opposed to the 2.8 that came stock. They promptly went out and looked up ads for 4 cylinder Fieros in ragged condition ($500 - $1500). Real value on my car was closer to $4k. I printed out dozens of ads showing cars similar to mine to prove what it would cost to replace my car.

After putting all of this work in, I was told "Asking prices don't mean a thing." They refused to look at the information. I told them "Like hell they don't", made a scene, and generally made the claims adjuster's life as difficult as possible.

See, they like to side-step any law or regulation they can. They'll tell you one thing and then when it looks like you're winning, they change their tune real quick and suddenly none of your information means a damn because of some technicality. She (the adjuster I delt with) continued telling me "This is all I can give you" and blaming it on her boss, complaining that she would "get in trouble" if she gave me any more for the car, etc. I told her to go get this so-called boss and I would talk to him directly, then. Don't play the "I'd love to give you more but some unknown person won't let me" game. It's the same game they play at the car dealership and it's a joke. If I can't get results with the person I'm working with due to some unknown person, then I demand to speak directly with the unknown person. Just refuse to deal with the idiot who claims to have no responsibility or say in the process, and you'll find them suddenly more flexible.

State Farm's initial offer to me was in the mid $1000 price range. In the end, I got just under $4k for my car. Just be a hard ass about it. Don't concede anything to them or do them any favors, because they're not looking out for your interests and will screw you in a second if they think they can get away with it.
 

Jon_Are

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2001
Messages
2,036
If I can't get results with the person I'm working with due to some unknown person, then I demand to speak directly with the unknown person.
My feelings exactly, Ryan. If the person I'm dealing with "can't make that decision", my response is always, "then why am I talking to you?"

Best of luck, Beau.

Jon
 
E

Eric Kahn

do not settle for what they want to give you, tell them to buy you another car just like the one you had and you will take that
also you should start looking for another insurance co, state farm is going to raise your rates through the roof now
so be prepared
 

Ashley Seymour

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 29, 2000
Messages
938
You basically still have a loan with the bank for $6,000. It is no longer secured by title to a vehicle and is unsecured. Your insurance company will cut a check payable to you and the bank, or just the bank. Just continue making payments. However, the bank can make demand upon you because the loan is no longer secured. Of course they are the ones who over loaned to begin with so neither of you are in a strong bargaining position.

If you can't afford this option, then after you fail to make payments for several months the bank may agree to settle for a percentage of what is owed, say 50% if you are lucky. The bad part is that your credit is damaged by the payments you missed, or if they settle right away, it shows on your credit report as the bank settling for less than the amount owed.

Will the bank finance a new car for you with the $6,000 tacked on? Maybe if you explain that you will have to skip making payments for awhile till you can afford to start making small payments on the $6,000 balance. You are not in the best negotiating position.

My daughter tried to park our Taurus under a van on a street a few years ago and totled the Taurus. We got full NADA retail (we don't use Kelly here). Actually I got better because the air conditioning had just gone out and it was late spring. I was just about to spend $1,000 to have it fixed which if I were selling it would have reduced the value by that much. Of course the adjuster never took the time to check out that system.

I think all the advice about arguing up the value of the vehicle won't do much good. If you have a rig with a newer engine, or can demonstrate that it should sell for more than retail then give it a try. Around here 4 wheel drive pick-ups sell for premiums above NADA retail. Pay $6,000 for an older used truck that has a high book of $4,500 will get you upside down pretty quick. But if most of the used 4 wheel drives go for that kind of premium, then you have a bit of work to do to convince the adjuster.
 

Beau B

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
147
I was also injured in the accident. Not real bad but still had to go to E.R. for my workmans comp claim. If they will not give me enough to pay the car off, should they be paying me for pain and suffering. I also missed 2 days of work, are they liable for that as well? I also had extended warranty on the engine and transmission and had about 500.00 worth of acid wax, scotch guard, undercoating, and rustproffing done as well. Will my insurance pay for this as well?

Thanks again to all

Beau
 

Mike H

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 10, 1999
Messages
76
Number one thing here is get a lawyer. Number two is try to find ads for a comparable car to yours. Look everywhere, newspaper, autotrader, anywhere you can find an ad for cars.

Find out how much it would really take to replace your car. Make sure the cars are in at least as good shape as yours if not better. Also, do you have uninsured motorist coverage? I'd consider talking to the lawyer about filing a claim against that policy if you have it.

Mike
 

Sebastian

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 14, 2002
Messages
361
Unfortunately Beau I think insurance companies by law only have to pay out what the car is worth and not it's actual resale value. I think the KBB is the guideline they use. I totaled my car two years ago and my insurance only gave me $4000 minus the deductible. I could have sold it for $5000-&6000 according to auto trader. It was paid for, so I was not too upset.
Anyway good luck and try consulting a lawyer and see if you can sue the guy. It may take 2-3 years before you get any money though.
 

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