How do I make them pay?

Question

I was on a car accident, an idiot ran a red light and t boned me. My car was totaled - first time- When the cops took the statements they told me the ther driver accepted running the light plus there was a witness. My concern is this, what if the insurance tells me my car is worth say $5K when I still owe $8K
I did not need to buy a car,
In sum, how do I make them pay $, how do I better protect myself against his insurance and mine?

Answer 1

Wow, horrible answers so far.

Look.. let me make it perfectly clear... lawyer or not.. suing or not.. you will NEVER EVER get more then the actual cash value of your car.... they dont owe you legally what you owe on the loan.

Let me explain.. right now you have a 8k loan on a car worth 5k.. if you pay the 5k.... you will have to roll over the amount onto a new loan.

So.. if this new car you get is worth 5k... you again have a loan of 8k for a 5k car... so how are they making the situation worse for you? Youd still be upside down 3k in a loan.

If they paid off your loan fully.. youd profit from this. Rigth now you are upside down 3k on a loan.. for your new car (seeing that you got the same car.. worth 5k) you wouldnt be upside any! How is that fair?

Again... the people who are saying to get lawyers etc... or uneducated in this field. You will NEVER get more then the car is worth.

Take this as a lesson to make better financial choices.

Answer 2

Unfortunately there's probably not a lot that you can do. The other driver's legal liability is the fair market value of your vehicle immediately prior to impact. If you are upside down on your note then you'll still owe the remaining $3,000 and there's little chance that the other driver or their insurance company (or your insurance company) can be compelled to pay the difference. You MIGHT be able to negotiate a little extra out of them, but don't bank on it.

The only way to protect yourself if you are upside down on a car note is to purchase GAP insurance. That will cover you for the difference between your note and the FMV of the vehicle. Many insurance companies offer this as an optional coverage and most lenders also sell it separately or include it in the note automatically. If you do have GAP coverage, file a claim with the insurance carrier and they will pay up to the difference between the note and FMV or the policy limits, whichever is lower

Answer 3

As others have stated, Blue Book value is what the company is going to pay, period. However, you might have one very small ace up your sleeve.

Your own insurance company may use a different Blue Book that has a higher value, and if so, you can opt to go through your own insurance, after which your company will subrogate for the full damage cost against the at-fault driver's company. However, the downside to this is two-fold.

First, you would have to pay your Collision deductible, though your insurance company would include your part in the subrogation package in order for the other company to pay you back as well.
Second, the subrogation process can sometimes take months for you and your company to get paid in full. Ultimately, it's simply much less of a pain to take what the other insurance company is offering.

Answer 4

Just because you owe more for the car than what its worth is not your insurance companies fault. They usually give you going market value for that vehicle at the time.

Answer 5

You cannot make them pay more than your car is worth. It's not their fault if you made a bad deal....

Answer 6

if your car was totaled, the insurance company will pay you the blue book value of the car.. you can fight them to get more.. but good luck..