What are my options ???

Question

I WAS INVOLVED IN 3 CAR ACCIDENT. NOT MY FAULT. FOUND OUT TODAY THAT MY CAR WILL BE " totaled". I OWE ROUGHLY 21K AND BECAUSE I HAVE 99K MILES ON CAR WILL ONLY RECEIVE 10, 500 FOR ACTUAL VALUE. WHAT OPTIONS DO I HAVE? I DON'T BELIEVE I HAVE GAP INSURANCE. CAR IS FINANCED THRU CAPITAL ONE AUTO. ANY HELP ???????

Answer 1

Option 1: get an offer from the adverse carrier
Option 2: call Capital One and see if they will do a 'substitution of collateral'
Option 2: call Capital One and make payment arrangements

The value of your car is the value of your car and there is nothing you can do to change that. You didn't give the year of your vehicle but I assume it's about 7-8 years old, and if its not you are way over mileage, and mileage seriously impacts the value of a vehicle regardless of age.

Answer 2

Although it varies from state to state - generally -by law - a car is deemed a total loss when the cost to repair the car (including parts and labor) equals or exceeds 75% of the cars value.

Therefore, if the car has a value of 10,555 - 75% is 7875.00
If the estimate is over 7875.00 you can't force the ins co to fix the car - b/c by law they are not allowed to.

Ask the insurance company to show you how they got the figures on your vehicle. The "book value" that we use is the NADA. Their web site is www.nadaguides.com. The web site value does vary from the hard copy value sometimes but not by much. Check the value of your car on the NADA web site/

The insurance company can also give you something for tax, tag and title + the value of the car. See if that is included in their 10,500 offer. \

By owing more than the car is worth - you are "upside down". It's not uncommon to see that happen but when it does it's usually by only a few thousand not by 10,000. Have you made late payments or miss payments? Did you roll the balance of a prior car note into this loan? You may want to see if you can figure out how you got this bad upside down so it does not happen again. If you have been a good customer - then your lender may do a substitution of collateral - roll the overage into the next car note - becareful - if they do that you could end up upside down again.

Was the accident only 1 cars fault or 2 cars? If it was 2 cars fault - then the insurance company may have made an offer based on a % of negligence they feel their driver owes and not an offer of 100%.

If you have collision on your vehicle (and you should since its financed). Put in a claim with your company. See what kind of offer they would make to settle under your collision coverage. They may be able to do better than 10,500. Once they settle with you and sell the salvage - they will subrogate the other carrier. This means they will ask the other company to pay them back what they paid + your deductible.

Given the difference between the offer and the balance owed- I'd highly recommend that you talk with an adjuster at your company.

Answer 3

AD is on the money; read it and study it; i was a auto adjuster for 10 years;

there is a "misnomer" that the insurance company pays replacement value on autos; in homeowners it does if you have the coverage, but not auto;

there is 1 exception to that rule if you have replacement value on a "new " car; that exception is usually for 12 months with either a 12K or 15K max; if for instance, at 10 months, you have 15,200 miles, you would not have replacement cost anymore, but ACV.
auto insurance with your own company or the at faults company only owe acv; actual cash value pre=accident; the insurance company is bound by laws that they must comply by;

my guess is that you bought this auto at a buy here, pay here; i worked in a sub standard auto insurance company who most of our insureds were high risk and had no credit, so the only place they could buy from was a buy here, pay here; not only do they charge exorbitant interest rates, but they charge way too much for the cars; if you cant get credit and need a car, what are you going to do;

case in point; my 32 yo daughter when she was 19 bought a 1989 dodge shadow for $7k in 1994; they charged her 21% interest on the loan; i checked nada and found out the car was only worth $3,500; i explained to her that if she was in a accident, the insurance company would only pay her $3,500 and she would owe the credit company $3,500 balance; fortunately for her, my husband is an attorney and he wrote a letter to all of the board of directors about this; the car company called her back and took back the car and refunded her $500 deposit; this was all done w/in 3 days of purchase;
from that day forward she verified the "real value of an auto before purchasing it;

my suggestion; call your insurance company for your value like AD said for a comparision;

call capital one to see if you have gap;

the mileage could be the real reason for the low value; the avg mileage used in valuations is between 10 to 12 K per year; most of us drive closure to 15k a year so the 1st few years are killers on deducting value; when i had a 96 civiv and had 90K mileage and it was only 4 or 5 years old, i found out if i had totaled it, the deduction for the high mileage was over 2K;

going to court will not change anything; you are still only owed ACV for your auto;

Answer 4

About your only option, depending on your coverage is to potentially file suit against the driver who's fault it was to try to recoup some of the gap.
2 things I don't understand - 1. How could you owe $21k on a car that is only worth $10.5k? and 2. Your insurance company's definition of totalling a car should be replacement value of the car unless you have an "agreed value" - if the latter, then you have a problem as you've decided on how much they pay out in an event such as this...good luck!

Answer 5

You will continue to pay the remaning balance of the loan until it's paid in full. Whether your car is tototaled or not, you still owe Cpaital One the money. Big price to pay for not having gap coverage, huh?

Answer 6

IF IT IS LEGALY DOCUMENTED BY THE POLICE REPORT THAT IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT, YOU DO HAVE ANOTHER OPTION!

Listen... Insurance companies LOVE to just total cars so they won't pay you the full total.

Go to your local car repair shops and get some estimates on how much your car would cost to get fixed... GO TO MORE THAN ONE SHOP! (They can tell you if it's worth repairing also...it might not be)

second, get prices of how much cars just like yours cost from various credible sources and take all of that to the insurance company. If they refuse to pay you more... tell them you'll see them in court. (but make sure the car CAN BE FIXED first)...
They know what they are doing...they don't think you'll fight them. Have your evidence there in front of them "look this is how much the car is worth and i have this many sources saying it."

I had a 86 monte carlo and it was worth about 11k they tried to total it and we said no and got prices and did what i told you to do and they said ok and didnt total it, they fixed it...

I can't promise the same thing will go for you but please first go to the car repair shops and get estimates written and signed on paper that has their company name on it. They will be honest with you. I advise you get 3 or 4 quotes.

Keep several pictures of the car with you to show to the shops also. Take detailed pictures. anything you can think of; even under the car.

They will help you :) good luck.

Answer 7

on a car that you even THINK you may be upside down on, GAP, GAP, and GAP some more....mine was $600 total....
$600<$11,500

Answer 8

Take a deep breath, maybe