Our Corolla is $700 away from being totaled

[Bertha Venation]

Dammit! Due to a part having to be replaced (couldn't be repaired) and some pricing "adjustments," the damages now come to $8000. The Allstate guy said that's about 65% damages-to-value (is that the way you say it?), and Maryland requires that a car be totaled when it reaches 75%.

When the Allstate guy was leaving the body shop, the Guys were about to put on the new wheel & tire and check the alignment. They'd've called him if there was damage to the frame, and he hasn't heard anything - and this was Thursday and he's heard nothing. No news is good news, right. I hope no news doesn't mean the Guys have been on a break for three days.

I don't know what happens when a car is totaled. How would we get a new car? Whatever insurance paid us would have to go to pay off the loan. :(

[lizziegrace]

1. You start over

new (to you) car and a new car loan once the old one is paid off. I think my car is worth less than I owe. That's a scary place to be. :(

[Bertha Venation]

7. damm...

...that's a lousy place to be in. :hug: :hug:

[lizziegrace]

8. It is

:hug:

[TZ]

2. part of your insurance I think pays off the loan...

Thats why a car thats still being paid for is more expensive to insure than a car thats paid off..
I then think they would give you the blue book value of your car towards getting a new one. I think.
But I do know that if your car is totalled the insurance pays off the loan...
In some ways, I think you are better off if they total the car. With that much damage, I doubt your car will ever quite be the same again.

[Bertha Venation]

3. Insurance pays off the loan?

That's good to know. Will they also give me enough for the down payment on a new car? :rofl: I don't think I added that to the policy . . .

[lizziegrace]

5. The insurance company will probably make the check payable to you

and the lienholder. You endorse it and it's sent to the company holding the loan and title.

I think that's how it works...

If you have improvements to the car (recent repairs, new tires, etc.), you might be able to negotiate a little more with the adjuster. YMMV.

:hug:

edited to add: If the money paid doesn't pay off the loan, you're responsible for the balance to clear the title and pay the loan off.

[LynzM]

9. Only if you have gap insurance.

At least, that's how it worked when we insured Z's new-er car...

[quakerboy]

11. Depends on the insurance you have

My policy is market value of my car, market value(plus any extra needed for payoff) of my wifes car.

[PeaceNikki]

4. Totally inaccurate.

They do not pay off your loan AND give you cash. They pay out the car's value. If you owe more than it's worth, you owe the balance. If you're left with $30 after the loan is paid, that's what you're left with.

[TZ]

6. It depends on the insurance loan

When I got my new car 6 years ago, I got what was called "bridge" insurance...That covered the difference between what I owed on the car and what the car was worth, so if my car had been totalled I would still have been reimbursed.
Maybe its the particular policy I have, I do pay a bit more than most..but I do know there is a reason that insurance IS higher on cars with loans..yeah they give the customer/client what is the difference but they pay off the loan technically, otherwise clients with totalled cars would basically have no reimbursement for a new car if you are only so far through a loan.

[suninvited]

10. It depends on who was at fault

you must be made "whole" if it was not your fault. Demand that you are if the other persons liability is covering the damage. Don't settle for the first offer, you have the upper hand. And do mention how your neck is hurting while talking with them !

[TreasonousBastard]

12. "The Guys" have no incentive to call him about bent frames...

since then you would get a check for the value of the car and they would not get paid for the overpriced work they did on it.

Happened to me years ago when someone ran a stop sign and took off a large part of the front of my car. The repairs, figuring new parts, came to just under the book value of the thing and they "fixed" it, even though it never ran the same and I junked it with one payment left to go.

Needless to say, one look at the "new" parts told yet another story...

Now, if they did the right thing it would have been a total loss and they would have gotten a hundred bucks or so for talking to the adjuster and the scrap value of the car, not almost 4,000 bucks in repairs.

[Adsos Letter]

13. This happened to our Nissan Maxima last night...

and I'm PRAYING they total it... :scared:

[madrchsod]

14. nope--it`s repairable

[Bertha Venation]

15. dear god! are you okay?

:hug: