Lessons Learned - Automobile Insurance - any gouge?

[Randy Daytona]

Wife's new 2014 car was involved in accident - car #3 in a line of cars all sitting at a stoplight smashed accordion style by a 18 year old driving a truck (and possibly texting). Crunched in the rear, smashed in the side, dented up front. Wife is ok - was wearing her seat belt. May be a total loss - currently waiting on the assessor.

Thought my insurance was bulletproof: comprehensive, collision, liability, medical, replacement rental, towing. The one thing I did not have is new car replacement (gap) insurance. Has anybody experienced this and does anyone have any recommendations to recoup or negotiating the assessed value of the car? I really don't want to pay (beyond my deductible) on an accident that was not her fault. Also, if the car is repairable, there is something called "diminished value". Anybody have experience with that?

Lessons learned:
DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE
If you have a baby, make sure it is in a baby seat facing the rear.
Check your insurance - especially on a new car.

 

[707guy]

If you financed the car and bought gap insurance you're fine. Gap insurance is just what it sounds like - covers the "gap" between what you owe and what the insurance company will say the car is worth in this situation.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Wife's new 2014 car was involved in accident - car #3 in a line of cars all sitting at a stoplight smashed accordion style by a 18 year old driving a truck (and possibly texting). Crunched in the rear, smashed in the side, dented up front. Wife is ok - was wearing her seat belt. May be a total loss - currently waiting on the assessor.

Thought my insurance was bulletproof: comprehensive, collision, liability, medical, replacement rental, towing. The one thing I did not have is new car replacement (gap) insurance. Has anybody experienced this and does anyone have any recommendations to recoup or negotiating the assessed value of the car? I really don't want to pay (beyond my deductible) on an accident that was not her fault. Also, if the car is repairable, there is something called "diminished value". Anybody have experience with that?

Lessons learned:
DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE
If you have a baby, make sure it is in a baby seat facing the rear.
Check your insurance - especially on a new car.

I will call my dad and get some info for you, he found a place that does diminished value estimates and the place sounds legit, he is going through the entire issue of "my car was crunched", in my dads case brand new car, had it 3-4 weeks until a young woman failed to yield making a left turn and hit him head on causing 10K of damage.

 

[Spekkio]

Thought my insurance was bulletproof: comprehensive, collision, liability, medical, replacement rental, towing. The one thing I did not have is new car replacement (gap) insurance. Has anybody experienced this and does anyone have any recommendations to recoup or negotiating the assessed value of the car? I really don't want to pay (beyond my deductible) on an accident that was not her fault. Also, if the car is repairable, there is something called "diminished value". Anybody have experience with that?

If you don't have gap insurance, there's nothing you can do to get more than the assessed value of the car.

If the car is repairable, the most damages your insurance company can get from the other party is the immediate diminished value (resale value of your car before accident - resale value after accident). In no-fault states this will be multiplied by the % liability, usually not more than 80% even in a rear-ender but if you have independent witnesses you stand a better shot of raising that to 100%. Your car will then have an inherent diminished value because of the extensive repairs and your title may have to reflect that it was restored from a total loss.

Unless you know a good mechanic who can give you a substantial discount on repairs, it's not worth repairing a totaled car.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

try autoloss.com or diminishedvalue.com a friend of his used one of them and was able to get a better settlement, not a windfall, but the difference monetarily made it as if the accident hadn't occurred.

my dad is in the early stages so don't know what his end result will be.

 

[Wareal]

You can negotiate diminished value, and you should do so. I just helped a Warrant Officer through this process. If you need more information, PM me.

 

[RobLyman]

This just happened to me April 1st. Car two in front of me stopped quickly. Car in front of me swerved mostly out of the lane to the right and stopped with no contact. I rolled up normally and stopped behind the two infront of me. Then came a 4th car (BMW 328i) that screeched to a stop behind me moments before a 5th car (Chevy Cavalier) slammed into him, shoving his car into my car and pushing me forward. I caught the rear corner panel of the car in front of me and rolled into the back of the car two in front of me. Light paint scrape on the front of my car and the two in front of me. My car sustained $15,000 damage parts and labor, before beginning work (and discovering more damage). The two behind me were totalled, with air bag deployment.

USAA is my insurance company. Geico was the BMW's insurance. The Cavlier had no insurance. USAA did an appraisal. My car's value before the accident was $25,000. Diminished value was $16,500 - $20,000. I owed $26,000. I had no gap coverage. USAA called the car 'totalled'. I owe the difference (26k-25k = 1k) plus my deductible of $500. When purchasing a new car, USAA (in FL) refunds the lower of sales tax paid for original car or new car once you send in proof of purchase of a new car. This will be $1,551 for my case. USAA can (although I doubt they will) mitigate with Geico and/or the Cavilier driver to recover my $500 deductible.

My new car, financed through NFCU, has gap coverage through the loan for $199 over the life of the loan. Should this happen with the new car, I get 120% of the value of the vehicle before the accident. USAA also has a gap coverage of sorts, that gets you your deductible back if you are found not at fault.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

This just happened to me April 1st. Car two in front of me stopped quickly. Car in front of me swerved mostly out of the lane to the right and stopped with no contact. I rolled up normally and stopped behind the two infront of me. Then came a 4th car (BMW 328i) that screeched to a stop behind me moments before a 5th car (Chevy Cavalier) slammed into him, shoving his car into my car and pushing me forward. I caught the rear corner panel of the car in front of me and rolled into the back of the car two in front of me. Light paint scrape on the front of my car and the two in front of me. My car sustained $15,000 damage parts and labor, before beginning work (and discovering more damage). The two behind me were totalled, with air bag deployment.

USAA is my insurance company. Geico was the BMW's insurance. The Cavlier had no insurance. USAA did an appraisal. My car's value before the accident was $25,000. Diminished value was $16,500 - $20,000. I owed $26,000. I had no gap coverage. USAA called the car 'totalled'. I owe the difference (26k-25k = 1k) plus my deductible of $500. When purchasing a new car, USAA (in FL) refunds the lower of sales tax paid for original car or new car once you send in proof of purchase of a new car. This will be $1,551 for my case. USAA can (although I doubt they will) mitigate with Geico and/or the Cavilier driver to recover my $500 deductible.

My new car, financed through NFCU, has gap coverage through the loan for $199 over the life of the loan. Should this happen with the new car, I get 120% of the value of the vehicle before the accident. USAA also has a gap coverage of sorts, that gets you your deductible back if you are found not at fault.

you don't need gap insurance, if you go to autoloss.com they will do an appraisal of diminished value, then you file a separate claim with the at fault vehicles insurance, my dad is in the process of negotiating the amount he will get which is going to cover the diminished value.

after the accident I also talked to a guy I know who is a manager in auto claims with a major carrier, he said claims for diminished value are common and expected.

 

[RobLyman]

Yes, but in this case the at fault driver was uninsured(Cavalier). Gap in this case allows you to not only get what your vehicle was worth before the accident, but allows you the opportunity to buy another NEW vehicle. This can be important if your vehicle is less than a year old when it is totaled. AND... you will only get a rental car for a short period of time once your car has been ruled as totaled. Gap gets you back on the road with a comparable vehicle with a lot less hassle.

My time is worth too much to me to spend it litigating an uninsured motorist for vehicle damage. But if that is your thing, have at it.

Oh, and once the vehicle is totaled, you are worried about the actual value, not the diminished value. At that point, the car is no longer yours. You get the value of the car before the accident. If you owe more than the actual value of the vehicle, you have to figure out how to cover the difference. This is probably only an issue for the first year or so, depending on your down payment, APR, term, etc.

 

[Randy Daytona]

Everything worked out. USAA paid fair market value which was just a little more than I owed on the wife's 2014 Prius. The airbags did not deploy, there were no broken windows and the inside looked virtually untouched - yet the car was totaled.

As a side note, the gas mileage is everything it is cracked up to be and the stereo / nav is top notch. Wife just got a 2015 Prius...

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Yes, but in this case the at fault driver was uninsured(Cavalier). Gap in this case allows you to not only get what your vehicle was worth before the accident, but allows you the opportunity to buy another NEW vehicle. This can be important if your vehicle is less than a year old when it is totaled. AND... you will only get a rental car for a short period of time once your car has been ruled as totaled. Gap gets you back on the road with a comparable vehicle with a lot less hassle.

My time is worth too much to me to spend it litigating an uninsured motorist for vehicle damage. But if that is your thing, have at it.

Oh, and once the vehicle is totaled, you are worried about the actual value, not the diminished value. At that point, the car is no longer yours. You get the value of the car before the accident. If you owe more than the actual value of the vehicle, you have to figure out how to cover the difference. This is probably only an issue for the first year or so, depending on your down payment, APR, term, etc.

in describing gap insurance you just described to a "T" what a diminished value claim allows you to do, in fact the goal of the insurance companies is to get the diminished value claim done before the damaged vehicle is out of the repair shop if repairable. If the vehicle is totaled then once it is determined it is totaled then the diminished value claim should be done in a week, now how fast a company will total a vehicle will vary, a few years ago when my car was totaled the insurance company had an adjuster that looked at and totaled the vehicle within 48 hours of the accident (24 hours after they were notified).

One thing to remember is GAP insurance existed before there were diminished value claims or it was even thought of, diminished value claims are going to make GAP insurance obsolete, but the diminished value companies are still new, but give it a few years.

If the car at fault does not have insurance the same process takes place but under uninsured motorist claim, the crappy part of that is you have a deductible but you can sue the at fault party for it.

The legitimate places that do diminished value estimates will have the estimate back to you in 24 hours and it only cost about 100.00

There are certain companies that you will have a hard time with diminished value claims or any claims at all they are Geico, Progressive, Hartford, and Liberty Mutual.