Car Got Totaled/Insurance Questions

[JackieInCo]

My car got totaled Friday night by an elderly lady who rear ended me sandwiching my car between hers and a pickup truck. No one was injured luckily, mine was the worst off between the three. I HAD a Honda Accord sedan and I think the size of the car is what protected me.

Anyways, the car was being financed and I made only five payments on the car. I also had gap insurance.

Her insurance will be responsible for paying what my car was worth and then the gap insurance will take care of the rest as I understand. Does anyone know how that process works?

Also, I had planned on paying off the car in December and that's no longer a concern so I plan on using that to put as a down payment on whatever new car I do get.

Is it wise to wait to get the wrecked car paid for before I go out looking for another car? I have a second car to get me around so transportation is not a problem.

How did any of you deal with these issues? Thanks!

 

[eyoungren]

My car got totaled Friday night by an elderly lady who rear ended me sandwiching my car between hers and a pickup truck. No one was injured luckily, mine was the worst off between the three. I HAD a Honda Accord sedan and I think the size of the car is what protected me.

Anyways, the car was being financed and I made only five payments on the car. I also had gap insurance.

Her insurance will be responsible for paying what my car was worth and then the gap insurance will take care of the rest as I understand. Does anyone know how that process works?

Also, I had planned on paying off the car in December and that's no longer a concern so I plan on using that to put as a down payment on whatever new car I do get.

Is it wise to wait to get the wrecked car paid for before I go out looking for another car? I have a second car to get me around so transportation is not a problem.

How did any of you deal with these issues? Thanks!

Your situation is similar to one I had last year. Only the circumstance is different.

We (my wife and I) had a 2012 Nissan Sentra that got parked in a spot at a local school that flooded when one of Arizona's monsoons hit hard. Water completely covered the floorboards.

Everything's electronic and that's where all the wires are laid, so the insurance company totaled the car because the cost of fixing it was worth close to the total value of the car.

Insurance pays out first. Talk to your gap insurer. They will tell you exactly what they need from the insurance company. When insurance pays off you send the gap company the forms they need and they pay off the rest.

Unfortunately for us, we needed that second car so waiting for things to pay off was not an option. We had to get a second car while waiting for the payout. It meant paying two different car loan payments until the first one paid off and the car seller also saw us as having a car loan already (the circumstances didn't matter) in regards to our credit.

Keep current on your current car loan. Your responsibility to that does not end until the loan is paid out and it will affect your credit if you don't.

 

[JackieInCo]

Unfortunately for us, we needed that second car so waiting for things to pay off was not an option. We had to get a second car while waiting for the payout. It meant paying two different car loan payments until the first one paid off and the car seller also saw us as having a car loan already (the circumstances didn't matter) in regards to our credit.

But you had no problem in getting the second car loan? I will pay this months car payment as well to keep current. I worked hard to rebuild my credit after a BK in 2011 so I have no intention of ruining my credit again. Thanks for your reply.

 

[eyoungren]

But you had no problem in getting the second car loan? I will pay this months car payment as well to keep current. I worked hard to rebuild my credit after a BK in 2011 so I have no intention of ruining my credit again. Thanks for your reply.

No, no problems, but that was down to my wife. At the time she had better credit than I did so the loan itself is actually in her name with me as a cosigner.

She's a full-time student but thankfully at the time had a job that qualified her.

If you're in a better credit situation than I am (you probably are) then you shouldn't have any issues. It's just that they take a more critical look at your credit when applying for a 'second' car loan.

 

[JackieInCo]

Nice, thank you for your replies.

 

[Tomorrow]

I had a car totaled once, but gap insurance was never in play.

A hailstorm left my SUV in ruins. The estimated cost of repairs plus the residual value of the truck was more than it's pre-hailstorm value, so they declared it a total loss and paid me that pre-hailstorm value. This was enough to pay off the remainder of the loan and it left me a fair bit to put down on a new car. The entire process took only three days.

 

[JackieInCo]

I got a call from the insurance company this morning of the Lady who caused the accident. They told me they will accept the liability on the accident and will pick up my wrecked car from the tow yard. Seems like it's moving along pretty much like I hoped it would.

I went out this morning and bought a new Accord. Life is good again.

 

[nebo1ss]

Just as a matter of interest. Who is responsible for the damage to the pickup truck that was in front of you?

 

[JackieInCo]

The insurance company of the lady who rear ended me. The pickup truck had very little damage, mostly to the bumper. It looked like it may have been pushed downwards a bit but I have no idea if that was how it was before the accident. It was a very old Nissan pickup truck.

 

[nebo1ss]

If thats how it works out that will be good for you. You could be liable for the damage to the front car see below.

"The vehicle in the middle will be held responsible for the damage to the front car, even if the force from the last or third car caused the accident. Courts will apply the principles of contributory negligence, but only if necessary. Generally the middle car will be responsible to the front car for any damage caused as a result of the accident. It is possible for the front car to pursue a cause of action against both the middle and last car if needed.

This situation arises when insufficient funds are available in the policy. For example if the front car has significant injuries and the middle car only carried a minimum policy ($15,000) then you can pursue a cause of action against both vehicles for your injuries."

http://downtownlalaw.com/3-car-pile-up-accident-who-is-at-fault/

 

[eyoungren]

The entire process took only three days.

I envy you.

I had a moron for an agent. Rather than persisting and attempting to use his status as an agent to move the process along he got me involved whenever he hit a 'wall'. That is, if he recognized that he hit a wall at all!

Had to add the guy to the loan account before the loan people would let him access it. Me making phone calls.

Took me three weeks to figure out that the agent never received the loan documents because of a crap fax machine at the number he gave me. The agent just kept telling me he hadn't received the documents! And it was only by tracking down the loan company's payout department, which is unadvertised with a hard to reach number, that I did figure it out because they told me the documents kept failing to go through!!!

Then I had to act as the middleman between him and the GAP insurance agent before he even spoke with her!

All of this after the first time of telling me the company would handle the process. I did the guy's damn job for him! If I hadn't needed to get the friggin' loan paid off as promptly as possible the guy would probably still be waiting for loan documents!

Took me almost three months!

 

[Tomorrow]

I envy you.

I had a moron for an agent. Rather than persisting and attempting to use his status as an agent to move the process along he got me involved whenever he hit a 'wall'. That is, if he recognized that he hit a wall at all!

Had to add the guy to the loan account before the loan people would let him access it. Me making phone calls.

Took me three weeks to figure out that the agent never received the loan documents because of a crap fax machine at the number he gave me. The agent just kept telling me he hadn't received the documents! And it was only by tracking down the loan company's payout department, which is unadvertised with a hard to reach number, that I did figure it out because they told me the documents kept failing to go through!!!

Then I had to act as the middleman between him and the GAP insurance agent before he even spoke with her!

All of this after the first time of telling me the company would handle the process. I did the guy's damn job for him! If I hadn't needed to get the friggin' loan paid off as promptly as possible the guy would probably still be waiting for loan documents!

Took me almost three months!

What a nightmare. Puts the "inconvenience" I went through into perspective.

Do you mind saying which insurance company this was? Mine was with Progressive.

 

[eyoungren]

What a nightmare. Puts the "inconvenience" I went through into perspective.

Do you mind saying which insurance company this was? Mine was with Progressive.

Safe Auto.

I had considered leaving, but decided against it for a few reasons.

1. Inertia. I'd have to go hunting for a different insurance company.
2. Experience. This is the sole experience I've ever had with this company in regards to needing something like this. Perhaps I just got the wrong person. And the person I dealt with before this agent was very nice.
3. Vehicles. We went with Safe Auto initially because we needed minimum coverage and they were cheapest. At the time (2007-2008) the coverage was for a 1994 Sentra and later we added a 1997 Accord. Up until last year, the Accord was the only car on the coverage and it was costing me around $40-50 a month. There really wasn't/isn't a need to carry full coverage given the age of those vehicles.
4. It's still cheap. With full coverage for the new car (now a 2013 Sentra) and the minimum for the '97 Accord I'm paying around $150-160 a month.

We have AAA for towing coverage (the premium deal they have) and their best rate for my two cars isn't even close to this.

5. Convenience. I needed coverage at 9pm before the dealer would let me drive our 2013 Sentra off the lot. The guy processing our paperwork was shocked that they answered the call and even more shocked when ten minutes later he got the fax that the car was added to my policy. Safe Auto has 24/7 customer service.

So, collectively, all those little things are sufficient to negate the one big thing that might have caused me to leave. Not that I didn't want to of course.

I did refrain from filling out their emailed "How'd we do?" questionnaire though. That was hard!