My 19 yr old daughter got rear ended when she was sitting in traffic. The car was totaled..they paid off the?

Question

car with 2,400.00 over..when she purchased the car she put down 4,000. in order for her car payments to be what she needed. All I want is the 4,000. back so I was going to take the kid to small claims court for the 1600. plus the car starter she put in for 188.00. She goes to school and works full time, and cannot affored to get a new car and have the payments around the same. Not to mention the aggravation of not having a car to get to work. What do you think, will she get the extra money. I am tring to call his insurance co, but her insurancs co doesnot think they will do anything. Thanks

Answer 1

As far as the value of the car goes....they only owe you the actual cash value of the car.  What it could have sold for given it's age, condition, mileage, options.

They do not owe you the 4000 down payment. The starter you put in the car is a maintenance item. It does not increase the value of the car. Without a working started....your car is nothing but a lawn ornament.

Even if you go to small claims court....you will still have to prove that the value of the car is 1600 more than what they paid you.

IF your daughter did not get a rental car, then the other company may be willing to give her a "cash out" for her loss of use. This is usually less than what they would have paid for a rental car but a little something for not having her vehicle to drive. If she had a rental car....they will not give her a cash out.

You don't get paid for aggravation. If you don't want the aggravation of being in a car wreck...then don't own/drive a car. Aggravation is not compensable.

As far as the replacement car goes.....in theory, if you can find a car the same year, make, mileage as the one that was wrecked - she should be able to put the 2400 down on it and have payments about where she was.

But most people do not go out and buy a car exactly like the one they had. Usually  they up grade. The insurance company/other driver - do not owe you an upgrade.

If you have collision coverage on your car-- you can always file under that and see if your company can get you a better number. But if your company is telling you that the other carrier probably will not pay you any more.....that sounds to me like the other carrier's offer is solid.

Answer 2

No, she's not losing out at all.  She will get fair market value for her car, which will cover her loss.  They don't pay replacement or new value or anything other than the loss, what the car was WORTH at the time it was wrecked.

They won't give you extra because you had the car maintained and put in a new starter.

Answer 3

will not work, for a couple of reasons.  

first, you released any further liability when you accepted the pay-off, check.

the new starter would have been included in the pay-off as well.

second, the kid would just turn the suit over to his insurance company for representation.  since you have already settled, the suit will be dismissed as well.

why was the payments so high?  bad or lack of credit?  she should have bought a cheaper car or a used car of the same make and model of the car she had.  that a way, she would have $2400.00 in her pocket.  she upgraded, she should pay for it.  or you

Answer 4

You would be right if the car was wrecked the day she bought it.  But it wasn't, she got some months or years of valid use out of the car, right?  That's where the $1600 and the cost of a starter went.

AAA says cost of car ownership is somewhere between $7000 a year and $10,000 a year for a late model car.  $1600 goes by in a few months...

And why was that starter not fixed under warranty?  People should NEVER carry financing on a car beyond the bumper-to-bumper warranty.  One mechanical blow-up and they now have no car, car payments and a $3000 repair bill.  That's when the true stupidity begins, as they decide to stop making car payments on a broken car. "Not my fault" they groan.  That doesn't work, they now owe even more, and their credit report is toast - so now their credit cards and next car financing go to 29.99%, and forget buying a house... that's a slow ugly road to becoming working poor.  Don't do it.

Nowadays $4000 cars are generally pretty reliable, just buy one of those, and bank the saved payments and reduced insurance in case it does blow up.  Financial intelligence is more important than bling.

Answer 5

It doesn't work like you think. There is depreciation and they don't pay you extra for newly installed parts that are "normal wear and tear". Be thankful she wasn't injured and move on.

Answer 6

Rudy is right -

I have personally put out 3K on my accident - and recieved not a dime back (accident 100% not my fault)

June 18th we agreed upon a price for my car & I am in the "awaiting paperwork" stage - not payment - paperwork or forms or something.  

My accident was October of 2007 & I asked the insurance company for more $ to buy a vehicle & was told "absolutely not" so I got an attorney (well I had one already but informed them that day)

No the insurance company will NOT give you more $ & if you try to get more out of them (like I supposedly did lmao cus it's paid out so well for me right??) You may have a long hard fight on ya to get your $ back.......or any money....

But that was just My experience -

I also have a friend that took 4 YEARS to get any money off her car accident ------