Ask Me Help Desk - Car Accident

Quote:

Originally Posted by McCloud14s

I was in a car wreck with a drunk driver going the wrong way down a highway. Luckily no one was hurt. My car was totaled in this wreck and I am not sure about how much I should get back. The insurance company said that they would pay me a book price on my car plus what ever was left to pay the car off, however, I was way ahead in the payments on my car. Now if I was not so far ahead, the insurance company would have to pay alot more to pay off the car. Should I get the balance back equal to how much I had paid already minus what was due by the date of the wreck?

You didn't say whether is was your insurance company paying you or the drunk driver's ins company? It's important. Your insurance company is not obligated to pay off your loan balance, only to pay you the actual cash value of your vehicle minus your deductible. If his / her (the drunk driver) insurance co is paying you, then they are obligated to put you back as you were, i.e. to pay you the value of your vehicle that was totaled - there is no deductible. The amount you owe of the vehicle is really not a consideration, but if you are dealing with the drunk drivers ins co, and especially if you are "upside down" on the loan (by that I mean your vehicle is worth less than what your loan balance is), I would use the loan balance as a bargaining tool and tell them you owe more than they might be offering you - probably won't work, but keep in mind, his/her ins co, wants to settle the loss and move on.