Help coming up with a $$$ value that the insurance company will pay me for our written off car

[flamingelephant]

Got in a car accident last week.... wife was making a left turn at an intersection when the light had turned yellow (she was stopped and established in the intersection). The oncoming car in the closer lane to us stopped, and the far lane was clear, so she turned (the light is now on red) and a guy blew through the far lanes red light and t-boned our car..... we have a witness that said he ran his red. The car is likely a writeoff.
Anyhow
We will now have to negotiate with our insurer for the value of the vehicle.
All told we paid $12460 for our car (the make/model isn't important but its a 99 Intrepid) 4000 down and financed the rest at 8.25% over 4 years.
We had it for 4 months and made $823 in bi-weekly payments.
Is it fair to ask for all the money back except the $823 in the payments? (we'd get $11636)
Either that or cover our downpayment + what we still owe on the loan (no prepayment penalties)? (we'd get $11376)
Thoughts?
and yes, I know the insurance company will try to pay as little as possible.
thanks

 

[AgentEL]

That's a tough situation. I remember in driver's ed, they taught us to do the same thing. Did the insurance company say it was your fault or his? Sorry, I don't know much about the rest of your situation, but good luck.

 

[Slacker]

You are in for a big shock, trade in value on a 99 intrepid with 75k miles is $2950.00

You got screwed when you bought it, and you are about to be screwed again by your ins co.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Slacker
You are in for a big shock, trade in value on a 99 intrepid with 75k miles is $2950.00

You got screwed when you bought it, and you are about to be screwed again by your ins co.

They'll pay approximate retail value, not trade-in. The idea is to pay you what it costs to replace the car with something similar, minus any loan balance.

EDIT: Oh, I re-read the post, and you owe over $11,000? Ouch. I hope you didn't turn down the gap coverage at the dealership.

 

[radioouman]

Do you have gap insurance? If you do, you'll be OK. If not, you might be in some trouble.

 

[Slacker]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: Slacker
You are in for a big shock, trade in value on a 99 intrepid with 75k miles is $2950.00

You got screwed when you bought it, and you are about to be screwed again by your ins co.

They'll pay approximate retail value, not trade-in. The idea is to pay you what it costs to replace the car with something similar, minus any loan balance.

Retail on a loaded low mileage ES model is $7800.00

 

[trmiv]

This is why I bought gap insurance with my car. Pretty minimal montly cost, but if that ever happens to me, I'm OK.

 

[msparish]

Originally posted by: flamingelephant
We will now have to negotiate with our insurer for the value of the vehicle.
All told we paid $12460 for our car (the make/model isn't important but its a 99 Intrepid) 4000 down and financed the rest at 8.25% over 4 years.

Yes, that's very important. According to Blue Book, a 99 ES with nearly every option (i.e. premium sound, navigation, DVD, premium wheels, dual power seats, moon roof, etc.) w/ about 75,000 miles is worth about 9.5k retail. That's the most the insurance company is going to give you. No way you're going to be getting over 11k. You got screwed on the initial purchase, and the insurance company isn't going to bail you out of it.

 

[edi sucks]

insurance companies usually pay full retail, which is nice if you have a car with good resale value..

 

[flamingelephant]

keep in mind that I am in Canada... so the prices will be abit out of whack..... 8.5K-10K for a used 98-2000 intrepid is fair asking price for private and used-car-dealers sales.... I paid just under 10K for it, with low milage, so the price was decent.

 

[thomsbrain]

you are figuring it completely bass-ackwards. the insurance company doens't give a crap how much you paid for it. they only care how much it is worth on the market right NOW. so if you are lucky you will get blue-book value for the car. if you're not lucky, they will actually nit-pick about the condition the car was in and take off money for that.

 

[msparish]

Originally posted by: flamingelephant
keep in mind that I am in Canada... so the prices will be abit out of whack..... 8.5K-10K for a used 98-2000 intrepid is fair asking price for private and used-car-dealers sales.... I paid just under 10K for it, with low milage, so the price was decent.

Ahh, Canada...you did a little better on the price then. Anyway, as stated, the insurance company won't care what you paid for it, what they give you is the value of the car. So, just make sure you have a clear grasp of what the value is, and you'll be fine.

 

[surreal1221]

Originally posted by: trmiv
This is why I bought gap insurance with my car. Pretty minimal montly cost, but if that ever happens to me, I'm OK.

no sh1t, that reminds me. . . I need to call and make sure it is still on my coverage w/ my lein holder still has me listed as having gap insurance. Which it damn well should be. . .but just to have a little piece of mind.