Insurance Company Totaled My Car; What to Keep in Mind?

[Dr. Detroit]

I have MFT in my Focus - it serves me well so i understand not wanting to change. Chrysler has been rated #1 in their technology and ease of use.

Lincoln uses the exact same software it just happens to be called MLT.

The Fusion is the superior car to the Taurus as the Fusion is much newer in design and materials. Same size and weighs 600lbs less so should net much better fuel economy.

The latest MKZ has only been out a short time - its heavily styled in the looks department and nothing really looks like it on the road so it sands out but is on the Fusion platform.

The 2013/14 MKZ has an available 3.7L V6 at no cost premium over the Ecoboost but these loaded up were close to $45K new as they put a lot of technology into them. If you want AWD the MKZ has that available too.

The MKS is the Taurus clone, looks very different but has premium materials and is well styled. Available Ecoboost V6, just like the SHO as well.

 

[Midwayman]

Based on my experience with USAA recently
-They will only use the lowest comps after they have have 'adjusted' them to match your car.
-Every car will be miraculously in much better condition that yours was
-They will deduct for options on your car that actually add value (MT sells for more, but trade in tends to be less.)
-They will ignore any comps you bring them, saying they aren't close enough if in the area. (though they are able to adjust for those thing in their comps) They will ignore identical comps because the are out of market.
-They will refuse to negotiate and you will have to get an independent appraiser.
-They will drag their feet for months on paying, and only pay the undisputed portion of the claim once you find out on your own they are legally obligated to.

Edit- I forgot my favorite. They will use 'negotiated' prices, not list prices on their comps. IE they call up and ask them what the lowest price they'd take as someone with a ton of buying clout is. This is a price you'll never get on your own.

 

[Aikouka]

I have MFT in my Focus - it serves me well so i understand not wanting to change. Chrysler has been rated #1 in their technology and ease of use.

So, I took a look at Chrysler, and I'm afraid that someone might think that I'm a "family member" if I drive around in a black 300! I think the looks and the pricing on the 200 is actually not bad, but the only negative is that they recently revamped it for the 2015 model year. I'd really like to avoid buying a new car, and I'm not sure if the older revision has the same options. Although, if I was looking for a new car, I'd definitely consider the 200's 200C model.

The Fusion is the superior car to the Taurus as the Fusion is much newer in design and materials. Same size and weighs 600lbs less so should net much better fuel economy.

I definitely agree that the Fusion looks newer on the inside. Looking at the inside of that 2013 Taurus SHO gives off the impression that it's more of a car from the 00s than the 10s. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but you are right about the weight. I have seem some complaints about the Taurus being a bit of a slog; however, those complaints don't seem to be nearly as big of a deal when it comes to the SHO since it has the twin-turbo V6. Although, even though it now has the power to carry its extra weight, it still requires more energy (gas) to do so.

Honestly, I do think the Fusion is a nice car overall. I really wish that Ford would consider a few more options for it on the high end though, but I guess they want to distinguish the Fusion and Taurus enough. For example, I really wish the Fusion had a Xenon HID headlight option. There are also things I wish I could have removed from the car. For example, I really don't like the multi-function turn signal. I much prefer the old style where you push the turn signal up/down and it stays there until the signal shuts off. The problem is that my music drowns out the signal clicking, and at times, I think my turn signal has turned off and I didn't know it. I'm one of those people that is really anal about using his turn signal.

The latest MKZ has only been out a short time - its heavily styled in the looks department and nothing really looks like it on the road so it sands out but is on the Fusion platform.

The MKS is the Taurus clone, looks very different but has premium materials and is well styled. Available Ecoboost V6, just like the SHO as well.[/QUOTE]

Hmm I just think the front ends on the MKZ and MKS look really weird. It looks like a weird grimace with huge buck teeth.

Based on my experience with USAA recently

Goodness... I hope Nationwide doesn't try and pull some of that stuff with me. Although, I have to say how interesting it is to hear different responses from various people. Some people have had rather glowing reports down to getting more money than they paid for the car.

At this point, I'm still waiting to even hear from the total loss guy. After two calls during normal business hours and an e-mail, I'm starting to get a little annoyed as to the lack of contact. Everyone else has been very prompt so far, and for me, this is my last leg until I can put most of this hindrance behind me.

Also, I hope it doesn't take months like yours did because I only have rental coverage for 30 days!

 

[Midwayman]

Goodness... I hope Nationwide doesn't try and pull some of that stuff with me. Although, I have to say how interesting it is to hear different responses from various people. Some people have had rather glowing reports down to getting more money than they paid for the car.

At this point, I'm still waiting to even hear from the total loss guy. After two calls during normal business hours and an e-mail, I'm starting to get a little annoyed as to the lack of contact. Everyone else has been very prompt so far, and for me, this is my last leg until I can put most of this hindrance behind me.

Also, I hope it doesn't take months like yours did because I only have rental coverage for 30 days!

Good luck. If you get a valuation report from CCC valuescope, know you're about to be taken for a ride though.

 

[Aikouka]

Good luck. If you get a valuation report from CCC valuescope, know you're about to be taken for a ride though.

Yep, that's what they did do. Although, I don't think it's as bad as you might suspect. They listed my car's value as $23,619.00, which is a little bit lower than I would prefer. TrueCar lists my car's Certified Pre-Owned value as about $25k, and amusingly enough, the agent gave me a spiel about how I should use that site to make sure the car prices I'm looking at are accurate. So, that value is about what I'd expect, and my car was definitely in good enough condition to meet that. While I mentioned that the vehicles that I found aren't as cheap as they're suggesting, I get the feeling that it isn't going to matter. My normal agent has been really good, but this Total Loss Agent has been rather less than impressive. I got his name and info on Monday with the fact that I should receive a call within a day. That didn't happen, and neither calls, voicemails, nor e-mails seemed to actually get any response. I never got a response until I sent an e-mail to my main agent on Thursday asking what was going on. I mean... yeesh... it's okay for you to say, "Hey, we're working on getting an estimate." I just want to know where we're at!

At this point, I've got a few things I need to look into:

1) If I decide not to get a local car, will Enterprise be okay with me tacking on one-way rental? In that case, can I also convince Nationwide to cover it? After all, it is directly related to getting a replacement car. You can say that someone could drive the rental back or drive the new-to-me car back, but the rental requires them to be on the agreement, and some one driving my car before me!?

2) Nationwide presented 3 payment methods to me for what's left over after they pay off the lienholder: Visa card, ETF or check. That order was specified as the fastest to the slowest. I had reservations about the Visa card given fees and such, but the guy assured me that places would take them. Well, looks like I was right, as when I inquired with the dealer about that Taurus, they said they wouldn't take that much on a card given the fees involved. If I can't get Nationwide to switch it to ETF, I'll have to eat the fees by transferring using something like Paypal or Google Wallet.

3) See if I can get them to raise the price. I doubt that they'll budge much, but it's worth a shot.

4) If I buy a car out of state, how is that handled with taxes? I did a bit of digging, and automobile taxes are 4% here (2% state, 0.25% county, 1.75% municipal). When asking information about the Taurus, they noted that they factored up an overall cost using their local state sales tax (6%). My guess is that I'll have to pay 6%, but since I paid more sales tax than I would have in Alabama, I don't have to pay tax so long as I show the form when registering the car.

5) I was looking closer at my Fusion's bill of sale, and I noticed a fee that I never noticed the first time. It's the $1,713.94 charge you see here. I did a little bit of research, and I'm guessing that this is credit life insurance? It also looks like they charged me one of those fun $299 document fees. Never mind, I looked at a few more documents, and that's just the amount of interest that I pay over the course of the loan. I thought they were tacking on some BS fees and interest was charged separately.

6) I want to speak with both of my banks to get an idea of financing rates. My credit union from New York is advertising 1.89% financing for 5-year loans, which is a pretty good low-end (high credit score) rate.

Any advice or thoughts on anything above is always appreciated!

 

[cabri]

Yep, that's what they did do. Although, I don't think it's as bad as you might suspect. They listed my car's value as $23,619.00, which is a little bit lower than I would prefer. TrueCar lists my car's Certified Pre-Owned value as about $25k, and amusingly enough, the agent gave me a spiel about how I should use that site to make sure the car prices I'm looking at are accurate. So, that value is about what I'd expect, and my car was definitely in good enough condition to meet that. While I mentioned that the vehicles that I found aren't as cheap as they're suggesting, I get the feeling that it isn't going to matter. My normal agent has been really good, but this Total Loss Agent has been rather less than impressive. I got his name and info on Monday with the fact that I should receive a call within a day. That didn't happen, and neither calls, voicemails, nor e-mails seemed to actually get any response. I never got a response until I sent an e-mail to my main agent on Thursday asking what was going on. I mean... yeesh... it's okay for you to say, "Hey, we're working on getting an estimate." I just want to know where we're at!

At this point, I've got a few things I need to look into:

1) If I decide not to get a local car, will Enterprise be okay with me tacking on one-way rental? In that case, can I also convince Nationwide to cover it? After all, it is directly related to getting a replacement car. You can say that someone could drive the rental back or drive the new-to-me car back, but the rental requires them to be on the agreement, and some one driving my car before me!?
Enterprise should not care as long as you let them know in advance. Who will pay the extra fees for the one-way becomes a problem. the insurance company will balk; it is not their headache.

Depending on the location; if you will have to eat the fees, it might be better to take an alternate mode (bus/plane/train) and arrange for the seller to pick you up

2) Nationwide presented 3 payment methods to me for what's left over after they pay off the lienholder: Visa card, ETF or check. That order was specified as the fastest to the slowest. I had reservations about the Visa card given fees and such, but the guy assured me that places would take them. Well, looks like I was right, as when I inquired with the dealer about that Taurus, they said they wouldn't take that much on a card given the fees involved. If I can't get Nationwide to switch it to ETF, I'll have to eat the fees by transferring using something like Paypal or Google Wallet.
People that process a Visa/Master Card/AMEX, etc eat between 2-5% of the sale costs.

Get the EFT/ETF - will take at most 2 days to get into your bank.

3) See if I can get them to raise the price. I doubt that they'll budge much, but it's worth a shot.
Anything can be tried - until you sign off, they are on the hook. If you can justify a higher value or poke holes in their method of valuation, fight it.

You can also threaten/go to the local state Division of Insurance if you feel they are being completely unreasonable.

Doing so will cost you time and may not improve the result; but twice, I have followed that route when I felt I was being lowballed and the insurance company buckled.

4) If I buy a car out of state, how is that handled with taxes? I did a bit of digging, and automobile taxes are 4% here (2% state, 0.25% county, 1.75% municipal). When asking information about the Taurus, they noted that they factored up an overall cost using their local state sales tax (6%). My guess is that I'll have to pay 6%, but since I paid more sales tax than I would have in Alabama, I don't have to pay tax so long as I show the form when registering the car.
If you purchase from a dealer, you will have to pay the sales taxes for the location purchased. When you register the vehicle in your state, the sales tax difference will be looked at. You may be able to apply for a tax refund of a difference once you show that the vehicle was registered in the new state without being used in the selling state. Best to talk to your local DMV to find out what the procedure is potentially to minimize the headaches/costs.

If a private party, then there is no problem.

5) I was looking closer at my Fusion's bill of sale, and I noticed a fee that I never noticed the first time. It's the $1,713.94 charge you see here. I did a little bit of research, and I'm guessing that this is credit life insurance? It also looks like they charged me one of those fun $299 document fees. Never mind, I looked at a few more documents, and that's just the amount of interest that I pay over the course of the loan. I thought they were tacking on some BS fees and interest was charged separately.

6) I want to speak with both of my banks to get an idea of financing rates. My credit union from New York is advertising 1.89% financing for 5-year loans, which is a pretty good low-end (high credit score) rate.

Any advice or thoughts on anything above is always appreciated!

See items in bold

 

[merlion]

As for the sales tax, you don't necessarily have to pay the tax for the location where the vehicle was purchased.

I purchased a vehicle in Ohio due to low inventory of what I was looking for in New York. I paid no tax in Ohio, but when I went to register the car in NY, I paid the tax at the prevailing rate for the county where I resided. I knew this was how it was going to be upfront, so I budgeted accordingly.

As mentioned though, best to check with your state's DMV to clarify how taxes are handled.

 

[Aikouka]

Hm... if I decide to go with that car, maybe I should just push using the Visa on the dealer. I asked them for a detailed breakdown of the fees and stuff that would be tacked on in addition. They sent me a sheet with this thing called "Special Benefits Package" with a cost of $598.90. Now, you can insert jokes about hookers and blow as much as you want, but I wanted to know what in the world that was! I was told "The special benefits package is going to be all your fees, dealer fee, documents, all that kind of stuff." So, naturally, my response at that point was... "If that includes documents, then why's there a separate doc fee?"... as there's also a $99.95 doc fee.

On my Fusion, the local Ford dealer charged me $299 for that silly doc fee, so to be charged twice as much for essentially the same thing in addition to a separate doc fee? You can eat a goddamn 3% fee on the $7k that's left over from my Fusion (i.e. $210).

Enterprise should not care as long as you let them know in advance. Who will pay the extra fees for the one-way becomes a problem. the insurance company will balk; it is not their headache.

Depending on the location; if you will have to eat the fees, it might be better to take an alternate mode (bus/plane/train) and arrange for the seller to pick you up

Well, the fee really isn't too bad. I did a price check on a rental from here to the car's location, and the one-way rental fee was around $100. To drive it back, gas alone would be about $30, and it's not like I have anyone to drive it back anyway. I might be able to convince Nationwide since it's specifically to get a replacement car and not something superfluous like an upgrade to a higher-end rental. If not, I'll just pay for it.

People that process a Visa/Master Card/AMEX, etc eat between 2-5% of the sale costs.

Get the EFT/ETF - will take at most 2 days to get into your bank.

Yeah. Unfortunately, I think they already sent out the card, because I have a package coming in via UPS tomorrow, and that's how they asked me to send in the Power of Attorney form. I did do a little reading that I can do something like use Google Wallet to pull in the money, eat a 2.9% fee, and transfer it to my account.

Since I knew cards incurred fees, I asked whether most dealerships even accepted them. I probably should've been a bit smarter about it and just went with the safest route.

Anything can be tried - until you sign off, they are on the hook. If you can justify a higher value or poke holes in their method of valuation, fight it.

You can also threaten/go to the local state Division of Insurance if you feel they are being completely unreasonable.

Doing so will cost you time and may not improve the result; but twice, I have followed that route when I felt I was being lowballed and the insurance company buckled.

Their amount seems okay, but probably a bit lower than I would need to pay to get a comparable car. I think the issue with the CCC service is that it's willing to look for similar cars, and it's finding cars that lack the features that I refuse to go without. For example, while I don't use it often, I prefer a car with navigation built into it. When I put Navigation as an option into the used car searches, my results went to 0 for a 100-mile search.

If you purchase from a dealer, you will have to pay the sales taxes for the location purchased. When you register the vehicle in your state, the sales tax difference will be looked at. You may be able to apply for a tax refund of a difference once you show that the vehicle was registered in the new state without being used in the selling state. Best to talk to your local DMV to find out what the procedure is potentially to minimize the headaches/costs.

If a private party, then there is no problem.

Hmm... that's strange, because that's not what I've experienced in the past. When I lived in Pennsylvania and bought a car in New York, I didn't pay 8% NY sales tax at the NY dealer. I had to pay the 6% PA sales tax when I registered the car in Pennsylvania. I've had some others tell me that the dealer should be able to use my tax percentage as long as I can prove that I'm a resident there.

I'll probably end up calling up Alabama's Department of Revenue along with the other state (Kentucky) and the local DMV to see what the proper way is.

As mentioned though, best to check with your state's DMV to clarify how taxes are handled.

Yeah. I'm used to the situation that you described above. The last thing that I'd want is to pay KY sales tax and then have to pay AL use tax.

 

[smackababy]

Aikouka, I purchased my car in Texas while I was residing in Alabama. I didn't pay taxes in Texas, and when I registered the car, had to pay the sales tax there. If you're buying from a dealer, I am pretty sure you can ask them to not charge you tax in that state, as you're moving to another.

As for one way rentals, there is usually a pretty hefty fee (as they generally have to send someone out to return the car). I did a one way rental from Alabama to Texas when I bought my car, and the fee was $400. It would have been cheaper to fly there and take a taxi.

 

[Aikouka]

Aikouka, I purchased my car in Texas while I was residing in Alabama. I didn't pay taxes in Texas, and when I registered the car, had to pay the sales tax there. If you're buying from a dealer, I am pretty sure you can ask them to not charge you tax in that state, as you're moving to another.

Ugh, honestly... dealing with them has made me strongly consider not purchasing a car from them. I even pointed out the part on Kentucky's Sales & Use Tax FAQ that states that inter-state commerce isn't subject to taxes, and they still insist upon charging me tax. Combining this with their ridiculous $800 in fees, and I'm halfway suspecting that I'm dealing with shysters! D:

As for one way rentals, there is usually a pretty hefty fee (as they generally have to send someone out to return the car). I did a one way rental from Alabama to Texas when I bought my car, and the fee was $400. It would have been cheaper to fly there and take a taxi.

Maybe it depends on distance, because here's the fee that Enterprise lists when I go to schedule a rental: "DropCharge $ 113.94 USD". Thinking about it... that fee looks to be about half the distance between my location and the destination. Perhaps they charge 50 cents per mile? Was your trip about 800 miles?

 

[cabri]

Hmm... that's strange, because that's not what I've experienced in the past. When I lived in Pennsylvania and bought a car in New York, I didn't pay 8% NY sales tax at the NY dealer. I had to pay the 6% PA sales tax when I registered the car in Pennsylvania. I've had some others tell me that the dealer should be able to use my tax percentage as long as I can prove that I'm a resident there.

I'll probably end up calling up Alabama's Department of Revenue along with the other state (Kentucky) and the local DMV to see what the proper way is.



Yeah. I'm used to the situation that you described above. The last thing that I'd want is to pay KY sales tax and then have to pay AL use tax.

Many dealers will have an agreement with neighboring states on the payment of taxes; especially if they are within driving distance of a state line.

And as you noticed, some will tax the tax, others may not.
State laws and other issues may factor in.

I have bought vehicles in VA when living in MD and the dealer took care of all paperwork.

CA was the one that tried to make me pay CA sales tax when the vehicle was being registered in NV. because I had already handled the registration issue (using vanity plates), NV knew what was going on and I had the needed paperwork.

As you have decided, check what your DMV states and keep a copy with you on the documentation that they provide to back up the tax/fee issues.

 

[Aikouka]

Well, on a good note, I got a nice 1.89% interest rate through my credit union. Although, it is a bit more of a hassle since I don't live in the area anymore, it is nice considering my bank down here is advertising their wonderful low rate of 2.5%

Many dealers will have an agreement with neighboring states on the payment of taxes; especially if they are within driving distance of a state line.

I spoke with Kentucky's Department of Revenue, and they told me that they do not have an agreement with Alabama, and that I should not be paying taxes to them. However, the dealer might just be trying to figure out how large of a check to give me to give to Alabama whenever I register. If that's the case, I'll end up giving Alabama the check for 6% of the car's value, and they'll give me 1/3 of it back.

 

[Skaiciuokle]

I have a question in this theme. I would like to ask what price you pay for the car insurance. For example, I have polovni peugeot 208, my driving record - 4years, I'm 29 years old, I would pay 52eur/year if I use a car only in my country (I checked at calculator). If I use it abroad - I would pay 363 eur/year. Is this a good price? Or maybe I should look for a better option in other country?