What does it mean when the insurance company totals my car?
Posted on Sep 22, 2009 under Insurance Information |My 2004 Chevy Malibu received 6000 worth of damage in a recent hailstorm. The insurance company is evaluating it and may total it. What does this mean to me? I still owe 13,000 on the car.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
They will not repair it…they think that the cost of repairing it is more expensive than the value of the car…hopefully they will replace it with something comparable
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
No, that means that it is not cost effective to repair and they pay loan off
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
the cost to fix it exceeds the value. So your insurance gives you the money equal to the value and takes the car.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It just means that to them the damage exceeds the FMV of the car itself. You may get the full amount that your car is worth if that is what your policy states.But just remember that they don’t go for what you are paying just the FMV which can be a lot lower.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It may mean you need a good lawyer but that can be expensive in/of itself.
My pickup-truck was totaled by the insurance company. They said it was worth ~$8000 and they would give me $6000 if I wanted to keep it. (I think I had paid it off by then.) It was completely functional, just a big dent in the side so I kept it and continue to drive it 6 years after the fact.
If your car is still functional (you may need to replace some windows) you might take the money and pay that much off on your loan. If it isn’t functional, you have a problem.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
What that means is that the damage to your car is worse than the cost of fixing it. The insurance company "totals" the car, meaning they should pay it off. You, get to walk away without owing anymore on the car. Bad news if you liked the car, because now that the ins. co. has totaled it, it belongs to them. They will typically sell it at auction for salvage.
Now you have to start from scratch, you have no payments, but you also have no car. If the car was worth more than you owed, then the Ins. co. will give you a check for the difference that you can use as a down payment on another car. If the car was worth less than what you owed, consider yourself lucky if the ins. co. payed it all off.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It means it would cost more to fix your car than the blue book value of the car. The insurance company totals it and pays you the blue book value and any balance owed on the car is your responsibility to pay unless you bought "gap" insurance when you bought the car. If the car is still mechanically sound, you can buy it back from your insurance company once it’s totaled, then you can at least keep the car while you continue to pay for it, but the repairs will have to be paid for by you. Basically when your car is totaled by the insurance and you are still making payments on it, you’re screwed.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It means that they are going to pay you what the current "blue book" value of the car, and when this happens, the insurance compnay owns the Mailibu. You have the option of buying the "totaled car" back from the insurance company a fraction of what they paid you on your claim.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It means that the damage to the car cost more than the car is worth. They will pay what the care is worth, the lesser of the two choices. The money will go toward your lean, or car loan. You need to talk to your loan holder about the negative equity you owe. They may let you role it over to your next car loan, let you make installments, or make you pay it up front.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
I would hope that means you receive the full compensation to pay off the car. You should ask your insurance company. If the car is repairable, they should compensate you for the cost of repairs minus any deductible. Perhaps "total the car" is what they do when the repair estimate exceeds a certain percentage of the "book value" of the vehicle. But by all means, Consult with the professionals with your insurance company. I’m not one. I’m just making a guess (offering my opinion) to see how close I might come to the actual answer! Also, I am very interested to see if actual professionals on specific matters, such as this will come into Answers and offer their advice.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It just mean that they not going to pay to have u repair the car it will cost too much to fix it or not fix able. they will help u pay to get a diffrent car cause they cannot fix the car and have to scrap metal the car. End results is that mean the car worth nothing and is scrap metal.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
It means they are going to give you a check for what they think it was worth and you are going to give them the crashed car.
Beware….they will lowball you. You should right away begin finding cars for sale that were just like yours….at least the ads for them.
That way when they offer you less than what you thought it was worth, you’ll have some ammo to show them they are lowballing you.