Insuranace is a joke
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My wifes car was $20,000 used back in 2019. Now after basically 10 years it gets hit. The insurance declares it totalled. So the car can't be legally driven. The insurance will only pay us $9000. But now we're trying to buy a replacement and for the same model year they are asking 16000!
WTF! What's insurance for? Its just a tax. I much rather save to pay for my own car and have some sort of insurance that really actually covers the other driver.
Farmer this and state farm that and whatever General lizard, all are total bullshit regardless if you caused the accident or if you're are the victim.
They should call it "pay slightly less than full price if you fucked up your car"
wrote last edited by [email protected]One thing to keep in mind is that the used car market is fucked right now because of the tariffs. You're going to pay a premium for any used car from a dealership for the next long while.
My advice? Get a gray title on the car and sell it to someone who will fix it up. I hit a deer with my old 99 contour, and the insurance adjuster totaled it because my back seat was messy (I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't said it to my face; the whole story is a trip). They gave us $2400 for it, we kept the car, and sold it to a family friend for $1200 because it just needed new headlight assemblies. We only paid $1200 for it in the first place, but my step dad knew the dealer and got it for what he paid.
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To be salty: you seem kinda bad at math.
2019 was.six years ago, not "basically ten". Which wouldnt matter, if the rest of your post didn't have such "if the raise put me in the next tax bracket I'd actually lose money" energy.
Car insurance is typically for the market value of your car as-s. Not the price for a car from the same model year that has a dealer's warranty behind it.
Or to put it another way: insurance should pay out the amount you could get if you sold your car, not the cost to buy another similar car.
Now, there are insurance companies that will sell you "replacement cost" insurance, but this always means they're charging a higher premium than they otherwise would.
And you're absolutely right that insurance companies categorically suck. Auto insurance is actually the friendliest one that regularly has to pay out. Health insurance is even worse.
(Sorry for being so salty.)
Or to put it another way: insurance should pay out the amount you could get if you sold your car, not the cost to buy another similar car.
Why would an insurance company think that OP would get less money selling the car than anyone else would get selling the same kind of car, though? It's one thing if all the listings are for much higher prices, but if those listings are selling at that price, then that's the market value and the insurance company is provably misunderestimating.
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Insurance isn’t a joke, it’s a giant scam. Their entire business model is to give you less than you put in. And they make insane amounts of money doing it. No choice though, as it is basically legally required to exist in society.
Insurance being a negative expected value isn't the scam. Insurance not paying for the thing you bought the insurance to pay for is the scam. They're supposed to be working from the same agreement you're working from, not some other one they made up that's worse for you at random.
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One thing to keep in mind is that the used car market is fucked right now because of the tariffs. You're going to pay a premium for any used car from a dealership for the next long while.
My advice? Get a gray title on the car and sell it to someone who will fix it up. I hit a deer with my old 99 contour, and the insurance adjuster totaled it because my back seat was messy (I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't said it to my face; the whole story is a trip). They gave us $2400 for it, we kept the car, and sold it to a family friend for $1200 because it just needed new headlight assemblies. We only paid $1200 for it in the first place, but my step dad knew the dealer and got it for what he paid.
LOL my first car was really old. I bought it for 2k and I sold it for 2k like seven years later. But that only works if you know how to work on cars and have a good grip on maintenance. It was my first car and I did a lot of stupid things on it. Fixing it was a fun time. But I'm old now. I can't have my wife not have a car. Specially I wouldn't want to have car problems here in the PNW during a rainy or cold winter. In winter time you can walk a few blocks without freezing. But the grocery store is a good hour and a half downhill walk. Another 2 hours walking uphill with heavy shopping bags, that's a nope. One day there will be a tram nearby to help us. But not today.
One time I was talking with an online friend from the general region and I got to experience freezing his ass off while waiting for a bus....from the comfort of my home. Worse 30 minutes ever for him. Winters are no joke here. I don't understand how homeless people even survive over winter....you known, people who used to have a home, buy then one day they lost their car and got fired for not showing up to work. It hits home like that.
I got a plan ready last week to order a bunch of stuff from china. I was so happy to put it all to work on Monday. But nah! Friday tariff boy had to 120% my purchase. WTF! To the max.
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Sometimes the rules are just dumb.
Ooh I've got a couple fun "fucking bureaucracy" stories with the MA RMV and the RI DMV...
I bought a car in MA in 2014. Lived in RI at the time. Registered it in RI, paid RI sales tax at the dealer to register it. As one does. You cannot register a car without paying the tax.
Owned it for 4 or 5 years when I moved to MA. When I tried to register it here, they wanted me to pay sales tax on the original purchase price in MA. That's the law, unless I could prove that I paid RI sales tax.
"It was registered in RI by the dealer, ipso facto I must've paid tax" wasn't enough. I needed a form from the dealer.
I had my original paperwork all in a file at home. None of the documents were what they were looking for.
The dealership was still there, but had changed hands in the interim. I called every day for like 2 weeks trying to see if they could find the form. "We will give you a call in the morning". I had to call them in the afternoon because they never called me.
Eventually, I'm pretty sure they just forged the form to get me to stop calling them. Whatever, it was enough to let me register the car without paying tax on a 6 year old car, based on the value of when it was 1 year old.
When I was a teen, my dad bought an old Datsun off some guy off Craigslist as a project car. It wasn't even in one piece. It was immobile, hadn't been started in years. Squirrel den. Came with about 3 pallets stacked a good 4-5 feet high full of parts.
It was an antique (by state law, 25 years old) when he bought it. I'm pretty sure when we bought it, the law was that cars over 10 years old could be registered without a title. I may be mistaken.
This car...did not have a title. And it was not at all road-worthy, so registering it was never on his radar.
We worked on it for quite a while over the course of...probably a couple of years. Eventually got it quite road worthy and street legal and looking quite good.
By the time we went to register it, though, the title was now needed. The bill of sale from prior to that law didn't matter. Title was necessary.
The guy that he bought the car from was dead. Like, actually dead, we tried to track him down to see if possibly he had it, and all we could find was his obit.
So now he has this car with a couple of years of our blood, sweat, and tears in it...and the DMV is saying it can't be driven.
I'm not really sure how he ended up resolving that. I think he just shared his story with enough of his circle (pre-Facebook) that he found "a guy who knows a guy" who helped him grease the right palms. Typical Rhode Island.
SEE! People hate the government because they cut no slack, no matter how dumb the situation. They can't, gotta follow the law no matter what.
Got a boat out front, lost the paper title before I registered it. Now it's a $4,000 paperweight. Not nearly as bad as your story!
I called a few times, "Nothing we can do." FFS, I could file a "lost title" in other states I've lived in. Anyway, I'm paying a guy $200 to polish it up, dumping it on FB Marketplace for whatever I can get.
Trying to get a power pole put in at my camp in the boonies. Have to deal with the Health Department. WTF? Been round and round, apparently there's one woman I have to talk to, no one else has the authority to talk about this normal thing.
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One thing to keep in mind is that the used car market is fucked right now because of the tariffs. You're going to pay a premium for any used car from a dealership for the next long while.
My advice? Get a gray title on the car and sell it to someone who will fix it up. I hit a deer with my old 99 contour, and the insurance adjuster totaled it because my back seat was messy (I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't said it to my face; the whole story is a trip). They gave us $2400 for it, we kept the car, and sold it to a family friend for $1200 because it just needed new headlight assemblies. We only paid $1200 for it in the first place, but my step dad knew the dealer and got it for what he paid.
I bought a 98 Contour for $275 about 15 years ago (tweaker really needed pills) and immediately drove it 900 miles one way. Once I was at my destination I heard coolant boiling in the head. Drove it another year until the tensioner broke on my way home from work. Kept driving cuz I had funds for my next vehicle already saved. Engine no longer had compression by the time I was about a mile from home. RIP little shitbox. Best $275 ever. Scrap yard gave me $200.
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Or to put it another way: insurance should pay out the amount you could get if you sold your car, not the cost to buy another similar car.
Why would an insurance company think that OP would get less money selling the car than anyone else would get selling the same kind of car, though? It's one thing if all the listings are for much higher prices, but if those listings are selling at that price, then that's the market value and the insurance company is provably misunderestimating.
Same model year doesn't mean same condition.
A used car with lower mileage, documented service history, and a dealer warranty is worth a lot more than one without those things.
But also OP is right insurrance will generally offer the least they think they can get away with.
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My wifes car was $20,000 used back in 2019. Now after basically 10 years it gets hit. The insurance declares it totalled. So the car can't be legally driven. The insurance will only pay us $9000. But now we're trying to buy a replacement and for the same model year they are asking 16000!
WTF! What's insurance for? Its just a tax. I much rather save to pay for my own car and have some sort of insurance that really actually covers the other driver.
Farmer this and state farm that and whatever General lizard, all are total bullshit regardless if you caused the accident or if you're are the victim.
They should call it "pay slightly less than full price if you fucked up your car"
Just watched someone explain this but it was about house insurance. When you sign up they give you a replacement dollar amount. Should your house burn to the ground they deduct money from that amount due to depreciation.
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Just watched someone explain this but it was about house insurance. When you sign up they give you a replacement dollar amount. Should your house burn to the ground they deduct money from that amount due to depreciation.
LOL, yet you can't buy a depreciated house can you? No, cuz there are none. Even a burnt down place represents a mortgage-able amount of money. That's the lie. There's no depreciation, they just want to pay you less as time goes on. At least for a house anyway.
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LOL, yet you can't buy a depreciated house can you? No, cuz there are none. Even a burnt down place represents a mortgage-able amount of money. That's the lie. There's no depreciation, they just want to pay you less as time goes on. At least for a house anyway.
That's basically untrue. If a building is rotten and full of mold, then it might have to be torn down before anything new could be created. Then it might have negative value, but the property itself could still have a lot of value.
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I bought a 98 Contour for $275 about 15 years ago (tweaker really needed pills) and immediately drove it 900 miles one way. Once I was at my destination I heard coolant boiling in the head. Drove it another year until the tensioner broke on my way home from work. Kept driving cuz I had funds for my next vehicle already saved. Engine no longer had compression by the time I was about a mile from home. RIP little shitbox. Best $275 ever. Scrap yard gave me $200.
wrote last edited by [email protected]That thing was a Ford fluke. I drove mine 20k miles after I got it without charging the oil, and it never complained. The fucker actually got more fuel efficient the longer I drove it. Ended up somewhere like 32 city.
I miss it
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LOL my first car was really old. I bought it for 2k and I sold it for 2k like seven years later. But that only works if you know how to work on cars and have a good grip on maintenance. It was my first car and I did a lot of stupid things on it. Fixing it was a fun time. But I'm old now. I can't have my wife not have a car. Specially I wouldn't want to have car problems here in the PNW during a rainy or cold winter. In winter time you can walk a few blocks without freezing. But the grocery store is a good hour and a half downhill walk. Another 2 hours walking uphill with heavy shopping bags, that's a nope. One day there will be a tram nearby to help us. But not today.
One time I was talking with an online friend from the general region and I got to experience freezing his ass off while waiting for a bus....from the comfort of my home. Worse 30 minutes ever for him. Winters are no joke here. I don't understand how homeless people even survive over winter....you known, people who used to have a home, buy then one day they lost their car and got fired for not showing up to work. It hits home like that.
I got a plan ready last week to order a bunch of stuff from china. I was so happy to put it all to work on Monday. But nah! Friday tariff boy had to 120% my purchase. WTF! To the max.
Well, yeah, but in this case you'd be selling it to someone who will fix it.
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My wifes car was $20,000 used back in 2019. Now after basically 10 years it gets hit. The insurance declares it totalled. So the car can't be legally driven. The insurance will only pay us $9000. But now we're trying to buy a replacement and for the same model year they are asking 16000!
WTF! What's insurance for? Its just a tax. I much rather save to pay for my own car and have some sort of insurance that really actually covers the other driver.
Farmer this and state farm that and whatever General lizard, all are total bullshit regardless if you caused the accident or if you're are the victim.
They should call it "pay slightly less than full price if you fucked up your car"
The only thing that will fix that is “like for like” replacement coverage. Some insurances offer this, and of course it costs more, but if your older car gets wrecked and it only has a value of say $7,000 with 80,000 miles the insurance company will have to replace your car with the same model and mileage. Not sure what they do with older cars that might be harder to find replacements for.
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My wifes car was $20,000 used back in 2019. Now after basically 10 years it gets hit. The insurance declares it totalled. So the car can't be legally driven. The insurance will only pay us $9000. But now we're trying to buy a replacement and for the same model year they are asking 16000!
WTF! What's insurance for? Its just a tax. I much rather save to pay for my own car and have some sort of insurance that really actually covers the other driver.
Farmer this and state farm that and whatever General lizard, all are total bullshit regardless if you caused the accident or if you're are the victim.
They should call it "pay slightly less than full price if you fucked up your car"
If the car is still drivable, there are work arounds to still being able to drive a totaled car. When the insurance totals a vehicle, it just means that the repairs are more expensive than the value of the car. You may have to get a salvage title and assume ownership of the vehicle from the insurance. They'll also still give you the money for the car. If the accident wasn't your fault, also beware of the other persons insurance trying to settle with you. When I was in my 20s and young and dumb, I had that happen to me. The other persons insurance adjuster literally came to my apartment to negotiate a settlement with me and I took it because I was broke.
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That's basically untrue. If a building is rotten and full of mold, then it might have to be torn down before anything new could be created. Then it might have negative value, but the property itself could still have a lot of value.
Doesn't make his claim untrue, just an exception.
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The only thing that will fix that is “like for like” replacement coverage. Some insurances offer this, and of course it costs more, but if your older car gets wrecked and it only has a value of say $7,000 with 80,000 miles the insurance company will have to replace your car with the same model and mileage. Not sure what they do with older cars that might be harder to find replacements for.
Probably get you a car of similar make and age. Or maybe a never one worth aproximately the same.
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Just watched someone explain this but it was about house insurance. When you sign up they give you a replacement dollar amount. Should your house burn to the ground they deduct money from that amount due to depreciation.
That's true, but that depreciation is often recoverable. That deducted amount is paid out when you repair or replace the damage.
Cars don't work like that though, OP should fight the valuation unless they left out critical information like a $5,000 deductible.
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That's basically untrue. If a building is rotten and full of mold, then it might have to be torn down before anything new could be created. Then it might have negative value, but the property itself could still have a lot of value.
Okay let me find a negative value property around my neighborhood... None! Could it be a get rich quick loophole? Nope.
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Something similar happened to me, luckily I had decided to get the gap insurance, that makes the difference.
Gap insurance is just you gambling on a tiny down payment. The house always wins.
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My wifes car was $20,000 used back in 2019. Now after basically 10 years it gets hit. The insurance declares it totalled. So the car can't be legally driven. The insurance will only pay us $9000. But now we're trying to buy a replacement and for the same model year they are asking 16000!
WTF! What's insurance for? Its just a tax. I much rather save to pay for my own car and have some sort of insurance that really actually covers the other driver.
Farmer this and state farm that and whatever General lizard, all are total bullshit regardless if you caused the accident or if you're are the victim.
They should call it "pay slightly less than full price if you fucked up your car"
Hail messed up my paint and the insurance company wanted to total my car. It’s well maintained and still worth $11-13K. No way was I doing that. Found a place that would paint it for me at a cheaper price & paid out of pocket. I just need my car to take me to & from work.
