Is my insurance screwing me????

[nyrican]

Long story short, my wife wrecked my car a couple of weeks ago. It was deemed totaled by the insurance company (which is also my bank) which is USAA. Here's my issue, the car is worth less than I owe (what a surprise) but I DO have gap insurance. I want to keep my car in hopes of parting it out and making at least some of my money back from my mods. They are telling me that my gap is only valid if I decide to NOT keep the vehicle. So if I want to keep it, I have to pay the balance left on the loan. How is that possible??? They are tell me the car is only worth 6500 bucks and that it would cost me 750 to buy it back. But if I buy it back I'd BE STUCK WITH A 3000 balance on the loan. It makes no sense to me. I paid my part and I'm willing to pay what they say its currently worth, why would I not be entitled to the gap insurance that I paid for??? If someone has any info on this I would greatly appreciate your input.

[moparmike610]

yes gap is only good if you let it go, if not youll have to pay what ever you owe


BTW I have USAA and love them, when my wife had her car wreck last fall, we were well taken care of and the same for when my truck was stolen cost them 8k to fix my ram

[Big Daddy J 300]

are they giving you a chance to put the modified parts back to stock before turning it in?

[nyrican]

I've had them for 16 years and have always been treated well, but this seems unfair. I PAID for the gap insurance and if they tell me its only currently worth 750 bucks to sell to junker, why on earth can't "I" just buy it for the same price and save them the hassle of having to pick it up.I havent asked about returning it to stock form.... not that I'm gonna do that anyway.

[DaILLestWun]

That is how GAP works.

You are not getting screwed. You are fortunate to have purchased GAP for exactly this situation. Now you are not stuck with a balance on your loan while having a totalled car.

So let me get this straight, you want to be able to keep your GAP and have the insurance forgive the balance of your loan or pay it off for you and you still get to keep the car? Not how it works. Then the insurance loses out on money they are entitled to.

[PBM300c]

Dont know about USAA but with my insurance this sounds pretty run of the mill. I have totaled one car before that I had done a bunch of mods to and they did let me return it to stock (mostly stereo stuff). This way I could sell my mods and still get a good insurance price for it.

[Sevenernine]

Why not return it to stock? At least those wheels... You can just give them to me if you want.

[Narc300C]

The gap insurance is only valid with totaling out the vehicle because it is only designed to cover what the insurance will not. The agreement clearly states that they will pay the bank not the individual the balance owed, that is if they don't dispute the value that the insurance company has determined. Gap insurance is overrated, the dealership only pays like $150 for the policy but charges the financed individual anywhere between $350-$2200 for the policy and then wraps it into the loan for the customer to pay interest. You are caught between a rock and a hard place. You may want to talk to the insurance company and see if they will allow you to keep the car with a "salvaged" title. They don't like to do it but sometimes will and give you money for repairs. This usually means that you get to keep the car, they will give you the money to repair the vehicle, but then you still have to pay the bank what is owed. You may also have problems when selling the car later.

[nyrican]

I totally understand that they will pay the bank an not me. I'm fine with that. What my problem is, is that they valued it at $750 to sell it ti a junker why can't I save them the trouble and just buy it myself? I paid for the GAP insurance to cover the loan, they should honor that and handle the sale as a separate transaction.

[PBM300c]

Its probably thier policy that they wont sell a "totaled" car to an indiviudal. You may be able to find out what junker they are selling it from and buy it back from that company. This way a third party would be involved to work around their policy.

[nyrican]

That is how GAP works.

You are not getting screwed. You are fortunate to have purchased GAP for exactly this situation. Now you are not stuck with a balance on your loan while having a totalled car.

So let me get this straight, you want to be able to keep your GAP and have the insurance forgive the balance of your loan or pay it off for you and you still get to keep the car? Not how it works. Then the insurance loses out on money they are entitled to.

No. I want them to honor the coverage I paid for. And I want to be able to purchase what's left of the car. THEY told me what they evaluate it's current value at, I'm just offering them that same amount.

[done]

No. I want them to honor the coverage I paid for. And I want to be able to purchase what's left of the car. THEY told me what they evaluate it's current value at, I'm just offering them that same amount.

I doubt that USAA wrote the GAP insurance, but even if they did, you are bound by the terms of that contract. They are not "taking advantage of you", however you are trying to gain an advantage beyond what your contracts call for.

[Junior]

Devil's advocate for a moment:

If the policy were written the way you suggest, any yahoo could smash his car immediately after driving it off the lot, get the debt dismissed, and buy it back for $750 - in the abstract, it seems pretty unreasonable, doesn't it?

[PBM300c]

I think everybody is not understanding the OP correctly ( I could be wrong though). He is just wondering why if USAA is going to sell the car to a junker for $750 he cant buy the car for the $750 instead of USAA selling it to a junkyard.

Junior,
In your example I believe people wouldnt do this because the car would still have a totaled title at this point and the car still wouldnt be fixed.

Again maybe I am reading the OP wrong but this is what I got from it.

[Big Daddy J 300]

Did you have any of your mods added to your insurance? It seems to me that the $6500 value is rather low. Back in 2008 my 2005 Chrysler 300 2.7L was totaled, what saved me was all the mods i had done to it, my insurance had to give me the value of a car with similar features to what i had and there was none because i had customized the car so much, they ended up giving me the value of a touring which was just enough to pay it off and for me to buy it back from them ($3500) plus they gave me $1700 for the mods i had added to the policy. So i came out just even.