Car officially "totalled" ... What to do?

[Deleted]

Mutt- Ok, you win...sigh, taxis should be everywhere as should car rental places.

[muttleynfelix]

Gin - We actually shared a car when DH was still working. That was nice. We still had the truck at home, but we carpooled to work since our offices were just a few doors apart.

[gardenergirl]

Muttleyn - OMG! I just saw your post! I hope you were ok and not hurt or anything. Ugh, that is a crappy situation to deal with though. I totally understant your frustration. If it were me, I think I'd take the $3900 and put it towards a cheap used car, like around $6000 or so could probably get you something decent. Spread the payments for as many years as you can go, then you can pay it off sooner if you can, if not, you have a very cheap car payment. I'm so sorry that happened to you!

ETA: Have you checked out Carmax.com? Do you have one anywhere near you? They will ship the car to you from anywhere in the US. I think it's something like $500 to have it shipped, but it's an option.

[bean29]

What's your zip code? Just out of curiosity I want to put my car valued at wholesale $4400 into KBB with your zip code and see how much they say it is worth there.

Maybe posters here can tell you a better area to search for a car in.

I am in a similar situation and one of the car buffs here at work said he had repaired a car the ins co totaled once b/c he really liked the car. He said he was sorry - it was not even close to the same car it was before the accident.

[muttleynfelix]

My work zip code is 65807. There is some stuff out there, but I refuse to buy something CR has on their don't buy list. DH thinks he can part out the car for the difference between the totalled amount and the we keep it amount. He decided what he wanted to do and I'm done arguing with him. It sure feels like he is blaming me for getting in an accident in his car (never mind that he gets to drive around the super nice 2007 Nissan Murano).

Gardener - I'm fine. My foot that was smashing the brake in as hard as I could hurt for about a week, but its fine now. Just took the full force of the impact.

[kristi28]

muttleynfelix - Apparently I am oblivious; you aren't too far from us. DH has relatives that live somewhere in the middle of nowhere between Rolla and Springfield.

Hopefully your DH is right and you can get some more use out of the old car. I have an old car that was wrecked in an accident with a semi, and the darn thing still won't die. Can you tell who is winning the keep it/sell it debate?

[boosmom]

muttley - Glad you're ok! As long as you're not planning to try and sell it later on (since the resale value on cars that's been in a big accident are hard to sell) and will just try to use it until it dies, repairing it is probably cheaper. But just research and see if your state requires any certification to be provided for a total loss vehicle.

[moneymaven]

mutt - I am definitely late chiming in, but you can ask your insurance company to pay for the total damage of the vehicle, then ask to purchase the vehicle with a salvage title. The car can be repaired, but just realize that if you ever tried to sell it again, it would have a salvage title.

All insurance companies handle coverage for a salvage titled vehicle differently, so you should also inquire about that. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm sorry to hear about your car and glad you're ok.

[boosmom]

"salvaged" vehicle -- that's the phrase I was trying to remember!

[Elizabeth]

My uncle used to own a car dealership. He still is in the industry part time and he goes to auto auctions every week and buys cars at a very low price and resells them for KBB value or more. Do you know anyone who is a dealer and can go to auction on your behalf? From what I understand, you have to be a dealer to attend these auctions, but you can get a killer deal on a nice car.

[muttleynfelix]

Well ladies, I thought I would give an update. DH fixed our car. I finally got to drive it to work yesterday and it seems fine, except it needs an alignment (which it needed before hand). We made due with 1 vehicle for a month, but I only ended up working 11 days in February. So, I drove myself most days rather than DH driving me. The jump in gas prices made the extra 40 mile round trip a little impractical (the SUV gets 20 mpg). We survived and DH fixed the car for about $800 and 2 weeks of working on it off and on. So, not too bad. We set aside the remainder of the money in a fund for a new vehicle in a couple years. Thanks for all the advice.

[mizbear]

Glad you have your car back!