NYKnick101

I have a friend who has a 2011 Ford focus that was just totaled by a drunk driver while he was sleeping. The drunk driver hit 5+ cars but smashed into his car first causing it to bounce off another few cars.



Now my question is, he bought he car brand new for about $22k, 5k down payment, financed it and had about 9 grand left on it. Had every intention to drive the car for 300k miles X amount of years til it dies, thats why he bought it brand new. The car is Clearly totaled! The only problem is that the car depreciated so much in the 2 years that Geico will only cover about what is left on the financing and maybe leaving him with $500+ to put towards a new car.

The insurance company also said that the drunk driver hit so many cars and damaged so much property that his insurance wont be enough to cover everything

This really sucks, the way I see it, He is out about 13 grand, no car and no money to really show for it. Basically I am looking for the light at the end of the tunnel because now he is at an economic loss. Does anyone who has dealt with this have any advice on where to go or how to deal with this?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

sorry to hear that

but unfortunately that's how it works. if the book value of the car is really at around 9k, then that's how much insurance would pay, regardless of how much your friend intended to drive the car for

now if the car has book of say 9k, but because of the other guy's insurance and they can only pay your friend 5k, i believe your friend can get an attorney and sue the other party for the gap, but then again, i guess max case is still 9k (plus maybe attorney fee)

NYKnick101

yeah, I doubt he would want to lose time to get tied up in court. I figured there would be nothing he can do. I figured since it was a no fault accident onmy friends end, Maybe he can get the other guys insurance to cover the cost of whats left, and then get reimbursed by his own insurance of what the car was worth.

It sounds fair when I think about it, just a really ****ty position to be put in because of someone else recklessness. Goes to show the risk of buying a car brand new that doesn't hold its value

keyframe13

The insurance needs to put him back on the road as soon as possible. Your friend needs to look on autotrader or any site and see how much a car with his mileage and his year and options go for. If the insurance is right then it is what it is if not he needs to sent to the insurance the listings so they revise their offer. Keep in mind that the insurance have to pay the taxes as well not just the car.
I honestly doubt the car is estimated to that less. Do you know the mileage, what does the NADA/ KBB say.The insurance cant't be that off to those

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

omgosh that's terrible. sorry to see this

Corey140

Has he contacted the other guys insurance company yet to find out his policy limit?

TangoRed

That is brutal, very sorry to hear about that. I think my only advice at this point would be to get that ~$9k and try to find another well taken care of Focus.

NYKnick101

The car had around 58k on it. Nada says the car in excellent condition would be $11.7 thousand but insurance usually only give you fair market value which is 9,200 according to NADA. I was pretty surpised my self because its only a 2 year old car. Most dealerships are asking around $12k for 2011 with 30-40k

The other guy is in jail and his status is still unknown at the moment. The accident happened out of state so it is hard to find out what jail the person went to

yeah, I told him just look for a used one. Starting to see if they loose that much value in 2 years, it may not be worth to buy another one brand new for 20k