Financing A Car After A Total Loss – Quick Steps And Tips To Follow

It can be frustrating for anyone to plan on getting a new car if theirs has been totaled in a car crash and your insurance company is going to call your call a total loss or totaled if your car cannot be repaired safely, the cost of repairs is higher than the value of the car and the state law claims that the amount of damage is more than enough to make it a total loss. Financing a car after a total loss isn’t as easy as it might sound and that’s why we have decided to bring you this article today to guide you using some of our tips.

Financing A Car After A Total Loss

One of the first steps that every insurance company would take when there is a car accident is assigning an adjuster to check for the value of the car and to check if it would be worth repairing. What your adjuster would take note of during his inspection process includes;

• The mileage reading on your odometer
• The tire thread, interior and body condition of the vehicle
• Some extra parts that have already been added

To determine the actual cash value of your car, the insurance company is going to compare your vehicle with others that are for sale and in most states, cost for title and sales tax are all added to the adjusted price. It is okay for you to disagree with whatever price that the adjuster has come up with and you should also give reasons why the price should be higher as well as looking for a car for sale that would compliment your story.

Does The Insurance Company Need To Get You A New Car

If the car is still considered to be very new, some insurance companies would go as far as replacing it for you and being less than three months old is the definition of new in this context. Some insurance companies also go as far as offering victims replacement coverage for their vehicle for an extra cost every month. As long as your insurance policy has a replacement coverage in it, the insurance company is going to make you whole again after being involved in a car crash.

What this means in simple terms is that the insurance company is going to provide you with the actual cash value that your car worth at the time of the accident and that is also less deductible for your collision. However, if you are still owing a loan on the car involved in the car crash then it is not up to the insurance company to pay it off for you. What they would do is offer you as much as the car is worth as at the time of the accident and this tends to leave people in debt of loan if the loan is greater than the actual cash value of the car.

This is why gap insurance is strongly advised and once your car has be considered to be a total loss then it is up to you to provide the insurance company with the title before you would be able to receive any payment. It is impossible for you to keep the totaled car and also get a payout.

Time It Would Take To Get Your Totaled Car Check

If the insurance check is sent directly to you and not to a loan company then it shouldn’t take up to a week for you to be done with processing but at the same time, it is also dependent on how fast your insurance company gets to process paperwork and payment. It can also take a shorter period of time if the process is done electronically and if it is done by mail then you would need to receiver your paperwork before mailing it back then the check gets cut and mailed back to you.

The case is quite different if a lien company is getting the check before you do. The insurance company is going to mail them the check first and and it might take a couple of months depending on how the insurance company operates. Once they have all been paid, you will get the remaining balance. If you car gets declared as a total loss then the insurance company is going to auction it off, salvage its part and keep whatever proceedings they get out of it.

Listed below are some of the steps that you can take if your car has been involved in a total loss accident;

• report the accident to the insurance company
• Make use of a towing service to get the car across to any approved company
• Obtain your title
• Check the balance on your vehicle loan
• Make research on the possible value of your car

Getting an estimate of the fair market value is the only way you can get to keep your totaled car in some states