How can I make the insurance pay me and still get a car after we pay to the bank????

Question Details: Three days ago at 2:30 in the morning our car was parked in the street and somebody crashed into it. The insurance company “Geico” claimed it total lost. They will pay us $ 16,000 and our debt with the bank is for $ 28,000. We don’t have $ 12,000 to pay to the bank.

Asked 8/30/2009 under Insurance Law | 159 View(s) | More Legal Topics

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Insurance Law Law Answers

You can challenge the insurer's valuation of your car--they're not allowed to arbitrarily pay you less than it was worth. Make them explain how they came to that value; check the "blue book" value yourself in several different sources; look for the sale price of used cars the same model and age that yours was; etc.

 However, since car's do depreciate, it is likely that it is worth less than the remaining amount you owe on it. If there is the case, there may be little you can do. Some insurance policies have "gap" insurance to pay off any additional difference between what you owe and what the car is worth; if you had that, you would be ok, but if not, the problem is simply that your insurance was less than your debt, and in that case, unfortunately, you do not have many options.

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