If you are involved in an accident that leaves your new car totaled, you might want to talk to an accident attorney about this even if you are not injured at all. When another driver caused the accident and your car is totaled, you might want to fight for some money to cover a variety of different expenses. Here are a few things to understand about how this works.
The Insurance Company Pays The Current Market Value
The first thing to understand is that if you own a newer car and have a loan on it, the other party's insurance company might not pay the entire balance you owe. They will calculate how much your car was worth right before the accident, and this is the amount they will pay. For example, if you owe $20,000 on a car, and they calculate the value at $18,000, they will only pay the $18,000. You will be left owing the remaining $2,000 unless you have gap insurance coverage.
If you have gap coverage, your insurance company will pay any remaining balance on your loan after your car was totaled.
You Will Lose Your Down Payment And Extra Payments
So far, this might sound fine to you, but you should realize that you will be out some money. If you had put a $3,000 down payment on the car, you just lost this money. The insurance company will not reimburse you for this. In addition, if you have had the loan for a year and had been paying extra on your payments to try to pay off your loan early, you will lose all this too. Now you will be left without a car and without a down payment for another one.
Your Life Will Be Majorly Disrupted
In addition, your life may suffer for the next few days or weeks after the accident. You will not have a car, for one thing, and you might be wrapped up with phone calls and other things you need to do to settle the situation. You will also have to spend time shopping for a new car to buy.
Because of these things, you may need to hire an accident attorney to help you recover all the money you lost through the accident. Accident attorneys are great at negotiating with insurance companies, and they can help you receive the compensation you are entitled to after an accident like this.
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