Well, it's a good thing I'd already made the cheerful post.

[rivka]

curiousangel just called me at the clinic. He heard from the body shop that the insurance adjuster is planning to declare the car totalled. (Um, for non-driving or non-U.S. readers, that means that they won't pay for repairs - they'll give us what they figure is the "actual cash value" of the car before the wreck, instead. Then they get to sell what remains of the car (which should be a fair amount) for parts.)

So now we have to go car shopping. The good news is that I spoke to the credit union carrying our car note, and found that we can buy out the loan for about $1500. So if they pay us the bluebook value, we ought to have a fair amount left over towards the next car. I also discovered, while surfing through sites about Maryland insurance law, that the insurance company is obligated to pay us for sales tax and fees associated with the purchase of another car. I don't know if the equitable settlement amount goes up to compensate for the hassle involved in buying a car - for example, we're likely to have to take some time off work to handle it - but it seems to me that it should.

We need to decide what kind of car we want - I mean, we'll almost certainly be looking for a four-door family sedan, but we don't know if we want to get another Mazda or look for something else. We need to decide if we want to buy a four-year-old car like the one we lost, at $5000 or $6000, or if we want to get a newer car and take out a loan for the balance. My gut instinct is that, given that we hope to apply for a mortgage in the next year or so, it would be wiser to avoid assuming a new loan now... but I'm by no means certain about that.

Grrrr...

[In addition to - or in lieu of - sympathy, all forms of Geek Answer Syndrome are welcome in reply to this post.]

Comments

having been through this in the not too distant past..

[kyttn.livejournal.com]

Declaring the car totalled is fine. The question is, is the car able to run at all (safely)? Totalled means that the amount of money needed to repair all damage (including cosmetic) exceeds the cost of replacing the vehicle. A car may be totalled for things that could be fixed if you don't care about looks right now (ex: replacing a broken bumper or fender from a junkyard instead of getting a new part and painting it to match).

If the car can be made safe to drive for not too much money, then consider buying it yourself. You see, they have to offer you the totalled car at a reasonable price. When they make you an offer for the value of the car (and make sure YOU look up online to see what the Blue Book value is, both Kelly and Edmunds), ask what they would give you if you keep the car. It might be worth driving around for a few months in a car that looks horrible while you save up for another car. There are some rules about what they can charge you for the totalled car (it varies by state, I think here the max was something like 300). My ex told me of one fellow who bought his car back from the company for $50, and is still driving it after 2 years, with no major expenses.

Good luck!