Auto Insurance Claims: parked car hit & totalled..too young to rent car?, rental reimbursement, dollar increase

Question
Hi, my parked car was hit and totaled today.  I will be putting the claim thru to the womans' insurance company  who hit my car (and pushed it 14 feet...yea, Heeellllooo, was doing 25mph in a rural residential zone...yeah right!)  I am now being told that I am too young at 19yrs (I live in NY, was hit in NJ) to rent a car...It is my own auto policy, no rental reimbursement since GEICO told me not to take that coverage since I'm too young to rent anyway.  What are my rights?  I am without a car and need to get to both college AND work EVERYDAY???? I do not live at home and do not have someone to drive me around.  Also, my car was a performance vehicle with thousands of add-ons, how do I make sure that this is taken into consideration upon the other party's insurance coming to a ACV figure??  Seems to me I will end up owing more on my loan than they will give me if the extras are not factored in the "book" value. Also, am I entitled to recoup the interest on my loan from the day of the accident to the day the other insurance company pays it off?  
Thank you for your help...  

Answer
Hi Cathy,

Unfortunately, your loan has nothing to do with what the insurance company will pay. If the car is totaled, should pay the fair market value. If you have documentation of the upgrades you made you will have to provide it to the insurance company so they do take it into consideration. Keep in mind that what you paid for these upgrades do not translate into a dollar for dollar increase in value.

You should visit www.autotrader.com to check the price of currently for sale vehicles like yours in your area. That way when the insurance company makes you an offer you will now if it is within the range of being fair.

As for the rental car, there is nothing that can be done. If you are too young to rent a car, there is nothing the insurance company can do about that. However, you should try to negotiate a payment for loss of use of your car from the date of the accident until they make you an offer on your car. The standard loss of use payment is about $20.00 per day.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh