Auto Insurance Claims: Claim Paid out but check written to both myself and leinholder, leinholder, usaa

Question
Oct 5th my ex totaled my car while returning to pick me up for work.  I currently had no ins on the vehicle and he had known this.  He called his ins. co. within a couple of hrs after the accident.  The car had been towed to the Dallas Police Pound and was marked totaled. I had to go to the pd to get my glasses out of the car and it was in the totaled section of the lot and i had to climb through the window to get my glasses. Couple of days after accident i receive a call from USAA asking me what i knew and told me that they would be paying out on the claim rather it was his fault or   not but had requested that i have my ex contact them, they could not reach him.  He did speak to him however told him that he had to claim that he was liable before they would pay out. When i had spoken to her they had told me that they were waiting on the police report but would be making their decision at that time.  34 days after the accident i receive a call from the same lady asking me where the car was.  I told her and she asked for the address.  I told her i did not have but it should be on the police report, she then told me that i needed to contact them to have them release the vehicle to them and then let her know what is said and the contact info.  mind you this was about 4pm on fri. afternoon and i was to be leaving for london the next day.  i called the pound and was on hold for an hour.  then was told by friend that his sister is the claims manager at AAA so after calling USAA back and informing her that i could not reach anyone but was going to AAA to sign affidavit Monday so that they could pick up vehicle and was told by AAA that the pound has the option to auction car off if 30 days. had tickets for 4 mths to london but had to cancel, also had interviews set up was planning on moving. I went and signed affidavit monday and finally about 3 wks later received a ltr from USAA telling me that i needed to contact ASAP, i called and was told the ltr was sent because they needed the ltr sent to me stating the car was auctioned.  i never received such ltr. left msg with person who i had been dealing w/it was late so i called back the next day to find out she had just had a baby, this was the day before thanksgiving.  the next person i was dealing with told me that an appraisal had been done but no photos in photo file. this was 2 1/2 mths later, they did no appraisal but my ex had taken photos of vehicle and sent in. car was auctioned for $500. Couple of wks go by and i'm told i need to contact the leinholder to have them release lein.  i owed them 1000.00 that they had issued to a debt collector 3 yrs previous and had no info in the system other then my last known address.  by this point i had lost my job because i could not get to work and the day after i called chrysler they sold the debt to an additional debt purchaser who can not collect on debt but referred me to the co. who could.  However USA would not pay out on claim to any other then Chrysler due to title being in there name.  at this point i could get nobody to speak to me at chrysler nor would they speak to USAA.  USAA had said that they would issue the check - the amt due to chrysler and then send the additional amt to them but had problems because they would not communicate with anyone.  i finally got a car but had to have usaa confirm that i would be receiving a check which they did.  Feb I receive a check in the amt of approx 8,500 written to both myself and chrysler.  i was told by my ex that i could go up to chrysler, which i did not know they had a local branch but due to the law without prejudice they would endorse the check.  is this true and if not any advice on what to do.  I've had this car for 4mths now and have yet to put down payment down. i can not get anyone to help me including attorney who told me he would. so i either lose this car or find a way to get endorsed. Please if someone could help!

Answer
Hi Misty,

This is a situation with many moving parts, but I will do my best.

It appears that USAA paid the entire amount payable to you since they were unable to communicate with anyone at Chrysler. So they issued the check payable to you and Chrysler so that you could try to get things straightened out on your own. So at this point you will have to contact chrysler, explain the situation and try to get this situation unraveled. You will likely need to sigh the check over to Chrysler to pay off the balance of what you owe and then they will issue you a check for the balance if any. I don't know what to tell you as far as the many credit companies that have purchased your debt. You may need to contact each of then in an attemt to unwind this mess.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh