Auto Insurance Claims: Full coverage, 2004 chevy malibu, apples and oranges

Question
Recently my wife was in an accident involving an uninsured motorist and they were at fault. we just purchased the 2004 Chevy Malibu in October of 2004. Needless to say we still owe payments on the car. The problem is that our car was deemed totaled by our insurance adjuster. My question is this. Should our insurance (Geico) pay off the remaining balance of the our car or will they just pay what the blue book value is. Also do you have any tips with dealing with uninsured motorist ans circumstances like this? There are also medical bills that we need to be taken care of. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If any other information is required please let me know.

Thanks

John Music

Answer
Lots of questions.

Does your policy provide UnInsured Motorist Pproperty Damage (UMPD) coverage?  If so, what is the deductible for that coverage?

IF you have BOTH Collision (Coll) coverage (which I assume that you do) and UMPD coverage and they have different deductible amounts you can opt to go with the lower deductible amount... check it out.

Some companies will pay for a replacement vehicle if the totaled vehicle meets certain criteria (age, mileage, etc)... check with you agent/company and see.

If not, your company will base their payment on the Actual Case Value (ACV) of the car based on its year, make, model, equipment, mileage and condition.


Unfortunately talking ACV and loan payment balance is talking apples and oranges.. they have nothing to do with one and other.

Check with your lender and get a payout amt... should be lower than the total pays over time because you are paying the loan off prematurely and arguable paying less interest.

Also check with your lender and see if they purchased GAP coverage (makes up any difference between what is owed on the car and the ACV).   Many lenders purchase that coverage to protect themselves with YOU paying the premium (it's calculated into your monthly payment... check with your lender to see.

Determining an ACV, while it has gotten more accurate due to data-base usage (as opposed to the Red book, N.A.D.A.  etc that were used in the old days... hence the term "book value") is NOT an exact science.  Ask your company to provide you with their ACV paperwork so you can see how they arrived at their number(s).... then you need to do your own "due diligence" by checking the Red Book, N.A.D.A (forget the Blue and/or Kelly books as they are not used by the insurance industry for ACV purposes).  Also check with local used car dealers to see what a comparable car is going for or would go for.  Once you have your "research" in hand you will be in a better position to negotiate to a more favorable (for you) number.

Re your med bills... are you in a No Fault (NF) (Personal Injury Protection (PIP)) state?  If so you company will take care of your bills up to the appropriate limit.  If you are not in a NF state, do you carry Medical Payments (Med Pay) coverage.. if yes, submit the bills to your company for payment up to the appropriate limit.  If you do not have Med Pay coverage refer any med bills to your HealthCare provider.

What do you mean when you say "Also do you have any tips with dealing with uninsured motorist ans circumstances like this"??

If you have med bills I assume that someone was injured.  If so you can and should make an UnderInsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) claim against your own carrier.  That's another matter for now...

Hope and trust that the above answers your question and provides some direction.  

Feel free to get back to me with any additional questions/issues relative to this matter.

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Thanks