It certainly is your poor Mini. Thank goodness you are OK. It looks to me like the car will be totaled. Many times an insurance company will sell a totaled auto to the owner for very little money ($15 to $150), but it is rare that you can do much with it. You've usually got to be a major motorhead, have more than one of these vehicles, building a racer, or some other unique reason. With today's unibody construction, large scale repair is difficult to do by the home mechanic. You can actually cut up another body and weld them together, but the difficulty comes with making sure the body is true and square. Shops that do this have a variety of measuring tools (some are laser or LEDs) and, sometimes, work stations that are like big metal tables with reference points laid out on the surface in a grid pattern. When some of us were teenagers, we'd weld alot of stuff together with crude measurements, but it didn't matter much because the life of the entire vehicle was short. The original factory precision was nothing like today, either, and that gave us a little bit of grace, too.

You'll most likely be offered a fair market value from the insurance company because the auto is so new. Wtih that and a little bit more money, you'll be able to replace the auto. This is the easier way to get back into some wheels. Sometimes a guy will buy a similar auto that doesn't have quite the same features in order to spend little to no out of pocket. Others opt for a different (cheaper) auto or a motorcycle.

I know about that glass in the arm. Been there and done that.

 

would the insurnace company really sell me the wrecked car for that little? I woudl just want to keep it for the memories, it was my firsts car and i've bragged to people that i'll keep that sucker until it broke down or until i broke down, i planned on handing my baby down to my kids and i'm only 18!

 

$150 for a 2004 salvage vehicle? They can get that for one of the seats. IF it's totaled I'd bet the salvage value would be closer to $5K than $150, but you never know. Keep us informed!

 

yeah i would definately buy that car back if it was for a few thousand but i'm not sure what i'd do with it. what do you think i should do to start looking up fair market values? kbb? edmunds? but lets all pray that she'll be okay.

 

KBB tends to overvalue MINIs, but it's not a bad place to start...
Personally, I'd wait for the adjuster to do his/her job and find out if you need a rental or a subscription to Carfax.

 

yeah i just checked KBB and the retail is almost 2 grand more than i paid OTD that would be great!

 

I would push the insurance company to total the vehicle. The resale value will be less and if you have any warranty left they will most likely not honor it. They will say that anything that goes wrong could have been caused by the accident. I had a totalled vehicle that the insurance company offered back at 15% of the retail value. You do need to ask them about this as they will probably not mention it. If you get the car back you can sell the parts and make a nice profit. Good luck and glad you are ok!

 

Sorry to hear about your car, that really sucks.

I would always prefer to total a car that's been in a wreck. Like someone else said, it's never the same after an accident.

I work in the Total Loss department of an insurance company. In negotiating a final settlement, we always offer the person the option of keeping the vehicle. The cost of that is 25% of the ACV (actual cash value). So if the ACV was $20,000, you would get a check for $15,000 and keep the car. But if there is a lienholder, some lienholders don't allow you to keep a totalled car. Also, if you keep the car and get it rebuilt, it would have a salvage title (at least in Oklahoma. Not sure if all states are the same way)

Good luck with the insurance settlement!

 

thanks so much for the help, i have one question what's a lien holder?

 

The person/company/bank who holds your loan.

 

Make sure you mention to your insurance company that you plan on making a "Diminished Value" claim if they decide to repair the car.

This is a claim against the fact that you can't sell the car for the "normal" used car value when it comes time to sell. This won't generally happen without you asking for it, most people don't, and unless your agent is really on your side they won't mention it to you.

I'm sure the claim rules vary from state to state so do a google search and see what the deal is near you.

 

I think i will opt for the option where i can keep the car, because i really don't wnat to loose it, even though it is quite messed up. I really hope that insurance is able to fix it. does the fact that it was a DUI who hit me have anything to do with how much compensation i get for the car?

 

No, but you could probably go after them on the side in civil court for pain, suffering, aggravation, etc...

 

ML is right that the DUI has no affect on the value of the car.

As far as her other comment.... If you have a bodily injury, then that's a separate issue and "pain and suffering" is one of the categories of payment under the BI umbrella... along with reasonable and necessary medical care and verifiable lost wages.

 

Thanks for keeping up with me guys. The insurance company reached a final verdit and totalled the car, the apprasier found at least 18000 dollars in damage on the outside alone, that's where he stopped counting, the insurance has a 85% of the total value point where they decide to total it or not. Apparently the scale that they use for the MINI S is that no matter the options it is worth 20,500 and then if the cost to repair it costs more than the 85% mark ( around 18000) then they will not fix it. So my MINI is gone. The appraiser that i talked to suggested that i not rebuy it for salvage as its condition is quite bad. I would like to take some of the stuff just for memories though. The steering wheel, maybe a rim and make it a nice table. we'll see. thanks for all your support guys. Maybe i'll be back with an 07 MINI or a used 06. i'll keep you guys updated.

 

So it's totaled. That's to bad. Would they let you part it out first? What was that option of keeping the totaled car, getting $15k, parting out and selling parts to make money? You could even sell the shell to a race team.

 

they are going to sell it at the IAA some auction or something i want to take out some stuff before tehy do that. like a seat or somethign to keep. yeah i might be able to sell it, but then i would have to buy it from them, like get teh salvage rights. or do i legally still own the car? what are my options from here?

 

should i part it up? what are my rights under insurance? because right now technically the car is still mine can i take whatever i want from it? or what happens from here?

 

Yes, the car is technically still yours until you hand over the title to the insurance companay. HOWEVER... if you start parting it out, you are going to decrease the value of the vehicle and once the insurance company realizes some items are missing, they will very likely similarly decrease the ACV of the vehicle. In other words, they will pay you what the vehicle is worth after you've removed parts.

If you're going to remove things, it should be small, invaluable things, unless you don't care about you payout being cut.

 

ive seen worse on my friend STi that he wrapped around a tree......he hit the tree so hard in the left rear the rear window came out the car and wrapped around the tree like wrapping paper. total damage was alil over 17k which his insurance took care of

 

what if i keep the car for salvage and answer all the WTB's on the MINI forums it would be a great way to get to know the car and a great way to help out fellow MINI owners, but i'm not sure if that would be cost efficent.

 

i thought in a insurance agreement it stated if your vehicle was involved in a loss in which the insurer paid out in full for the loss they legally take ownership of said car once payment has been made to the insuree

 

I don't work in our Total Loss Department, but as I understand the process, the payment and hand-over of the title are simultaneous.

I have a few friends in that department, I'll track one of them down later today and find out.

 

Having gone through the same thing recently, I feel your pain! The important thing is that you are OK. Best wishes for saving your car!

 

In the Total Loss Department I work in......we need the title, a signed Power of Attorney form (this allows us to sign the title for you and get it transferred into a salvage title, allowing us to sell the salvage). Also, if you're making payments, we need a Letter of Guarantee from your lienholder. (the claims adjuster will take care of this, you don't have to worry about it) This form guarantees that the lienholder will supply us with the lien release after the insurance payment is made. (it needs to be a clear title--no liens--before we can get a salvage title in our name and sell the salvage). After we get all the paperwork and take possession of the car, then a check is issued.

As far as taking parts off the car--at least at my company--you can only take something off if you replace it with the original. Like if you put in custom seats, or steering wheel, you can remove them--but only if you put another seat or steering wheel back on.

Hope that helps!