What should I do with this insurance claim and my finance company?

Question

Ok this is a long story. I'm 20 years old, a little over a year ago I desperately needed a new car because mine was fried! It is a 1998 Nissan 200sx. It now has roughly 152,000 miles on it. It runs fine and surprisingly has never given me any trouble and I drive it ~45 miles per day. Anyway, I recently found out that in another state, the car had a salvaged title. On the carfax, for this state under my ownership, it doesn't have a salvaged title. The idiot dealer I bought it from has since then shut down due to "floating titles" around. Apparently MY car's title has been "washed". Well, the other night a deer ran into the road and slammed into my driver door. The damage isn't THAT bad but still pretty ugly. I owe a couple of thousand on this car still. I definitely have to be upside down on it. I have not gone to get an estimate on it yet but I am on Monday. I have no idea what to do. What would you do in this situation? Should I take the insurance money and just drive the car without getting it fixed? Could I have enough damage on the car for it to be totaled? Everything on the car is crappy except for the air and heat and the engine itself. From it being totaled in the other state, the bumper is loose on the front and the fender isn't the exact same color as the rest of the car. This is so crazy. I have a picture of the damage the deer caused, I will have a link at the end of this. Please don't reply with smart @$$ answers. I am really in quite a bind and don't know what to do. If I get a check from my insurance company, what if they make the check out to the shop that is going to fix the car?

http://tinypic.com/r/2sbtk5u/5

Boots · Accepted Answer

What should you do?

Nothing right now.  You're getting all worked up over a bunch of "what ifs" and "maybe".  

The best thing to do is stop panicking.  

Let the insurance company inspect the car and write an estimate to repair the damage.  If the car is repairable (not a total) get it fixed, pay the shop your deductible and move on with your life.

If the car is a total loss...then the insurance company will make you an offer. You can choose to retain the salvage if you like but you get less money.  Since you don't know what those offers would be there is no point in getting worked up about it.

Go to the appointment to get the car looked at.  Once you know what the situation is...then you can figure out the next step. No point in getting all worked up about it yet.

Anonymous · Answer

Yeah, some people will commit fraud, by "washing titles" and moving them to a new state.  

You're kinda in a bad situation.  If you take the insurance money and don't fix the car, the insurance company will drop the collision and comprehensive coverage, and your lender will have a fit.   How fast can you pay this off?? 

You CAN take the money and not fix the car - there's nothing illegal about that - but you'd need to USE that money - what there is of it - to pay off the car damn fast, so that WHEN your collision and comp get dropped, you're not in a "forced placed" insurance situation that makes your car get repo'd. 

Look, book value for your car is probably $1,000.  Subtract salvage value, because you'll be keeping the car (after all, it runs great!), and your deductible, you *might* walk away with $500.  Maybe less.  

The insurance company will make the check out to you  and the lender, jointly.  Maybe the lender would let you put it towards payoff, maybe not.  

If you can pay off the car within three or four months, I'd file the claim.  If not, I wouldn't.

Mopar Muscle Gal · Answer

usually insurance companies dont hand out a actual check unless the car is  declared by the adjuster as a total loss 
they pay for the repairs to the repair shop MINUS your deductible 

your car? is definitely NOT totaled

What should I do with this insurance claim and my finance company?

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