Weird turn of events at car dealer, please advise

[teresa]

My husband took his Explorer in to get the oil changed today. This is the Explorer that he's approximately 15K upside down in. As they were driving it around the building to put it in the shop, the driver crashed into another vehicle that they were pulling out of the shop. The other vehicle is totaled, my husband says that his rig is pretty smashed up, but we don't know yet what the damage is. They sent him home with a loaner car.

We've been discussing letting this car go in the BK. We owe 23K on it, KBB says it's worth about 8K. I'm wondering what we should do. Any advice from anyone? My husband is thinking that maybe they'll give him a sweet deal on a trade in (on something small and cheap, he promised) and narrow that gap between what we owe. Then, I can let my vehicle go (worth 12-13K, owe 24K). I really don't know how to play this. We're thinking of filing at the end of April, and we did not make the March payments on either one of our cars.

Thanks for the advice

[SinkingFast]

I don't know what to say, Teresa.

Isn't it so wierd that when things to sour, you just keep having one thing after another happen??!!

I hope others with far greater wisdom than I will have good advice for you.

[teresa]

I know, I've read things in this forum and I think to myself, man, that's bad luck, what a time for that to happen. When it rains, it pours I guess. I wanted to talk to our attorney, but he's out of town until Monday. I'm telling my husband to not committ to anything, to try to stall them for a few days. Last we heard that car dealership was expecting the estimator to show up. I'll keep you posted on the chain of events. Thanks for your thoughts.

[teresa]

That's good advice, something I hadn't thought of. We could use the payoff to buy a cheapo rig. When I give the rig up, under the new law, I'll still be liable for the entire balance (the difference bewtween the true value of the car and what I owe on it). The money I get from damages might make up for that. Thanks

[FilingOnMyOwn]

The shop is obligated to pay for the damages. Check the statute of limitations for collecting on the damages. In my state, its 3 years and I figure most states are around that.

Get the money from the insurance claim and try to only fix what really needs fixing, and do so as cheap as possible and use the rest of the money for your filing fee (if you're using a lawyer) or spend it on something else very important. Since you're upside down and willing to let it go, then thats what I would do.

I 2nd that. You do not have to place an insurance claim with your insurance company and risk increasing your rates. The dealership either needs to cut you a check or have one cut from their insurance company. And If they offered to fix it for you free of charge, how can you trust them to do it right, they're the ones that crashed it! They screwed up, go for the money.

[keepmine]

When I give the rig up, under the new law, I'll still be liable for the entire balance (the difference bewtween the true value of the car and what I owe on it). The money I get from damages might make up for that. Thanks
__________________

If the car is included in your bk filing you will have no liability for any deficiency balance as long as you don't reaffirm.

[SinkingFast]

We're doing that too, right now. Daughter got rear ended. The guy that did the estimate said it was an easy job to do. Take off one bumper, replace the braces, put on a new bumper. We can even reuse the end caps.

We thought we'd take the extra money and spend it otherwise.

But didn't think to advise you of that since a dealership was involved. DUH!!

[13inOR]

This may sound wierd, but I think this was actually a blessing in disguise. I think it will definitely work to your advantage if you let it. The dealership is in total liability here, they have no choice but to pay up.

[LostOne0069]

Here's something else you may not have thought of... if you have 'gap' insurance, meaning insurance that pays the remaining debt on a car loan if the car gets totaled while you owe more than the vehicle is worth.

If you do, see if you can get the car totaled... this would pay your loan free and clear... yes, you'd be out of a vehicle, but you'd also have one less debt to go into bk with which could help you rebuild credit later.

Good luck!