[DedliYeti]

Originally Posted by FRSure

It's a 2014 Scion FR-S. 512 Miles I believe. Only 3 weeks old. Got my perm plates today, and someone rear ended me 20 minutes later. Doors open and close properly.. But I can't put it in Park or Reverse. Only neutral and Drive.. Problem is, Idk if they will total it or not... The front looks good. Only the back side and some of side damage.

I'm so sorry to hear about this. Trust me when I say I know EXACTLY what you are going through, and I figured I would share my experience with nearly the same situation that happened.

Nov 2013 I bought a red 2013 Scion FR-S. I got the car with 160 miles on it, and managed to get up to 3280 miles in 2 weeks and 6 days. That night I had it parked in front of my house. It was 6:58pm when I heard a loud CRASH from outside my window. My first thought was "oh that sucks, an accident happened outside", but immediately thought "that sounded like it happened on the side walk." Sure enough, as I look out, I see this guys KIA Rio parked where my car was parked, while my car was coming to a stop in the middle of the street.

Judging by the sound of the crash, I would guesstimate that the drive was going about 35-40 mph. Totaled both cars. My FR-S looked just as bad as yours from the back, and even worse when you open the trunk and look where the spare tire sits. The backend practically folded in. Trunk didnt close, back left tire was at a funny angle. I believe most everything in the back end was done for, especially since its rear wheel drive, everything important was wrecked.

So I get the guys insurance info. I call his insurance company (Mercury Insurance) and start the claim. They tell me they cant accept liability because they havent gotten a hold of this guy (to get a statement from him and confirm that this actually did happen. Apparently people make bogus claims against people they never even met before, so thats why that held up happened). A month later and they still havent gotten a hold of the guy. We finally send a letter into the SFPD to get a copy of the police report and send it to Mercury. They finally claim liability (dont forget that because they didnt claim liability until a month and a half later, they couldnt pay for my rental expenses. I didnt get rental car coverage on my policy, so I was forced to pay about $1k out of pocket for rental expenses. This will be reimbursed when I write up my offer on what they should be paying me back for, since I'm not at fault in any way).

The first offer I got from my insurance on paying off the totaled car was the FMV (fair market value), which was $26k, which happened to be the amount I financed (I put $7k for downpayment, and financed $26k). Ok, thats cool and all, but what about my $7k downpayment? I was told that they only pay out the FMV of the car, nothing more. So I'm basically back to where I was before I got the car, but now minus $7k. Ended up working with the dealership, and found that $3750 could be reimbursed from the extended warranty and maintenance packages I purchased for the car. (Make sure you notify the dealership that you want to refund this, if you purchased it ASAP! They might tell you that you wont get the full amount back, because of how long its been, but they changed some dates around to help me out). The other $3250 consisted of taxes and fees, and I read up with my mom (shes a legal secretary) that if you purchase a new vehicle in the state of California, and its totaled in 30 days from purchase, the insurance company has to reimburse those costs. Currently, we are still waiting to get paid out by insurance, as well as getting back $1k rental costs, and that $3250 from the taxes and fees.

I did NOT have GAP coverage when this happened, but from what I understand, even if I did have GAP coverage, it wouldnt have played into this anyway. GAP coverage covers the difference between what insurance pays you and the remaining cost of the loan. Lucky for me, the amount insurance has offered to pay is the exact amount of the loan.

I went back to the dealership and purchased a 2014 black Scion FR-S. I talked to them about the refund of the extended warranty and maintenance, which they used as credit towards the downpayment for the 2014 FR-S. Had mom front me $3500, and then the dealership basically deferred the other $3500 on their part (waiting for the extended maintenance and warranty to be refunded, which will go to the dealership).

So that allowed me to get a car again. I am STILL dealing with insurance on the amount they need to pay me to make me whole again, 3 months later, as well as reimburse me for my rental expenses. This guy was 200% at fault, and I shouldnt be forced to pay ANYTHING out of pocket, yet this whole ordeal has cost us $4500 so far, out of pocket.

When I called insurance and told them my situation, that I had been rear ended, my car was totaled, and I'm looking for them to make me whole again, they told me that I would be screwed out of my $7k downpayment, as they only pay out the FMV of the car. (I asked my insurance company "So for lack of better words, I'm basically f****d out of $7k, even though I did NOTHING wrong." They told me, "Yes.")

I had a hell of a time on the phone, dealing with my insurance company and the other guys. Went in circles for 3 weeks, because Mercury could never get ahold of the guy who hit me, so they wouldnt do anything for me. They literally threw their hands up and told me they couldnt do anything for me until they got a hold of their guy. Had to snail mail the police report to get them to accept liability.

My advice to you is to recoup extended maintenance and warranty packages, if you purchased them, and save all receipts for rental cars, or loss of wages from not being able to go to work. Wait until they send you the offer to pay out your car, and send a letter back, asking for more, with receipts and all that stuff.

So sorry that this happened to you. I had just put on my new plates too, and 2 days later the car was totaled. At least you had yours for 1 day more than I did :P

Keep your head up. You may have to do the tap dance on everyones head (insurance companies) to get what you want. Insurance companies want to give you the bare minimum. Know that everything is negotiable. The tier 1 insurance members on the phone wont really help you, unless you keep calling, keep complaining, keep trying to get more. Eventually they get sick of it and start giving in (its whats been happening for me).

The guy who hit me lives 7 houses away from me. The spot where is at the top of a hill, but before you get to my place, you have to veer to the left a little bit (the road isnt straight until the block before my house). If you continue to go straight, when you should be turning, you would hit my car. Official statement from the dude that hit me: "I dont know what happened. I was going straight. I didnt even see the car." How do you miss a bright red car, parked under a street light? Well the police report had a check mark next to "cellphone in use". They also said he was going too fast and lost control. I still cant wrap my head around how he managed to do this. Its not like he didnt know the area.. I bet he was driving home that night.

I was in the car 10 minutes earlier. Hope youre not banged up or anything.

If you feel the need, send me a PM with any questions you may have about all this. I feel like we had nearly the same exact incident happen.

Best of luck.