M3 Totaled - Got a couple of Questions

[MStar]

Originally Posted by 6spdg37s

get a lawyer bro ...not the tv injury lawyers...like a ligit one that you will pay a set fee versus a large % of what u win..

You do know that just beacuse a lawyer works off contingency doesn't mean they aren't legit. Almost all personal injury attorneys work off contingency.

I suppose you could find the rare one that will work off retainer, but it will be a substantial amount that the OP would have tp pay upfront..not sure why you would opt to go this route.

[TheDeliverator]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

My guess is that lease will be terminated. If you want another car, it will be like starting a new lease.

The Tech is correct.

Back in 2001, my Xterra was totaled by someone running a red light and I was leasing. His insurance wrote me a check worth more then list price of the car when I began the lease (it was 2 years old when totaled).

I had to take that check into the dealer hand it over. I was pissed. Not only did they make $$ off my payments but got over full price for the car.

I'll never lease again.

OP: Glad you're OK. Good Luck

[VMcV3y]

Originally Posted by M3PO

You need to do everything in your power to ruin her life. She could have killed half a dozen or more people.

Zero tolerance for drunks that risk lives. Sue the snot out of all of them.


- V



.

[Harry Da Hamster]

Your insurance company or the others insurance company (depending if you're loc in a no fault state or not) will want to pay out as low as possible. So what they will probably try to do is pay the remaining payments and the residual. Tell them that you originally planned to buy out the lease because of its excellent condition and low mileage. Negotiate a higher amount than just pay off. Be prepared with print outs of all comparables on Craigslist, cars.com, dealer listings, etc.

[Darth One]

Originally Posted by VMcV3y

Zero tolerance for drunks that risk lives. Sue the snot out of all of them.


- V



.

agree completely. she needs to be taught a serious, serious lesson. if it ruins her life then so be it. it's a miracle she didn't kill multiple people including the OP. you can't get out of this shit by crying and playing the helpless one...

[shaq diesel]

Originally Posted by FNG

Your insurance company or the others insurance company (depending if you're loc in a no fault state or not) will want to pay out as low as possible. So what they will probably try to do is pay the remaining payments and the residual. Tell them that you originally planned to buy out the lease because of its excellent condition and low mileage. Negotiate a higher amount than just pay off. Be prepared with print outs of all comparables on Craigslist, cars.com, dealer listings, etc.

If the car is a lease he won't get any benefit from the fact that the car was in near mint condition. The lease company owns the car so all the insurance company is responsible for is to cover their value of it as far as physical assets go. That's the benefit/detriment of a lease, the owner just walks away from the car unless they decide to buy it out.

[Robz26]

agree completely. she needs to be taught a serious, serious lesson. if it ruins her life then so be it. it's a miracle she didn't kill multiple people including the OP. you can't get out of this shit by crying and playing the helpless one...

+1

She gave up the sympathy card long ago.

[m3an]

Originally Posted by FNG

Your insurance company or the others insurance company (depending if you're loc in a no fault state or not) will want to pay out as low as possible. So what they will probably try to do is pay the remaining payments and the residual. Tell them that you originally planned to buy out the lease because of its excellent condition and low mileage. Negotiate a higher amount than just pay off. Be prepared with print outs of all comparables on Craigslist, cars.com, dealer listings, etc.

wrong

Originally Posted by shaq diesel

If the car is a lease he won't get any benefit from the fact that the car was in near mint condition. The lease company owns the car so all the insurance company is responsible for is to cover their value of it as far as physical assets go. That's the benefit/detriment of a lease, the owner just walks away from the car unless they decide to buy it out.

correct; the "insured" in this case doesn't own the vehicle. Only remaingin outstanding money will be paid to end the lease payoff.

[W Cole]

Originally Posted by m3an

wrong



correct; the "insured" in this case doesn't own the vehicle. Only remaingin outstanding money will be paid to end the lease payoff.

So you are saying if I pay for my lease 100% up front and total the car driving off the lot the insurance company just cuts a check to BMW for the buyout of the car and not the fair market value?

The buyout will be something like $37K but the value of the car closer to $70K.

[IFX]

crush her in every way possible. I have no remorse for anyone who drives drunk.


Sorry to hear what happened, hopefully you'll be back up and running soon.

And i guess this is why people say never put money down on a lease, in case the car gets totaled?

[m3an]

Originally Posted by W Cole

So you are saying if I pay for my lease 100% up front and total the car driving off the lot the insurance company just cuts a check to BMW for the buyout of the car and not the fair market value?

The buyout will be something like $37K but the value of the car closer to $70K.

I don't really get what your saying, but it really wouldn't make sense anyway to "buy a lease 100% up front" unless you just hate money and want to give it away. But in any event when you lease a car you are borrowing someone else's. BMW is gonna payout the leasing company themselves, not you, so it doesn't matter. If you owned the car, regardless of a lien, you would get a check (poss w/ lienholder attached) and that would be fair market value, whether more or less that what's owed. If it's less and you owe more, yes you lose money unless you purchase GAP insurance which "bridges" the gap from ACV at time of loss to amount owed to finance company

[m3an]

Originally Posted by IFX

crush her in every way possible. I have no remorse for anyone who drives drunk.


Sorry to hear what happened, hopefully you'll be back up and running soon.

And i guess this is why people say never put money down on a lease, in case the car gets totaled?

you don't put money down on a lease cause it's not your car. It's just dumb. It's smarter to float a higher payment than give away your money up front for something that's not yours/ Make sense?

[m3an]

Originally Posted by W Cole

So you are saying if I pay for my lease 100% up front and total the car driving off the lot the insurance company just cuts a check to BMW for the buyout of the car and not the fair market value?

The buyout will be something like $37K but the value of the car closer to $70K.

if you paid BMW 100% up front, and then insurance pays ACV on a car that was already paid for than that's fraud as it's getting paid 2x. If it's the beginiing of the lease and you made a few payments; the remainder is paid off and then poss the residual/ACV negotiated of the car to pay the leasing company to make them whole



also just for arguments sake, say yes, you pay a lease 100% up front (for easy #) at 1,000 month for 3 yrs. 36k total, then yes, a residual of 36k is all that's needed to make up the ACV of the car.. Same as the example above. If you only make one payment and car is totaled, then remaining payments or ACV is just paid to leasing company. It's 6 of one and 1/2 doz the other

[ADRQ0811]

Originally Posted by VMcV3y

Zero tolerance for drunks that risk lives. Sue the snot out of all of them.


- V



.

+1

[radiognome]

Originally Posted by Yolkster

It should not cost the OP any money, Personal injury lawyers work off a contingency (standard is 33.3%) and his medical will be picked up by the other party's insurance company or PIP.

This lady's negligence and drunk driving caused damage, injury and pain/suffering to the OP and his pasengers so they will definitly be compensated for that. He has an excellent case.

What if she doesn't have any money/job/property? I've been in a situation back in 2005. A man on his 50th birthday hit me in a back triggering 3 cars accident and then we figured out that he had just $20K coverage and, when we got closer to the court, apparently he found out the way to get rid of everything to his family and suing him could cost us about $1k upfront with possible $15-20 dollars a month from his welfare for the next 60 years or so...
And I guess Papa Jonh's will find the way to be the first in the line to get money from her, if there are any.

[radiognome]

Originally Posted by Yolkster

It should not cost the OP any money, Personal injury lawyers work off a contingency (standard is 33.3%) and his medical will be picked up by the other party's insurance company or PIP.

This lady's negligence and drunk driving caused damage, injury and pain/suffering to the OP and his pasengers so they will definitly be compensated for that. He has an excellent case.

BTW, it's not true that it is not going to cost OP any money. Lawyers do not take money for their time in such cases, but they do take money for filing all kinds of paperwork, telephone calls expenses, etc. At least that's what our lawyer told us.

[MysticBlue]

Originally Posted by charles j m

Great to know!! This has intrigued me ten fold. I felt bad for her crying and didn't care for suing her for money (she did probably 200k+ of damages in a matter of 5 seconds), but this is a different story.

You felt bad 'cause she was crying? Dude. Nut up. You need to pull your big boy pants on and do society a favor and make her life as miserable as possible. Do EVERYTHING you need to do to make yourself whole. This should not cost you anything, now or in the future. If it was me, I would be keeping track of every minute I spent dealing with this, in any way shape or form, at $100 per hour and include that in my claim, along with all medical, etc. Definitely get a lawyer.

[MStar]

Originally Posted by radiognome

BTW, it's not true that it is not going to cost OP any money. Lawyers do not take money for their time in such cases, but they do take money for filing all kinds of paperwork, telephone calls expenses, etc. At least that's what our lawyer told us.

Every lawyer is going to be a little different in their handling of fees. My case cost me nothing (zero out of pocket) Lawyer took a 1/3 of the settlement..which was more than fair

Also incentive fees ensure the lawyer goes after the biggest settlement possible, because their own financial interests are tied to the outcome.

[radiognome]

Originally Posted by Yolkster

Every lawyer is going to be a little different in their handling of fees. My case cost me nothing (zero out of pocket) Lawyer took a 1/3 of the settlement..which was more than fair

Also incentive fees ensure the lawyer goes after the biggest settlement possible, because their own financial interests are tied to the outcome.

Interesting. Thank you for the information. BTW, in Virginia we can't sue for more than 300% of the accident expenses, which, with lawyers getting 1/3, makes just 200%. Still not bad if there is a way to get money from the other person, but not "the biggest settlement possible". And definitely they do not take into account things like my time spent on the case no matter how much I value it =)

[Cdnrockies]

Originally Posted by Port Canaveral M3 driver

Yolkster is 100% correct. Many times, certain types of spinal injuries show up weeks later and will be attributed to the car wreck. Money spent now will be money saved later!

This.

I didn't find out for 5 days that my neck was broken due to an incompetent ER doc.

Originally Posted by Yolkster

It should not cost the OP any money, Personal injury lawyers work off a contingency (standard is 33.3%) and his medical will be picked up by the other party's insurance company or PIP.

This lady's negligence and drunk driving caused damage, injury and pain/suffering to the OP and his pasengers so they will definitly be compensated for that. He has an excellent case.

Agreed.

My other advice for the OP would be to be patient and to make sure that everything is well documented. See a doctor regularly. Keep a log/journal of what you are experiencing both mentally and physically.

The process is a long and slow one. First priority is making sure that you are 100% healthy or as well as you're going to get. The other insurance company will try to get you to settle early and for a number that is not realistic, even though it may seem like a substantial amount of cash. In my case, they made me an offer within a few months of the accident. It took a couple of years to sort it out, but they ended up paying more than double what their original offer was.

Best of luck for a speedy and fully recovery.

[In Extremis]

Originally Posted by charles j m

"certain types of spinal injuries show up weeks later and will be attributed to the car wreck."

Great to know!! This has intrigued me ten fold. I felt bad for her crying and didn't care for suing her for money (she did probably 200k+ of damages in a matter of 5 seconds), but this is a different story.




Yolkster; Thank you for this information. I know it seems adolescent to not know about these things, but I have never been in a major car accident before. I am in the process now of contacting a personal injury lawyer!

Don't give a crap about her. Her friends may have ran because they were messing with something worse than alcohol. Please google "post-concussion syndrome," it can come out weeks after an accident leaving you with mood swings, tension head aches and a list of other things. I know from experience. Glad everyone walked away in one piece.

[py0413]

I am glad you are okay. Hope you find the best solution soon. as for the other party who was driving drunk, she & her feds wont be so lucky next time.