If anybody out there is an insurance adjuster or can help me in this situation I would be eternally grateful of any and all advice that you can give me now. Early Sunday morning I totaled my 2003 3.2 CL Type S 6MT (see what happened below). I have insurance, so I'm not worried about reimbursement but I am worried about the fact that I only had the car 10 days and am afraid that I will go negative with the amount that my insurance company tries to give me.

My questions are:

What kind of figure ($$) can I realistically expect to receive for an 03 CL-S 6MT with 16900 miles on it?

If I do go negative on the loan after reimbursement am I expected to pay the balance immediately and how would I go about applying for a loan like that?

How much can I expect my rates to go up?

and lastly,
is there anything that can be said to get more money from my insurance company to offset the delta should I go negative?

Thanks for any help you can offer!!

THE ACCIDENT-

Early Sunday morning I was driving home and tried to do the humanitarian thing and slammed the brakes and swerved to avoid hitting a cat that darted into the road. In retrospect I was probably more concerned about getting the car dirty with cat fur assuming the CL could handle the sudden change in driving condition. Next thing I know, I feel the rear wheels start to kick loose, so I try to compensate by steering into the spin but to no avail, I overcompensate and send the CL into a flat spin "Top Gun" style. 1/2 a second later I have done at least 3/4 of a full revolution and my rear left tire slams into the curb on the right side of the road. This impact launches me up into a guard rail where my forward momentum slams me into the back of my seat and the car uses the grooves of the guardrail to launch the car over the guardrail and down the embankment behind the guardrail... but wait, my adventure has just begun. As P=MV has taught us, I still had some momentum left and I began spinning like a frisbee down and around this embankment for about 300 feet before I finally stop. When it all stops, I think I am dead. My airbags didn't deploy and I didn't know what the hell just happened. However, when all was said and done, I walked away from the accident without a single scratch across my body. My car was totaled but I was not.

So, this post isn't just a cry for help, but also a praise to Acura, because in any other car I am convinced that I would have been dead. This is also a reminder to everyone out there to drive safely, always wear your seatbelt, and hit those f*cking cats when you collision is imminent.

I'll be taking pictures of the car tomorrow if anybody wants to see the damage. Just let me know and I'll post them.

 

SUCKS MAN…..

Well if you’ve only had it 10-days I’m assuming you bought it USED for somewhere in the mid 20’s.
Hopefully if all works out for the best you will break even.
If there is a “gap” in the loan value in relation to the car value you would probably have to continue your payments until the bank has all their money over what your insurance pays them.
Thankfully I’m NOT an “expert” in this stuff, but I think what I said is correct.

Shawn S

PS…. Somebody move this to CAR TALK

 

What I did, was give my insurance a list of other cars (same as mine with just as many miles or higher) just to show them how much they go for. By doing that, they gave me more than enough for my car. But be sure to give them the highest numbers, hehe.

Bought a vr-4 for 28,000.
Got 31,000 when i totaled it a year later from my insurance.

 

Next time, get GAP insurance on the loan if it is offered, might be a couple hundred at the beginning, but well worth it if your going to be out a few grand because of something like this.

Not sure how insurance companies figure out what they pay, combination of blue book and black book maybe.

 

 

Do you have Gap insurance? I'll never go without again after the nightmare I went though when my '01 CLS was wrecked.

 

Ya I added the GAP insurance to my monthly payments the day I bought it... and I think it was only 4 or 5 bucks more a month.

 

tell me how to upload pics and I'll do it?
Just got the word from insurance and I twisted the frame so the car is def. totaled.

 

Glad to hear your hurt! First, how good of a deal did you get on the car? If you traded something in that wasn’t worth what you owed on it, then you've got a problem. If you didn't, you shouldn't have a problem unless you made a bad deal on the car. Did you buy it from a Dealer? Is it certified? Certified cars are worth a little more depending on the mileage.

As for gap insurance, it's only a good deal if you owe more then the car is worth. I always try to put a few grand down so that I'm not in that situation. On Toyota's and Honda's, it's not a really big issue when buying a used car but on a car like a Ford, it's almost always worth it (at least when you buy them new)!

So, what kind of deal did you get on the Car?

 

I got it certified from a dealer and with tax, license and registration I paid $25,218. The car had 16k miles on it and had every option except the navigation system. Do you think I got a good deal?

 

That sux dude....sorry about ur loss...

btw.. is "Gap" insurance = when u total ur car, u get exactly what you paid for it? until its 2 yrs old? cuz yeah i have that with the wifeys accord, worth the $5-$10 mth...

 

btw...CL's are built like tanks...

 

Gap insurance is when you total your car and, for instance, it's worth 15K, you owe 20K....you get cut the check for the difference to pay it off..in this case, 5K

 

How much was just the car? I'm guessing $23-24K? That's what insurance will look at.

Glad your ok though. I'm suprised the airbags didn't go off. I guess you didn't have enough of a frontal impact to make them go. I had something simliar happen to me, but it was a dog, & I choose to hit it rather then try to avoid it. I felt so bad for days, but I'd rather have a small dent in the front end then a totaled car.

 

so basically the same...in canada, we get full value of what u paid for it...thx

 

Sorry about your accident, glad you weren't hurt, sounds pretty scary.
I think that price is just a little bit high. I've had my 13k miles 6- speed on the market for months and can't get any bites at all. I was offered $20k by a dealer, been asking $24k or best offer. I also have the certifed 5 year warranty, but the extra year is not transferable to subsequent buyers.

 

123456Speed.... How far is Autsin from Dallas? I'll be down in Dallas at the end of the month and saw you trying to sell in another post. Do you have nav and the stock rims still? I don't like the TL rims all that much but like the color and want to buy another 6 speed.

I think the cost might be higher here in Boston though because the cost of living is so much more... I don't know though. I guy a work with just paid 27k for a 6 speed CL-S.

 

Well, it sounds like you got a pretty good deal. I found the following:
Edmunds: $24,757
Blue book: $27,390
Autotrader: $29995 high, $21900 low, $25855 average (all)
Autotrader: $29995 high, $24900 low, $26777 average (certified only)

Looks like you'll be ok with the insurance payoff. Did you put much down? Just make sure you have examples of cars for sale before you talk price with your insurance adjuster.

 

Man that is focked up dude! I'm sure you meant "not hurt".

Sorry about the wreck but glad you are OK. I thought GAP insurance was only worth it if you were buying a new car because if you pay 30k for a car as soo as you drive it off the lot it depreciates to 25k (not sure just using numbers here). So if you are in an accident without Gap then you only get 25k for it as opposed to 29500 for it if you have Gap (again fictitious numbers). I assume if you got the car used you will get roughly what you paid for it.

Are you gonna get another CLS if you get the equal amount? Damn, didn't even make it to the first meet!

Oh and I had a similar experience as fuzzy where a dog crossed in front of me. I had a few choices...either swerve and potentially hit a tree (wasn't going fast and it was in a residential area late at night...30-40mph) or slow down and hit the dog (or potentially miss it). I didn't honk because I was afraid the dog would stop to look. I slowed down considerably but still hit the dog (fortunately in the rear and not the head). I didn't kill it as I stopped and checked but was gonna take it to the police or whatever when it just walked away. Funny thing was when I was about to clean it (had a little blood on the forehead) it tried jumping in my trunk. then it walked away and kept on going.

 

lets see,, cats ok,,, your ok, just need to clean your shorts,,, now what color is your interior,, ie.. how much for the seats,,,

 

thats sad !!

That happened to me once (the cat thing), but i just ran over it. I guess it was for good.

BTW, if you do not have gap insurance, I will guesss you will end up side down. You need to talk to the lender in order to workaround that value.

 

POST PICS! Sorry to hear .

 

GEB, those values seem way too high. My similar 6 speed with half the mileage (14,000) is blue booked at $24,000. Does location vary the price that much? that's the only difference.
Plus, why does certified increase the value?? The Acura certified warranty does NOT transfer with the car sale.

 

Drew, I had sent you a private message before, about my car.
My 03 CLS is at 14,500 miles, white with parchment, 6 speed. I didn't like the CLS painted rims and replaced them with the TLS polished, machined rims at 7500 miles. The tires and the rims were brand new then. ps- white is the rarest 6 speed color.
Austin is 200 miles south of Dallas, (not that far for Texas!).

 

123456speed, I just when to the web sites a got the numbers ... plus, this is to purchase, not to trade. The certified cars are worth more when you purchase them because of the warrenty ... as far as the warranty, I was under the impression that it was transferable (according to the wholesale manager of my Acura dealership ... maybe he lied?). I took the numbers off the Kelly blue book link off autos.msn.com. They do seem a little high because of the current value of used cars but you have to push the numbers as high as you can when dealing with an insurance company!!

 

another display of the shitty ass stock tires. my 235\40\18s would've never went into a flat spin like that .. I've been in S-curves at 70+MPH without so much as a squeal.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss man .. my mom totaled the truck I had before the CLS by driving over a guard rail so I feel your pain .. good luck with the insurance co.