My sweet ride is totaled, should I buy it back?

I would be first concerned about what it would take to make the car right again. Only a body shop can determine how much of the unibody is toast but I would bet it is significant along with the door, rear axle and maybe hybrid battery.

No matter what you would end up with a salvage title reducing any future resale by a large amount

I would take the money and put it on a new or newer hydrid. I would consider the Venza and 2019 up Rav4 both with all the safety systems your trim 5 may have along with a far superior 2.5L engine which has been around long enough to know major issues are not likely.

 

You want a lawyer. It's not just about the car.
It's the time lost because of it. And the time to locate another vehicle, and all the crap of
the cost of transferring the tag, insurance.

 

I can tell you USAA fights hard for their clients regardless if their client is clearly at fault or not. If their client has a loss they pay up quickly but if you lawyer up they can be tough.

I know one woman who caused a wreck while drunk, killed a guy and USAA avoided paying that family anything. She did go to jail for five years. Hard to believe but true. She got out and still has USAA insurance!

I would focus on the value issue first and foremost. Obviously your loss is not as significant and USAA can afford to pay appropriately.

 

If you really want to keep this car, I would buy a door of the same color (original paint) from a junk yard and let a body shop to repair the quarter panel without blending the door. car-part.com shows that there are 2 silver doors available in your area.

 

You can do what you want.
How much is your time worth? And it doesn't matter if it's a work vehicle or not.
It was reliable transportation wasn't it? Will the never vehicle be? How much money will you
have to put into it?
At the very least, you should talk to a lawyer. But like I said, you can do what you want.

 

I can't deny there's a market there- original owners looking to get out before anything expensive happens AND the car is still just new enough that all the banks are willing finance it for the next buyer, so it fits a few ways around.

My point is, for somebody who doesn't want to deal with advanced repairs and escalating maintenance needs, retiring a car at age 12-15 is often a wise choice.

 

Cut bait.
I've had USAA for home, life, auto for decades - but they ain't nearly the company that they were in the past.
I've aged out of life insurance but I have to fight them yearly over home and car and I'm to the point where I'm probably going to start seeing other people.
They're still better than most but they do like to up-sell.
AND....you still have an accident on your record so you may have a fairly good reason to remain with USAA.
Don't think that insurance companies do not know or will not consider this.
After all - there is a REASON that they no longer ask any questions at all about your driving record or how many claims you've filed over the last XX years.

They just want your name and DL info....

Also....in California, insurance companies are prohibited from using credit scores to determine car insurance rates. This is due to state regulations which aim to protect consumers from potentially unfair or discriminatory practices....bla...bla....bla.
This is both good and bad for you.
It's bad if you have an 800+ credit rating because you will be risk-pooled with people who have a lesser score....the same as being in the same rate-band with people who have been in lots of accidents.....have lots of driving infractions.....etc...etc...
The good part is that it's a larger pool - and even with the people who are peeing in it in some cases the rates may be a bit lower.
And YES!
Credit scores are not always 'fair.'
Neither are not-at-fault accidents.
Just remember....
Insurance companies do not care about all of that!!!!
They just want to make a profit so that they can dump a pant-load of money into college football commercials.

They are NOT your friends and they write EVERYTHING DOWN.


SO....
Reading this I see you use the dealership for things other than buying a car.
i.e. Maintenance, repairs, etc...
This means that If I woke up in your shoes I would lean well away from keeping this car and start looking at the next one, and yes....
I'd give you your shoes back.

Depending on your driving habits and needs you may be a good fit for a BEV, since you still get tax kickbacks and gas there is 'probably' more than $2.50 a gallon.
You might even have solar if you 'own' a home there.
This makes a BEV a good place to stick surplus electricity and in some cases it might keep you from having to buy a genny in you're living in a part of California that still has 2004 Baghdad era electricity dependability.

I live on free soil - so I'm not the person you want to ask about what to replace the G3 with...with the single exception that I would give this situation a standing 8-count before buying any car - especially from the same dealership that gave you the 8K quote to repair your last one.
Remember....
THEY are not your friends either!

BEST OF LUCK!

 

The other guy who is at fault has USAA, not the Op.

 

The advise is still the same....unless you're willing to treat your head gasket like a wear item and replace it in about 30-50k miles.
I think that the traction battery will probably be OK but I would test it out after the repair.
If your Toyota dealership quoted 8K for the repair then it's safe to say that you can get a 'good nuff' repair for less.

As far as USAA, I'd rather have them inside my tent pissing out than the other way around - so good luck with THAT.

PS....you may want to see what 'diminished value' claims look like in Caly.
If we pretend that your car is worth about 11k, even if you buy it back for a dollar and get it back to the same condition it was in before the accident - it's NOT going to be worth 11K because it's been totaled out.
The rule of thumb is somewhere around 60% of that value which means you have at least several thousand dollars worth of actual damages.

I'm not sure what a 13-year-old G3 that's half way through its life cycle is worth.....but again....good luck with all THAT TOO!
KBB says that in your neck of the woods:



Glad you're not hurt!.....

 

This spring i sold 2013 prius 5, silver color, rebuilt title, never been wrecked, with 97k miles for 8k.

 

Hire a commercial tow, it'll be the easiest, they're cool with pros on their lot, and it probably won't cost much more than renting truck + trailer and taking all the time to use them.

 

Often your car insurance provides towing as do some credit cards.

Ironically if you were a USAA member with their insurance you could have it towed for free.

I am a USAA member and used free towing on my wife's Honda when her ebrake suddenly engaged at freeway speeds and refused to disengage. They towed it 50 miles passing two closer Honda dealers at my request.

As stated before, it's better to be with them than against. I would decide what you want to do and execute.

 

I bought my '08 iTech Gen 2 back from the insurance company and negotiated a free tow into the purchase. But that was here in Aust, no idea what the insurance companies are like in the USA, but I'm sure they would like to get the car off their books the easiest way possible.

Look through the salvage auctions to get an idea what money they are paying for a write off Gen 3 and offer less, they will want to haggle, so haggle a free tow at the same time, but if they want the same money as is being paid at salvage auction, tell them the very highest price you are will to pay is 10% less than the salvage auction price, because that is what it will cost them to sell it at auction ..... if they won't come to the party, walk away and buy something else .....

Not worth the aggravation trying to deal with a loss assessor who thinks they are a god or something .....

T1 Terry

 

Out of curiosity, why aren't you dealing with your own insurer and then allowing them to pursue USAA via subrogation? Could be a better claim plus potential to recover deductible and incidental expenses such as the towing you're about to do.

 

Lawyer time.....