Please help my 2015 Prius 2 in accident = total loss | PDX

Sorry to hear about your accident, not what you need to have happened right about now the way things are going. It has been reported before here that it is common for an insurance company to write off a vehicle if all the airbags have deployed. The cost of replacing them
is very high, in the thousands of dollars. I hope that you can come to terms with the company so that you can get back on the road soon.

 

GEICO is scum. I imagine they'll raise your rates after this too based on what I've heard. They certainly didn't become the second largest auto insurance company in the US by being generous with their payouts. I am fortunate to have USAA who have always been very fair and forgiving, but that's not an option for everyone.

So the first thing is figuring out the market value of your car. On a quick look for a 2015 Two with similar mileage (both east and west coast), I'd say the value of your car was somewhere around $13-14k. How much did they offer you?

The second thing is the fact that your car may be worth more to you specifically than the actual market value. This is just something that you'll have to get over as the insurance company does not care. As an example, I also have a 2015 Prius. Mine has 160,000 miles though, so the market value is very very low, around $7k. But the car is worth more to me for several reasons, mainly being that I was the only owner, I know for a fact all the maintenance was done correctly and on time, and I know that 90% of those miles are highway. I could not buy a used car for $7k and have the same peace of mind that I have with my Prius.

Anyway, personally if I was in your situation here's what I'd do:

1. Try to settle with GEICO on a $13k payout or as close as possible. If this is not what they've offered you already, contest their offer and send them some examples of similar cars in your area priced at $14k with the intention of settling at $13k.

2. It doesn't look like you drive enough miles for a (brand new) Prius to be worth it. That is, the "hybrid premium" will not pay for itself with fuel savings over the life of the car. I don't anymore either, I'm down to 10k miles per year. At $2.50 per gallon, you'd have to drive close to 200k miles to make up for the hybrid premium which would take 20 years at your current rate. I'd be strongly looking at the 2021 Corolla Hatchback in your shoes. Looks like the top-tier trims sell for around $23-24k in my area. So you'd only be in the hole $10k for a brand new car. Sucks when you were planning on keeping your Prius for a few more years, but gotta play the hand you're dealt.

 

Geez, that really sucks. I hope everything works out well for you.