Totalled 2014 Toyota Prius - Salvage Title

Got hit by a lady with a suspended license and no insurance. My insurance company (esurance - i dislike them) will pay out for my no fault accident. After a little arm twisting i am getting back $22,600 for an insurance settlement and i return the car. The insurance company is required to pay retail market value for the car, which includes tax, license and doc. The car is one year old with 41,000 miles, i drive a lot. the salvage value on the car is $9,600 and then i would get paid an additional ACV (actual cash value) for the car of around $12,600.

Where i loose out is the insurance company doesn't pay out tax or license on the salvage car if i retain it which is around $800. So the salvage title car is around $10,500 for a branded car. then if i bring it to my friends auto body shop he will charge $200- $300 to pull out most of the dent. At the end of the day it is still a messed up car with a salvage title.

I'm thinking i would keep the car, but the next Gen 4 Prius are due out later this year. And i really want the new Prius. Even with zero percent financing my monthly amount is $400/60 months. Gas i spend around $200 a month so i would be out of pocket $600 a month. that's a lot of gas in my Ford F150.

The car did crash reasonably well, i barely felt the impact, but the 25 mile an hour hit was so direct, she barely missed the rear bumper and drove the front of her car into the rear quarter panel and then into the battery, which then split the weld in the inner wheel well. The Prius is a unibody construction, no frame, everything is built from the inside out like a puzzle. Once the inner wheel well needs replacing, to restore the car to factory new condition you have to take apart half the car and weld onto the rocker panel, remove the hybrid battery and more... So although i adore the Prius, they just don't crash well, which actually worked out well in the end since i drove the car in excess of 40,000 miles in under a year.

just wanted to share my story and i'll be off the forum until i buy my next 2016 Prius, whenever that comes out? i wasn't hurt, although i do need to go to the chiropractor for an adjustment or two. Seat belt was on even though i was three blocks from my house.

After the car was tinted-prestine condition


close up


the lady in the background was the witness! i got rear ended at a red light, turning green.




driver's car - no insurance and suspended liscence. damage small dent on the hood and a broken turn signal. Her car totaled my car out going 25mph. she never hit the brake, i'm assuming she was texting and driving the light was red it turned green and saw that i was moving, but not fast enough. so she said she just ran into the back of my Prius. Oh and she was totally shocked that her license was suspended. Imagine that - lol.

 

It was hit in the Achilles heel. She barely grazed the bumper and therefore never impacted the rear bumper which would have taken the brunt of the force and therefore diminished the damage. I just feel that with a unibody construction, how the engineering was done on the car was poor. The battery was in a position that once the rear crumple zone was impacted it forced the battery directly into the inner wheel well. It is repairable, but the salvage value is $10k on the vehicle and the damage was $11k before they even tore it apart, it was over the replacement cost with the 40,000 miles i had on the vehicle.

So the insurance company is ahead just paying out the entire claim and salvaging the car. I am actually very happy they are totaling the car. it cost me $1,500 to drive the car for one year and put 41,000 miles on the car. Thats a very cheap rental. And i actually got reimbursed on the tax and license fee, so i did better than selling it on my own or trading in... I couldn't be happier.

 

I am giving back the car to the insurance company originally the amount was around $20,500. I told them it was very low and i ran a KBB value on the car. They get the figures from looking at ads in the paper from 7 different vehicles in the last 90 days. I explained that the Prius is a loss-leader and they sometimes make more on the backend with their financing. i said i was going to call around and get my own pricing and figure out what the true retail value was. Not a "lets-get-your foot-in-the-front-door" for a bait-and-switch. She listened to my argument (nonsense) for 40 minutes and told me to email the Monronie Sticker that came with the car. I sold cars before so i know most of the games, and i know some of the SM (sales managers) at some of the big auto stores. Anyhow, the insurance company came back and gave me another $1,000 and then since i was so cooperative they waived my $500 deductible. so i am actually getting back $23,200 on a car that cost $24,200 out the door.

So the total cost of a year ownership on a 2014 Prius was $1,000 and i drove the car for more than 41,000 miles. Now friends that is a cheap lease. On an insurance settlement you pay no taxes on the money and i did a section 179 the car in 2014 and i believe i can write off the remaining amount of value in excess of $15,000 in 2015. The car was a great investment and saved me $10,000 in gas. Couldn't be happier!!!!

I won't keep the car since i loose out on the tax amount that would be paid on the $9,643 salvage value and when i sell the car i would pay taxes on the gain from the sale. Taking the insurance settlement money there are no taxes. Plus throwing money into a beater is not a good investment. It would cost too much and has a salvage title. Plus i expect the 2016 Prius to make it to the showroom by October 21,2015. That's when i saw the new release prius stashed at L0ng0 Toyota (el monte) last year in their parking structure.

So I'm waiting for the Gen 4 release. i'll post a photo of my new 2016 if i decide to take the Prius Plunge again. Their new eco model with an extended battery looks nice.

 

$9,600 and i would not recieve extra money for the tax. really means $10,500

 

At the end of the day the car would cost $10,600 and then i would replace the plastic bumper, put a new taillight assembly and my friend who owns an auto body shop would charge $200-$300 to put the car on a frame rack and he would pull out the dent. it would be probably good enough that i could drive around without looking like I'm homeless. So i have $11,000 invested in a salvage title car. If i drive the car for 9 more months and put on 70,000 miles total I'm thinking the car is worth perhaps $8,000 - so i loose three thousand dollars, but recoup money on the gas savings.

I already own a 11 year old BMW (45,000 miles) that i can drive around that has a clean body, a 2013 Triumph motorcycle with 176 miles and a 2004 Ford F150 (200,000 miles) so i have transportation. The Prius was the DD.

I really want the Next Gen Prius so it seems like i should just cash out, sit on the sidelines, drive what i have and buy the upcoming 2016 Prius in October. For the most part i feel like it is good money chasing bad money. If the insurance company offered the car for $6,000-$8,000 i would have bought it but close to $10k it is a deal breaker. For a cab company it's fine, they will spend $1,500 on fixing the dent, which includes a gallon of bondo and 10 gallons of cheap yellow paint. They run the cars for 200,000 miles even 350,000 miles.

The insurance company sells the car to Coparts. They are scheduled to pickup the car on Monday morning.