Accident Prime Advanced - Collision (released from hospital)

Yeah, I usually drop my full coverage when a car gets 10 years old. The car is now 10 years old. When it had an accident, it was 9 years old then. For most cars, 10 years is a good point when there is no residual value left on the car. When I switched my insurance from previous Met to Geico 4 years ago, it became so easy to compare the premium. GEICO's online instant quote is a great feature for "what if" calculation. With Geico, it was costing me only $83 more for 6 month policy to add no deductible collision and comprehensive policy on this car. That's less than $500 for the last three years for 7th-9th year. Sure, I could have dropped the collision and comprehensive policy at the end of 6th year and could have saved $500 by the end of 9th year. And if the car did not have an accident, we might have had $500 to spend on something nice. But it would not have been enough to repair the car or buy another reliable car after an accident. Considering the cost of replacement, it was no brainer.

 

NO, should be at least $34,000. Can you show him your sales slip? Sounds like he is still going off of a Plus.

 

I used to use CarMax.com sometimes.
Closest I see is $26k for 2017 Premium Hybrid

https://www.carmax.com/car/15994883

 

That's basically it, depends on the car and the insurance company, the important thing as a car gets older is to evaluate each year to make sure the insurance isn't costing more than it's worth. For some cars it might be sooner than ten years. Or it may be.an indication to shop around, then call your current company and tell them that you are finding better rates for your older car elsewhere and they may drop the rate.

 

That's not terrible because you'll still get back that $4502 on your taxes and the state discounts you might have gotten. Unfortunately that means you'll only break even on buying a new Prime if you decided to. If you buy another, you'll still get another $4502. I'd go to NY and buy another so it's cheaper.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

To tell the truth, the number is higher than I was predicting. MSRP of Advanced is ~$35K with destination charge, plus tax and fees, you are about ~$37K? Right now in NJ, they still have $5K cash back on 2017 Prime, with dealer discount you can get a brand new Advanced below $28K. I think I have seen a post in Prime cost thread who got below $25K on Advanced. On top of it, you can get another $4500 tax credit for 2018 tax return. Yes, I think you should negotiate to get more, but even if you can't get higher, I think you are well ahead of the game, aren't you?

 

Also doc fee in NY is only $75, capped by state law. In NJ it's $300-350. Although he would have to spend about $20 for temp tags to legally drive it out of NY. But still that's an easy extra $200+

 

He can just take off the license plate off of the totaled Prime. That is legal, at least in our state AFAK.

 

Isn't there a cost to transfer the plates to the new vehicle? At least here, one can't legally put one car's plate onto another vehicle.

 

Nor here - particularly if the car had been written-off, as the registration belongs to the Insurance company. Interesting how different countries - and states have dramatically different processes/laws.

Market value will be quite reduced from what it will cost for a replacement vehicle. Depreciation starts as you drive out of the dealership. A new car off the lot loses approximately 10 percent of its value immediately. By the end of the first year, that car will lose an additional 10 percent on average.

Which is why, in Australia, most insurance policies include "New-for-Old" coverage for the first 1 or 2 years. I well remember it used to be an "extra", but it seems most people ticked that box, so it became almost expected. Of course - cost of insurance would have gone up - the insurance companies don't have "big hearts", just responding to market expectations.

 

Yes, if I am using old plate on my new car, then I have to pay new registration fee. In our state, if you use old plate that came off from a car that had valid registration on same person's name and is now sold (or totalled), you get prorated fee on new car registration using the same plate. It is probably not completely legal to transfer a plate from one vehicle to another without registering first, but I have done it and seen many people do it for picking up a new car after getting rid of old one.

According to AAA Transfer of Plates - AAA Digest of Motor Laws, it seems OK in NJ too, but the rule varies from state to state.
NEW JERSEY
License plates may be transferred to another vehicle owned by the same person.

 

About "full coverage." There is no standard definition. It is whatever the agent talking with you that day decides to put on your policy. It is good to find a list of car insurance coverage definitions on the internet and discuss them with your agent. You need to know what's defined or required in your state, then decide what coverages you want to buy that best meets your needs.

A general rule for insurance for older cars is to buy only liability coverage if you can afford to replace the car. Safeco was charging me the same for collision coverage each year as the car got older and dropped in market value. Each year it would cost them less to total it and write me a check, but they charged me the same. It's a great scam for the insurers.

About liability coverage...if you own much, check the cost of umbrella liability coverage and the minimum underlying liability coverage that the umbrella allows on your vehicles, home, RV, boat, etc. It might be a money saver for you and improve your coverage. Umbrella coverage is usually sold in million dollar increments. Here's a pretty good definition: Should I purchase an umbrella liability policy? | III
Another way to look at umbrella coverage...you're getting your insurer's million dollar lawyer instead of their $250k lawyer.

 

you're mistake was going through your insurance company AT ALL. You should have started off with a claim against the other drivers insurance company. That way you have no immediate out of pocket deductables at all.

I've lived in NJ almost all my adult life (excepting a few years in CA and in the UK). My daughter ended up t-boning a guy on his cell-phone who ran a stop sign. He was ticked on the spot by police (it's a bad intersection in the town we live in... one of those where they put the great-big honking stop signs with flashing lights on them to keep people from running them, why they don't just put a light up i'll never know). In any case, we simply went through the other drivers insurance company and they took care of everything. It took them about a week to make an at-fault determination, but they paid for everything, including her hospital visit (broke her foot in the crash).

Don't let NJ's no-fault insurance fool you, it's STILL fault based insurance, it's just how it works in the background. You don't seem to see any fault, but the insurance companies all work it out in the background.

If you did go through you're insurance company they will fight the other company to have them pay you're deductible. Unfortunately you'll then have an accident charge against you with your company which may effect you're rates.

 

This is very much true in America too. I feel like some of the other posters are just going off of how they normally drive, which doesn't necessarily mean there’s any law written requiring people to drive how they drive.

 

Yeah it is a bit more complicated here with different states, but no fault just means your insurance will pay you first no matter who’s at fault. It doesn’t mean that fault can’t be assigned to a party.