My Tesla Cybertruck Got Totaled After It Was Sideswiped by an E-Scooter. All-in, I paid $198K, but Insurance is Only Offering Me a “Fair Market Value” of $77K. I Still Owe the Bank $171,500
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Just some free finance advice. Vehicles are a money sink, they only lose you value. If you aren’t comfortable with the concept of losing money, DO NOT buy an expensive vehicle. But the cheapest used car you can with cash on hand. Now, that’s not possible for everyone. And it’s not practical for everyone, it might be in your best interest to lease a vehicle for a monthly fee. Your lease should be with a reputable car dealer that has some kind of agreement to regularly maintain the car, and to trade it in often for another car without increasing your fees. The goal here is to pay as little as you can, and trade in often so you don’t ever reach the point of needing serious repairs to the vehicle. Different situations have different needs, no one size solution works. But I’d HIGHLY discourage taking out a large debt in order to buy a new car. Your losing money you don’t have. That’s a bad idea. Then again, bankruptcy has few downsides when you are already poor.
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It doesn’t make any sense. eScooters are all plastic lol
Right, but cybertrucks are mostly bovine excrement.
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That is the reason GAP insurance coverage exists. Deciding to skimp out on your insurance coverage when buying an expensive vehicle is stupid. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Alternatively, it means that the car purchase was done without enough money for the down payment and therefore maybe the buyer couldn’t actually afford the car. With a solid down payment, you should never have to be underwater on the auto loan in the first place. You can plan to stay ahead of the depreciation over the life of the loan because you already paid for the drop in value.
With too little down though, gap coverage is a must.
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Right, but cybertrucks are mostly bovine excrement.
Whoa hey now, that’s not true at all.
There’s plenty of rust on them after it rains too. -
Remember that a “totaled” vehicle doesn’t mean it can’t be used, or even that it is heavily damaged just that insurance has decided that the specific repairs needed would cost more than just paying out the current value.
They don’t care if you get your vehicle fixed or replaced, insurance only cares about paying as little as possible using every loophole as possible.
Yeah, I’ve been on the other side of that, but sideswiped by a scooter? I get that they aren’t worth as much as they were, but still…
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I paid a broker in California to find one and ship it to me. Their fees were $50k plus fees/taxes (totally reasonable seeing how limited they were.)
Allstate isn’t covering that and is hitting me with depreciation. Can I fight this?
What a dumbass. Hell no your insurance isn’t going to cover the amount you paid somebody to go and find one of these for you, and no, $50K for that service is not reasonable lmao
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Yeah, I’ve been on the other side of that, but sideswiped by a scooter? I get that they aren’t worth as much as they were, but still…
I’m with you. How fast was that scooter going?!
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What I want to know is if the poor person who was riding that scooter when he cut them off is OK
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Alternatively, it means that the car purchase was done without enough money for the down payment and therefore maybe the buyer couldn’t actually afford the car. With a solid down payment, you should never have to be underwater on the auto loan in the first place. You can plan to stay ahead of the depreciation over the life of the loan because you already paid for the drop in value.
With too little down though, gap coverage is a must.
To be fair that is assuming an average amount of depreciation and not over paying for the vehicle to begin with.
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The Price is Right failure horn
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Alternatively, it means that the car purchase was done without enough money for the down payment and therefore maybe the buyer couldn’t actually afford the car. With a solid down payment, you should never have to be underwater on the auto loan in the first place. You can plan to stay ahead of the depreciation over the life of the loan because you already paid for the drop in value.
With too little down though, gap coverage is a must.
He might have thought it would actually go up in value due to demand and financed the whole thing.
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To be fair that is assuming an average amount of depreciation and not over paying for the vehicle to begin with.
Yeah, great point. If I paid $100 for a rock it doesn’t make the rock suddenly become worth $100 to the rest of the market.
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He might have thought it would actually go up in value due to demand and financed the whole thing.
I’m no expert but treating a car as a financial investment device seems unwise outside of the savviest of classic car owners.
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I’m no expert but treating a car as a financial investment device seems unwise outside of the savviest of classic car owners.
Yeah but it’s on point for the sort of Musk bro who’d pay that much for a Cybertruck.
Think of it like scalping a gaming console.
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I paid a broker in California to find one and ship it to me. Their fees were $50k plus fees/taxes (totally reasonable seeing how limited they were.)
Allstate isn’t covering that and is hitting me with depreciation. Can I fight this?
What a dumbass. Hell no your insurance isn’t going to cover the amount you paid somebody to go and find one of these for you, and no, $50K for that service is not reasonable lmao
totally reasonable seeing how limited they were
When was this? Because I read an article today about a Detroit shopping mall fixing to sue over the excess Cybertruck parked in their lot.
“At this point I think I know more about manufacturing than…”
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Just some free finance advice. Vehicles are a money sink, they only lose you value. If you aren’t comfortable with the concept of losing money, DO NOT buy an expensive vehicle. But the cheapest used car you can with cash on hand. Now, that’s not possible for everyone. And it’s not practical for everyone, it might be in your best interest to lease a vehicle for a monthly fee. Your lease should be with a reputable car dealer that has some kind of agreement to regularly maintain the car, and to trade it in often for another car without increasing your fees. The goal here is to pay as little as you can, and trade in often so you don’t ever reach the point of needing serious repairs to the vehicle. Different situations have different needs, no one size solution works. But I’d HIGHLY discourage taking out a large debt in order to buy a new car. Your losing money you don’t have. That’s a bad idea. Then again, bankruptcy has few downsides when you are already poor.
Sidenote: If you work for yourself or have your own business, leasing is a great option.
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almost forgot the obligatory reply
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totally reasonable seeing how limited they were
When was this? Because I read an article today about a Detroit shopping mall fixing to sue over the excess Cybertruck parked in their lot.
“At this point I think I know more about manufacturing than…”
January 2024, per the article. Things changed a lot in the last 16 months…
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Time to swipe some “trucks”.
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Yeah, I’ve been on the other side of that, but sideswiped by a scooter? I get that they aren’t worth as much as they were, but still…
Cybertrucks are really, really bad for repairability. Consider the fact that on a normal car you can fix a dent by getting the panel most of the way back to the correct shape and then fairing it the rest of the way with Bondo before painting it. But with a Cybertruck, you’d have to metalwork the panel all the way back to perfect and then somehow figure out how to match the surface finish. It’s a lot more labor, if it’s even possible.
It could be that the insurance doubts that the vehicle can be completely restored to its pre-loss condition at any price.
