Totalled car / insurance advice

[wherzwaldo]

So on Thursday night, I found out how bad the hail damage to my car was.

$7,622.94. Totalled. ****.

Won't find out about the salvage value and settlement estimates until tomorrow. Under normal circumstances I'd keep the car, but my girlfriend's dad was talking to his insurance agent (with State Farm, who is also our insurance company) and learned that if they kept her car (which was also totalled), she would have liability insurance ONLY.

Is this true and/or normal practice for totalled cars? I really don't want to have to buy another car right now, since the damage is only cosmetic and the car is in excellent condition otherwise. But at the same time, situations likeThe Link andThe Link scare the piss out of me. I'm a college student working part time, and if either one of those things happened to me with only liability coverage, I'd be ******.

The only thing going for me is that I got a ridiculous deal on my car when I bought it, so if I let them take the car, I'd probably be getting over $1000 more than I paid for it. The car is a 97 Pathfinder with 150K miles, and NADA high retail value is $8100. I paid $7000 +TTL in 2001.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[RansomStoddard]

Best advice I can give you is don't drive with just liability insurance. Not only does it expose you to the very real risk of getting hit by an uninsured driver, but the cost difference is minimal. Liability insurance makes up over 80% of the cost of your insurance policy. Adding the other coverages is not only smart, it's economical.

 

[El_Guapo]

My guess is that if they declare it totaled, it gets a salvage title and they don't want to carry comp/collision on salvage titles. Don't quote me on that, I'm not a policy expert.

btw, that sounds like an awful lot for hail damage. It must have been really bad..

 

[wherzwaldo]

There are literally hundreds of dents all over the hood, roof, and right side. 5 minutes of golf ball size hail will do that.

 

[HilltopHorn]

I am thinking that you can get more than liability on your vehicle, unless things have somehow changed in the past 5 years or so. I had a truck which was totalled, and a friend and I put it back together and I still came out $2500 ahead. My title changed from regular to salvage, but I was still able to carry full coverage on the vehicle, including uninsured and commercial liability. I still have it and use it occasionally, and have liability and uninsured motorist, just no collision, towing or financial protection on the truck itself. Might need to check with some other insurance agents.

 

[accuratehorn]

I'm pretty sure you can add uninsured motorist to liability only coverage-if you can stand the ugly cosmetics, the car is still just as good mechanically as it was before the hail. You wouldn't have coverage in case of theft or an accident that was your own fault (for loss of your car). But it might be a cheap way to drive for you for a couple of years.