I was in an accident last week where my car was quite damaged. (the other party was at fault)
As I was waiting for an appraiser to look at the car I was given a rental car.
The appraiser came and looked at the car to assess the damages.
I found out today that the car was declared a total loss and that I could sell it to them for a small amount.
As soon as I agree to sell them the car my rental coverage will end and I will have to return it leaving me without a car to use.
It will take me time to purchase another car as I don’t want to rush into it. I need to research what is out there and how much I want to pay as I really don’t want something very expensive perhaps a used car from CarMax. I am not sure to purchase a used car from them or to look into leasing a car. I really don’t want to spend a lot of money as we also pay a car tax every year in our state. I am looking for a fuel efficient commuter car. I am open to suggestions. (not an suv)
I am looking for suggestions in the interim. Would it be best to rent a car for a month or week to week and how can I can assure getting the best price on a rental. I think I have covered everything for now. I don’t want to make a rush decision but at the same time I need a car to commute daily in the interim. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you are able to offer as I was hoping that my car would be repaired and the rental would then be returned. Between tuition payments and trying to get dd ready for next semester this is just another thing to deal with at this time so perhaps I am not thinking clearly.
@ucbalumnus I am getting about $4600 for my car. I am thinking maybe a civic or a camry but I haven’t looked into the costs. I have owned Hondas and Toyotas before and they are pretty good. The car that got totaled is a BMW. Something low maintenance good for commuting in high traffic areas. I would prefer not to spend more than $10000 additional so something not more than $15,000 (if getting a car in that much is even possible) For this reason I was thinking of looking at CarMax for something a couple years old preferably not more than 30,000 miles on the car. I don’t know too much about leasing but I heard you put a little money down and pay month to month.
@raclut . So sorry to hear about your accident. My D was in a similar situation, she hit black ice, hit the guard rail and ended up with a totaled car. Luckily, we had cars that could be shared during the time to find her another one, so I can’t offer any suggestions there.
It took us (me) about a month to do the research- vehicle type, gas mileage, cost of car insurance etc. We thought about Carmax, car dealerships and private parties. We ended up going through Enterprise Car Sales. They are the same company as the rental people. They are like Carmax- no haggling. They only sell the top 5% of their rentals.
We were able to get D a 2014 Honda Civic with under 30K miles for $15K. D loves it gets about 34 mpg, the payments are affordable for her and it is new enough where I don’t have to worry about it breaking down.
We were preapproved through our credit union and got enterprise to get us a better interest rate than the CU. Overall it was a good experience.
If you want a small car, in addition to Honda and Toyota I’d consider Mazda and Subaru.
Good thing about Subaru is all-wheel drive, which may come in handy in snow.
When my son totaled his Mazda3 a year or so ago, we wound up getting him a new Subaru Impreza, for not significantly more than used ones I could find.
I have no advice on rental other than to make sure you have to return it right away. I think they gave my son some number of days after they declared it a loss.
Good luck.
$15,000 should get a new or used economy car fairly easily.
http://www.truecar.com suggests the following new cars (base model, manual transmission if available; automatic is probably about $1,000 more) within your budget:
Chevrolet Sonic LS: $13,000
Ford Fiesta S: $12,500
Hyundai Accent: $12,700
Kia Rio LX: $12,200
Scion iA: $14,000 (really a Mazda, sold at Toyota dealers)
If you go used, you can find many other models available within your price range, such as the Toyota Prius. But you have to look carefully about condition, maintenance records, and whether there has been any flood or significant crash damage.
Thank you so much with all the helpful suggestions. I really appreciate it. At least now I have somewhere to start as far as researching. I also have AAA membership and I have been told they offer no haggle pricing since they are partnered with local dealerships.
Please google reviews of your local Carmax and other used car sellers. Carmax is not always good!
My best used car experience involved driving out to a relatively rural dealership that had good online reviews. I bought a used Camry hybrid there for about the same price as I would have closer in town - but it only had 17,000 miles vs. 75,000 miles. This was just after the big Japanese earthquake and finding new cars was tricky.
They are not sellers, but a database. Like searching through the classifieds. You can choose used cars, a maximum miles you will travel, maximum mileage on the car, price range, etc. It will help narrow things down. THEN, do some research on the sellers. The one not so good experience we had was with Carmax, because we were being a bit too hasty. The other sellers we had better experiences with were both dealerships.
I think you should ask the at-fault driver’s insurance company to pay for your temporary rental car coverage. We have up to 30 day coverage on our policy. I can see them putting a time limit on reimbursing you but it’s not your fault that you’re without a car and you shouldn’t need to buy one in just a day or two!
Thanks @greenwitch and @doschicos. I am going to talk to the insurance company tomorrow about negotiating use of a rental till I get a car. Just going to take it one step at a time and I hope to recover from muscle aches fast.
When my daughter’s car was totaled the at fault driver’s insurance company said they normally give you 5 days of rental coverage from the date the car was declared totaled. Since the 5th day fell on a Sunday, she actually got an extra day.
You will get advice here for that I am sure. But one thing to remember to do is go the actual manufacture website and
see what they have for rebates. Many salespeople do not offer this to you. If you bring it up near the end they will
give it to you and it is often $1000-1500.