Saturday, November 03, 2007
Cost of an Wreck
OK, so I finally have a new car -- a 2000 Nissan Sentra. Barring some unexpected disaster, such as the transmission falling out, I got a real deal on the car at $2500.
However, the overall picture is really bad. The insurance company paid me $2249 for my totalled Mustang (that's after the deductible), so I had to make up the difference, and I had numerous expenses during the 2 1/2 weeks before I got the new wheels. Here is a breakdown of my out-of-pocket costs:
$250.00 -- cost of car beyond the insurance check
166.50 -- my share of rental vehicle for 18 days (insurance picked up $15 per day)
184.35 -- sales tax on car, plus tag transfer and fees
25.31 -- cost of overnighting title to insurance company (otherwise I'd have had
to rent the car for at least three more days at $24.25 per day)
5.00 -- newspapers, looking for car
6.00 -- tolls while looking for/at cars
60.00 -- late fee on my rent because I now can't pay the entire thing on time
$697.16 -- total out of pocket
This does not include the extra gas I spent driving around looking at cars, which is probably considerable since I drove as far north as West Palm Beach and as far south as Opa-Locka...and I ended up going to West Palm Beach again to drop off the rental and pick up the new car. It also doesn't account for the fact that I missed three weeks of work at my second job, the hours can vary, but I'd guess that was about which is probably cost me between $300 and $600. The only bright side is that the insurance company will (probably) reimburse me for the sales tax on the new car -- $150.
Overall, this whole incident has probably cost me between $1000 and $1500, and you can't put a price on the aggravation I've had dealing with the insurance company, the loss of any really enjoyable time off for almost three weeks, and the loss of a car I really loved -- all because of some guy who plowed into my car and just drove off without even checking to see if I was even alive.
Thanks a lot, you fucking bastard.
However, the overall picture is really bad. The insurance company paid me $2249 for my totalled Mustang (that's after the deductible), so I had to make up the difference, and I had numerous expenses during the 2 1/2 weeks before I got the new wheels. Here is a breakdown of my out-of-pocket costs:
$250.00 -- cost of car beyond the insurance check
166.50 -- my share of rental vehicle for 18 days (insurance picked up $15 per day)
184.35 -- sales tax on car, plus tag transfer and fees
25.31 -- cost of overnighting title to insurance company (otherwise I'd have had
to rent the car for at least three more days at $24.25 per day)
5.00 -- newspapers, looking for car
6.00 -- tolls while looking for/at cars
60.00 -- late fee on my rent because I now can't pay the entire thing on time
$697.16 -- total out of pocket
This does not include the extra gas I spent driving around looking at cars, which is probably considerable since I drove as far north as West Palm Beach and as far south as Opa-Locka...and I ended up going to West Palm Beach again to drop off the rental and pick up the new car. It also doesn't account for the fact that I missed three weeks of work at my second job, the hours can vary, but I'd guess that was about which is probably cost me between $300 and $600. The only bright side is that the insurance company will (probably) reimburse me for the sales tax on the new car -- $150.
Overall, this whole incident has probably cost me between $1000 and $1500, and you can't put a price on the aggravation I've had dealing with the insurance company, the loss of any really enjoyable time off for almost three weeks, and the loss of a car I really loved -- all because of some guy who plowed into my car and just drove off without even checking to see if I was even alive.
Thanks a lot, you fucking bastard.
Labels: cars collision driving insurance money
