gotj

my insurance co. -GEICO- will not let me buy back my 4runner. they totaled it wed. i havent accepted their check yet so the deal is not done. i planned on buying it back and selling it to someone. they are telling me that their nationwide policy is to not allow buy backs on theft recoveries? :wtf: anybody heard of this, i'm very not trusting of them. its a 87 SR5 turbo digi dash so-forth so maybe they feel they can get more at auction.
MATT

My99

Read your policy, if it's policy (and I could believe it if it were) then that's the way it is. If it's not in writing then you could go to court for it i suppose. You could always have a friend buy it and sell it back to you.

MTL_4runner

Yes, I am sorry to say that is very typical of most if not all auto insurance companies in the US. The reason for this is to prevent people from making a business out of having their car stolen and buying it back much cheaper at auction or directly from them. It is not against policy to have someone with a license to go to the auction and buy it for you, but you need to know someone who can buy at a wholesale auction to do it and you also need to know which auction it will be going to.

Same thing happened when my jetskis were stolen. I wanted to buy em back but they said no way, it must go to auction first and you are barred from bidding on that item. The money they gave me was fair so I just went and bought another pair.

maddmatt02

my uncle is insured with all state I think, and they let you buy it back, my cousin totalled her 98 civic and they got the momney for it and could have bought it back for 1400 bucks, he didnt do it though because they wouldnt have insured it full coverage. and about that thuing, stealing it and buying it back cheap, they total it when the damage would cost more to fix than the vehicle is worth, so that wouldnt really help people. "hey jim, can you steal my car and trash it a bit so that I would have to pay more to fix it than it would cost me to buy a replacement for it, then I could buy it back for cheap and dump thousands into fixing it."

PistonSlap

Allstate is the same way and I would think that all companies are the same regarding theft recoveries. As MTL stated it is to keep people from stealing their own cars. If they let you buy it back, you could just strip your truck, report is stolen and when it is recovered, take their money and buy it back then put your stuff back in it. They however will let you buy one back that is totaled from being damaged.

MTL_4runner

Stealing and crashing it are totally different things here!

Most do not let you buy back a stolen car but WILL let you buy back one that has been totalled from an accident. Read your insurance policy and you'll see what I mean. You are completely confusing the two by saying a thief had an accident in it or totalled the car somehow. Assuming the value of the car IS above the total value then NO, you can't buy it back. If it is below total value upon recovery, then it will depend on the insurance company's policy but it is usually handled like an accident rather than a theft and you may be able to buy it back.

My statement pertains to theft recovery only, accidents are a toally seperate matter alogether.

gotj

clearly written in my policy re: no theft buy-backs. that sucks! good news though they valued my truck at $3800, i only paid $2000-non running. i'm happy with the determined value.

i took off the bug shield, chrome rocker bars, and skid plate because my policy also says it doesnt cover aftermarket parts.


anything else within reason to remove?

MATT

MTL_4runner

Remove everything they will let you and sell it on ebay or keep it for the next vehicle.

gotj

any reason to be scurred about insurance people reading this re: removing parts?

User 051420

Where is *your* vehicle? If it's on your property, or somewhere readily accessible I'd say strip off anything optional. Anything the vehicle didn't come with or wont obviously be missing.

maddmatt02

ok, I didnt know it was from theft, never thought of it like that either.