poor S4

[Mark L. Chang]

On Mon, Apr 29, 2002 at 06:19:58PM -0400 or thereabouts, Brett Dikeman wrote:

> I don't see what the guy is all broken up about(he looks ready to
> burst into tears)...it's what insurance is for; he's getting a 2002
> or 2003 S4 thanks to that tree.

Not necessarily. My wife used to work at a body shop. The saddest story
was a young man purchasing a brand new Beetle and then wrecking it about
a month or three later. He paid, say $20k for the car, $18k loan, $2k
down. Insurance appraises car at like $14k after depreciation. Since he
didn't "own" the car (the bank does), the $14k goes to towards the loan.
Now, really sad kid (he loved the car) has a $4k loan and no car, plus
is out $2k on downpayment.

Either way, Mr. S4's car has depreciated, and that's all he's getting
from the insurance company. If he has big loans, he could be paying for
a car he doesn't even have.

Of course, there are policies out there from companies like Met Life
that have some sort of "grace period" in which you can total your car
and they just get you a new one. If I were without such a policy (and I
am), then I'd look quite distraught too if my S4 got beaten down by a
tree.

Mark

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