The upside to the insane car market

Well after 6 weeks of waiting I got the news they are totaling my H2, not on cost but due to lack of parts availability.   Kinda blows as I looked for awhile to find a really clean example but I get it.   But the upside, the insurance payout is 7k higher than what I paid for the vehicle last year.   Of course the corresponding downside is replacing it with something else is going to cost more.

Still kind of amazing that this was over 11k in damages.  I dont get real attached to cars as anyone who knows me will attest but I will admit a bit of sadness as I went to clean out my belongings today.   Not so much that I was emotionally attached but it feels like such a waste to be scrapping what was otherwise a VERY clean example.

What was the buy-back?  Would have been very tempting to fix it.

What's the buyback price?

93gsxturbo said:

What was the buy-back?  Would have been very tempting to fix it.

Most commonly asked question in my H2 groups.  They didnt have a firm number other than it would be north of 6k.  I considered it because I'd keep the 6.0 for a future project and I could easily part the rest and profit, but as the market does suck and I'm already behind being without a truck for 6 weeks I need the full payout so I can get back in a vehicle next week.

When I went to clean it out at the bodyshop the owner let me know they likely didnt have a firm number because there were quite a few dismantlers already fighting over it, he wanted it himself but he's excluded from bidding as a conflict of interest.   If I had the luxury of time and money I'd have tried harder to get it back but life is too busy to complicate it further.

As a claim adjuster, yeah, I try to total those things every time I get one. Parts don't exist. Though it may be a bit of a cult car I'd take the money and run far away. It will only get worse over time. Same thing happened to Saabs after they shuttered (though parts supply did open up again). I junked a really nice Saab because there were NO headlamps or fenders available at the time.

Orphan cars are for collectors, not daily drivers.

ddavidv said:

As a claim adjuster, yeah, I try to total those things every time I get one. Parts don't exist. Though it may be a bit of a cult car I'd take the money and run far away. It will only get worse over time. Same thing happened to Saabs after they shuttered (though parts supply did open up again). I junked a really nice Saab because there were NO headlamps or fenders available at the time.

Orphan cars are for collectors, not daily drivers.

Yeah, I totally get the logic of it, I just wish I had a claims adjuster like you instead of having to wait 6 weeks while they tried to find parts that didnt exist.

JThw8 said:

Well after 6 weeks of waiting I got the news they are totaling my H2, not on cost but due to lack of parts availability.   Kinda blows as I looked for awhile to find a really clean example but I get it.   But the upside, the insurance payout is 7k higher than what I paid for the vehicle last year.

Exactly the same thing happened to me a few months ago. I drove the car for a year and a half, put 50k on it and ended up with 50% more than I paid for it. So I put the original purchase price back in the bank and the bonus money will easily be enough to replace it with something decent and reliable. I'm done spending money on cars

My boss' wife bought a used Mini Countryman S from our dealership for $15.5k two years ago. She liked it, only had to do oil changes, and it never gave her issues but she was worried that its was going to become problematic in the near future and the nearest Mini dealer is an hour away.  Yesterday she traded it on a brand-new 2022 Terrain and got $15.5k on trade-in value. So she basically drove a free car for 2 years.

I just found out yesterday that my buddy sold his Colorado back to the original dealer for pretty close to what he paid for it new 4 years ago.

The used car market fascinates me right now because it's so crazy.  I've heard of dealers bidding up used cars at auction to almost new prices, I'm seeing new car dealers with used cars they would never put on their lots in the past, and pricing them at double the private prices, and very little appears to be selling. I watch a few dozen cars at any given time because I'm car shopping, but I also like to see what the market's doing and in the last few months only a handful have either sold or the ads have been removed. There seems to be a glut of used cars and low demand, with prices all over the place.

Some used car prices are going for the same amount or more than what a new one would cost. 

This bubble too shall pass, and when it does, I suspect that there are going to be more than a couple people WAY upside down on their used car loans, sad to say.

I sold my 2017 F-350 back to the dealer I bought it from in 2017 for $12k more than I bought it for new. Crazy. 

I'm ready for the bubble to pass. I was hit by an uninsured driver in Feb 2020 and haven't been able to afford a replacement car since.

AClockworkGarage said:

I'm ready for the bubble to pass. I was hit by an uninsured driver in Feb 2020 and haven't been able to afford a replacement car since.

that sucks, sorry about your accident.  

Is there more damage than that? That thing looks completely drivable. I'm actually kind of speechless. 

einy (Forum Supporter) said:

This bubble too shall pass, and when it does, I suspect that there are going to be more than a couple people WAY upside down on their used car loans, sad to say.

Which is frightening because before Covid hit, everyone was saying that the subprime auto loan bubble was going to burst very soon. Covid seems to have put that one hold but now people are burying themselves worse.

DirtyBird222 said:

Is there more damage than that? That thing looks completely drivable. I'm actually kind of speechless. 

It was completely drivable.  And didnt seem too bad overall.  But after opening the hood for the first time to assess underhood damage the hood would no longer close.  The hood was damaged (much worse than it appears in photos) grille, grille guard, core support, bumper, bumer end brackets, etc etc, it all adds up.  Damages came in at 11k which was still under the total threshold but the problem was the estimate was based on parts that were actually NLA so there was no way to repair to stock.  When we hit the aftermarket for replacement parts the threshold was quickly exceeded because all the aftermarket parts were $$ upgrades.