HAIL Damage for Newly Leased Cars

Ask the Hackrs
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Due to last evenings hail in dallas area both my cars are badly damaged. Windshields broken, huge dents etc., both my cars are leased cars and 1 of them just 1 month old and still waiting for license plates. What;s the process if insurance total the car ?

Car 1 - Leased in April 2018 (one time payment )
Car 2 - Leased Feb 2019

Thanks

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  1. Insurance would pay the finance arm the market value of the car
  2. Hope you have gap insurance to cover the rest. If it’s not a toyota, you should be ok.
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It’s not toyota… its Infiniti & Buick
I dont see any GAP details on the insurance ? how do I find out ? also because it’s lease is the car has GAP from the dealer ? when we first buy ?

4

Because it’s not through your insurance - read your lease contracts.

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reading the lease agreement… any pointers where I need to look… which section ?

6

Oh man! That’s bad. You made me go out and check my car. It hailed for like 5-7 mins but it was crazy for sure.

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I’ve worked in auto insurance for decades. My guess is that a newly leased vehicle will not be totaled. The ACV (actual cash value) is going to be too higher. Basically if the damage exceeds the ACV, they will likely total it.

It’s likely that the bank/captive holding the lease is providing GAP coverage, to protect their interest in the vehicle (even though you’d be financially responsible, they don’t want the hassle). Just call them and ask. If not, then hopefully you have GAP coverage on your personal auto policy. Look at the Declarations (cover page) of your policy, and it should indicate GAP coverage if you have it. Or else call your agent.

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Infiniti and Buick both include GAP. You have nothing to worry about. Let insurance handle everything

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9

I’d agree with what Drew said. Working on the automotive service side of things, I’ve very rarely seen cars that are 1-2 years old get totaled out for hail damage. Only in cases of extensive flooding or serious collisions have I seen cars get totaled out that early.

The ratio of cost to fix vs the ACV, as Drew mentioned, is likely to be in the favor of fixing the car.

And as he just said ^ take it into the shop and the insurance should do everything from there.

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Thanks guys… will let you know… once I go thru the process

11

Broken glass sounds like some big hail. Last time I got hail I made money on the deal, insurance wanted to replace every panel, I got paintless done for less than what insurance thought the body shop would cost.
Got a check for the difference. Yours sound like a total.

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Got Update from Insurance…

Buick Encore - Leased in April 2018 (one time payment ) this one got totaled due to hail damage…
so couple of questions I have

  • I have GAP coverage from buick so that should cover my deductible etc., am I right ?
  • I made a onetime payment for 3 years what happens to that?
  • Once they total is it worth buying the car back ? if yes do I have to buy from insurance or dealer ?
  • If I buy the car can I buy insurance for this ?

Pleas advise.

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  1. No, GAP starts after the deductible and after the fair cash value. You are still going to be responsible for your deductible.
  2. That is a question to your leasing company
  3. If you decide to buy the car it’s residual value gets taken off from what the insurance is paying to the leasing company. Most likely you will need to pay deductible plus residual value. Most likely because I’m not sure how GAP gets applied in this case. Talk to your insurance broker or company, asking questions will not change your situation with them by a dime. Once you bought the car you do with it what you want, some companies may not want to insure a salvage titled car.
  4. some companies may not want to insure a salvage titled car but you are still a subject to all your local title and liability insurance obligations. Unless you get a parts only title - whole different story in such case.
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Not sure why you’d want to buy it, you can just walk away from it and it’s no longer your problem. You can buy hail damaged cars all day long on copart if that’s what you want(aka driving a golf ball)

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GM does a prorated refund, so nothing to worry about