Hit & run just as I'm trying to trade up at least end

Ask the Hackrs
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I’ve got a 2020 CX-5 with a lease maturing next month. I’m literally trying to figure out what to do with it this week and had been aiming to sign a new lease on a CX-90 PHEV tomorrow, before my last lease payment is due on the 26th.

Wife went to pick up the kids today, and then I was going to clean it out and take it to the dealer for appraisal this afternoon. Then she calls me.

“I parked in front of the school. Went inside and got the kids. Came outside, and someone had hit my car and drove off while I was in the school!”

You have got to be kidding me.

It’s not a ton of damage, but it’ll need a new bumper, at least. Who pulls a hit & run in a school zone at 3:30 on a Thursday?

Now, I do have a few things going in my favor. I just took detailed photos of the whole car yesterday, as I prepared to send them out to remote dealers for appraisal. I also have a crossing guard as a witness (albeit not a very helpful one, in terms of vehicle/driver description). So there should be no arguing from the insurance company on prior damage or anything.

I also had already procured a decent sight-unseen appraisal from Autonation last week, and I went ahead and got another one (for a few hundred bucks more) today from Carvana. Both of them are luckily $3,000 higher than the one I received from one of the Mazda dealers (prior to photos). So I’m hoping the pre-collision value is pretty well established.

But now what? I don’t want to just have the damage fixed and turn the car in; I was counting on $2,000-3,000 in equity for this thing (supported by these appraisals) to help pay for the new one. I was even still maintaining at least a 50% probability of keeping this car and waiting a little longer to upgrade. But I certainly don’t want a used Mazda with a “front end damage” mark on the Carfax now, even at the residual buy-out price.

So, what I’m hoping can happen is that I get the car fixed up, make a good-faith effort to sell it somewhere for a decent price (or at least, get an appraisal and a purchase offer post-repair), and then go back to my insurance company to try and collect the difference in diminished value, assuming that nothing comes of any investigation into identifying the driver who actually hit the car. There’s also the matter of my intent to utilize a pull-ahead incentive on my trade-in, adding the value of that final lease payment (which I now have to pay) to the claim, but I’m not that hopelessly optimistic.

So yeah. Now instead of collecting $3k in equity + $350 pull-ahead waiver and looking forward to driving a new car this weekend, I get to pay my $500 deductible and get by on my insurance policy’s $40/day rental subsidy while I deal with a body shop and hope to claw back whatever scraps I can manage from Progressive. Best case scenario, I suppose, is that I can get the car fixed and sold in the next month with some equity (plus diminished value payment) still in it, and there end up being even better rebates and deals to be had on a new CX-90 come September.

Just walking away from all that equity (and all that headache) is starting to sound more attractive, but man, what a shitty turn of events.

Any commiseration stories or words or advice from the hackrati?

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Research diminished value rules in your state. In many states you can’t get diminished value if you file a claim on your own policy but can if you file a claim against other drivers policy. You will need to read your policy to see if it has any exclusions.

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Yep thanks for that. I expect that if we can’t figure out who did it, then it’ll be taken care of by my uninsured motorist coverage. Which, as I just confirmed, only has a $250 deductible. So I’m making money back already!

And yeah, I believe Texas allows for diminished value claims against one’s own policy in the event of an uninsured motorist or hit & run.

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Have you checked schedule’s of body shops that can/will take you in? Don’t be surprised if they’re booked solid for the next few months… and who knows what parts you’ll need and when you’ll get them.

Without knowing the extent of the damage, I would have two options:

  1. Have a pre-return inspection (if your lessor offers one). See what they’ll bill you for it and maybe bite the bullet there to save you time/effort. Though you may be out of pocket $xxx.
  2. Extend your lease just to get the car fixed up and hopefully get something back. That will obviously take more time and effort with possibly little to show for it at the end.

Hope things work out for you.

Edit: as for diminished value, will your insurer pay that to you? You technically are not the owner of the car. Yes, you’ve been paying for insurance but insurers pay the owner, not who’s been paying the bill. Not sure what your lessor’s policies are so you may want to look into it.

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I’ll tell you, my unspoken best case scenario is to go back over there tomorrow and get my detective game on. See if the school or any neighbor has a camera on that street with footage of the incident and/or the suspect’s vehicle and license plate. Then, if I get lucky and identify who did it, I’ll sic my insurance company on them, wait for everything to shake out, and then get anything else I’m missing through small claims judgments. I feel like I’ve got all the evidence I need to be made whole, but it’ll only really swing my way if I can figure out who did it. Maybe even get their dumb ass thrown in jail as gravy on top of my sweet sweet plate full of justice.

In reality, I’m gonna pay my deductible, get the car fixed, and then assess my situation. It’s a bummer, and my wife is super pissed because she thought she was for sure getting a new car this weekend (narrator: she was not for sure getting anything), so I have to deal with that, of course. Can I claim emotional trauma for myself because of that? :grin:

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That is an interesting wrinkle I had not considered. I’ll have to discuss it with my agent tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be shitty if Mazda ended up getting the car and the equity (i.e., diminished value) in the end?

I also have the benefit of a family member who makes a living suing insurance companies for property damage claims, so…guess I’ll make a call to them as well.

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Plenty of anecdotes related to diminished value and insurance claims the last few years. Quick search on LH will give you plenty of reading material.

I believe some lessors explicitly now state diminished value will be paid to them (lessor) in the event of any loss events. Again, check your lease agreement. All the best.

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Have you filed a police report? Most schools have cameras. My vehicle was hit in a school lot and cameras caught a make/model but a plate was not readable. Responding officer investigated and was able to run a dmv list of all models of that vehicle within that zip code and found the car within a couple of days. They were ticketed for leaving the scene and unsafe backing and their insurance paid in full. This was a suburban department with a good reputation though that actually cared. But may be worth a try depending on where you are.

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Yeah I filed a report. Our PD does not have the best reputation when it comes to investigating and responding to property crimes like this. I don’t expect to get much more than an email once my case number is established without putting in some legwork myself. But yeah, I’m going to see what kind of evidence I can get from the school and the houses on that block. I wish the crossing guard had more to offer. She said she’ll keep an eye out for the van again. Hopefully it’s a regular in the neighborhood or the school and they’ll come back around. Who knows.

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Your own policy is 99% likely to have an exclusion for diminished value btw… That’s before getting into the weeds on who that would be payable to on a leased car.

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Unfortunately not the case here. I emailed the principal this morning and he confirmed there aren’t any cameras pointing in that direction. (It’s a residential street with private homes on the side where the car was hit.) So I’m going to go by today to see if any of those neighbors has footage, to talk to the crossing guard, and stake out the school for any recently damaged vehicles matching the vague description.

I read through my insurance policy, and it seems pretty clear. My carrier will pay for any damages that I would be legally entitled to recover from the owner of the “uninsured” (or in this case, hit-and-run) vehicle. There are no specific callouts for diminished value, but such claims are generally supported as recoverable in Texas, as long as I ask for them and provide evidence supporting the lost value. There are also no exclusions related to diminished value or payments to me directly for damage caused by a hit-and-run. On the plus side, I think I’ll only owe like $50 for the deductible.

So far I’ve only talked to the adjuster for the damage claim, and she basically became a bit dodgy and said she’d have to transfer me to someone else to talk about diminished value.

This is probably what’s going to bite me, ultimately. The lease agreement does have some language about how money resulting from damage or settlements or whatever would go to the bank. And when I asked the claims adjuster who gets paid, she got clammy again and just sort of solemnly confirmed that they would pay the lessor.

So now I need to figure out my best strategy from here.

  1. If I fix the car and turn it in, I’ll owe about $1200 in mileage overages, which may be offset by the equity, if there’s any left.

  2. If I buy the car myself and fix it, then I’ll owe $1200 in sales tax. And then I’ll own a damaged car that’s probably worth barely what I’ll pay for it, if not less, due to the repair history.

  3. Maybe I can actually find a buyer as-is that will pay me somewhere in the $3000 delta between the residual value and the pre-collision appraisal value. Maybe they don’t mind the damage or they decide to fix it without involving a report to carfax or whatever.

  4. I could get it fixed, sell it for whatever it’s worth (as long as it’s more than the residual + miles overage), and then try to find a way to recover the diminished value for myself. This would likely involve at least an attorney consult fee to tell me “You’re an idiot. Shit happens.”

  5. I think my hope remains that I can identify the person who hit the car. Then, I guess I would cancel the claim with my insurance company, buy or sell the car before lease end, and then spend the next year of my life suing the person in small claims court for my documented equity that I lost due to their criminal stupidity. It’s the type of neighborhood in which a quick and quiet settlement for that sort of thing might work out in my favor.

But anyway. I guess I should stop discussing this with internet strangers and just float wherever this infuriating wind may take me.

12

I’m looking to trade in my 2020 Mazda CX-5 lease for a new 2024 Mazda CX-90 lease. Today, I went to get some appraisals. Carmax gave me a great price on it, no problem.

Took it from there to the Mazda dealer where I’m trying to lease the new car. I’m in Texas, the car is registered in Texas, the dealership I’m talking to is in Texas.

Sales manager stuck to his guns on “No discount off MSRP,” which killed the deal pretty quick. But the thing that surprised me was that he was trying to say that he has to include the equity from the trade-in as a discount on the deal; he can’t just give me the cash and write the deal as $0 down.

Which makes no sense to me. He said something about “they changed the rules during covid so you can’t profit from your lease,” and I didn’t push the issue, because I already on my way out, on account of the zero discount thing. He claimed the only way to get around it was to treat the trade as a discount on the new lease.

But that’s, like…not real, right? I don’t actually have to buy out the lease myself, wait for the title transfer and everything, and then take the car back in to sell or trade it, right? I guess I didn’t ask Carmax about it, but they knew it was a lease and didn’t say anything.

I can understand that banks may indeed have written leases at some point during the covid value fluctuations to limit lease transfers and buyouts, but I don’t imagine there’s anything in my contract (from September 2020) saying I can’t collect the equity at the end of the lease if I choose to keep or sell or trade the car.

The bank doesn’t care where the check comes from, right? I negotiate the price with the dealer, dealer pays the bank the residual, bank gives the title to the dealer, dealer cuts me a check for the difference. That’s how it worked with my last Mazda lease. I signed a new $0 down lease, and the dealer gave me a check for $1000.

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Run away from this stealership. “YoU HaVe NO EQuITY” as the GM buys out your lease and puts it on his lot for 5k over what your payoff was. You most certainly can sell the car and it has nothing to do with your current deal or any other deal. This is why it is best to keep the 2 transactions separate anyway.

In some cases the bank does care where the check comes from. (most now a days, I think Mazda is an exception as it’s either a Chase bank loan or Toyota financial service loan, got rid of 3rd party buyouts) you have to sell a car to an affiliated dealer as in Honda to a Honda Dealer or a dealership that also has Honda under their umbrella. I’m pretty sure that Carmax can still buy out Mazda leases as well. There’s no advantage to selling a lease to a dealer either as it doesn’t save money on taxes etc. Use the Carmax offer as leverage and shop some other dealers (autonation, give me the vin, etc)

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Yeah, that’s all I was counting on, really. If Carmax offered me $22,500 and I know there are other dealers in town that will pay a flat $500 more than that, then what incentive do I have to sell it for less than $23k? It’s either because they’re offering me convenience (like if only certain dealers can buy out my Mazda/Toyota lease), or in a case where the dealer wants to move money around in such a way that they’re able to discount the new lease a bit more by taking some chips out of the trade-in pile. It just adds a bit more flexibility. But yeah, at the end of the day, I’m obviously gonna want the equity for my current car and a discount on the new one. If I have to buy out the lease and sell it myself, so be it. It’s just math.

I think this dude was just trying to have his cake and eat it, too. As soon as he put the sheet in front of me, I identified that the equity I wanted from the trade just happened to match the discount he put on the new car. What I didn’t expect was that he would just let me walk without adjusting anything at all. I asked what he’d say if I came in here with no trade and $0 down, and he said “No discount.” Which is wild, considering I have written offers from in-state dealers for thousands less, and this specific unit has been on the lot since June. Some guys just don’t want to have fun, I guess.

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Yep stay far far away from this dealer. I would already block their number because your phone is going to blowing up for the next week at minimum from different sales guys telling you to come in and they can work something out. Granted yes this is a brand new model car, but there are still some deals or incentives out there just have to look for them.
Also- no need to buyout your car whatsoever, you won’t have nearly the equity because you would have to pay full sales tax on the vehicle where as a dealer doesn’t pay that at all.

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Sounds like a nonsense to me in MD, but I don’t know much about Texas. I won’t post dealer’s info or deals I have got recently, but I will say that some dealers here will pay above lease payoff amount and what CarMax offers on your trade-off, while giving you all the incentives they have on a new car, which ends up like a really good deal. I think that dealer in Texas thinks you are a noob, which is ok, some dealers are like that. Or you may live in an area where people just take what they are told. Either way, find another dealer. better yet, talk to sales managers or one of the brokers here. There are serious people out there who will give you a fair deal.

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You misheard him. What he really said was “I will tell you whatever lie I want to so I can take all your money”.

Delete his number and move on.

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