haha i see. fingers crossed! and congrats on the new car!
1 Like
To me, a dashcam is a must these days. I received one as a Christmas gift a few years ago and am glad I have it, as people drive too recklessly all of the time. I most likely would have never thought of purchasing one on my own. The one I have is just good enough to do the minimum. I have been looking to upgrade to a dual cam (records inside in addition to the standard forward-facing). The reason being I was rear-ended a couple of months ago, and of course, the other person lied to their insurance company (which was/is Geico). I immediately called the local police, and they declined to come out because there were no injuries. I took pictures and video but failed to take detailed photographs of his car. I received a letter from Geico saying they had not heard from him (I had put in a claim through my insurance minutes after it happened). They were going to give him 30 days to respond. Three days later, I received a letter saying they found me 100 percent at fault. It makes absolutely no sense, and my insurance company was of no help. I had to hire an attorney to see if he could adequately resolve this.
The biggest lesson I learned from this is dashcams are great for evidence – unless there is rear-end collision. My footage shows evidence of a crash, but my own insurance company says it is not enough, as it offers nothing from behind. Additionally, there were no cameras to corroborate my account in the area. I had a passenger in the car, but my insurance company claims they cannot give a witness statement as they are family. It is a weird mess. After my accident, I went to YouTube, and drivers’ reversing into other vehicles (after gunning it) is far more common than you could ever imagine. It is a scam.
I am looking for a new dashcam and insurance company – both are difficult to find. After the accident, I immediately began looking at dual dashcams, but reviews are always all over the place when it comes to any of them. And after my insurance company failed to defend/advocate for me, I am looking to move on from them as well, but it is the same issue – reviews put my current carrier above the other choices. The bottom line is you never know how good your insurance company is until you have to file a claim (and I have the lowest deductible for both collision and comprehensive and carry 100/300/100 liability and uninsured motorist). As I was looking at quotes from other companies, I found the accident is already showing on my record, thus increasing my rates. I have never caused a single accident in all of my years of driving.
It is a valuable lesson moving forward. People lie A LOT. I thought I was doing a great job of protecting myself but found the changes I need to make to do so honestly.
1 Like
Yeah mate… Totally with you on this.
I’ve been looking for good dashcams but found NO real good deals recently. While price is NOT the only deciding factor, I do want to buy 2 sets for both vehicles in my household… So want to get a good price, if possible.
I saw someone on YouTube successfully installed WyzeCams as dashcams in their cars. It is an interesting choice & I’ve been looking into doing it myself as well. I use WyzeCams for home security already, so have experience with the brand & like how they work overall. But there are some comments about WyzeCams NOT recording after the car has restarted (when WiFi is unavailable), some say the issue has been resolved. Some others say it is still a major issue, so looking into it in more detail.
If WyzeCams can work as dashcam, that would be pretty good (video quality wise) for small money/investment. Fingers crossed.
1 Like
The wyzecams aren’t built to withstand heat and you won’t have parking mode unless you somehow hardwire it or buy a suitable battery pack.
There is a list of recommended dashcams by redditors if you go to their dashcam forum. Some of the dual dashcams such as from Viofo or Blueskysea can be had for under $200. Or you can stick with better known brands such as Blackvue.
1 Like
This is the extent of the dashcam discussion here
3 Likes
I was in a similar situation with Mercedes Benz recently and received the 14k overage as a separate check from Geico. Your insurance should ask for a letter for the payoff amount and anything overage should be paid to you. Look at your lease contract and see if you find the total loss section. I have it in my lease and it is pretty standard when you lease a Mercedes from Daimler financial. I believe BMW should be the same too.
You received it from Geico directly? Jealous. I filed as third party with Allstate (other driver was at fault for the accident) and they said they had to issue the entire check to BMW. I let them know my payoff prior to all of this too, but they were adamant about sending the entire check to the title holder regardless. My leasing contract is ambiguous and doesn’t specifically mention anything about overages. I talked to an account manager at BMW Financial and they confirmed no overages will be sent back to me. Wish Allstate was like Geico and just issued the overage to me directly. BMW is just grimy.
I was not at fault either but I filed with my insurance (Geico). The other driver had Progressive. I believe Geico will go after Progressive after they paid off the claim. I talked to Geico representative and she said the standard process when the leased car is totaled is that they ask Daimler financial to send them a letter for the payoff amount and then they only send them a check equal to the payoff amount and never tell them how much is the estimated car value. Then Geico sent me a separate check for the overage. In my lease contract, it clearly says if you totaled the car you should pay any remaining payment + insurance deductible + residual
A BMW lease payoff says if the car is totaled and insurance company is making payment, the payoff amount is no longer valid and they have to contact BMW to settle.
“That’s fine, but I am still owed the overage regardless of what you send to BMW. I had a contractual right to purchase that vehicle for $XX,XXX, and I had quotes from Carvana and Vroom to purchase the vehicle for $YY,YYY more than the residual value. The loss of that contractual right, and thus the loss in potential profit, is an easily defined financial loss that was incurred as a direct result of your client’s conduct. If you are obligated to send my overage to BMW, that’s fine, but you’re also obligated to send it to me. If you aren’t willing to compensate me for this easily defined loss, I’ll need to file a claim with my insurance company and let them subrogate it with you.”
Insurance companies pay out on lost wages, lost future revenue, etc. all the time as a matter of their regular course of business. Same with diminished value, which is a claim insurance companies pay out all the time. In this case, with quotes from third party online dealers so easy to get, it would take maybe 5 minutes to generate a dollar figure which concretely represents the actual loss incurred by you.
This is why you never deal with the other party’s insurance company, by the way. Pay your deductible, let your insurance compensate you as they are obligated to do, and then let THEIR lawyers fight the battle with the other company. That’s what you pay your insurance company for.
I’m on the same boat here with a 2020 M5 comp. Vehicle was hijacked then found 10 days later with multiple bullets to the front end, engine oil cooler, dashboard, seat, etc. one of the bullets ricochet and caused a small crack on the block.
Repair estimate came out at 82k and the vehicle was totaled by State Farm. Buyout option is $89k and market valuation with taxes paid is $119k. According to the finance rep at my local BMW, any overage will be automatically sent back to me once the dust settles. It seems like there are actually a handful of people who got their overage back. Does any know for sure that bmw will remove the buyout option once insurance settlement is initiated. I’m holding up the entire payout to bmw with not signing the poa form than was sent to me. My State Farm adjuster advised me that if I’m able exercise my buyout option and have title in hand, they’ll cut the check directly to me. Thoughts anyone??
Don’t hold your breath. It depends on the insurance company, once BMW gets it, it’s gone.
Why are you asking everyone but the company that can give you the correct answer? What did BMWFS say?
1 Like
Is that one of clause on the lease contract?
BMWFS is saying that the buyout is no longer available, but on my bmw account I still have the option to print buyout documents and send them a check.
They won’t accept payment for a buyout.
1 Like
Maybe they used to do it pre-pandemic when it wasn’t common when ACV > payoff. All I know is that BMW is no longer doing it. I confirmed with BMW Financial Services several times, even with a finance manager through them directly.
They’re only giving customers pity checks after taking several thousands of dollars of overage. A finance manager at BMWFS said they determine the amount by taking your down payment and dividing it by the amount of months of your lease term. Then multiplying that figure by the number of remaining payments in the lease term. It’s bizarre.