Leased car accident (Audi Q5)

I saw no reason t notify the leasing company about the damage or the repair. I saw no reason to let the insurance company for the party at fault to know the car was leased.

Interesting. I’d think technically there is nothing wrong with that.

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When you file a diminished value claim you have to submit proof you are the lessor. That would be the bank.

Meh, you get a pretty steep discount and a car that’ll be mostly good if the repairs were properly done.

It’s a risk, yeah, but I can see the logic behind going for it.

Can’t remember submitting anything such as this, though it was a financed car. Talked to the at fault party insurance and whoever handled diminished value negotiations.

“I just don’t really understand what happens to these cars? What kind of person is picking up a 3 year old 550i which previously had a $23k repair job at auction?”

The end up at Off Lease Only in South Florida. With the buyer happily driving it around Miami with a tacky dealer vanity place that says Off Lease Only

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In both times my Subaru was hit. I never involved the leasing company. For the more major one the main check was made out to me and the repair shop.

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That’s not a diminished value claim.

The diminished value claims and checks were made out to me.

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Do you know what you are talking about? Ever submitted diminished value claim?

Those are dumb questions as you clearly didn’t read from the beginning.

Care to elaborate? And maybe answer my question?
Edit: I see, not from the beginning but yeah, you apparently did. What I said is I can see how @Mr645 case may techically work. And, as I said, I don’t recall ever submitting any additional documentation once we settled on the amount. So, don’t know if it would be any different for a lease or finance if you don’t notify leasing company

update. My car will be totaled. After more than a week’s investigation, I finally relieve (I just don’t want to drive a car that will be significantly repaired). So my question now is: am I going to get the surplus if there is a surplus (from the conversation with the car appraiser, sounds like a good possibility)? from the leasing contract shown below, any possible argument from AUDIFS for that? I just called AUDIFS, that person answered me initially said any surplus will go to AUDI since they are the actual owner. After I pointed out that my lease contract say the other way, she put me on hold for 15 mins and told me that she is not sure and tried to refer me to AUDI total loss department. I refused to talk any more. I think I would be better prepared to get some input from expert here before I talk to AUDI total loss department.

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Expect not to get anything and if you do, be pleasantly surprised.

That said, when my FIL totaled his A4 he got a check back.

In this case, the money is likely gone, BUT your best case is to look up the same year Certified vehicle with similar miles, and talk to insurance company, to raise the insurance payoff amount (hopefully it can be more than what you owe). Imagine you put 15k down, and in 2 months the car got totaled. Car is worth 42k on the market, and you owe 27k. The insurance payoff should not be paying off “what you owe”, even if it’s $5000, but what the car is worth on the market.

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@Parth_Bharwad: Can you shred your experience and comments on this.

@jet: i am also in same boat as you . But mine is Volvo S60

Generally, looking for a CPO vehicle with similar miles is the best way to go. A friend of ours totaled her 2010 Camry back a few years ago, and while the car worth tops at 3K in trade in (it was trashed, had some rust), she was able to get 10K from her insurance, since similar CPO cars in the area went for 9-10K.

What the heck. If you can trade-in/sell a leased car, why aren’t you entitled to any surplus money from your insurance? Imagine you have the car for a year, and then total it, but the market changes and that car is worth 7k more than your payoff. So that’s Audi’s money??? They have to give you back the surplus. Even after a lease turn in, if that car sells for more than the payoff, they send you a refund. Seen that happen with VW.

Audi told me I was not going to get anything from them. They didn’t even pull a pay-off quote, they simply negotiated with my insurance company for a settlement they liked and they took the whole check directly. I was explained that 1. They are the owner and 2. If the amount was lower then I wouldn’t be on the hook for anything.

My situation was unique in that payoff was equal to insurance value but I made 2 lease payments which changes the numbers. Both my insurance company and AudiFS told me to go after the party at fault for those 2 payments.

The logic of what they say makes sense that you are not the owner but what I don’t get is how can they keep the money if we have a contract stating the price to buyout the car. Total loss is essentially an “early lease buyout” for financial services…right?

It seems like if the amount was large enough, it could be worth a fight.