Spoke to bmw financial and they told me they will be refunding me $700-$799 forgot the exact number. I don’t think that’s a fair number Statefarm payed out $100,598.32 -$1000( deductible ) = $99,598.32 is what Statefarm is paying bmw financial. As of November 10, my payoff of the car was $77,854.27 and on November 14 my payoff was $ 73,763.28 this time the didn’t add the tax and small fees don’t know why? To me it seems like there is $20k+ of extra. Bmw told me all I’m getting back is $700-$799 forgot exact number. What can I do to get some of that overage or if I can do anything to get some of that overage?
Buy the car.
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I am doing just that, overnighted payoff to BMW FS. Should know something sometime next week. I’ll post an update whenever I hear back from them.
“27. Purchase Option. I have an option to purchase the Vehicle AS-IS, WHERE-IS.”
Here is my justification, all per contract!
Hopefully it works out for you and when you try to process the claim with your insurance, they don’t say “well, we’re paying the party that was insured at the time of the incident” or “it’s great that you own it now, but you’re trying to file a claim on a vehicle that was damaged when you purchased it”
While I hope it works out for you…in the meantime you may want to get a referral & have a conversation with an attorney in this one.
I see your point, objectively looking at it, however your looking at from a perspective of confirmation bias which is known to happen in these situations.
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That contract is between you and BMWFS. The pitfall is getting money from your insurer, which is a completely different entity.
In addition, when signing the policy you may have made declaration(s) to the effect of (1) informing them of incidents right away, (2) not trying to claim a totaled car as an undamaged car, (3) not omitting material information, etc etc etc.
If the insurer finds out you are looking at allegations of insurance fraud. Penalties vary by state.
Under the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice 2C:21-4.6, an insurance fraud offense occurs when someone knowingly omits a material fact or makes a false or misleading statement to an insurance company. In this state, insurance fraud is a crime and is considered a third-degree felony. Multiple instances of insurance fraud can be a second-degree offense with even stricter penalties.
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I am not withholding anything from anyone, being upfront with BMW and insurer. At very least I get to speak from experience in the future… good or bad
Obviously, don’t encourage anyone to follow my foot steps. Wish me luck!
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Worst case scenario (other than the whole insurance fraud side of things), you end up paying your buy out amount for the x7 and get stuck with a totaled vehicle and no insurance payout.
Asked insurer to postpone settlement due to sending payoff to the BMW directly. They promised to check back with BMW FS in a few days and request updated letter of guarantee to see if there is still balance owed to them. Insurance also confirmed that any overages will be sent to me directly.
The question remains… Will BMW accept my check
Not sure what exactly was said but there’s clearly a disconnect here.
The term “Overages” can only apply to a balance on a loan or lease.
If you’ve paid off a car and own it outright, there are no overages. You’re entitled to the entire settlement.
If your insurer was willing to send you the overages while sending BMWFS nothing more than the lease balance, then you never needed to buy the car to collect the equity in the first place.
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Insurance company determines loss settlement amount. BMW hires independent appraisal company to come up with their payoff. If settlement greater than BMW’s payoff, then I get the overage.
The problem is how the payoff is calculated:
- For me payoff is RV+ remaining payments minus unearned interest (all per lease contract)
- For the insurance company payoff is based on current vehicle replacement cost - inflated market value
If BMW accepts my payoff then I’d expect to collect the entire settlement… Of course, this is just a theory 
Best of luck. Looking forward to how this turns out.
That’s only if BMWFS is settling with the insurance company.
Your payoff is set in stone.
So which is it?
Did you make your payoff and become the owner? In which case there are no overages because there’s no balance left to be paid.
Or is BMWFS the owner and entitled to fair market value? In which case there are no overages because those two entities will negotiate a settlement and that’s exactly the amount the insurance company will pay to BMWFS.
I sent payoff amount to BMWFS to become the owner of the vehicle. Cashier’s check will be delivered to them today. Should know more next week. In this scenario I am getting the entire settlement.
There is still potential of receiving the overages, since fair market value is calculated independently by insurer and BMW. 
compared to 
I wasn’t the OP, but decided to payoff my totaled BMW before insurance issued their check based on @IAC’s suggestion to just buy the car. The difference between my payoff and insurance settlement is over $8K(on $35K 4 series), so I decided it was worth a shot. I was 99% sure that BMWFS would just return my payment, since they already knew that car was totaled and getting full settlement from insurance was just a matter of time. BMWFS representative also confirmed that my payoff is not valid and won’t be accepted - that was a lie.
BMW cashed my payoff, terminated account and sent me the title. I don’t have an insurance check yet, but will post an update once there is something to share…
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So now, you will be receiving the extra $8k but in turn will have it on your insurance record which is going to increase your insurance rate for a few years? Or am I getting that wrong cause that would have still gone up even if you would have not paid off the car?
In my case insurance premium will go up no matter what. It won’t hurt as much if I get to keep part of the settlement. Maybe accident forgiveness will kick in to save me there too.
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BMW cashed my check too soon… They are saying that the title that I am in possession of is going to be cancelled, they will reopen my account and wait for insurance payment instead. How sad…
I was going to ask: did they send a title that was branded salvage? What state are you in?
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TBH they saved your a$$… high likelihood that insurance would have paid nothing or salvage value.