Before I get to my questions, some background.

In my entire driving career, I've never had one accident. (Okay, my "driving career" is only nine years long.) Neither has my wife. And then last Friday night that all changed...her car was totaled in a freak accident out on the road right in front of our community. Thankfully, no one was injured in the slightest. She was driving her Pontiac Vibe that we had leased exactly two years ago this month. Impact was to the passenger side rear, right at the wheelwell, and was hard enough to rip the entire suspension and live axle from the underbody and shoot the whole mess about five inches out the opposite side of the car. From the outside the damage didn't look like "total loss" material, but the lower frame rail, roof and underbody were all destroyed. When the damages eclipsed $11k, the insurance company called it off.

So now I'm in total loss proceedings, trying to get the car paid for and done with. It is a lease vehicle through the GMAC SmartLease program. I expect that I will owe all remaining lease payments (one year's worth) plus the residual value of the car, and as to what all else will be thrown in (early lease termination fees?), I don't know yet. The lease includes gap coverage built-in, so that's good. The retail value of the car, according to my research from NADA, KBB and other sources, is $15,500 including options and mileage, and the amount still owed on the lease (payments and residual) is about $13,600.

What's happened so far is that they've totaled the car, I've removed the license plate and all of our personal belongings from it, and the insurance company has retrieved the car. Now they say they are researching the vehicle's value, and are waiting to be faxed some info by GMAC. Today I received via overnight UPS a state of Florida Power of Attorney form, which the insurance company said not to fill out until they call me with further instructions. It looks to be designed for someone who owns their car, title and all, and not for a leasee. So how I approach it could be different.

What I wanted to ask here is, has anyone ever had a lease vehicle totaled by the insurance company during the lease term? What was the experience like? What, if anything, did you owe the leassor over and above the remaining payments and residual on the car? Also, in your experience, in the result of a total loss, at what point did your insurance company raise your rates, if they did? I called to ask about the rates, and my insurer said their records indicated there was no fault, no citations were issued by the police on scene, and thus it looked like our rates would not rise. Plus they have a "forgiveness" program for first-time incidents when a client's record has been spotless for five years, as ours have been. I think we may have just dodged yet another bullet there. (Perhaps the Buddhist talisman of safety that my wife hung from the rearview mirror is still working its magic.)

In happier news, it looks like we're about to replace the shattered Vibe with a brand new Mazda6 s 5-door, and this time we're buying, not leasing. Ford's Z-plan comes through for me again in trying financial times. Going for a 24-hour test drive tomorrow afternoon. (So if anyone has any remarks about the M6 as well, feel free to offer them up.)

Thanks for getting through all that, and in advance to anyone who responds.

 

GM-

Sent you a PM, and an email about Z-plan & the 6.

Jason

 

Thanks -- got it!