Wife’s Telluride was totaled. Just how bad is the new car market?

I posted a few months back about the uptick in lawless driving- GTA driving I called it- where what used to be almost universally obeyed driving rules are now frequently ignored. Well it caught up to my wife last week. A sixteen year old was driving like he was playing a video game. My wife was driving her Telluride on a busier residential street. One lane in each direction with a double yellow down the middle. She went to make a left turn onto another residential street. Mr. teen driver did what one does when you can just hit a reset button if you berkeley up. He drove his Dodge Ram around her on the left, in the opposing lane of traffic rather than slow and wait, and proceeded to tear off the left front corner of her car. He actually had the balls to be mad at her for "hitting him!"
 

The car was not driveable. The left front wheel was hit, the steering is turned to the left in the pic. The damage looks bad, but no air bags and it looked like it was mostly fender/ hood/ bumper in addition to the suspension. The core support looked to be untouched and nothing leaked. But- it  didn't want to move in forward or reverse. Kind of expected with the front wheels pointing at each other, but horrible banging noises and no reverse was surprising. Figuring a broken axle at least. 
 

Luckily she wasn't seriously injured. She felt it the next day, and is still dealing with back and neck pain. Working with the doctor. 
 

They totaled it. Which was kind of surprising. Especially since they valued it at almost exactly what we paid for it at the end of 2019. Which sounds good, until you look at the current car market. Not much available, and no deals to be had. 

Trying to figure out what to do next. She loved the Telluride, it has been the perfect vehicle. One thought is to buy another- it doesn't look like a better option in that category has popped up in the last couple years. But she is also thinking of getting back into a truck. She loves trucks. The plan was to shop for a Lightning in a couple years or so when it was time to retire the Telluride (her work car can't be more than 5 years old.) Now does not seem like a great time to buy a Lightning (or anything.) She has to replace it fairly quickly. One thought is to just bite the bullet and get the best deal we can find for what she wants, fly and drives included. The other is to buy something temporarily on the cheaper end of the scale and get what she wants when the market is more favorable. Any thoughts? 

I'm sorry about the wreck.  I hope the pain goes away quickly and that there are no lasting repercussions.

If you're in a position to do it, just buy another Telluride at the best price you can find.  Car accidents suck.  It's best for mental health to take whatever lessons there are to learn from them and move on as fully and quickly as possible.

Local Ford dealer is slammed with all varieties of F150s again including some of the Lightnings.  Lightnings are sold, but a lot of the other new and 1 year old vehicles are still available.

It sucks. I am trying to buy a simple little SUV for mom, and there are none to be had. Test drives are out, everything is pre-sold, and if you want a specific mix of options, you wait months.  I never thought buying a Corolla would be so hard. (OK, Corolla Cross, but seriously, we are OK with 3 different exterior colors, 2 trim levels, AWD or FWD and still can't get one)

It looks to me like there's a bunch of new Tellurides locally in stock that are $1000 over MSRP. That's in central Ohio, on Cargurus. While I hate the idea of paying over MSRP, $1k isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

If you want what everybody else wants, you're probably going to have to wait.  If, on the other hand....

In the Chicago area some want nutty numbers over sticker and some take money off.  Kenosha Toyota is straight up and others are taking you to the bank.  

dculberson said:

It looks to me like there's a bunch of new Tellurides locally in stock that are $1000 over MSRP. That's in central Ohio, on Cargurus. While I hate the idea of paying over MSRP, $1k isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

I did a quick search and there were some base models listed at msrp. The first random high trim one I clicked on was still $3k over msrp but all of them have been trending down. The overall market is in decline at the moment, but some dealers are still trying to act like it isn't which makes things extra interesting. But it seems like tehre's a decent amount of inventory out there especially if you're willing to travel or pay for shipping.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

They likely totalled it because they are gonna repair it and sell it for the same price or more due to the market.

dculberson said:

It looks to me like there's a bunch of new Tellurides locally in stock that are $1000 over MSRP. That's in central Ohio, on Cargurus. While I hate the idea of paying over MSRP, $1k isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

Yeah, as much as I despise the thought of paying more than MSRP. In this case, I'd probably deal with the $1k markup since she is in urgent need and it gets her back into a vehicle she already knows she likes. And should theoretically be a bit nicer since some improvements have likely been made here and there since it will be a few years a newer.

I have all sorts of ideas of what would make the most financial sense. But what makes the most sense is to find a Telluride that you are comfortable paying the dealer shenanigans on and just leave it at that. Especially because it is the best looking vehicle in its size class, basically of all time. 

We bought a new Mazda CX-50 a few months ago. The dealer had a few of them in stock, which was surprising. When they had the exact color and trim we wanted, we were shocked. We paid MSRP, but they gave us an insane amount for the trade, so it more than made up for not getting a "discount". 

It really depends on what you're looking for. Around here, Hondas and Toyotas are especially scarce, but I'm seeing plenty of other stuff on the lots. Ford and Ram have plenty of regular trucks (not the electrics) in stock. I'd imagine that's similar in most places. 

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

They likely totalled it because they are gonna repair it and sell it for the same price or more due to the market.

This. 

Same thing happened when my Integra GSR got totalled.  They under valued it about 50%, totalled it and then when I appealed they had to cut a second check.  The totalled car was rebuilt and registered before I got the replacement car.  If they had given it a realistic value to begin with, it would have been repaired.

Toebra said:

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

They likely totalled it because they are gonna repair it and sell it for the same price or more due to the market.

This. 

 

Same thing happened when my Integra GSR got totalled.  They under valued it about 50%, totalled it and then when I appealed they had to cut a second check.  The totalled car was rebuilt and registered before I got the replacement car.  If they had given it a realistic value to begin with, it would have been repaired.

I assure you the insurance company has nothing to do with this sort of thing.  They are only going to sell it at auction.  Many newer and in demand cars can be totaled more easily than you think as the salvage value is quite high, like it might be even $15k for something like this, so the full payout less the salvage value net cost is less than the repairs plus rental, especially with current parts delays.  A surprising amount go overseas.   

cowboykia .com .....Conroe Tx. just sayin'

Are any of the comps the insurance used still available to buy?

When my truck was totaled I received a list of comps that I might have been able to chase down to buy if I had wanted to go that route. 

In reply to No Time :

When I totaled my wife's 11 FX4 ecoboost crew cab, the insurance company's so called "comps" were 2wd, or single cabs, or base V6s... and they couldn't understand why I didn't thank them...

Try the Costco auto program, the participating dealers have to honor the Costco price which is often less than MSRP. However that means that it may be difficult to find a dealer that participates and has inventory. We got our outback but only had to drive 2 hrs to get it for Costco price.

So you have a 2019 Kia Telluride. It has been hit pretty good in the front end. Edmunds page says it is worth about $29000.  So  the insurance company will pay up to 80% of value to repair it.  So that is $23000 to spend on the repair. I am surprised that you wife's SUV is totaled. Now if the airbags went off that would be a different story... What did the Body shop give you for the grand total of the repair??

In reply to engiekev :

The Costco pricing has been above MSRP for awhile now. Costco does not set the pricing, the dealers do. 

In reply to MyMiatas :

Basically every front end panel, plus suspension/steering damage and some quantity of drivetrain damage. Plus maybe some frame damage, yeah not surprised it's totaled. I had a much lighter left front corner hit earlier this summer, purely cosmetic damage other than a cut tire, and the repair was over $8k. Then there's also the parts availability issue.

Steve_Jones said:

In reply to engiekev :

The Costco pricing has been above MSRP for awhile now. Costco does not set the pricing, the dealers do. 

It did seem to vary quite a bit from brand, not necessarily dealer to dealer when I got pricing, but maybe they are all pricing similarly? Regardless it made the buying process much less of a hassle.  We did still have to wait, since there werent any participating dealers that had the vehicle spec we wanted.

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

They likely totalled it because they are gonna repair it and sell it for the same price or more due to the market.

Your lack of knowledge on how the insurance business works is blatantly apparent.

MyMiatas said:

So you have a 2019 Kia Telluride. It has been hit pretty good in the front end. Edmunds page says it is worth about $29000.  So  the insurance company will pay up to 80% of value to repair it.  So that is $23000 to spend on the repair. I am surprised that you wife's SUV is totaled. Now if the airbags went off that would be a different story... What did the Body shop give you for the grand total of the repair??

That doesn't account for the salvage value. Here's how the math works (simplified example):

$10,000 value less $4500 salvage value = $5500 or more estimate totals it.

The 80% figure is just a guide. Sometimes it's a state law, sometimes it's just an insurers guideline but more often these days we 'do the math' to figure out what will be the least expensive route. I'm not interested enough to spend 5 minutes coming up with a salvage value on that Telluride but it's pretty amazing what some of this stuff brings,  particularly European or upscale models. Or trucks...they are insane.

NO insurance company 'fixes' totaled vehicles. They are sold as-is at auction. Do rebuilders buy them? Sure. There's multiple Copart threads on this forum alone about rebuilding salvage vehicles. Other than occasionally setting minimum bids, insurers don't have anything to do with what happens after it goes to the auction.

I haven't had a front end hit like that on a Telluride so can't address the cost but can say that Korean car part prices have skyrocketed in the last few years. They used to be cheap to repair but now are often on Lexus pricing.