Low insurance settlement not even enough to replace my Acura TL with a Honda Accord. What's my remedy?
2 days ago I was in my 2000 Acura TL and was hit by a lady that ran a red light. Beautiful car, I loved it, and I had just put a new $3000 transmission in it (which I'm still paying off). The lady had full coverage. My car was considered "a loss" (although only cosmetic damage. Fender, light, hood. Completely fixable) and I'm being offered $1,600 done deal. My only concern when hit was that I not drive into an intersection in an Acura and out the other side in a Honda Accord. The insurance people said "Don't worry, we'll take care of you." With that settlement, I can't even afford an Accord, much less a replacement used Acura. What do I do to make this right?
Unfortunately that's one of the risks of driving an older car no matter how nice it is - even a scratch may be enough for the insurance company to total it. Doesn't matter what you put into it - all that is a sunk cost you're never going to get back. Doesn't matter whether it's fixable - they're not in the business to put more into repairing a car than it's worth.
That said, a $1,600 settlement seems extraordinarily low for that make model and year. Even KBB private party sale value for that car with 150K miles and standard options in "good" condition is ~$3,000 and that would be a low figure because you should be reimbursed full retail for the car. You should be getting much more back in the settlement. Who is the insurance company?
- How to replace a low pressure a/c hose on a 2010 Honda Civic Ex (8th generation)? I'm a capable weekend wrench guy so this is not beyond me… My finances car has a leak in the a/c low pressure hose, I saw refrigerant spraying out during a refill so I know it's the hose. Anyway I've never replaced an a/c hose before, so if anybody has ever replaced one of these hopefully on this same model and year before, help a guy out and let me know how to replace this and what tools I'll need.
- Check engine light not going off on my 97 Honda Civic even after fixing problem? Cranking and starting my Civic made the check engine light come on and sputter and idle real bad. Figured it might be a bad fuel filter so I changed the thing and now it runs smoothly again but that check engine light is still on. Can there still a problem? Do i need to reset something to make the light go off?
- Would I be expecting to pay more on maintenance, repair and insurance on an Acura than a Honda? I'm looking into trading in my Camry for a 2002 Acura TL 3.2. I was wondering if I would be expecting much of a change if I bought a TL 3.2 compared to an Accord.