Insurance Problem
You don't mention if your policy was cancelled or not, was it in force at the time of your accident ? I ask this because there is a clause that may have protected the lienholder a few days after your insurance cancelled, which may be how they settled this without your consent. Also, I am curious...what year was your car and were you "upside down" on it? I would suggest you check the NADA and Kelley Blue Book, both available on line, and see what value they indicate your vehicle was worth. If there is a difference this will give you some documentation to provide to the state insurance office, if you report this. Remember too, an auto policy is not like a homeowner policy....the auto policy states that it will pay ACV (Actual Cash Value, the depreciated value) of the vehicle insured. So, if you paid too much for it, and didn't put much down, or it was relatively new, then there is a good chance that you will end up owing on it. Make sure that you were refunded any pro rated (unused time) on the warranty costs if it was new....I speak of this part from personal experience. My husband totaled a new p/u years ago and we were refunded over $700 in warranty cost that was not used (the bank paid Toyota in full for the warranty when the truck was financed. It's just like an insurance policy too so it could have some unearned portion due to you). Good luck, and do the research on this, you can win it if in fact they have made a bad call in the settlement. (Oh, don't forget to consider your deductible too when figuring the payoff vs what you were given for your car).
