I don’t know how the inside of my car can get so dirty in just 3 months. But it did. I bought the car on Dec 31 and it has been filthy for a while, so I gave it a good cleaning today.
I really like my 2022 VW Taos. I bought it after I hit a deer in late November, which was after I backed into a telephone pole 8 days before that, with my brand new Kia Seltos that I’d bought just 3 months prior.
The Personal Insurance Co. provided me with a rental vehicle for a month, but there’s a limit to how long they’ll pay for and the parts for the new Kia are still back-ordered. So they cut me off and said I could either pay $2,000+/month to keep renting a car for an indefinite period of time, or I could buy something new at my own cost. Despite the combined repair costs (of the two accidents) of $25,000, they were unwilling to write off the $38,000 SUV. After chatting with a helpful lawyer, from the office of the New Brunswick Consumer Advocate for Insurance, I confirmed that unfortunately in Canada there is no automobile insurance that covers loss of resale value after an accident. So, it is what it is, and I recognize the privilege I have to be able (although begrudgingly) to absorb the loss.
So now, 3 months later, the Kia is still in the shop and I’m making finance payments and insurance premium payments on both it and the VW.
Once the Kia is fixed, I could sell the VW and keep the Kia or sell the Kia and keep the VW. Either way, I will take a substantial financial loss. If I sell the Kia, it will likely be for $20,000 less than I paid for it, because of the damage reported in the CarFax. If I sell the VW, I’ll probably lose around $10,000 after taxes, but then I’d still be stuck with a Kia that has lost all of that value. I’m hoping the repairs are done soon, because once the new 2025 Seltos comes out (which will likely be this Spring), the resale value of my 2024 will plummet even farther.
Like I said, I really like the VW Taos, so even though it’s a couple years older, I think I’ll hang onto it and let the Kia go.
Nothing is ever simple, or cheap.
Leave a Reply