The most important question for you right now is what does your insurance company intend to pay. Will they cover the $20k the leasing company is (I assume) owed for the value of the car? If not, you might have a liability to pay. If your insurance company thinks the car is only worth, say, $14k, you will owe the leasing company an additional $6 ($20k - $14k = $6k) unless you have gap insurance, and you might. Check your paperwork.
What is the blue book value? The insurance company will probably only pay blue book. So if it is less then they will make a deal with the Lease company. They have lawyers for that.
Every time I have ever had a car totaled the ins company has called me and said “Congratulations Al you car is worth $ X.00
I have found the best response is to start laughing, then say that was pretty funny, the car is worth at least $2X
please provide me the comps that you used to determine the value, here is my email, thank you.
then you have to go through the comps, look at the options, tires miles condition and sales price.
Before you do this you cannot make any kind of judgement as to the value of the car.
since you leased, as everyone else says you need to know your buyout price in the contract, even if you have to pay lease payments for a few months you need to know that.
Sorry this happened to you. Car leasing seems akin to time share purchase.
Unless a third party has a solid dollars and cents argument to lay claim on any ‘excess’ settlement, what the insurance company and the leasing company negotiate is between them. The path of least resistance for a third party would be a return to the status quo.
It should be no problem for the leasing company to show ‘community good will’ by transferring your lease to a replacement vehicle and lowering the end-price by whatever portion of the principal you’ve already paid or feel entitled to. You resume your $14K debt for a few months until you can buy out the lease as planned and have the replacement vehicle in the meantime. Which you can then sell for $20K or whatever and pocket all the profit. How favorable a deal you get from the leasing company will depend on your negotiating skills and answers to the below questions.
Do you have a lease agreement that acts as a rental agreement but gives you first dibs on purchase at the end of the term, at a pre-set price? What was that pre-set price? Is the lease agreement one that applies a portion of the monthly payment to principal (like rent to own)? Does that share add up to $6K? What were the costs to the leasing company of towing/wrecking the vehicle? Are you asking for reimbursement of all principal payments made or a percentage? How are you calculating that percentage? How does that compare to the cost of pursuing that amount in court? Was the lease ever used as a tax-deduction?
The Lessor owns the car.
The lessor lets you, the lessee to use the car under strict conditions.
At the end of the lease, lessor takes back his car.
Then, lessor decides what he wants to do with the asset.
You are responsible to make the lessor whole, you do not get a piece of upside gains
In addition to that, if you read the lease contract and it is like ours, it has early termination fees and end of lease termination fees to the tune of $4K+ combined. In addition to all that, you could be penalized for damage beyond fair wear and tear.
Also factored in to the purchase at the end of lease, is the residual value, what the car is worth in Kelly Bluebook or a similar source. Since your car was totaled before the term of the lease expired, it was worth more and the leasing company may be shooting for that too.
Your best bet is to have your insurance company fight it out with the leasing company, on your behalf, while you stay out of it. Neither entity has your interests at heart. Any fees or excess charges sent to you should be forwarded to the insurance company.
You own the liability, not the insurance company. Try to cut a deal with the leasing company that you will pay the next two month’s lease, then buy out the lease. Then use the payment from the insurance company to cover the buyout.
If you don’t own the car, isn’t this between the owner and the insurance company?