My Tesla Cybertruck Got Totaled After It Was Sideswiped by an E-Scooter. All-in, I paid $198K, but Insurance is Only Offering Me a “Fair Market Value” of $77K. I Still Owe the Bank $171,500

Should have gotten a regular CT and use the left over money on gap insurance.

This is on you, bro.

This is EXACTLY what GAP coverage is for.

Depending on your network, I'd recommend looking at bankruptcy to get out of that disaster "truck"

"...however, the insurance provider said it would only pay the current fair market price for the vehicle."

Let me re-write this for you:

"The insurance provider agreed to pay what it was contractually obligated to pay: fair market value."

This guy deserves to pay a big loss. Why? Vehicles depreciate, say 30% in the 1st year of ownership. Brand new models, unproven and prone to bugs in their 1st year, depreciate more. Wanting to be the first is expensive. He paid 50k over an already inflated price. He deserves exactly what he wished for, the first guy to realize, cybertrucks are highly overrated.

Leaving aside the question of Cybertruck vs. e-scooter, the dude owes the bank $171K. If he takes Allstate's $77K and buys a new Cybertruck with it, he will *still* owe $171K.
It's a wash..

First, this is from 2023.

Second, this wasn't an "e-scooter".. it was hit in the side by a Toyota corolla. The car is completely trashed in the video, while the truck barely even looks damaged.

I have no idea how much if any of the story is true, now days who knows. But regardless, anyone with an auto loan that big that doesn't have an umbrella policy to cover the gap if it's totalled is an idiot.

But then paying $198K for a cyber truck pretty much screams I have too much money and zero taste. If it really went down as described, the guy set himself up for what he got.

Musk: The consummate showman and the suckers who follow him.

Considering the fact this dude paid much extra to be one of the first to own this truck (hubris), I do not feel sorry for him.

Who the hell doesn't get GAP coverage? It's like one of the few upsells you should always agree to, especially if you're getting a new or expensive vehicle that you aren't buying outright. This is entirely on dipshit McGee, not his insurance.

This is the same reason why classic or tuner cars require special insurance, because normal insurance just looks at the average price for the vehicle used with comparable features and miles. My grandpa (RIP) had his 1940s DeSoto insured through classic car insurance because normal insurance offered him a value of 4k, whilst the special insurance put it at around 60k.

WOW, so many mistakes. Did you do any research before deciding on allstate ins? You HAD to have the truck, why? And pay an extra $50k? Did you also buy an electric Hummer? You really need both.

$77k is far more than one of those ugly things are worth.

So what's the problem? Take the $77k and go buy a used one and then you're whole. Continue making the payments as you would have been doing anyway.

That’s par for the course, I got paid less than 50% of what my 2008 Ford F150 was worth, after State Farm wrote it off as a total wreck. Front wheel had been pushed into fender well, locking wheel as I skid to a halt after low speed collision. A body shop with proper equipment probably could have put it in working order IMHO.

I wasn’t at fault, the other driver got the ticket. But I still lost the money I needed to replace it and was lucky to find a used truck almost 8 yrs older(replaced a 2008 for a 2001 truck).

An e scooter? This makes absolutely no sense. These things are 8000 pound tanks. This is an asinine article.

It probably wouldn’t be much different if it was a high end BMW or similar, but if the difference between outstanding loan and actual value insurance companies offer insurance to cover the difference . That’s the price for cheaping out on the insurance and paying a premium in the first place.

The owner is at fault for his financial problems. Even aside from opinions about the worth of a CT, paying $50k to a broker to get a vehicle quicker is a very poor value, one which depreciates rapidly. It's no longer "early access", so the fee paid is now worthless.

Financing all of that seems to indicate someone with poor money management skills.

Were you having a stroke when you were writing this or are you just bad at writing? Horrible circles... maybe this isn't the job for you?

As foolish as it was for the buyer to pay a $50k premium, it is shocking that the LENDER was willing to lend so much over MSRP... not good business. They deserve to eat some of this for making a ridiculous loan.

I must be missing something, because it doesn't seem like this guy is out any money. His insurance payment is enough to replace his cybertruck with another cybertruck of similar age and mileage to the one that was totaled. So... what has he lost?

Wondering what the repair would cost. Hardly 77k!

If this is a real story, the guy takes his fair market value buys another Cybertruck, and he is no better or worse off than prior to the crash. He should not have a payday covered by Allstate to roll back his boneheaded move to pay 50k over retail.

On the positive side, this is one less Cybertruck subject to recall

Paying a premium over sticker price should have never been financed. The bank should have made him put a bigger down payment to cover 80% of the MSRP + the $50,000. He would have never gotten out from under that loan with an outright sale or a trade in. The bank will probably never collect what they are owed, but the owner basically financed 150% of the vehicle and is crying tears because he what? thought a first edition Cybertruck was going to "increase in value"? Fat chance. Surely he isn't alone, I have no sympathy for the owner or the bank. Stupid people need to pay for their mistakes. It's not the ins co. problem.

Take the payment, buy another CT with the money, get your bank to agree to a Substitution of Collateral, and you're right back where you were before the accident...which was a crappy spot to be in even then.

Then part out the CT if the insurance company doesn't want it (they probably will, though). And DON'T EVER PAY $50K OVER STICKER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER AGAIN.

Should have got replacement value insurance.

Well I really have to think about this one. A short story. Of course it's been a number of years, but, back in 2011 we bought a four bedroom two bath home, on over one acre. We paid $79,250 for the home. I had the money stashed, so we paid cash, no financing whatsoever. Currently, Zillow estimates our home is worth about $390,000. You can't compare apples to oranges, but anyone that pays that ridiculous amount of cash for a vehicle with no real purpose, well, you know...... we are still living in the house.

$50k is not fair value for a finders fee on a vehicle you need a loan for. Also, not a good idea to get a loan on a vehicle that is goin to drop in value that quickly.

Owners fault 1000%, the only way you finance that much on a personal vehicle is if you have the money to pay off most of it now but are choosing to finance it. Either to make a large payment on something else or close to 0%APR. If you can't afford to take the hit you have made a monumentally bad financial decision and the lesson will be paying it off for the next... Flips calendar... 5-10ish years. You could have bought an incredible truck for the 50k overage you paid on the Tesla. Absolutely no sympathy.

The simplest solution seems to be to take the insurance money (try and haggle a little more, because that's a bare-basement value) and buy a used CyberTruck with comparable miles and features. If you can get a little more out of insurance and negotiate a good enough price on your replacement vehicle, you can actually come out ahead equity-wise.

The shock of being so deeply under water on your loan must be pretty harsh, but the fact is that insurance is there to replace what was lost, no more. You can still drive around in a FS CyberTruck, it just won't be the same VIN as your original. You'll still have the same payment, and same payoff date, plus or minus whatever you managed to net from the previously recommended haggling.