What will my recouping expenses turn out to be after my car will be totaled?
You might lose some hair because of the hassle you’ll have after an auto insurer declares your vehicle a total loss. However, that doesn’t mean you should lose your shirt. The actual cash value or market value of your vehicle should be paid by your auto insurer, but that isn’t the whole story. Hidden costs like sales tax, title and vehicle registration that come with purchasing a new vehicle will be your insurer’s responsibility, as well.
There are twenty-nine states that will require auto insurers to pay for the sales taz after you replace your crashed vehicle with a new/used one. Here are the twenty-nine states:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Dakota
- Vermont
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Just because these states require sales to be paid as part of total-loss settlements, that doesn’t mean that insurers in those states are going to offer to pay sales tax up front.
It also doesn’t mean that insurers in states that don’t require those reimbursements will refuse to pay. Even if the state in which you live does not require it, it is very important to ask your insurer to reimburse you.
It is important to make your request quickly, if you are going to do so in a state that requires insurers to reimburse you for these costs.
As a matter of fact, many of these states have a 30-day time limit for you to request reimbursement for these costs from the time that you purchase your vehicle that will be replacing the one that was totaled.