Quote:
Originally Posted by tomegun
What kind of insurance are you talking about when you mentioned insurance for driving a loaner while making lease payments?
If in fact it came to a suit and a judge said I couldn't get anything because it is a lease that is fine. I am not looking to make out like a bandit. Like I said previously, if we wanted to just get paid my wife would go the route of saying the accident hurt her back. Thankfully she is fine.
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The only TYPICAL insurance I know of in this case is just a rider for rental coverage. All it does is pay for a rental while your car is in the shop, and it's typically only for something in the economy or mid-sized budget range... you won't be getting a BMW to drive.
Short of that, there's GAP insurance, which covers the "gap" between what you owe and what the car is worth in the case of a total loss. All BMW Financial Services leases include GAP insurance by default.
So, I'd say you're unfortunately out of luck if you lease a BMW and end up driving a Ford Focus for a month while it's being repaired. Can you sue the other party (or their insurance) for your 1 month lease payment? Sure, I guess. Or you can always just attempt to negotiate this with the insurance company when you get your repair estimate - much easier than suing anyone. If the car is truly estimated to be out of commission for a month or more, they may just surprise you and agree to cover your lease payment.
Another option to look at, if none of the above pans out, is your BMW dealer. If the dealer has a repair shop (obviously not all dealers do), they may be willing to work with you if you're a good customer. Many moons ago, and while I lived elsewhere, I had a small accident with my 325i - similarly, not my fault. Someone backed into it while it was parked in an airport parking lot. My BMW dealer's repair shop actually did the work on the car and they were willing to provide me with another BMW to drive (for the 5 or 6 days it took), and I believe somehow (trying to remember back 10+ years ago!) I was able to use the rental coverage to reimburse them for whatever was covered by the other party's insurance. Whatever the details though, it worked out. The dealer and shop did me a big favor - I knew the head SA there well, etc, etc. So I'm sure this isn't something they would have just otherwise offered as an option.
Anyway, best of luck with it. Negotiating NOW with the insurance company is always better than trying to recoup what you feel would be losses later in a law suit. A law suit should really be your very last resort to any problem. It's tedious, expensive, and not fun. I honestly couldn't imagine suing anyone over 1 month (or even 2) of lease payments - the ends wouldn't justify the means. This is clearly a case where you want to negotiate for it up-front, and press hard to get it. But if push really comes to shove, and there's just no way you can recoup that money by negotiating, I'd just let it go. That's just me, though. It's not worth the time and aggravation.