‘Downpayment on a G-Wagon’: Man gets surprising insurance check for his Toyota after car gets totaled. It was a 2005 Camry

Spencer (@inkodakitrust) wasn’t having the most fortunate of years in 2024: He broke his collarbone (again) in March and then found himself on the receiving end of a hit-and-run accident that totaled his 2005 sedan.

However, due to the coverage plan he had on his vehicle, he ended up getting a bit of good news: A fat insurance check payout that he thought was valued surprisingly more than what his car was worth.

Viewers who responded to his video stated that they too have been pleasantly surprised by totaled car insurance checks.

“can’t believe I got hit and ran + my cars totaled” a text overlay in the TikTok video montage reads, which begins with a photograph of a red 2005 Toyota Camry that has had the entirety of its driver side doors caved in through the accident Spencer referenced in the initial on-screen caption.

The car, which was covered by their insurance plan, turned out to have a very high valuation from from the company purchases his insurance from, something that he highlighted in the montage’s next slide, which shows a “valuation report” from the business. The first figure, which is the “price” he was given is $9,950, measured against the adjusted comparable value of repairing the vehicle: $9,145.

Talk about resale value on Camry

He couldn’t believe he was being handed nearly $10,000 for his whip, which he drove home in another text overlay that read: “wait they giving $9,950 for a base model 2005 camry?”

Ten bands is a good amount of money for anyone looking to purchase a reliable used vehicle: U.S. News & World Report penned a list of some of the most dependable cars (based on assessments from JD Power and Associates) folks could get for that or less, highlighting several offerings from Kia and Hyundai, and the 2013 Buick Verano. However, there would probably be others who would urge Spencer, and others who’ve got a good amount of money to buy a used car outright to probably just stick with purchasing a Honda or Toyota that hasn’t been in any major accidents.

So how did Spencer decide to spend their payout from the accident? According to the young man, they’ve decided to take a line out of Post Malone’s “Wow” and put a down payment on a G Wagon for himself, that is, according to the third and final slide of his montage clip.

Whether or not he was joking about getting himself the Mercedes truck that’s a favorite of celebrities and Eastern Europeans, there are a lot of folks in the car industry who would caution against purchasing a new luxury car, mostly due to the levels of depreciation they accrue. CarEdge says that in the G Wagon’s vehicle segment it actually retains its value than some of its competitors, however iSeeCars says that after 5 years, both the 2021 and 2022 G-Wagons will lose approximately 45.3% of their value.

The MSRP of a 2024 G Wagon begins at $144,150, meaning if Spencer was intending on financing one, he’d still be left with a hefty monthly payment. He could, however, be talking about leasing the whip.

Numerous commenters who replied to Spencer’s TikTok replied they thought his money would’ve been better spent on securing a used car instead that he could buy outright with the insurance money so as not to put himself in a position where he is making monthly payments he doesn’t need to take on: “The way I would have went & got a used car cash,” one person wrote while another said, “not a very smart idea,” of his G Wagon post.

Several other people wrote that they, too, were blessed by the totaled used car insurance fairy after their own rides were decimated: “I got $7000 on a 2007 jeep compass that didn’t even run (a tree fell on it)” one said. Someone else penned, “my insurance gave me 21,000 on my rogue that was worth 17,000,” while another replied: “i got $12,000 on a 2012 honda civic with rust paint alllll in the top im driving something REAL NICE now”

Another TikTok user said they weren’t the luckiest when it came to insurance claims for their own accidents: “I got hit and ran but the cops wouldn’t even check the traffic cameras” and Spencer said that he was in a similar boat and explained how he was able to work around it: “they didn’t check cams for me either. had to bring the police report to surrounding businesses and get it myself.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to Toyota via email and Spencer via TikTok comment for further information.

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