Driver left with $18,000 bill for wrecked BMW despite paying for coverage at dealership – it was all over 60-cent error
A DRIVER was left shocked when he was handed a $18,000 bill over what ended up being a 60-cent mistake.
Manny Munoz bought his dream BMW in 2020 but the happy days were cut short when a rear-end collision left him in a frustrating situation.
Despite the damage appearing minor, the insurance company deemed Munoz's car a total loss, citing the sophisticated sensors, technology, and cameras in modern vehicles as reasons for the costly repairs.
"They really don't look that bad," Munoz said as he showed photos of the wrecked vehicle to local Arizona news station KTVK-TV.
"But I guess there are so many sensors on the car and cameras," he said.
The insurance company issued Munoz a check for nearly $27,000, which was the assessed value of his BMW.
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However, Munoz still owed another almost $19,000 on the car loan, an amount that was supposed to be covered by his gap insurance policy with Safe-Guard.
Gap insurance, short for Guaranteed Asset Protection insurance, is designed to cover the difference between the actual cash value of a vehicle and the amount still owed on the car loan or lease.
This type of insurance becomes particularly valuable when a car is totaled, like in Munoz's case, and the insurance payout is less than the outstanding loan balance.
However, for Munoz, a minor technicality stalled the gap insurance payout - for over seven months.
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The dealership sent a payment request of $60,517.86 to Munoz's credit union when he first bought the car and gap insurance four years ago.
But the credit union only sent Safe-Guard $60,517.26, a 60-cent discrepancy.
This small error, which went unnoticed until the crash, caused Safe-Guard to delay paying the $18,000 that Munoz needs to settle his loan.
"The claim was kicked back because the loan amount did not match the contract amount," Munoz said.
"There was a 60-cent difference."
After seven months of trying to resolve the issue, Munoz felt as if there was no hope, and decided to turn to his local news station for assistance.
KTVK-TV's On Your Side program reached out to Safe-Guard to investigate Munoz's claim.
Following their involvement, Munoz's claim started to move forward, with the 60-cent issue starting to get resolved.
He has started receiving notices from Safe-Guard indicating that his claim is being "processed," a significant development since he had not received anything of the sort before local news got involved.
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He is now waiting for his final resolution, hoping that the claim will finally be corrected and processed.
"I don’t have a problem being patient because I think I’ve been more than patient," he said, reflecting on the exhausting seven-month wait to close out his gap claim.