Folks, advice is much appreciated.
My car was violently hit on the right hand side (front wheel area) on Oct. 17, by a driver who failed to yield. The other driver was found at fault and ticketed by the police. There were 4 of us in the car at the time of the accident, including one child. Big scare...
Anyway, the accident happened several hundred miles from where we live (in rural Georgia, some 40 miles from Atlanta, and we live in North-Central Florida) and the car was removed from the accident site by a towing truck (the car's engine would still start, no visible spills other than there were no visible spills, other than windshield fluid).
Initially, the insurance company said that the car was fixable; a few weeks after, unexpectedly, after a second appraisal, they declared it a total loss. They offered us $16,200 for the car, which is about 1,800 less than what we would have gotten from VW (the ODO stopped at 46,025).
I have started the buyback process and registered on VW's website in late July (and got confirmation that we were eligible for either the fix or the buyback -- we opted for the buyback), but have not submitted any documents yet (was planning to do it in Nov-Dec and have the buyback sometime in June 2017). We owe short of 3 grand to the bank for the loan, so they have the title (I can effortlessly pay it today, if needed).
The other driver's insurance company seems unwilling to offer what VW would give us. I have used the services of a friend who's a practicing attorney in FL. He faxed to the insurance company a bunch of papers documenting the value of the car (from the court settlement, that we registered with VW for the buyback, official VW calculator, even the apology letter from VW). Now it's a waiting game.
Besides the car's value, there's also the (intangible) owner's restitution (about $6,600). Should I pay the bank the remainder of the loan, to get the title in our hands? Or, should we just let the insurance company pay the remainder of the loan, assuming that an agreement would be reached? Which way should we go?
Also, what exactly needs to be submitted through the VW claims portal to proceed with the restitution given by VW in the event that either
(a) the title is in our possession
or
(b) the insurance company will eventually get the title of the car?
Thanks!