Driver walked away with an $18,000 bill for a wrecked BMW despite paying for coverage at the dealership — it was a mistake of more than 60 cents

ONE driver could lose almost $20,000 on his account after a 60 cent error.

In 2020, Manny Munoz purchased the BMW of his dreams, but those dreams were cut short after a rear-end collision seven months ago left him in a frustrating situation.

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Although the damage appeared minor, the insurance company considered Munoz’s car a total loss, citing the sophisticated sensors, technology and cameras in modern vehicles as reasons for the expensive repairs.

“They really don’t look that bad,” Munoz said while showing photos of the wrecked vehicle to the local Arizona news station. KTVK-TV.

“But I think there are a lot of sensors and cameras in the car,” he said.

The insurance company wrote Munoz a check for almost $27,000, which was the appraised value of his BMW.

However, Munoz still owed another nearly $19,000 on her car loan, an amount that should have been covered by her insurance policy with Safe-Guard.

Gap insurance, short for guaranteed asset protection insurance, is designed to cover the difference between a vehicle’s actual cash value and the amount still owed on the car loan or lease.

This type of insurance becomes particularly valuable when a car is totaled, as in Munoz’s case, and the insurance payout is less than the outstanding loan balance.

However, for Munoz, a small technicality delayed the gap insurance payment.

The dealership sent a payment request for $60,517.86 to Munoz’s credit union when he first purchased the car four years ago.

But the credit union only sent $60,517.26, a discrepancy of 60 cents.

This small error, which went unnoticed until seven months ago, caused Safe-Guard to delay paying the $18,000 Munoz needed to pay off his loan.

“The complaint was canceled because the loan amount did not correspond to the contract value,” explained Munoz.

“There was a 60-cent difference.”

After seven months of trying to resolve the issue independently, Munoz felt like there was no hope and decided to turn to the local news station for assistance.

KTVK-TV’s On Your Side reached out to Safe-Guard to investigate Munoz’s allegation.

After involvement in the program, Munoz’s claim began to advance, with the 60 cent issues beginning to be resolved.

He has begun receiving notices from Safe-Guard indicating that his complaint is being “processed,” a significant development since he had not received anything of the kind prior to local news involvement.

He now awaits its final resolution, hoping that the complaint will finally be rectified and processed.

“I have no problem being patient because I think I have been more than patient,” he said, reflecting on the grueling seven-month wait to close his loophole claim.