My 2014 was titled ALL WRONG! Cost me $5G!

[Wallythacker]

I bought a 2014 in 2016, it was brand new and came with too many options for an ES. The bill of sale said it was an ES, the pink slip identified it as an ES, when I went to insure it the value was recorded as an ES.

There's just one small problem. When I checked today with monroney, it was correctly identified as being an SE model. How could this have happened? There are digits and letters in the VIN in certain places that identify the model of a car. I find it hard to believe that starting with Mitsubishi, the car was erroneously listed as a base model by every party that dealt with it. This type of thing is supposed to be impossible to happen.

Something else which is important. The car was written off in Feb/17, about 5 months into my ownership. I was only ever paid the replacement value of a base ES. I tried to argue with the insurance my car was anything but a base model, but hey, you can't argue against what the ownership says. I figure I lost about $5g or more between a base model ES MSRP in 2016 verses a loaded SE model.

[Fummins]

Probably too late to do anything now. Unfortunately. What extra options did it have that an es (plus) didn’t?

[Wallythacker]

Probably too late to do anything now. Unfortunately. What extra options did it have that an es (plus) didn’t?

Heated mirrors, the extra vents under the seats to provide much needed heat to the back, alloys, probably more I'm missing. I'm not sure what the ES Plus is supposed to have because I always thought my 2014 was an ES Plus. I was amazed at the junk such a car came with but it all makes more sense now knowing it was an SE all along.

I'm still with the same insurance co. I'm going to run this by them. If I had been given the extra $5g, then right now I'd be in an SE. I could have afforded an SE if I was properly paid out. Ya, this is something that's going to bug me until I exhaust all the avenues to rectify things. The main purpose of insurance is to indemnify you, in other words, make you whole to where you were before the event happened.

We'll see. I think even if someone picked up the costs I'm incurring to upgrade my ES then I'd be happy.

[Mark]

I bought a 2014 in 2016, it was brand new and came with too many options for an ES. The bill of sale said it was an ES, the pink slip identified it as an ES, when I went to insure it the value was recorded as an ES.

There's just one small problem. When I checked today with monroney, it was correctly identified as being an SE model. How could this have happened? There are digits and letters in the VIN in certain places that identify the model of a car. I find it hard to believe that starting with Mitsubishi, the car was erroneously listed as a base model by every party that dealt with it. This type of thing is supposed to be impossible to happen.

Something else which is important. The car was written off in Feb/17, about 5 months into my ownership. I was only ever paid the replacement value of a base ES. I tried to argue with the insurance my car was anything but a base model, but hey, you can't argue against what the ownership says. I figure I lost about $5g or more between a base model ES MSRP in 2016 verses a loaded SE model.

You bought an upper level SE that was priced as a base level ES, & you are feeling cheated?

If you had found this mistake earlier, would you have gone back & paid the dealership another $5,000 for that same car?

According to the paperwork, you bought a ES. If you insured your car as an ES, I don't know why you would expect them to pay you for a SE?

Personally, I don't see this happening where I live. My insurance company wants the vin. # before I even pick up a car. They would most likely catch any errors.

Plus, I would know what trim level I was buying in the first place, especially with a new car. If the features didn't seem right, the red flags would be coming out. I don't mean to be critical, but I don't see how you were cheated.

Canadian trim levels are ES 5MT, ES CVT, ES PLUS 5MT, ES PLUS CVT, ES LIMITED CVT, & GT CVT now. No SE trim level to worry about any more.

[daleWV]

I thought in 2014 the base model was the DE and the fancier model was the ES?

[Wallythacker]

You bought an upper level SE that was priced as a base level ES, & you are feeling cheated?

If you had found this mistake earlier, would you have gone back & paid the dealership another $5,000 for that same car?

According to the paperwork, you bought a ES. If you insured your car as an ES, I don't know why you would expect them to pay you for a SE?

Personally, I don't see this happening where I live. My insurance company wants the vin. # before I even pick up a car. They would most likely catch any errors.

Plus, I would know what trim level I was buying in the first place, especially with a new car. If the features didn't seem right, the red flags would be coming out. I don't mean to be critical, but I don't see how you were cheated.

Canadian trim levels are ES 5MT, ES CVT, ES PLUS 5MT, ES PLUS CVT, ES LIMITED CVT, & GT CVT now. No SE trim level to worry about any more.

There's a difference between feeling cheated and paying for a service that's supposed to make you whole in the event of a tragedy.

If my 2014 had been properly titled, it's replacement value would have been properly recognized, and I would be driving an SE level car now. As it stands, the incorrect title only got me enough money to buy an ES with AC. Everything I'm upgrading is at my expense.

Don't forget, replacement cost insurance exists (within reason) so you don't suffer any losses if your car is totalled with in 24 months. By your logic any old replacement Mirage should suffice and I should be happy and just shut up. And just so you know, everyone had the VIN long before the car was in my hands.

[Wallythacker]

Up here our trims are different. AFAIK we didn't have a DE. We has ES, ES PLus and SE im 2014.

[Mark]

Up here our trims are different. AFAIK we didn't have a DE. We has ES, ES PLus and SE im 2014.

What did you pay for your new 2014 Mirage (not including tax, registration, documentation fees, etc), and what did the insurance company pay you at the time of the accident? Was it $5,000 less than what you paid for your car?

[Mark]

Don't forget, replacement cost insurance exists (within reason) so you don't suffer any losses if your car is totalled with in 24 months. By your logic any old replacement Mirage should suffice and I should be happy and just shut up. And just so you know, everyone had the VIN long before the car was in my hands.

If you were paying the insurance premium for a Mirage ES, why would you expect them to pay you for a Mirage SE?

These are fair questions.

I can't insure my house for $200,000, & then claim it's worth $300,000 if it burns down.

[Mark]

Up here our trims are different. AFAIK we didn't have a DE. We has ES, ES PLus and SE im 2014.

Mitsubishi hasn't done the world any favors with the listing of their trim levels.

In the States, the 2014-15 ES is a top trim level, but a 2017+ ES is a base level Mirage. How stupid is that?