Motorist's 60 cent mistake lands him $18,000 in debt after his car was rammed by another driver and deemed a total loss

A car insurance firm has left an Arizona motorist thousands of dollars in debt after it refused to pay out on a claim because he paid 60 cents less than he should have for his $60,000 car.

Salesman Manny Munoz from Peoria spent over the odds for his BMW X5 in 2020 when he needed a new car for his job at the height of the pandemic.

Cars were trading for thousands of dollars more than usual as international supply chains collapsed, and Munoz agreed to pay $60,517.86 for the then two-year vehicle.

His credit union accidentally sent the dealer a check for $60,517.26, or 60 cents less, but it went unnoticed until November last year when his car was totaled, and his insurer Safe-Guard Products used the discrepancy as an excuse not to pay up.

'The claim was kicked back because the loan amount did not match the contract amount,' Munoz told azfamily.com. 'There was a 60-cent difference.'

Manny Munoz was left $18,000 in debt because of an unnoticed 60 cent discrepancy   

His BMW was rear-ended during a prang in November last year and, although the damage looked relatively superficial, his insurance company insisted the car was a write-off

The grandfather paid for the car through a finance agreement and took out a gap insurance policy to cover the full amount specifically because its value was likely to depreciate quickly from its pandemic high point.

And he found himself making a claim when he was rear-ended during a journey at the end of last year.

The damage looked relatively superficial but Safe-Guard deemed his car to be a total write-off.

'I guess there are so many sensors on the car and cameras,' he speculated.

He still owed $45,000 on the car but the insurance company sent him a check for just the $26,709 it would have been worth at the time of the crash.

They told him the amount charged for the car, and the amount paid, had to match to the penny for the gap policy to be valid, leaving him with no car and an outstanding debt of $18,651.

Seven months of wrangling failed to move the Atlanta-based insurance firm so he contacted AZfamily's consumer program On Your Side and its presenter Gary Harper.

The discrepancy only came to light more than three years later when he made a claim  

Munoz, pictured with wife Dora, has now received a letter from the insurance company suggesting his claim is being 'processed' 

'I was sitting there trying to contemplate what to do and so I went online, and I said let me find Gary Harper and here we are,' he told the program.

And after they contacted the firm, Munoz received a promising letter suggesting his claim is now being 'processed'.

But he is refusing to get his hopes up until he receives a check – for the correct amount.

'I don't have a problem being patient because I think I've been more than patient,' he said.