So, I got into an accident a couple weeks ago. I live in a cul-de-sac, backed out of my driveway just as the neighbor was backing out. I had put my car into 1st gear, started to pull off when she backed into the rear of my car with her Expedition. Police were called, wrote her a ticket, and charged her with the accident. For starters, she just moved to the country from Peru about 8 years ago and just learned to drive. Limited license doesn't allow her to drive without a licensed driver 21 years or older. She is around 39yo and didn't have a licensed 21yo in the truck with her. Number 2 problem comes about today when I called her insurance to file a claim: her policy wasn't current when she hit me! Fawk! Let's see how much more **** I can go through with this...
My whole rear-end on my car is hosed, so my car might be totalled out. *sigh*

 

depending on what coverage you have on your car, i think your insurance will cover what uninsured drivers cant pay. I would call your insurance provider and ask, its worth a try.

 

contact your ins agent and a lawyer. get together and set up a suit agianst her and her ins. she will have to get hers or another company to cover the accident and force the suit. your not csrewed. you just need to push the claim. if her ins rejects her/claim file suit on her and take her to court for damages. there are many things you can do but i havent delt with ins in a long time. i am sure other .org members know more or can help you better. just get with your agent and go from there.

 

Definitely push it. Also don't accept "blue book". I had an adjuster at my house when I got hit last year and we discussed the value. I simply opened my hood and said "does that look like a $1500 car?" He agreed and I got a check for almost $3000. Remember that you are the victim here and the insurance company doesn't want the expense of court, they will work with you a little. Good luck

 

I will try and push it, but the claims agent I talked to on the phone said that the Insurance Commish would only accept NADA values whenever I asked him about pushing for average local values of my car. NADA on my car for my area is NOT what this car is going for!

Don't get me wrong, I am gonna fight this to the death, I just don't really know how to go about doing all this insurance stuff. Any advice is welcome.

 

If that is all they offer, don't accept it and get a lawyer. It is their job to settle for as low as possible, but they also don't like to go to court. They know the real value, but they wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't try to low ball you.

When you go see a lawyer, go prepared. Take pictures with you of before and after, take any receipts that you have, take ads for same year, same shape cars for sale, build the case before you talk. You can even try that with the adjuster.

 

Like most people are saying here, number one MOST important thing is call your insurance company. Part of what you are paying them for is to help you in situations like this. They should be able to take care of everything for you. A lawyer is probably a waste of money. Even most basic insurance has protection against this. You don't have to worry about your rates going up, especially since the police were there and issued her a ticket.

 

a lot of good advice in this thread. I assume you have uninsured motorist coverage? but the best avenue is to get her to pay as if you invoke your uninsured coverage your rates could go up. Depends on what you think is worth it / not worth it

 

uninsured motorist doesnt do **** for property value or the value of your car. thats what comp and collision are for.

its purely for medical bills resulting from an accident with an uninsured driver.

 

i hear ya, but there is comprehensive for uninsured motorist... just referred to as uninsured motorist coverage if they run into you for the car value

 

In ohio if you win a court action for damages against an uninsured driver resulting from an accident, you can apply to have their driver's license suspended until it's paid in full (or you accent payment terms).

Ask your insurance agent if your state has something similar.

 

In Ohio, 'Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist' coverage is for property damage caused by someone you can identify.

 

really?

it wasnt that way in NC or now in FL

 

I just got back from the Allstate claims dept.. They totalled my car out for $1995.20 and cost of repairs are $2,019.29. WTF?!

BTW, it's a '92 SE with 222,340 miles on the engine. Not a bad total amount, but, a $25 difference?! You gotta be kidding me.

 

buy it back from them. goto a yard.

 

most companies will total a car for any repair costing more than 2/3 of the value of the car. sometimes even 1/2 the value of the car if it's a newer model and has significant damage.

considering the damage there doesn't look to be structural, it shouldn't be too hard to repair that. pull out the tail light section, replace the trunklid, seals, tail light, and bumper cover..

that's more like a $3000 dent, not 2000 tho.

 

Just get the car back and fix it if it is only a 20 dollar difference.

 

Looks like the major damage was to the trunk lid and left tail light. That should be pretty cheap. I'd check the forsale forum and see if anyone is parting out near you.

 

The cut off, if I remember how Georgia works, is %80. If your repairs will cost more than %80 of the car's value, they total it. Same thing happened to my third gen a couple of years ago.

 

thats a good idea

 

Make sure you have a book handy and everytime you talk to someone you ask for there name and write the date and time down too.That way if you end up in court you will look well prepared and the judge likes that.

 

A couple of bucks, funny, buy it out and repari it yourself, You will have a salvage title though and the car will be worthless to sell, though

 

if it doesnt kill you it only makes you stronger...keep your head up..it always works it way out

 

damnnnnnn bro dat sucks

 

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whoa how are the spammers getting in.......

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It looked like it was in nice shape until it was wrecked. I do not understand why that would be TOTALED though...

 

i ve had bad luck too I just bought my car a week ago and now the service engine soon light came on