Car Crash Blues

I have been in only one accident and thankfully there was no damage to either car and no claim filed.

That being said.

1) HeinekenMan: Thank God you're alright. If it makes you feel any better, everytime I see your avatar it makes me chuckle. Great caption.

2) Insurance companies are like tits on a bull when they're trying to figure shit out. Be patient.

 

I would suggest you not speak to his insurance company. They will try to contact you, but you can say "it's all in the police report". One of the reasons they will want to talk to you is that they will be trying to find wiggle room to not pay part of the claim. Don't give them any. You have spoken to your insurance company, his company can now do the same thing.

Pirates, all insurance companies are pirates.

 

I am slightly sore today. I feel it in the base of my neck, but it's nothing I can't handle. The soreness could be from wrestling with my 3-year-old son last night. He's a monster. Finally, I gave him a modified pile driver and sent him to bed. I have a slight headache, but that's probably due more to lack of sleep. I spent a few hours looking at car ads last night.

People, wear your seatbelts. Had it not been for my airbag, I would have had quite a sore head. The last thing I remember seeing was the windshield. It happened so fast that I didn't even realize the airbag had popped until a second after the impact. In fact, I heard and thought I saw the windshield shatter in front of me. But it turned out to be on the passenger side, where the airbag slammed into the glass.

 

1. Call a lawyer
2. Do not talk to an insurance company and give them "your side." ONly give that to police.
3. Get to a doctor to get checked out and get some pain pills now whether you need them or not.
4. Milk those F-in insurance companies for all you can.

 

Hope you're doing better, HeinekenMan. That's awful. Sorry I haven't said anything before now.

Keep an attorney handy, and let your insurance company handle this. Talking to anyone besides the police at the scene of the incident and your insurance agent/company is unnecessary.

 

It would help you immeasuably if the other driver was cited. Did the cops issue him a citation?

 

He says they did.

Let your insurance company do the work. The lizard has helped me twice, and has been great in defending me for my lack of playing a part in a four-car hit-and-run. One guy caused it, and I was the caboose in the accident. Everyone is suing each other -- including the hit-and-run guy -- except for me.

 

Yes I see that now. Sorry for my inattentiveness, been a long week at work. Good luck with the insurance. Buy yourself a nice replacement car.

 

Well, I shared my displeasure with the folks at Liberty Mutual after they proceeded to quiz me again when I called on Monday to check on how they were going to handle the matter.

I particularly took issue with their suggestion that I use their repair shop. I verified that they had a business relationship with that shop. To me, that screamed possible conspiracy to defraud customers. As an independent shop explained, it does mean that customers are steered to a certain shop. But they sort of avoided the question of how that affected the shop's objectivity in determining the extent of the damage and any chance that it might affect the work. I didn't press the issue since they didn't have a relationship with Liberty Mutual.

The insurance company told me it would take three business days for a claims adjuster to contact me. That was on Monday. So it's been two days, I suppose. I've heard nothing from them.

The big news, though, is that I just received a call from the repair shop, which says the car is a total loss. They said that the damages were about $6,500. When I asked about the car's value, they put it at $7,000. But I think that was a bit of a guess. I expected it to be less, so I'm not complaining.

 

I could be wrong, but I think the business relationship with the shop is more likely to keep some other shop from ripping them off as it is to rip you off.

The bottom line is that you want your car fixed or replaced. If they were to fix it, as long as they take care of everything and make it look good, doesn't really matter what it costs, does it?

 

The airbags alone are probably $1,200 of that figure. When they deploy in older cars, more likely than not, they'll declare the car a total loss.

 

HM, I'm going through all this right now with my daughter's car. I took it to the non-recommended shop (I have State Farm), so it took a few days to get the adjuster out there. Once he came though, it went pretty quickly.

At first they wanted to total the car, but I didn't want that, as this car repaired will be much better than whatever sled I can find in the Auto Trader. So I asked that it not be and since the car was in good shape previously, and it was borderline, they are paying to fix it. So if you don't want your car totaled, you can try to appeal that with your company. State Farm's only caveat was that if the body shop found extra damage, they would just total the car. The car's about fixed, no extra damage, so it's going to be OK. I might even wind up with a bit of extra money, since State Farm estimated for new parts and the shop is using some new, some used. Of course, any extra will merely go back to State Farm over the next few years in the form of MUCH higher premiums for my daughter's car.