When the phone rings after 11:00 pm at night and the call is from your 18 year old son, it’s never good news. I was sound asleep on Tuesday night when the phone rang. My wife was awake and answered. As soon as I heard her tone, I new something was wrong. Your first thoughts are that he did something stupid. Not this time. Some crazy bitch did something stupid and has ruined my week.
My son and his friend were visiting another friend in a residential townhouse community a few miles from my house. They came out to get in our 2011, fully paid for, Honda Civic which he shares with my other son. It’s the car they use at college. I bought it used three years ago for $13,000. It has about 75,000 miles and I expected to get at least six more years out of it. I take excellent care of my cars and we use them until they die. It looks like we may have an early unexpected death and I’m pissed.
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Mike first noticed that his car was no longer in its parking spot on the street. It was up on the curb. Then he noticed the nice white BMW with its passenger side front end crushed in and a somewhat incoherent 41 year old woman (from police report) standing there. The lady lived in the neighborhood and said she was reaching down to pick up her phone off the floor and rammed my son’s parked car. The driver side back end was crushed all the way to the rear tire.
I dragged myself out of bed and we drove to the scene of the accident. The cops were there writing up their report. After a few minutes one of the cops came over to talk to Mike and I. He told us the cops knew this woman very well. He didn’t provide details, but indicated they have had numerous incidents involving her. He mentioned she had mental health issues. He seemed surprised she passed the field sobriety test. I got the impression she has had drug or alcohol offenses in the past.
Both cars were not drive-able so two flat bed tow trucks showed up and took them to a local impound lot until insurance adjusters could assess the damage. I called Progressive Insurance, her insurance company, at 6:30 am the next morning after a restless night sleep to get the claim underway. The owner of the tow truck lot called me later that morning to follow-up. He was very helpful in explaining how I would probably be getting screwed over by the insurance company.
Based on his experience, he thought they would declare the car totaled. That means they would tell me what the car was worth and write me a check. It would be based on the NADA guide of car values. When I checked it showed a value somewhere between $6,000 and $8,000. When you go onto retail used car sites, they are selling similar cars for $10,000. Now I’m really pissed. How the fuck do I get screwed over in this process when my son and I did nothing wrong?
I live my life like a fucking monk compared to most people. I pack my own brown bag lunch every day to save money. We still have our original kitchen and bathrooms after living in our house for 22 years. I methodically paid off the debt on all three used cars that I purchased over the last few years. All of our cars are owned free and clear. I use any revenue generated by TBP to pay down my mortgage. I live my life the right way, but still I’m going to get screwed because some fucking crazy bitch with mental health “issues” totals my parked car. There were hundreds of parked cars on that block. Why did she have to plow into mine? I can’t fucking win.
Unless the adjuster decides it can be fixed, I’m going to have to fork over thousands of dollars to get another used car. I wasn’t planning on doing this for at least 3 or 4 more years. On the same day as the accident I also find out my fantastic budget director and best friend at work is leaving to go to a higher level position at another institution. I’m happy for her and sad for me. This has been one shitty week. I’ve already been in a funk and this shit is pushing me further into a deeper funk. I’m sure the crazy bitch will have her Beemer repaired with no cost to her whatsoever.
This is America today. You just can’t beat it. Out.
Life is a shit sandwich and every day you take a bite. Sorry to hear you had a full one shoved down your throat. However crazy bitches are numerous along with dumb shits and stupid mother frickers. We live in the land of idiots, drunks, druggies, and cell phone fools. Chalk it up and move on.
Easily said I know but sometimes you just have to choke it down with “shit happens” and move on. I remember a song lyric from long ago that said “if you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him about your plans.”
Admin. I would suggest you get on carsforsale.com to find a bargain used car. I was thinking about becoming a Lyft driver to make extra money and discovered you can buy a 04 Mercury Marquis for as little as $1,700!!! Most were selling for $3,000 to $5,000 and they are not junk. Just a thought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuWH0dYago
Instead of accepting Progressives NADA’s $6K to $8K settlement have them replace the damaged vehicle with a Honda Civic or similar vehicle with approximately the same value, year, condition, and mileage etc.
Doesn’t work. My wife was driving her favorite 1999 Toyota RAV4. In 2011 it had 89k miles on it and ran like a charm. At her rate of driving it would have lasted another 8-10 years. Got rear-ended and totaled. I wanted it replaced with same model and mileage, and they simply said they couldn’t find anything like that. Got more than its NADA value, but not anywhere near enough to find a similar car.
Sales tax paid on the totalled and replacement vehicles is often overlooked and can’t be recouped.
POW
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Jim,
If the car is totaled, don’t assume you have to take what her insurance company offers you. I live in a “no fault” state so things may be different in PA but I have successfully negotiated higher settlements from my own insurance company as recently as a couple of years ago. My 11-year-old car in excellent condition for its age was totaled in an accident (my fault) and I was able to get an extra $1k over what they initially offered. It may require some work on your part to provide them with a list of comparable vehicles sold or currently for sale but this is easily done with a few Internet searches. Anyway, it worked for me. Hope this helps.
After reading Miles’ post below, I should note that in my case it also took about a month of back & forth between me and the claims rep to finally get a settlement I could live with. It sucks having to do it but sometimes you gotta make yourself a pain in the ass to get what you want. Luckily for me it wasn’t much of a stretch.
Yup. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.
Last year I was in an accident where a kid signalled to turn left but then, at the last second, decided to turn right, just as I was going around him on the right.
At first, my insurance company was trying to tell me that it was my fault because I was not in a “passing zone” and could not legally go around him even though everyone does exactly that, including the police, on that particular stretch of road.
I took some photos and showed them that actually the accident took place where the road was still a passing zone. They were undeterred.
I then told them that if they tried to call this accident my fault that I would promptly switch insurance companies. I had one accident in 30+ years of driving before that, in which I was literally stopped in place on a highway and got hit from behind by a driver who didn’t adjust quickly enough to the fact that traffic had become stop and go again. They make a lot of money off me and they know it.
Five minutes later I got a call back. “Sir, I checked with my supervisor and we’ve determined that you were not at fault . . . .”
If you’re a driver with an excellent record, you have a meaningful threat to make by informing that you’ll take your business elsewhere.
Insurance is a scam; you are forced to buy it, forced to pay for it, but they aren’t forced to do shit for you. You’d think when the time comes, considering you aren’t at fault, they could use their vast resources to just recoup the money from the other insurance company. But they don’t want to do that because then that company would eventually do the same to them. In short, it’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.
Insurance adjusters are also some of the laziest pieces of shit on the planet. I had some water damage a few years back and my insurance company assigned an adjuster from 2 hours away (and another state.) Guy couldn’t operate a GPS and got lost so when he finally showed up he was pissed at me for him being so stupid. He took about 3 pictures on his cell phone and asked me to declare to him the extent of the damage. He got really pissed when I told him that was his job and not mine. He basically left and didn’t bother to file any of the info. The insurance company tried to send him back but he simply wouldn’t answer his phone or return any messages. I don’t know how these people keep their jobs but like I said, they are some of the laziest pieces of shit on the planet.
On the bright side if your son was in the car at the time and you were in the hospital right now you would be wishing that all you had to deal with was an insurance headache. Don’t sweat the money.
But your boys are OK – that’s really all that matters. I’ve had pretty much the same thing happen: I got rear-ended twice at the same stop light three or four years apart. It’s a 55 zone, which is how fast the people who creamed me were going, and each time my wife was with me.
The first time in a Ford Tempo, her seat folded all the way back from the impact so she was essentially lying down. After finding out she was OK, nothing else really mattered. The asshole didn’t have insurance, so our collision “covered” it. It was totaled, even though it was kind of drivable. As you noted, a perfectly maintained, clean car isn’t worth anything in the insurance company’s eye. A local junkyard gave us $100 for it.
The second time, same light but going the other direction, the Escape I’d bought to replace the Tempo got nailed. It really held up good and my son is driving it now. A broken motor mount, a dented but functional rear hatch, and a slight tweak to the body (easily straightened at the repair shop) were all that was wrong. We had stiff necks for a while, but nothing serious. The Dodge truck that rear-ended us was totaled.
These were pains in the ass, as was my AC going out last July when it was well over 100, but just bumps in the road compared to watching my Dad die of pancreatic cancer, or my Mom healing from a bad fall off a roof (don’t ask) when she was 75, three out of four limbs broken. Almost a year in a hospital and convalescent home. Lots of other examples, but the point is a car is just a fucking car. You still saved the money you saved over buying a new car and you are taking a much smaller loss than if it was a new car. Meaning your thrift still puts you ahead of where you would have been. Your glass is way over half full.
In my own personal case, during the times of my life where I felt great anger, I realized deep down, I was afraid of something. Once I realized what it was, I focused on the solution, rather than the problem; and I learned to let go of the myriad of things beyond my control. Now, it has become my daily discipline.
This website helped me a lot. Hang in there, Jim. In the end, the mighty Quinn will prevail. It’s just a matter of time.
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If end is nigh still not sure which class of people get shot first.
Lawyers or Insurance Salesmen
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And politicians.
In no particular order.
And Preachers
Sorry RiNS, had to down vote you on this one. I agree that many of them are among the most despicable characters around but my Dad was one of the good ones. Most selfless man I’ve ever known. God rest his soul.
Don’t be sorry be offended. Yes there are some good ones out there. But many are bad. Not all are even men of Gawd.
One comes to mind that is all of the above.
Unc, “With great anger comes great responsibility” – Stan Lee. Or maybe it was Christopher Lee. Bruce Lee?
Perhaps you can get a deficiency judgement in small claims court. Collecting might be hard but if she’s got a BMW she may have the funds. Seems to be easy to document your actual loss. Cost of equivalent car- insurance payment
I bought a new Mazda Miata in 2011. My companion’s ex husband was a stalker and found out where I lived when I was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol and could not find a current insurance card. Any offense in Florida is a public record and the county clerk dutifully put my name and address on his website for the offense. The ‘gentleman’ came by and slit the top of the Miata and threw a road flare in. It melted the console and part of a seat and covered the interior with oily smoke. I asked the adjuster to total the car as it was too small and I wanted to be rid of it. He did and I got what I would have gotten had I tried to sell it but without the hassle. Someone else got a new Mazda with 6000 miles on it if they could replace the carpet, seat, top and get the smell out of it.
Card… It’s jerkoffs like you that raise my premiums.
YeeHaa
Free Market Insurance.
Next time buy a better policy in the FREE Market.
Jim,
Progressive sucks when they’re on the paying end. The adjuster will lowball you. They get paid by the claim only after it’s settled which is why they push you to take their offer.
Hopefully you still have all receipts for service & maintenance to prove condition of the car. The adjuster sent me “comps” for sale at or near their offer. They were all clapped out pieces of shit from the back row of used car lots. I had recently spent a weekend & done about $4K (retail) worth of work on my car. Everything that wears was new & all maintenance was up to date.
There are 2 Kelly books. One the dealer shows when you trade in or sell them a car, & one they show you when selling you a car. If you can find a used car dealer to write a letter regarding the real value based on the condition etc. of your car it will help.
The last time I dealt with these assholes (about 18 yrs. ago in PA) it took an extra month of being a pain in the adjuster’s ass 3 or 4 times a week, but their payout more than tripled from the initial offer.
Shitty deal, HOWEVER……
I distinctly remember admin railing on people who don’t see shit going wrong like – hail storms, appliances, breakdowns…..so, you know, grain of salt ‘n all. Big cities, crazy people, cars is a when not if.
But I have been right.there.and.it.sucks. So my sympathies, it’s not fair and there’s no end in sight. You know if you’d been driving some turd like an AMC Pacer she’d have missed it by a mile.
Been looking for a similar car for my Mom for the last couple months now, and they are few and far between. They are either clapped out or overpriced. Finally got tired of watching craigslist and wrote a program to do it for me, but still haven’t found the right car for her. True, good condition private party cars priced reasonably sell within minutes to hours of being listed.
Keep an eye on the newspaper ads, too. Now and then you find a gem. I’m pretty sure my used car was supposed to have been listed for sale for $24,177 in the ad where I first saw it. Instead it was listed for $21,477, a little over 10% off. The salesman to whom I showed the ad when I went to the dealership seemed surprised that that’s what the ad listed.
But, like all care salesmen, he expected to have at least three ways to rape a customer. Sales price. Trade in. Or financing. The crestfallen look on his face was priceless when I told him that my car was leased and that there wasn’t any trade in and that I had already lined up financing through my credit union.
Freddy, your an asshole, I’m proud of you. I’m not a financial wizard but I learned a trick or two from my boss, the Italian Stallion. I had a beat up Ford Pinto I bought from my coworker for $300. I offered to buy their Camry for trade. Alrighty. The deal went to financing, except the fucker threw a fit when he saw how much I paid for the Pinto. He tried to intimidate me telling me I had to come up with an additional $1500. No dice, I told him, the deal was they take my trade and I buy their car.
Sorry to hear your tale of woe admin. I can fully sympathize with what it’s like when your plan goes off the rails through no fault of your own.
However, your tale did make me feel good in that I’m not the only one living with the same kitchen and bathrooms for the last 23 years. Like you, it’s about making sacrifices to get ahead in life.
My wife had her impeccably maintained and paid for ’86 Toyota pickup totaled by a crazy bitch just shy of 300,000 miles. She had driven it coast to coast about four times and we even took it with us to England for four years. I had just tuned it up less than an hour before. Crazy bitch was driving a brand new Escalade or something similar. It was totaled as well. She pulled out of a parking lot onto a busy arterial right in front of my wife so suddenly there no time to even hit the brakes. Seat belt saved my wife but left one hell of a bruise across an area that women would prefer not to have bruised. Crazy bitch kept giving me and the cops the name of a finance company claiming that was her insurance. She had no insurance. Crazy bitch had the audacity to try and sue us claiming my wife was speeding. That was a non-starter and we had uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage but the paid off, impeccably maintained vehicle was more valuable to us than the settlement.
Here’s the kicker…..a good friend of mine knew crazy bitch. She assembled parts for Boeing passenger jets. He said she is the most incompetent person he ever met making constant mistakes at work. Being Asiaental and a woman, she was an affirmative action hire and she received promotions despite her incompetence while white mens and wimmens with more seniority and superior skills got passed by. Ain’t ‘Murica great!!??
Have a beer and spend some time with your son. You just hit a speed bump on the road to getting out of the rat race. Imagine how shitty things might be if you lived paycheck to paycheck in debt servitude!
Oh yeah, use this incident as a teaching moment for your son on the importance of setting up an emergency fund or sinking fund to replace things like cars, appliances and other durable goods. Twenty bucks a paycheck, depending on time horizon makes events like this much easier to endure.
Try cargurus. Once you start looking at a particular type of car, ads show up for exactly what you want down to color and options. Great stuff. Glad nobody is hurt, it’s a car. Pain in the ass, but just get another one.
Yeah, that sucks. However, she was insured, and unable to hit-and-run. No one got hurt, you got off easy.
I just got massively dinged in a parking lot (at a thrift store; there is no justice). Repairing said ding to restore condition to my ride is gonna cost $1700 at a dealer. They’re not shafting me, the vehicle is three years old and the same shop that my insurance used to repair an earlier accident on my other car. I did nothing but park the damn thing, same as you did, and it’s going to cost me $1700 to fix it. No note left behind, of course.
Glad your kid wasn’t in it; glad no one went to the hospital. Gird your loins and prepare for the next problem, even if it takes a while to get here.
Make the kids pay for the loss.
They parked in the shitty “hood.”
I bet they are more careful when parking a car.
insurance cos. suck ass…
when this happened to me, yup some dumb bitch on her phone rear ends me HARD at a stop light, it caved in my rear bumper. We pulled over and she wanted to drive off cause “she was late to work” or “she said she would take care of it without insurance cos. involved”. Yah right. I called the police to do up a report and told her if she drove off I would report a hit and run. I actually was pretty well shaken up, but I could drive the car and did so. The claim “totaled” the car when the claims guy came by, but I was “allowed” to keep it given it had no worth, only it was a “salvage” so it had to go through all the checks for a working auto which I repaired myself. In some instances the ins cos. will “let you” buy the “salvage” vehicle which is cheaper than another vehicle and if you can do some of the work and pass inspections (given the state and their reqs).
You know where the crazy bitch lives from the police report. Light up a road flair and toss it in her car-done deal.
I’m a sick fuck but that is one messed up handle.
Sue in small claims court for the balance to buy a replacement car???
Jim, sorry to hear of your loss. I have been in a similar situation when my son’s car was hit. The damage was above the car’s value and added to that were rental costs. The person at fault’s insurance paid to repair the vehicle and the rental costs. Here’s some things you can do.
Find out if she was issued a citation. If she was cited, it will almost certainly be 100% her fault. It was for the accident I referenced above. Since your son was not in the car, it’s hard to imagine how she would not be totally responsible.
Don’t use your insurance company at all. If you do, your insurance will process the claim and they can declare the car a total loss. Your insurance company will say they will subrogate back to her insurance company but I doubt they really will (although I have no facts to back this up other than the cost of subrogation is probably greater than the claim and the insurance companies probably figure it equals out over a large amount of claims back and forth). When this happened to me, I wanted to make sure the person at fault paid, or at least their insurance company.
Demand that her insurance company repair the vehicle. In my case, it didn’t even take much pushing. They asked if I would accept a cash settlement. I said no, repair the vehicle and they did.
FYI, I grew up in PA but now live in WA where the accident happened. Not sure what would happen in PA.
Push back hard on their insurance adjuster that you want the car repaired to the condition it was in prior to the accident. You may get what you want.
Good luck!
Pay for the minimum fixup to get it running again and forget about the cosmetics. Here’s some more helpful advice from AutoTrader:
https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/crash-course-for-coping-with-a-totaled-car-168401
Because the car was parked It sounds like a property damage claim.
File a property damage claim against her insurance, you will not be required to pay a deductible and you can get a rental while your car is being fixed
Jim, like some others have said glad to hear the kids are all good. I work in the auto repair business. Progressive is bottom tier, makes you wonder about the BMW Lady. My experience is most BMW owners are mortgaged to the hilt anyway. That’s beside the point. Progressive owes you a comparable rental vehicle (costs them $15-$20 a day) until you can find a comparable replacement for what they offer you. Document your replacement vehicle search. Stick to your guns, you’ll win.
Instead of boomers pissing and moaning about the cards being stacked against them, they just need to work harder, take advantage of the multitudes of opportunities out there, and eat instant noodles every meal.
Sorry, just had to troll a bit.
Like others have already mentioned, be thankful that your loved ones are OK. At the end of the day, things are just things, and money is money. You can always make more, you can’t replace a loved one.
A few months back, I got thrown out of a moving vehicle, smashed up my head, and run over by a motorcycle. The hospital ripped me off, and for a moment I thought about the money I was losing, but then I remembered how immensely fortunate I was to be alive and relatively unscatched, and I thanked God for my fate.
In times of trouble, I always think of the following phrase:
God, grant me the courage to change the things I can,
The Grace to accept the things I cannot,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
Do your best, accept what you have no power over, and it’s hard to have regrets. Best of luck sir!
Sorry for your loss.
One thing, though. I am ecstatic that your boy was not in the car when it was hit. A car can be replaced. Sons not so much.
Everyone is safe. You are doing your best to protect your family. That, my friend, is the most worthy endeavor.
I expected to find comments in the line of; 1. lucky loser, it could have been worse or 2. blame the victim, why’d they park there?
Instead, I find once more that this crowd is amazing.
I half expected to find an opportunity to say, that’s how my weeks go. I could post that headline on my wall. The only thing that cheers me up is seeing my grandkid after work. I told the sexy mulatta if KimKa said to me, it’s either her or my grandkid, I’d tell KimKa, fuck off bitch!
I am glad to know your kids are OK. If they are OK, I know you and you missus are OK.
We can party on.
lots of good suggestions already but a couple more–
if they repair it,do not accept it back legally until you have had your mechanic and your bodyshop check it out–
if they are paying for you a rental car and they try to total your vehicle,delay it as long as possible because the moment the claim is settled the rental reimbursement stops–
if they are going to total the vehicle,make them let you keep the car–you could keep it for parts if you replace it with the same model or part it out if you do not replace it w/the same model–
if you are willing to part it out you might get a couple of thousand more for it over time–
“I live my life the right way, but still I’m going to get screwed”
Yep. They view us as walking piles of free money. As many people have said, the upside is that nobody got hurt.
You might consider going after her directly for any deficiency in the settlement?
Insurance is a funny thing. I know a guy from England who had a couple of restaurants. One caught on fire from a dryer. He had insurance and they refused to pay saying it was the dryers fault. He always had the dryer maintained by the manufacturer.
In any case the insurance company should have paid and then take up a claim if need be on the manufacturer. The strategy from the insurance company is to do nothing and wait for the customer to go belly up from the cash flow squeeze. When the customer is broke he can’t hire a lawyer and sue the insurance company.
Well my buddy had enough cash to bridge the problems. He sued the dryer manufacturer and won since they also did the preventive maintenance. Now he can sue the insurance company/broker for not doing anything. I need to write him and see how it came out.
Admin,
Similar thing happened to my wife’s 02 Honda CRV. The adjuster was actually very helpful and said that if he set the damage cost at just below the total cost I could choose to keep the vehicle and have it repaired or sell it as is and keep the money. We had our local mechanic take it to his guy and he repaired it for the cost of the insurance. If I had the time I probably could have had it done cheaper if I shopped around. Two years later my daughter is still driving it for work and college, being a Honda she will likely get at least a few more years out of it. Best of luck. BTW I found my son a 2014 Honda Civic Hybrid for under $16000 with all the bells and whistles and with 14,000 miles on it. His first new car out of college. He had $10,000 to put down and paid the remainder off 4 months. He drives 6 miles to work and fills it up with gas less than once a month. I figure he will still be driving it when I am dead. He also brown bags his lunch every day, just like dad.
Bob.
Jim…two fingers of Tequila or Bourbon will make it all right .
As to cars…buy a 55 Buick. Made like a tank. If you get in a wreck and get killed they’ll just hose off the dash and sell it again.