Last Wednesday my wife was in an auto accident.

She was traveling South bound on a 5 lane road, in the far right lane. On the opposite, far lane a 2006 Chevy Aveo was traveling North bound. Well, the Aveo lost control and crossed 3 lanes of traffic and slammed into my wife's '98 Contour. Luckily, no one was seriously injured other than my wife now having a sore neck/back and headaches. The Aveo's driver was cited for the accident and charged with "Failure to control a motor vehicle" and "Driving too fast for conditions" and blamed for the accident. 3 witnesses stopped and spoke with the police officer to colaberate this fact. The driver later accepted the responsibility fully.

The impact was directly on the driver's side, rear wheel. The damage was extensive..... snapped the rear axle and cut a 3" gash into the rear wheel, the rear door was buckled inwards, the rear 1/4 panel is gone, as in the rear bumper and bumper guard.

The Aveo's Ins. company (GMAC) wants to total our Contour and cut a check for $3,700. If repairs are done they will be about $4,000..... more than the "bluebook value".

Our Contour had about 80K miles on it, one owner (us), and had NOTHING else wrong with it. And also, it ws paid for in full. We know we aren't going to get another vehicle as decent as that Contour for $3,700 so......

What can we do, without financing another vehicle??? (our budget simply will not allow it at this time).

They are keeping medical and "other" costs on a seperate status for closure at a later time, and they did rent my wife a vehicle to use for 7 days so she could get to her work and all.

What options do we have?? We've never been in a situation such as this before and we're dumbfounded.

 

First, the Contour is toast. Let it go.

Second, call a personal injury lawyer, and go after the other driver and insurance. This is not some bump in a parking lot. Your wife has injuries that justify compensation.

DO NOT JUST "SUCK IT UP". You are entitled to be made "whole" again, and that includes payment for the injuries and inconvenience.

Pain and suffering compensation runs about 3 to 5 times the medical costs, so CALL NOW to a PI attorney.

 

www.nadaguides.com show the 98 contour with 80k mile as being worth anywhere from $1,700 to $6,000, depending on condition and options. you can try telling them you want more for a replacement car, but i doubt you will get anywhere with them.
most insurance company's are of the mindset that you take what they give you, or they will give you nothing, and there is nothing you can do about it.
be polite when talking to them but if they do not want to help you, inform them they will be hearing from your attorney.

 

Make the other guys insurance company find an equal car, including about the same mileage. In the meanwhile, get a rental on their nickle and keep it until they find a suitable replacement to your liking. That rental will encourage them to move faster. Don't consider fixing your wrecked car; it will never be the same.

Your wife needs to continue to have neck and back pains, if you catch my drift. The pain can be aggravated by the insurance company's unwillingness to participate in your reasonable attempts to get a decent amount of money and/or other effort to replace her car <-hint->. Excessive aggravation by the other guys insurance company could result in your turning the matter over to an ambulance chaser (lawyer). As much as I can't stand them, it's a way to get a guy working for you and it frees up your valuable time. And as you can probably guess (or will probably soon find out), that insurace company really doesn't want to compensate you for the time you are going to spend dealing with the accident casued by their insured.

*I'd be aggravated/pained by them giving me a rental for just seven days. How many smart people really find a good used car they want, and an older one at that, on such short notice? And besides, everyone moves at their own pace; they need to be made to realize that. They're trying to put pressure on you to promptly replace that Contour so they don't have to pay rental costs. They don't care if your replacement turns out to be a bad car. The job of the adjuster is to minimize the cost of your claim. He could really care less about your personal situation or the inconvenience this accident is causing you. His job is to save money.

 

PI attny is the only way to go. They want to only give you 7 days of a rental? Bunk. The PI attny knows how to get them with the bad faith allegation etc etc. Plus, he isn't all emotional about the loss of his car and near loss of his wife, and the pain etc that she has gone through. He is just after the most he can get for you (and himself, of course). So no Mr. Nice Guy, no making deals with the insurance co, get the lawyer and get yourself as much as you can. Like I said, this isn't a bump in the parking lot or some phony slip and fall, this guy could have killed your wife.

 

My thoughts are represented by Post #4.

 

Make absolutly sure there is not a REAL unforseen problem with your wife. My daughter was in a rear ender a few years back. 3 years later she was having problems with her neck and ended up having surgery to fuse 2 vertibrae in her neck.....caused from the accident.

Because they took the settlement from the insurance co. they had no recourse but to foot the bill. Be very careful about accepting any settlement.

 

I pretty much agree with #4 too. 30 days rental is pretty much standard when your own car gets wiped, you are injured, and have to get a new one. I would get paid for the car for the highest retail price in excellent cond., for a one owner car with under 100,000 miles.

Sounds like if your wife was driving 1 mph slower, she would have been killed. So, no matter how this turns out, be glad it was only the car you lost. I would take a one owner wife over a one owner car anyday :-)

 

You have to remember that what they are offering you is just that .. an offer.
Never never ever accept the first offer an insurance company throws at you.
Hint at getting a lawyer, and then once they make you an offer you can live with, tell them you need XX% extra to cover sales tax, plus $XX to cover title, registration, rental, towing, etc.

 

Post #7 is a very important point to think about. I got hit by a gov't vehicle years ago; their adjuster lied about who the insurer was, and then tried to NOT separate the vehicle issue from medical issues. All of that was way more than enough for me to turn it over to a lawyer. It made life much simpler that way.

 

I retired as an insurance adjuster after 31.5 years. Most of the information you have been given thus far is hogwash and will cost you money and greatly delay settlement of your claim. Whether or not you can afford payments to buy a replacement car has nothing to do with what you are owed. Fair or not, you are owed what the law says. Regarding the car you are owed the Actual Cash Value (market value) of the car that was damaged. You are not owed another car and the insurance company will not find you one. The ultimate determination of the value is the courts (read attorney fees and delay). In court, you will be required to prove the value of the car and expert witnesses are expensive.

Regarding the rental car, you are owed "reasonable" rental for the time it should take you to replace the car in the absence of insurance. The older and cheaper the damaged vehicle, the less rental will be paid. The determination of reasonable is a question for the courts. If the courts (after a trial) determines how much you are owed and you eat any rental you have incurred beyond the amount allowed by the court.

Lastly, faking or exaggerating injuries is insurance fraud. If you retain an ambulance chaser that uses dishonest sources to run up bills and exaggerates injuries, you may do well or not (you may or may not get caught). Settlement of legitimate injuries take a lot longer with an attorney unless you get a Mill that settles them in large numbers for less than they are worth and never go to court (insurance companies know who they are).

You need to do your homework to prove the value of the vehicle (ads, book values, etc), ask them to support their evaluation of the value and work with them.

 

The "hogwash" as noted is what has actually worked for myself and my friends/family, right here in the town and state in which I live. If what I posted was BS and if I was attempting to mislead a guy with an important question, I wouldn't have wasted my time in doing so. I have better things to do with my time. Regarding medical claims, that is a good one to not rush into a settlement; as all we know most adjusters would rather throw a few dollars in front of someone and hope they bite. Once a release is signed the accident victim has no recourse. The reality is that the accident victim can sign whenever they are good and ready to. Screw the money, worry about ones health. Signing quickly is beautiful for insurance companies, they are off the hook. On the car (I have no clue if what he was offered is fair and I'm not able to see the car nor am I going to visit KBB, NADA, etc), he is entitled to what the car was worth, however adjusters as a group like to lowball. Just like people do when they buy a car, which is what the adjuster is really doing. As I noted earlier, their interest is in saving money. They don't get paid by the accident victim, that person in need doesn't "butter their bread". They have no loyalty to the victim and no reason to be.

Lastly, there was no attempt in my earlier posts to tell the guy to commit fraud in any way, shape, or form. In fact, judging by what some adjusters try to tell people their cars are worth and how the accident victims sometimes take it, maybe it should also be a felony for adjusters to treat some people the way they do and when in the accident victim is experiencing difficult times. Likewise on their offers for medical settlements that don't fairly compensate victims for their time wasted dealing with an incident that was not their fault. Maybe this would force what seems to be a large and growing percentage of adjusters to be a bit more honest rather than to continue to allow them to throw chump change at people who are often not in a position to make good decisions on short notice. I stand by what I said earlier, it works. And the hell with the time, adjusters like to ploy on peoples weakness for instant cash. This isn't a big lottery payout, this is about fair compensation for what has happened and getting things back to where they were.

 

Uh... Maybe that was the one?

I'm all for getting what you deserve. Maybe not what you think you should have, but unfortunately cars are always worth more to the owner than anyone else...

Stand up for yourself...

 

First thing to do: pray that it's not State Farm.

Make them a counter offer for the cost of the vehicle citing condition, selling prices of similar cars in the area, and blue book values. The first offer is normally a lowball.

If they give you more garbage, then get a lawyer. They'll handle the property damage as well as the personal injury claim.

 

X2............some bizarre suggestions made there by 'ol Billy.

Kinda comical that someone would think an Insurance company is reponsible for finding someone a car............


You can, however, do your own dillegence and search for cars that are in similar condition/miles to your totalled vehicle.......if the prices are more than the KBB, NADA...etc....you might get the insurance company to budge. (as already stated in the last paragraph of oz's post)


Good luck.