tires and wheels Rearended today. Advice?

[steved]

I was rear ended on my way to work. I know others have gone through trying to get a fair settlement from insurance. Is there any advice out there? Do you think my car is salvageable? The rear quarter panels are rippled and bent past the rear wheels on both sides, the back is crumpled in and the car is shimmying a bit when I drive it now.

Pictures are at:

http://02adventure.com/?p=30

Thanks,

Steve

[Austin]

at least its already primered. i think that can be fixed with some rope and another car haha...

[RayC911]

Damn, that sucks Steve. I was just talking to you about updated seatbelts & how the low backs look great on the old 02s but not good if you get rear-ended. Should have knocked on some wood. Sucks even more that you just got the car back from the body shop.

This is the reason why I stopped using my 02 as a DD for my previous 80 mile commute...too many close calls for me. Hope you're feeling better soon.

BTW, Meet Steve last week when he was nice enough to give me a set of steelies with tires for free for a friend in need.

[c.d.iesel]

with the condition of the car before the accident,

you'll be lucky if the insurance company pays out

$1,500, or less for 'a total'.

More important is your back and neck condition.

You need to document YOUR condition NOW because

of the future years of pain that your going to suffer.

Forget the car for now and focus on YOU and how

your going to cover yourself.

been there and done that

p.s. The insurance companies are not going to pay you for

"..but I was going to paint and rocket power my car - and I have

a man, and magazines, and I had a dream, really I do, and I want

you to pay me for the 'I was going to's' "

It's not painted, no trim, missing door handle, interior apart?,

30+ years old, in it's pre- impact condition. I'd love to hear from

folks here 'connected' to insurance industry

[Mike Self]

"in progress"...first thing, have the body shop that's gonna do the work (it's eminently fixable) write up not only an estimate, but a list of what they have already done, then add to that what you have already done on the car.

Don't let the insurance company lowball you--if you're getting the brushoff from the adjuster, ask to see his supervisor. Explain that the car is under restoration and that you were ready to paint before THEIR insured hit you. Now you've got to at least partially start over.

NOTE FOR EVERYONE: this is the second rear-ender in as many weeks, and one of many reported on this board. All our cars have DIM REAR LIGHTS (with apologies to RIMSPOKE!) both tail and especially brake lights. If we're driving our cars on a regular basis, we need to add a third brake light so all those deadheads out there will notice that we're slowing down or stopping. You might also consider a rear fog light for driving in rain and/or poor visibility...

cheers, and be careful out there

mike

[jgmgti]

I went thru this 2 years ago.When the rest,was completed I had the

car appraised. For top dollar.A Goverment.worker ran a stop sign and I hit the guy at approx.30mph.The 78 GTI crumpled by designed .

Mid-70 VW parts are a challenge to get,remember often MKI Golfs/Rabbits were throw aways to many.But with effort i developed a contact in Wolfsburg.

My injury was a stattered sternum from hiiting the Momo Indy wood wheel.Made life lousey for several months

The first adjuster was a real culo,so I requested an independent appraiser,who loved my car and realized the time money effort and value.

Reciepts,magazine articles etc.were used to establish my case as well.

I was paid the appraised price less a couple of bucks for 2.5 years of wear and my my totaled car back to me for $750 which was parted out for a great deal more.Financially I came out fine.

However,I did not play the Dr. game,lazy,morals,time,who knows and was paid 4K for pain approx.9mos.later.

My advise is fight as a pro.don't accept low-ball offers.Keep at them until you come out whole....

Jonathan

[steved]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I know the car's outward appearance even before the accident is less than perfect, but it actually was just getting ready to go in for paint in January. All of the trim is in the trunk or back seat right now, but I have every piece. The body was 100% dent and rust free after I got it back from the shop a few weeks ago. The interior was my Christmas project and I had most of the parts ready to go. luckily I had at least put in a new driver's seat the day before this happened.

Hopefully I can get a workable settlement from the insurance company, but after my mechanic looked at it yesterday, he's somewhat doubtful that it's worth fixing.

[gwb72tii]

1. yes, the car is fixable, no problem. don't know about the wobble though, unless the rear subframe is now bent.

2. my tii was rearended 2+yrs ago, and it took about 2 months of haggling for them to pay what i wanted. There is no easy way out. You have to document what the car is worth to the adjuster. Roadfly car 4 sale adds, completed and not completed sales on Ebay and anything else that supports your valuation. I put together a portfolio of adds/road and track used car classic articles and everything I could find. The point I kept coming back to was it was THEIR insured that hit me. It wasn't my fault, and all i wanted was my car back in the condition it was in before THEIR insured hit me.

Their cost was $4600, which was close to the value of the car at the time, and they eventually wrote me a check and closed the file. I took the money and wound up restoring the body a year earlier than planned.

I also insisted that my title was not labled.

For the cost of getting your car back to it's previous shape, probably under $5k, they shouldn't even blink. It's cheap. Make sure they understand how cheap it is. Its THEIR fault.

[Guest]

Steve,

Get a receipt of the body work done and have your guys inflate it a lil bit. Insurance only wants to pay percentage of things...Argue with them that their insured driver hit you, not the other way around. So they are responsible for the damages. Get yourself a lawyer while your at it that does the personal injury on consignment. He can help with the whole case of getting your car covered. What they initially offer does not mean you have to accept. Get what you think is fair for yourself and never stop fighting to achieve that. Good luck bro. And if you have questions I can ask a few lawyer buddies of mine for advice too.

Le

dracoruno@gmail.com

[Guest Anonymous]

...after my mechanic looked at it yesterday, he's somewhat doubtful that it's worth fixing.

or not, but unless he operates a fully equipped, competent collision shop, his opinion and expertise should really be limited exclusively to writing an estimate on any MECHANICAL damage that was suffered in the accident (i.e. suspension damage, etc). Personally, I wouldn't trust a mechanical shop to attempt body repairs any more than I'd trust a body shop to rebuild an engine..........

[Richard]

The shimmymeans your shock towers are bent

[SteveJ]

Our cars are targets.

It's up to us to keep them as 'moving targets'.

It sucks, but the big point here is that YOU got hit. YOU are not at fault.

Get yourself to the doctor ASAP- NOW. If anything, it will set the paperwork in motion and give you recourse should anything flare up later on. Go to your regular doctor or any urgent care provider. (don't go to a hospital ER, unless you want to burn your whole day) Just say that you were involved in a MVA and need to get checked out. They will start all the proper paper work. The other party insurance will have to cover all these initial expenses and possibly follow up care for chiropractic or massage.

I assume you have the other party insurance info. If so, start a claim with their company NOW. I wouldn't involve your own insurance company unless the other company starts to balk. Some of the settlements from the insurance will be for medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of use, and finally property damage (your car). The insurance company will want to try and get this off of their books in less than a months time. Do not let them rush you into a quick decision/settlement.

They will most likely send an appraiser to look at the car as it is "so old". I would take the time to detail the car- wash it, vacuum, and make it look as presentable as possible. Get all your records in order. It was in process. I can see that you had the guide coat on there ready to block sand. All that time is an investment. Hopefully you will have an appraiser that knows cars and isn't just looking for shiny paint.

To recap-Glad to hear you are OK, get yourself to the doctor NOW, start cleaning and prepping the car for the appraiser, don't settle if you don't feel it's not fair.

[jerry]

wow, steve, i didn't make the connection it was you and actually bypassed the post at first. the timing is very creepy if you think about it. someone's watching out for you.

for the other readers: steve and i had just discussed the DAY BEFORE why he was replacing his lowback seats with recarros he was buying from me, because of his concern over commuting with a car lacking headrests. this event gives me pause over my appreciation for the appearance of lowback seats versus steve's reality.

if your rear subframe or trailing arms are bent i can provide you free replacement. unfortunately, i don't have a spare set of rear shock towers to provide as i need them (but you are welcome to use them for measurement/reference/alignment purposes). please try to save that original "black plate" car. the damage does not look THAT bad from this distance.

[steved]

Just to let everyone know that I did go to the doctor's yesterday and I do have a nice case of whiplash, but I am already feeling better than I did last night. I plan to head back to work tomorrow. I know I need to take it very easy and I'm not supposed to lift anything for a few days. The doc says I should be doing much better in a few weeks. I figure I'm young and in good health, so I should be ok, but I know this may come back to haunt me from time to to time.

I'm heading to the CHP this afternoon to get my accident report to start the insurance process. Thanks again for everyone's advice. This forum has been a great source of information to me since I started my 2002 project. I'm looking forward to continuing until my car is looking shiny new.

Steve

[steved]

Thanks for the offer, Jerry. Once I know how much I can realistically settle for on this car, that will determine if I fix it. At this point I very much want to.

And thanks for the seats... they work as designed!