car accident trouble with insurance

[rascaljim]

Ok here's the situation.

I've got a 98 Mitsubishi Mirage with like 140k on it but it runs like a champ. Anyway... I got hit back in february by a truck driver while merging onto the interstate in downtown Chicago. I was stopped next to him and he turned his wheel and drove forward scraping and indenting my rear quarter panel and drivers door. The lock is messed up and the mirror is gone. We were moved off the scene by the IDOT Minutmen to get traffic flowing before the police came. When a state police officer finally came he took both of our stories and said that as far as he was concerned we were both at fault but because he didn't see the scene of the accident he wouldn't issue any tickets.

I contacted their insurance company... which is Hehehehhhmmmhm. I gave them a statement as well as estimates for repairs. They finally responded after a few months and said that based on what they have right now they are not liable because I didn't wait for the lane to clear before entering it. Keep in mind that I was stopped and he turned his wheel and drove into me.

My insurance company tells me that that company is one of those that makes you sue in order to get them to pay for a claim. I don't want to go through my insurance because it will cost me too much in the increased insurance rates... I'm only 24. The damage is about $2000. The car is still driveable and my dad tells me to just drop it and he will just pay the few hundred dollars to replace the door and I'll just drive it as it rusts.

I'm not too happy with the outcome and am not sure what else to do... it is true that the state has sent them my police report yet so they are just going on however the driver twisted the story. I sent them an email explaining how their assesment was impossible based on the pictures of the vehicle damage. No response still.

Dad still says cut my losses... but I'm just having a hard time accepting getting screwed like this... It's not worth the cost and hassle of taking them to court for a car I paid $800 for.

2c requested.

Jim L

[Dan Schultz]

Ok here's the situation. I've got a 98 Mitsubishi Mirage with like 140k on it ..... Dad still says cut my losses... but I'm just having a hard time accepting getting screwed like this... It's not worth the cost and hassle of taking them to court for a car I paid $800 for. Jim L

Takes you dad's advice. For all practical purposes, your 98 Mitsuwhatti with 140K miles is worthless and certainly not something any insurance company is going to give you 2 grand to fix. Even after you spend a lot of time and effort (and maybe several bucks) to persue action, they will probably end up shoving $200 at you and saying 'too bad'. Go to the junk yard and buy $100 worth of stuff and fix it yourself. Like Joe says... life 101.

[Joe Baker]

Yup. Could be worse. My daughter backed into some guy's 1991 POS Ford Explorer last week. He offered us a choice: turn it in to the insurance or pay him the amount on a quote he got from a car repair place ($1400 -- for a fairly shallow dent in the MIDDLE of the car door -- could be repaired to look as good as the rest of the car for $300-$500, easily). Our insurance over the next couple of years would go up by a lot more than $1400, though, so I've advised my daughter to pay up (and look where she's going next time).

'Course she had to borrow most of the money from ME.
_____________________________
Joe Baker, who knows you have to pick your battles, and it never pays to pick one that costs more to win than to surrender.

[Rick Denney]

My bet? They settle with you within two weeks of the letter from the commissioner.

That depends on the state. You live in Washington, where government is activist, and I'll bet your plan works there better than most places. In many (most?) other states, the complaint will get tossed on the pile to be dealt with in due course, long after the car has rusted into a lump and you no longer care about the money.

Bloke is right: Uninsured motorist protection is there to protect against people who do not take responsibility for their actions (and anyone who buys insurance from a company that doesn't pay is still responsible, though they may also have a complaint against their own company).

This has happened to me, too. I was driving on a neighborhood street, approaching an intersection that had stops signs on the crossing street. There was a car waiting in each direction on the side street. There was also a truck coming the other way pulling a trailer with yard equipment. I was going quite slowly because there were cars coming in all directions. The fellow in the oncoming truck pulled across the centerline into my lane. I pulled to the right (the skid marks were fully ten feet on my side of the centerline), but was limited by the presence of the car on the side street on how far I could swerve. The truck hit me on my front left corner, doing $4500 worth of damage.

His company (State Farm) refused to send an investigator to the scene, and refused to accept liability. My company (Allstate) stated that he was clearly at fault and refused to accept liability. I had police statements from the two side-street drivers, the fellow standing in his front yard, and photographs of the skid marks.

State Farm paid, but not without a major battle. They even paid for the letter from the lawyer. They also paid for the extra three weeks of car rental caused by them failing to accept the liability and notify the body shop.

Insurance adjusters sleep well at night when they've saved their company another nickel.

Most states have laws requiring motorists to clear vehicles from the roadway if they are not disabled. Many police forces will not even investigate accidents if there are no injuries and the vehicles are still drivable. You are on your own.

(That said, I don't think the other guy is responsible for repairing a worn-out car beyond its value, even if you happen to like it. We still have to be pepared in life to deal with a little bad luck.)

Rick "who now carries a disposable camera in every car" Denney

[ThomasDodd]

I've got a 98 Mitsubishi Mirage with like 140k
The damage is about $2000. The car is still driveable and my dad tells me to just drop it and he will just pay the few hundred dollars to replace the door and I'll just drive it as it rusts.

Dad still says cut my losses... but I'm just having a hard time accepting getting screwed like this... It's not worth the cost and hassle of taking them to court for a car I paid $800 for.

The insurance companies are going to give you more the the book value of the car. period.
So they'd total it nd you get a few hundred $$. (That's why I don't have more than liability on my 1970 Cadillac. Book is less that 1 years insurance cost).

I haven't seen the damage, but $2000 sound like a lot given you description of the damage. You should be able to get it looking like before for a couple of hundred. Chack other shops, especially small ones. Make sure they know you are paying and not an insurance company. They tend to charge higher prices to insurance customers.(like $1200 for window instead of $400).

[Tubaryan12]

Henry, I know a guy that that exact same thing happened to except he was in the line at a fast food restaurant.