Whats important and whats not

[jmauldin]

Sure am glad your son came through that ordeal with no more injuries than appear at the present. However, DO NOT SIGN ANY RELEASE FROM THEIR INSURANCE COMPANY UNTIL YOU HAVE TALKED WITH YOUR AGENT AND A LAWYER!!!!!!!!!
Jim in Mayberry

[Mike Davis]

Don't talk to any lawyer that calls you.

If you don't know a lawyer ask your friends, boss or doctor. Somebody you trust.

I never said sue. You need to protect yourself and your son from the insurance companies, their lawyers and the other driver. They will try everything in their power to try to make your son look at fault. They don't want to spend any money that they don't absolutely have to.

Maybe he will be lucky, (he already has to survive that crash) but I have seen and heard of stories just like this that turned out very bad financially.

You need to be sure that his car, medical bills and any other expense are covered. This was not his fault but still could end up costing him lots of money.

I don't believe anybody should profit from an accident, but you sure don't want to get stuck with a big bill that someone else should be responsible for.

I may sound callus or paranoid but I am only thinking of your best interests in a time when you may be vulnerable. It is very easy to be grateful for his not being hurt and go easy on the other guy or try not to seem pushy.

[AndyBarnhart]

I have 7 year old triplets, two boys and a girl, plus an older daughter who is 12. The boys have a pair of twins over for a slumber party tonight and my wife is at scrap booking. My 12 year old bolted to her best friend's house for the night(4 7 year old boys - do you blame her?). Anyway, I am here with 5 seven year olds (the boys, their friends and my youngest daughter). Before I read your post, it seemed like a lot more like a chore than a cherished memory in the making. Someone remind me I said that at midnight, when I am still trying to get the boys down.

Anyway, I am very happy to hear that your son is okay. You're getting lots of good advice on what to do besides celebrate, but don't forget to do that.

[cskipper]

Thank goodness he walked out of that! No advice on the insurance except not to be in a hurry to sign anything. It will be represented as something like just permission to start the repairs.....

[TracyP]

Originally Posted by halfblind

We just had one of those experiences which remind you whats important and whats not. Our son left for work, he is an RN at the local hospital, in his Honda Civic and arrived at the hospital emergency room in an ambulance strapped to a back board.

A tractor trailer ran a red light and hit him in the front passenger side of the car. The other driver was given a ticket. The passenger side and the whole front end are about 2 feet high. Witnesses said the truck never even touched his brakes before he hit the car. One wheel of the truck ended up about 12 inches from my sons head. The police said the truck had to have going at least 50 mph.

After about 4 hours, x-rays and CAT scans my son walked out of the hospital. He feels about like you would expect but to say we are all thankfull would be a major understatement. The police, the witnesses and my friend who towed the car all say they can not believe he walked away from this.

When I started this post I had not intended to ask a question but maybe some of you have experience which will help us to decide how to handle this. We have State Farm and I can go through them for the replacement for the car or let the other insurance company, Aequicap (?) handle it all. Even if we use State Farm for the car, medical bills and anything else will have to be handled through Aequicap. I just wonder if State Farm might be a little easier to deal with since they are going to go after Aequicap to recoup their money. Would I be out of line to expect the other insurance company to pay some, not a lot, to make up for all we are going to go through because of this?

In my experience as a collision center manager, most companies that are unknown, "no TV commercials" usually are slow to respond to your needs and I have not dealt with the company that you mentioned in my years in the collision industry. You will be hard pressed to get them moving. I deal with this on a daily basis. I think your best bet is to let your carrier do all the leg work for you. If you do get an attorney involved it tends to slow the process down quite a bit because insurance companies typically do not like to deal with attorneys. However you may have to get one involved later in the game. My apologies to any attorneys on this site. I have State Farm for all of my insurance and they are very powerful in the collision and insurance industry. My professional advise to you would be to let your insurance company do the leg work, after all that is what you pay all of those premiums for. If I can assist you further, PM me. And as in my earlier post I am glad that your son is ok. Cars can be replaced but loved ones cannot.

[Keye]

Thanks for all the kind words. My son is doing OK. We are definitely going to wait several months before even thinking about signing any kind of final settlement.

Should have made it clear I have always thought as long as it is just sheetmetal and paint, which money can fix as someone so correctly pointed out, there is nothing to get upset about.

My son is lucky in that I have an extra vehicle he can drive so we can outwait the insurance company. I do not want to involve a lawyer but will if needed. Sometimes just a letter can get things moving. With three witnesses and the other driver being ticketed it is going to be hard to push any of this off on my son.

I do not want my son to look at this as an opprotunity to make money, know he would not do this anyway, but to me there are a lot of little things that in the end will cost him money if we do not try to reach a settlement that is not simply NADA replacement cost. Of course they will have to pay lost wages and medical bills. This is not what I am talking about. He could easily spend $150 on gas riding around looking for a car. He will have to pay sales tax on the next car when transfers the tag. He had just replaced the water pump, timing belt and tires. These are things I think the other insurance company should have to pay for. Am I off in left field on this? I actually have a list of about a dozen other things but will not bore you to death. In MHO the other insurance company needs to come up with about $1,500 over the cost of the car to make my son whole. Is this a pipe dream?

[gator]

Originally Posted by halfblind

He could easily spend $150 on gas riding around looking for a car. He will have to pay sales tax on the next car when transfers the tag. He had just replaced the water pump, timing belt and tires. These are things I think the other insurance company should have to pay for. Am I off in left field on this? I actually have a list of about a dozen other things but will not bore you to death. In MHO the other insurance company needs to come up with about $1,500 over the cost of the car to make my son whole. Is this a pipe dream?

First let me say how happy I am that he is not hurt more seriously.

As far as paying for recently aquired items, I don't think that they will pay for those but I have to relate my experience with State Farm. A few years ago my wife Taurus had a new engine installed by the dealer under some 'hidden' extended warranty (Ford would not publish the fact but if a certain problem came up they would replace the engine). She hit a deer not a month later and State Farm totaled the car. They wanted to settle for NADA value for a Taurus with 90000 miles. I pointed out that the engine was brand new and the car should be classed as having low mileage. With a letter from the dealer verifing the new engine, they upped their offer for the totaled car by $3000. It pays to try.

George

[JimmyC]

Originally Posted by halfblind

Thanks for all the kind words. My son is doing OK. We are definitely going to wait several months before even thinking about signing any kind of final settlement.

Should have made it clear I have always thought as long as it is just sheetmetal and paint, which money can fix as someone so correctly pointed out, there is nothing to get upset about.

My son is lucky in that I have an extra vehicle he can drive so we can outwait the insurance company. I do not want to involve a lawyer but will if needed. Sometimes just a letter can get things moving. With three witnesses and the other driver being ticketed it is going to be hard to push any of this off on my son.

I do not want my son to look at this as an opprotunity to make money, know he would not do this anyway, but to me there are a lot of little things that in the end will cost him money if we do not try to reach a settlement that is not simply NADA replacement cost. Of course they will have to pay lost wages and medical bills. This is not what I am talking about. He could easily spend $150 on gas riding around looking for a car. He will have to pay sales tax on the next car when transfers the tag. He had just replaced the water pump, timing belt and tires. These are things I think the other insurance company should have to pay for. Am I off in left field on this? I actually have a list of about a dozen other things but will not bore you to death. In MHO the other insurance company needs to come up with about $1,500 over the cost of the car to make my son whole. Is this a pipe dream?

Keye,
NJ is a no fault state, and when my wife got hit she needed physical therapy. Medical coverage came from our auto insurance only, our regular health insurance would not cover a car accident. She had 3 sessions a week for 6 months, a total of about 72 visits. The auto ins. had a 20% deductible from the $150/ a session fee, it worked out to over $2,100 out of pocket for an accident in which she wasn't at fault ( she was hit in the rear, while sitting at a red light, buy a an inattentive driver going 25 mph).
We had no choice but to sue for additional costs that weren't offered to us. To make a long story short, there was an out of court settlement for $15,000, of which we cleared about $9,000 after lawyers fees ( 33% + billable costs). In rainy weather my wifes shoulder still bothers her.

So you'll probably have to use a lawyer to recoup alot of the extra costs.

Good Luck,

Jimmy

[Gotcha6]

I recommend using lawyers like using hot sauce - sparingly, but enough to get the results needed. Anything more is likely to be a PITA.