My wife was driving the 1980 240D and was rear-ended by a kid driving delivery. He wants to see if the damages are within his budget before filing a claim.

The damage was a hefty dent and paint loss between the bumper and the DS taillight. Also, since the accident, the trunk seems to hang on the latch and there is a knocking sound from the DS rear side as the clutch is released.

Having recently been through the same experience being the rear-ender I expect that the kid is going to have sticker shock when the estimate comes in. Body work is such a racket!

So I expect he is going to want to file. I also expect that the cost of body work may exceed the amount insurance would want to spend on a 30 y.o. car and that they may decide to total it.

I know that if that happens I would have the option of taking the settlement (of course I couldn't replace the car for what they will give me), and then possibly buying it back as a salvage.

I guess I am looking for tips on how to proceed from here and if there are other things I should ask the body shop before the ball starts rolling.

__________________

Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT

yup, you're asking all the right questions, and answers... estimate first... unibody vehicles are SUCH a pain to deal with at the bodyshop... stretchers aint cheap.

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Technically speaking the kid would not be the one to have to fix the car, if he was using a company vehicle. If that was the case I would contact the company and ask for the insurance claim. Not getting his insurance information at the time of the accident may not be a good thing as you may have to settle this in small claims court. When this situation happen to me in California, the lady refused to pay for the damage insisting it was to high. At the scene she left, refused to give me her insurance information and told me her husband would contact me....well I went to chp and filed a hit n run....come to find out this was her 3rd accident in less the a year.....after some arguing with her husband I finally got the insurance information....

__________________

The kid has been very forthcoming.. We have his ins. info, and he was not in a 'company' car. It was a Chinese Restaurant and he uses his own car.

How did the settlement process go once you got the insurance claim filed?

__________________

Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT

I am not totally sure of his insurance companies right to write off the car for less than it is worth to you. Or give you an inadaquate sum to replace it. The damaged caused is their liability.

Not their option for you to come up on the short end of the stick. Perhaps your wife should be developing a sore neck dependng on their initial response. You occassionaly have to use simular behaviour to what some insurance companies practise unfortunatly or you might indeed come up short.

I am not a crook but the insurance companies are far too used to defrauding people. All you wish is for the insurance company of the guilty individual to repair the issue their client created. If they do not want to go along is an obvious ploy to defraud you no matter how it is done.

My wife backed into an old car at the parking lot of a supermarket not that long ago. Very small inconsequential dent. She told them to get an estimate and she would pay out of pocket. It was an old clunker she hit.

Instead they claimed she hit and ran. We got a note from our insurance company that they paid a high estimate bill for the damage. This after explaining to them that there was no hit and run involved but rather an offer by her to pay for the damages out of pocket.

Plus it was reasonable to assume it was a 500-700 small dent with paintwork. The injured party claimed this did not occur but knowing my wife I am certain it did. I suspect the estimate was claimed for another previously damaged area of the car.

Probably best to get the police involved with every incident just so a record of it exists. A person with no insurance probably cannot afford to pay a claim anyways. Trying to be reasonable in these situations just not seem to work out well all the time.

I will always be a litle cynical after being intentially defrauded by my insurance company for five thousand less than the incident should have paid out to us. Even in court they were insistant that they were unaware of the total milage on the car. They intentially made every excuse for not taking it at the inspection of the wreck. They even challenged my statement of the actual milage. The car had about fourty thousand miles and they used comparison values for cars with over one hundred and fifty thousand miles that where either salvage vehicles or had major issues. The car was so new they really must have had difficulty finding some for comparison with that kind of high milage already on them. normally a two year old car has much less.

It went fine after I got the insurance info, I was going to have my insurance company cover the damages. The adjuster was very nice that came out and put down the price of a used parts 2k put if she went new it would have exceeded the value of the car and it would have been salvaged....the damaged that occurred was the lady pulled the bumper off the car and door ding strip on the fender...

If this happened in California I know it is considered illegal. I tapped a women's bumper in front of the post office one day, put a tiny dent next to the licences plate on her clunker.....I told her to call my insurance company and start a claim.....she wanted me to pay out of pocket right there or go to a body shop.....I had to call 911 because she refused to take my insurance information and file a claim.....when i called the operate she said it was illegal to pay out of pocket for damage.....technically speaking she could double dip....collect my money plus file a claim with her insurance company.....so it makes since....

__________________

Some Ins. Cos. will not pay if the vehicle that caused the accident was being used for Commercial Purposes and was not insured for that.

Out here in CA if the Total the Car you can tell them you want to keep the Car and they subtract the Scrap amount from the Total you recieve. You end up having top register it again with a Salvaged on the new regestration.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Have you reported this to your insurance company yet? That is step 1. They might even try to deny coverage if you wait too long. Don't let the kid lead you on. In my experience, most people who have run into our vehicles (all our accidents) have been uninsured, even when they produced a card. Usually isn't their first accident and they learn all the tricks from their deadbeat friends.

Mine have actually been easiest when an uninsured motorist, since I deal only with my insurance. When dealing with another driver's company, I have usually had to file suit to get any reasonable settlement. They usually try to offer $50 or such. Our worse case was when my wife was hit on the front side at an intersection. Both driver's had GEICO and they said both were equally at fault so they didn't have to pay anybody. The cars came at 90 deg, so somebody ran a red light. A witness who was sitting at the red light opposite the other driver (whose truck was also hit) showed up late to traffic court, so no testimony. My wife's lawyer was too wimpy to take the case to court so we had to settle for $2500, much less than the damage, which I fixed myself with a Porta Power, new fender, new strut, Bondo.

A very long story that I will make short. My brother was hit from behind. His car went to body shop. He went to check on it and it was not there. Responsible insurance company had totaled the car and sold it to a scrap yard. Brother went to scrape yard with his title in hand and demanded they replace parts they had already removed. Police called. Scrap yard relaced parts while Brother went home and got his trailer and police assisted the loading of the car on the trailer. Brother found replacement value in the Atlanta, Ga area. Called insurance company with value and said go to XXXX and buy this car for me or pay me this amount. One year later, they paid him the amount he ask for + let him keep the car + paid him $25.00 per day for loss of use of his car + lawyer fees. All they would have had to do was replace his car with a car of equal value. Advice to all, don't mess with Brother Bob.

Paul

__________________
84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

Bob a repo man by day?

I want him on my side.

__________________
Cheers!
Scott McPhee

1987 300D

I had pretty good luck settling a fender-bender (right front) on my '81 240d - the accident was other side's fault so I did not get my insurance involved at all. The adjustor who came out understood how cool these old diesels are and agreed that they are going up in value especially if they are rust free (I'm in Texas). I asked him to please write up the claim in a way that the car would not be totaled - I did not want to have to pay salvage value to get my car back nor did I want to end up with a salvage title; I also told him I'd probably end up doing at least some of the work myself.

I took the settlement they offered (a little over 2k; I think he valued the car at 3100 or so). I probably could have got more, i.e., loss of use, etc., but the best thing I learned in law school was the "pig theory" -- pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. I found a parts car the same color as mine (well almost) for 1k and swapped out the fender myself - a pretty easy job. Still have the parts car, too, and 1k or so left over - enough for an entire repaint someday (the slightly mis-matched right front fender does stand out like a sore thumb to me). I also swapped out the "evil servo" ac system in my other car - an '80 CD - with the manual a/c from the parts car - lovin' that -- and it looks totally factory. One of these days I'll swap the parts car's manual 4 speed tranny into the CD, too. Overall it's been a very satisfying transaction for me.

No Bob is not a repo man. He is just very determined. In this case, he didn't really need the car as he had others. Most people will give in because they need a car and need it quick. Insurance companies know this and take advantage of it. In Georgia the insurance company has to settle the claim with in 1 year if it is reasonable. Fair market price is reasonable. I had a problem one time when some one hit my Cheby pickup. Insurance company called me after about a week and told me to get all my stuff out of the truck as they had totaled it and it had to be removed from the body shop that had it. "I just said, the truck is not moving until you have settled with me. It belongs to me and I have a title for it. You touch it and you go to jail for grand theft auto." They ended up giving me 'NADA retail good condition' and let me keep the truck. You don't mess with Paul either.

Paul

__________________
84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

You should always get a police report in case you need it. Don't call any insurance company until you know that you want to file a claim. If you've already talked to the carrier, they consider it a claim.

Get an estimate. If you will/have filed a claim, get the adjuster's information. STFU unless you are pointing positives. My 85SD was rear ended. I talked about how it was in the family since new, most of mechanicals had been done & it was almost ready for paint. I didn't point out that the liw miles was because of a non-working odo (and I wasn't asked). The adjuster (supposedly a professional) drew his own conclusions. You can be quiet but don't lie.

Other driver's insurance company paid me ~ $3,000 and I kept the car. That was more than I could easily have sold it for. The back end is a crumple zone. The right rear 1/4 panel was pulled in. A proper repair would require a frame straightener and installing a new panel. A competent bodyman friend of mine straightened it enough for the trunk to close well and charged $50. I'm still driving it. I also bought another in better condition and have ~ $2200 on it. It will go to $3k once I'm finished and be much nicer than the original car which I still have.

Bottom line, you simply gather data to know your options. Insurance companies generally want to get the little claims off their desk & SOP to settle. You can generally easily bump them up a little.

Again, gather data. Give as little information as possible out. FWIW, I've been ins licensed since 1985 & deal with insurance & carriers - mostly in other things besides property ins.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.