More than One Way to Buy a New Car
I didn't want to post this until I discovered how everything would work out.
On July 8th, my wife and I went out in her 3, with she behind the wheel, to take care of some business. Due to construction, on the approach road to I-287 traffic was bumper-to bumper, stop-and go. We had come to a complete stop and were waiting for traffic to proceed when we got hit in the rear by a van. The impact was so severe that we were both thrown forward hard against our seat belts and our car was driven into the Chrysler in front of us. I felt a sharp pain across my chest and in my right shoulder, the worst of which started to subside after about two minutes. My wife suffered pain in her two shoulders and in her left knee which contacted some part of the instrument panel in front of her. Thank God we were wearing our seat belts (not that we ever don't) or our injuries could have been quite severe. After a couple of minutes, I felt okay enough to get out of the car and survey the damage - the front and rear of the car were well and truly pushed in but there was no fluid leakage.
My wife called 911 and after about 15 minutes the State Police arrived on the scene. In the interim, the moron who hit us, a squat, toad like creature, approached me and asked if we could settle this without involving the insurance companies. Looking at the damage that was immediately apparent I laughed in his face telling him that I would be willing to accept a cashier's check for 15 grand if that suited him. it didn't.
When the SP officer surveyed the damage, he immediately concluded that we had been hit and pushed into the car ahead of us. In fact, the perp admitted that he had hit his throttle instead of his brake which accounted for the force of the impact. The officer wrote up the accident report stating this scenario thus absolving us of all blame for the accident.
Surprisingly, the car was completely driveable and tracked straight and true despite the massive body damage, unlike the van which emptied its fluids all over the roadway. This is a real testimony to the crashworthiness of the 3.
Off to our insurance agent who told us that although we were completely covered, since we weren't at fault we could go through the perp's insurance company saving us from having to pay the $500 deductible. Since we had to wait one week before we could pick up the accident report from the local State Police Barracks, which would contain the name of the perp's insurance company, and since our 3 seemed completely roadworthy, we decided to hold off and pursue this option.
In the interim, we visited our doctor to be checked out to make sure that we hadn't been permanently or seriously injured from the accident. He examined us, prescribed muscle relaxants, and before the week was out we each made a complete recovery.
A week later we collected the accident report, found the perp's insurance company and contacted them. Lo and behold, it turned out that the perp's insurance had lapsed as of June 28th and he had never renewed. So, on to Plan B, back to our insurance company who of course said they'd cover us and, while they were at it, sue the perp for whatever they could get which could possibly cover our deductible.
Then off to the body shop for an estimate which came in at $5700. This being fine with our insurance company we made an appointment to bring the 3 in on August 12th, the first available date, at which time my wife would be given a rental car as part of our insurance coverage.
On August 14th we get a call from the body shop telling us that after dismantling part of the car it was found that the damage was considerably more extensive than first believed so our insurance company decided to total the car.
So ends phase one of our Odyssey.
Happy Motoring!
I didn't want to post this until I discovered how everything would work out.
On July 8th, my wife and I went out in her 3, with she behind the wheel, to take care of some business. Due to construction, on the approach road to I-287 traffic was bumper-to bumper, stop-and go. We had come to a complete stop and were waiting for traffic to proceed when we got hit in the rear by a van. The impact was so severe that we were both thrown forward hard against our seat belts and our car was driven into the Chrysler in front of us. I felt a sharp pain across my chest and in my right shoulder, the worst of which started to subside after about two minutes. My wife suffered pain in her two shoulders and in her left knee which contacted some part of the instrument panel in front of her. Thank God we were wearing our seat belts (not that we ever don't) or our injuries could have been quite severe. After a couple of minutes, I felt okay enough to get out of the car and survey the damage - the front and rear of the car were well and truly pushed in but there was no fluid leakage.
My wife called 911 and after about 15 minutes the State Police arrived on the scene. In the interim, the moron who hit us, a squat, toad like creature, approached me and asked if we could settle this without involving the insurance companies. Looking at the damage that was immediately apparent I laughed in his face telling him that I would be willing to accept a cashier's check for 15 grand if that suited him. it didn't.
When the SP officer surveyed the damage, he immediately concluded that we had been hit and pushed into the car ahead of us. In fact, the perp admitted that he had hit his throttle instead of his brake which accounted for the force of the impact. The officer wrote up the accident report stating this scenario thus absolving us of all blame for the accident.
Surprisingly, the car was completely driveable and tracked straight and true despite the massive body damage, unlike the van which emptied its fluids all over the roadway. This is a real testimony to the crashworthiness of the 3.
Off to our insurance agent who told us that although we were completely covered, since we weren't at fault we could go through the perp's insurance company saving us from having to pay the $500 deductible. Since we had to wait one week before we could pick up the accident report from the local State Police Barracks, which would contain the name of the perp's insurance company, and since our 3 seemed completely roadworthy, we decided to hold off and pursue this option.
In the interim, we visited our doctor to be checked out to make sure that we hadn't been permanently or seriously injured from the accident. He examined us, prescribed muscle relaxants, and before the week was out we each made a complete recovery.
A week later we collected the accident report, found the perp's insurance company and contacted them. Lo and behold, it turned out that the perp's insurance had lapsed as of June 28th and he had never renewed. So, on to Plan B, back to our insurance company who of course said they'd cover us and, while they were at it, sue the perp for whatever they could get which could possibly cover our deductible.
Then off to the body shop for an estimate which came in at $5700. This being fine with our insurance company we made an appointment to bring the 3 in on August 12th, the first available date, at which time my wife would be given a rental car as part of our insurance coverage.
On August 14th we get a call from the body shop telling us that after dismantling part of the car it was found that the damage was considerably more extensive than first believed so our insurance company decided to total the car.
So ends phase one of our Odyssey.
Happy Motoring!
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