First car accident... need advice

From what I can see of the hit there isn't likely to be any damage that isn't easily repairable. If it is totaled it is simply because of the low value of the car to begin with. This car, with only 24K miles will be back on the road again one way or another. If it is totaled by the insurance company it will be sold by the salvage yard as a "rebuildable" and will probably sell within a week or two.

When I was in the business and this car came to my shop I would be pushing hard for the owner to buy the car back from the insurance company and sell it to me so I could avoid the salvage title. Usually could get something like this for 10% of book value plus a couple hundred bucks for the owner for the hassle of buying it back. Buy a used right 3/4 front clip for $1200 to $1500 and have it on the road in a week.

That's assuming the air bags didn't go off. I don't see any signs in the pics that they did but they don't really show that well. If the bags went off that may not make it quite as desirable as a rebuilder.

Tell them you WANT a RENTAL CAR NOW - and if you have to pay for it out of your OWN POCKET - it will cost them MUCH, MUCH MORE - as they have a deal with Rental Agencies to get the cheapest rates out there. So tell them the Police Report indicates their Insured is "LIABLE" for this accident and, was ticketed for it as well; and if they force you to get a rental on your own; you will not be doing so under the auspices of their "rental agreement" they have with Rental Agencies - see how that works out for you. Bet you get a rental car real quick with those statements. You need to know how to work the system This is for the other Ins. Co. - not yours!! You are allowed a rental vehicle similar or better than what you were driving FYI.



Hubby just looked at these pics, especially the second one; not knowing the year of this vehicle, only the miles, guessing the year of it; he feels "it's toast" as far as fixing, and will be totaled. There is a problem with getting parts these days, and a shortage out there, if anyone is not aware of this. It will take way longer to get it fixed, than it will be to "total" it and pay it out.

You cannot determine what damage was done under that hood by looking at those pictures; but hubby will guestimate that there is a lot more damage under there that can't be seen by that 2nd picture. Plus, OP will want them to total it out - otherwise it will show up on Car Fax if he would ever go to sell the vehicle, as a front end collision and/or he would need to reveal this. Not worth it, I'd rather have them total it out. It's all in how one looks at this, in the long term.

My neighbor's who had three vehicles hit, one totaled - they still have two of them in body shops, and have no idea when they will get them back - due to parts shortages. They will have their rental car(s) for quite a while.

My air bag did go off...



I got a car rental... but out of my pocket. Enterprise didn't show much interest in my situation. They did give me the most beat up / dirty Chevy HHR they could find. Oh well, I just need a car to get around.

UPDATE:

I kept getting the run around from all the different Liberty Mutual agents... so I did pretty much what I was hoping to avoid: I got a lawyer

All I really wanted was for LM to take care of the situation so that I could get a car. The only doctor bill I had was a simple check up with my physician. Now, I am going to chiropractor and they will have to pay MUCH, much more.

My air bag did go off...



I got a car rental... but out of my pocket. Enterprise didn't show much interest in my situation. They did give me the most beat up / dirty Chevy HHR they could find. Oh well, I just need a car to get around.

UPDATE:

I kept getting the run around from all the different Liberty Mutual agents... so I did pretty much what I was hoping to avoid: I got a lawyer

All I really wanted was for LM to take care of the situation so that I could get a car. The only doctor bill I had was a simple check up with my physician. Now, I am going to chiropractor and they will have to pay MUCH, much more.

plus the Attorney will deal with the "value" of your vehicle -

Not necessarily. In my case, my attorney said they would only be taking on my case for the bodily injury portion and to go ahead as normal with the other insurance company for the payout of my totaled vehicle.

So I still completely handled my settlement for my vehicle, and that worked great for me. I got back $1,000 more than I was expecting to get for my car.

It's been almost two months, and the medical/bodily injury part is still in progress. (I'm still receiving treatment, so I imagine that has something to do with it.)


Also, the agreement with my attorney is that they get an exact percentage of my settlement. They don't bill me for phone calls, contact, etc. I think that's fairly common for injury cases with lawyers. The others I looked at in my area had the same set up. Which I like, because it's in their best interest to get as much money as possible from the insurance company, as opposed to just billing me for fees and work and whatnot.

I guess it varies from State to State - where I am - once you sign with an Attorney - it's completely out of the client's hand - you have no communication with your own Insurance Company whatsoever. And all the things I listed, you have no control over, and the Attorney's all do charge for all of those things. I recently settled my accident claim from almost five years ago, from being rear ended, and I got a complete list of the payout, and it listed all their "Costs", item by item, of course what was being paid total, then their fee, and what I was going to end up with. This is why I advise people in my own State, to leave their Attorney "alone" and do not continuously call, email, nor fax them, asking them what is happening with their case. The only thing I requested was a payout from my Insurance Company on the Medical Bills, so I could see how close I was to hitting the limit on my Insurance, as in our State your own Car Insurance takes over for Medical first; until it is exhausted; then your own Private Insurance kicks in. That is where Limited Tort vs Full Tort comes into play; I had at that time Limited Tort, so I had to sue the other person who hit me to recover all my medical bills, plus. When my son was hit and rear ended 6 months after me, we had changed over to Full Tort coverage; his claim was much easier to deal with, and was finished within one year; and we handled it for the most part until the very end; then turned it over to an Attorney to write the final letter to the Insurance Company; and I had all the records needed; but my FIL got gravely ill; and I could not continue the claim on my own, as I was doing at the time. We were charged a very low nominal fee, due to all the work I had already done on the case; basically I handed the Attorney a completed case, with a letter already in progress to finish off.

Oh good lord, what a mess! Our state had that over a decade ago, where everyone just goes to their own insurance for medical bills. We switched over I think about 8/9 years ago, and it DEFINITELY makes it a lot easier. At least for the claimant, not necessarily for the insurance company. Before, I don't think you could sue for pain and suffering, IIRC. A lot more money for them to pay out now!

And I'm sure there's pros and cons of having the attorney do it that way. I guess it must vary by state. I wouldn't want to feel like I couldn't call my attorney when I wanted. But at the same time, if I knew I was gonna be charged for it, I'm sure I could abstain.

The lawyer's fees are pretty high when they do a percent. Their fee will be 33% of whatever the insurance company pays out. That's a pretty big chunk. But at the same time, it's nice that I just send them whatever they request of me and I don't have to really do anything else, like spend forever on the phone with the insurance company and fight with them about it.

33% is about the average fee around here for an Attorney for an Accident Claim, sometimes up to 35%. Yes, it's a mess with the Medical aspect, because once you exhaust the Car Ins. Medical, you start paying co-pays on your own Medical Ins. and that is where it becomes "expensive" - when you have Limited Tort - and there is a "threshold" one must over come in order to be able to sue - to recover one's medical bills. It's a farkfest to be honest; but since I had been operated on, stabbed to death with injections multiple times, and a whole bunch of other treatments to no avail - the other Ins. Co. finally gave up and settled once they realized I was never going to fully recover from this - being operated on was "key" to getting them to settle.

With Full Tort coverage you may sue for just about anything, including pain and suffering; and even with Limited Tort, you may sue for the same, but must reach that threshold. The problem is which County you reside in, and the nature of "your claim" - some Counties do not award for certain types of injuries; whereas other Counties award a lot for the same type injuries. When my son got hit from behind, it was not where we lived; so the question was do we take the case to that County instead of here; it was a more "friendly County" in case we got into a "battle". But because of Full Tort it ended up not being necessary.

Wow, what a huge mess! I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. It sounds terrible.



Interesting - I did not know it could vary by county! My attorney did mention the possibility of going to court, but they said it would be unlikely. Especially since I'm documenting everything as much as possible - they said that will make them even more likely to settle.

And that's good it didn't end up being necessary in your son's case!

Insurance varies so widely it isn't even funny. Here in PA if you get hit by an out of state driver and it is their fault; they pay out the nose for everything. Say the driver is from NJ. Yet if you are over in NJ driving, and you get rear ended by a NJ driver, and it's their fault, the same does not apply in NJ with it being out of state. It's a totally screwed up system why. All I know is my CPA got rear ended by a woman who fell asleep at 9am, while my CPA sat at a red light, similar to what happened to me; and because it happened in NJ, and my CPA is from PA; it doesn't work the same, as if my CPA had been hit here in PA by the NJ resident. Really, totally screwed up system

Yeah, my son lucked out because I changed the insurance to Full Tort after I got hit.

I have that - it's called my husband the Master Certified ASE Technician
I can count on him to fix it and have it back to me the same day
Plus, we have a spare vehicle, just in case