I know I haven't been here for a while, but thought some of you regulars would want to hear my story.

I wrecked the Yellow car last night. Tore up the front fender and driver's side door pretty bad. I was coming up a back road about 7:30. It was real dark and I came around a blind curve and saw a truck on the opposite side of the road facing me with it's flasher's on. It was totally in the left lane. I just kept on going past and all of a sudden BAM. I did not have any idea what happened, but when I looked out my mirror was gone. I just sat there for a minute wondering what the heck happened. When I got out of the car the driver of the Fedex truck said "Didn't you see my flashers?". I said "yes I saw your flashers and you were on the other side of the road". He said "Couldn't you tell I was backing up?". I just said "What? You were backing up into my lane?". I was really pissed off. The truck was 4 or 5 feet in my lane and the driver starts getting into the truck to move and I said "Do not move that truck, I want the police to see exactly where it was when we hit:". He didn't move it and it took the Sheriff about 45 minutes to get there and he was a real give a crap type of guy.

Asked my for my license, insurance card and driver's license. Asked my what happened and said "OK you can go". My tire was flat so I had to change my tire. I only had the cheap scissor jack and the car fell off the jack and bent the jack all up. A guy went to his garage and came out with a floor jack and I got the tire changed and drove home. I didn't get any information at all on the other vehicle. I was just so mad I didn't even talk to the guy. I don't carry collision insurance so I am not sure how the paying is going to work. If the Fedex insurance does not agree to pay, I may have to take them to court personally. My insurance will do next to nothing since they don't have to pay no matter what. The claim adjuster said it all depends on how the cop wrote up the police report. I am pretty sure he didn't charge either one of us though cause he didn't want to be bothered.

If I have to pay myself, I will probably just get a used fender and door. Anybody know where there is a wrecked yellow one with a good door and fender?

 

That sucks, but if you didn't get his info, then do you really have a case?

-His name
-His license plate
-His driver #

 

We called the police so there is a police report that will have all the inormation.

 

That sucks big time Jim!!!!!

What an *** he was. They always turn their hazards on every time they stop. He should not have had them on when he was backing up.

 

Talked to the cop last night and he said he did not charge either one of us with a violation, but did name the other driver as at fault. But said he could have gone either way with it. Basically said the guy had no business backing across my lane, but I should have stopped when he was backing. I just said I could not even tell he was backing and in hindsight I agree that I should have stopped. He just said yea there is no way to see the backup lights from the front. Said I could not get the information from the police report, but my insurance company will get all the information.

 

Hey Jim, good to see you again even though this probably is not the best situation.

Bad news: You have encountered an axhole and your 850 has been damaged.
Good news: You did not get physically hurt or the 850 did not get totaled/still can be repaired right?

I hope your insurance company goes after this SOB[8D].


JPN

 

That still sucks. Also the more I was thinking about it from all the times I have seen people driving the trucks hazards on when they are stopped. As soon as they start to drive foward or backwords the hazards go off. He should not have had the hazards on if he was backing up.

 

I have to tell you I was so pissed off I didn't pay much attention to anything. The neigborhood guy who called cops asked me if anybody was hurt and I replied not yet. For about a half an hour while waiting for the cop to get there I would not even get close to the other driver. He wasn't coming anywhere close to me either.I damn near when balistic when he said didn't you see I was backing up? His flashers were defiinitely going, but there was no way I could tell he was backing up.

 

I hear you on that one. If someone did something like that I wouldn't even give them a chance to say something before I was up one side and down the other of them.

 

You should get it resolved in your favor.

I was not so lucky when I had a big accident a few years back in my old Celica. We had open lunch at my high school, so many of my friends would come to my house for lucn. One day on the way back to school we came up to the odd intersection by the high school. Going the way of south cross traffic from me was an old man driving a Prizm. He appeared to have stopped, so I went. You had to go out into the street and then turn to come to the next stop sign. Very odd.


But BAM, he hit my D/S 1/4 panel. Knocked me into the window and my friend back in his seat.

Cop came. That cop didn't like my family for other reasons. I called back immediately and asked for a different officer and they wouldn't honor the request claiming no other cops were on staff.

He came and wrote the accident report. Extremely flawed and blaming me, even though ten people said and saw him run the stop sign.

He even spelled it axcident report.

Needless to say, I got boned on that deal. I had to go to the hospital for a slight concussion.. The doctor told me the old guy was a friend of that cop. He also said I should be more forgiving because the old man has MS and is a "good Christian man."

SO apparently because he is a good Christian, he didn't mean to hit me.

Oh.


But, Indiana doesn't declare fault on police accident reports. Ghey!


You will get it resolved.

 

Hey JimKW-
I am so sorry to hear about your incident. Fortunately the cop appears will say in his report that the FedEx was "at fault".

Unfortunately, your insurance company is not going to help you at all. I mean "at all".

Since you opted out of collision coverage, your carrier will not step up and pay legal fees to collect on coverage they didn't provide on your policy. This is something that most folks don't know and for sure they insurance agent never told them of. When you carrier collision, you can file the claim with your carrier, pay the deductible to fix your car. Once they pay for your repairs, then your carrier goes after the other guy to get their money back. When they collect, they will return to you the deductible you paid. Therefore you get the car repaired and no cost to you. The other option when you have coverage is to file against the other carrier. If they admit their insured is in the wrong, then you never have to pay your deductible and have your carrier battle it out.

Since you declined this coverage you will have to file the claim against the carrier for FedEx.

I know this as a fact because in my previous life I was a Farmers Ins Agent for 6 years before going back into the mortgage industry.

I wish you good luck in the battle. Your agent might be able to find out who FedEx has as an insurance company and immediately get your claim filed.

Good Luck, God Bless, and Merry Christmas.
Ray

 

autoxray, I realize all that. My insurance claims adjuster has explained it to me and she said she will get all the information I need and do what she can. She said if they decline liability it will be up to me to take them to court, but based on what I told her and the police report they should cover the fixes. I hope I don't have to get an attorney, but I will if I have to.

Tech found ayellow T5R that is being parted out on volvospeed and I can get the parts I need from there. But I am going to talk to the Autobody shop that will be doing the work on Monday to see if they prefer new parts or going with used parts. The fender on the used parts will need painted even if I go that route, so they may just prefer going new.

All I care about is the car looks as good as it did before the accident which I am sure it will when I have this shop do the work. They have done three other cars for me including 1980 Porsche 911 in Guards Red. They painted just the right rear quarter panel and you could not tell where they painted met the existing paint.

 

Sounds to me like the whole thing will get resolved by the new year. Glad you are not hurt and that the car is repairable. Let us know how it goes.

 

Just got back from the body shop and they are certain the insurance will total the car. Mainly because of the amount of damage and the age. The estimate to fix it is $4,977 which is more than the NADA book value. The guy tech hooked me up with who is parting one out may just save the day though. Even if I have to pay for it myself the car will be fixed, but I am pretty sure I will get about $5,000 for it from insurance and then I have no idea what the buy back price will be. Won't really know much more til the first of the year though.

 

I hope it goes well.

 

That really stinks. It's much more his fault then yours by far IMO. At least you are OK. I hope your car gets fixed!

 

The car WILL get fixed! It's just liable to end up costing me money to get it back to the condition it was in before the accident. But the car will be fixed and fixed right.

 

Insurance companies never understand "Car Guys" and they will totala carin a heartbeat. The trick is to get it back before they destroy it. When my wife hit her first deer (She is currently at 2 and I am at 5 on the deer count),they totaled it. I priced the parts and paint and was going to buy the car back, it was mechanically perfect, up to the point where they shoved a fork lift under it at the tow lot, crushed the exhaust system, and then had it fall off of the forklift about 5 feet onto the ground.

At that point I just walked away.

The real pisser is that the insurance typesstart off with all kinds of deductions for "High Mileage" cars not understanding that we have brought them back to near showroom level performance and reliabilitywith a lot of expensive maintenance. You don't get credit for the preventive maintenanceat the adjuster's desk.

...Lee

 

I thought that the Police were supposed to be impartial...LOLOLOLOLOL... whoooo, ok, Im done. Now my sides hurt.

It is not a matter of whether or not the hazard lights were on, there is no law that allows for you to cross into the oppositelane/oncoming traffic. Hazards on or not.

The truck driver, if pulling a manouver like that, has the obligation to make sure that there is no oncoming traffic. Period.

There Are No Accidents. Stupid people do stupid things and blame others for their genetic disfunctions.

People seem to be able to perform foolish acts without thought or regard that invariably cause/cost others grief, pain, discomfort and money.

I really dofeel for you as The Anvil took a hit in the rear from Grandpa Cotton Head just after I got it -Blue Hairwascaught on video catching the left rear bumper and pushingthe carforward two feet trying to pull out of a metered parking space on the street- the officer responding said that the damage looked minimal (thank god he was a twenty yearcertified technician of Volvo...NOT)and that there werent going to be any charges. REEEEEEEEEALY?!?!?!?

TookCotton to court, showed the video from the resturant cam and won. Not a lot, but it made me feel better.

If your able, and I know its a bad time of year for this to happen to anyone, particularily a Sweet Yellow Brick Owner,take the S.O.B. driver and the company to court. In that order.

Oh, I should have asked, have you called a (dont mean to swear) lawyer for a free consultation?

And the line, Didnt you see me backing up?, is of no matter. If you are going to cross into oncoming traffic, YOU (driver about to pull the bonehead) havea legal obligationto be sureyou are safe to do so. This means that if you cause trouble, Youre the cause of said trouble and you have to pay for your error.

At least here in Canada anyways. Unless you have a crazy good lawyer. I know I know, language. LoL.

[sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

OK here's my plan: I am not trying to "get" anybody. If I was I would have claimed my neck was hurt or something like that. I just want my car fixed and fixed right and I want the guys insurance to pay for it. Luckily finding the one being parted out should make this happen. I am going to try and deal with his insurance and get them to give me as much as they possibly can without calling it a total and issuing a salvage title. Although a salvage title issued in 2008 for a 1995 car would not be that big a deal.

My logic is if the insurance company is only going to offer my $4,500 for the car and there is a $1,000 buy back (I think that's high, but have no idea) and I say just give me $3,000 and we call it even and I will sign a release of all liability, they just might go for it.