The thing between here and suicide: A car.

[Malibu 310]

Holy Shit. I've got the Gecko-Caveman insurance and am paying only $40 monthly (with liability only which is soon to get changed.) I guess i need to watch my ass and think about switching insurance companies.

[High Roller]

Holy shit that's stupid. The same thing almost sort of happened to my boyfriend, who was driving our car and just slightly bumped the chick in front of him at a light because of the rain. There was the tiniest dent, but she insisted on calling the cops out, "Just in case." In case what, you dumb twat? She was a stupid, gum-chewing, daddy's-girl-car skank.

The cop was really annoyed once he came out and realized what happened, which was not worth calling the cops for, told them to exchange insurance information (which my boyfriend wanted to do at the time anyway), and she claimed something like $400 for her tiny dent. Our premiums went up, too (and I think we had Gecko at the time also), but I switched insurance companies and paid less. How lame.

And thanks for the post, Honey.

[Donnnaa]

I have the gecko people and I love them. My last insurance company, when I had to report that my car had been broken into, had a punch number system thingy. I spent half an hour just punching random numbers in the hopes I would be connected to a real person. I have gecko and I pay 115 with me and William on my insurance, two tickets on my record, three on his, and both of us with an accident, but I just have the state required minimum. When I was shopping for car insurance, they were the cheapest at the time. I was just going to use them until my tickets and accident fell off, then I would switch to Allstate or something, but I love how you're talking to an actual human being within a minute of calling. I hate customer service calls in the first place, but they make it nice and painless. Hell, not even my own bank is nice like that.

[malibu420allday]

Have you had an accident since you've had them Pierced? If so, was it your fault?

I have an awesome insurance co now and nobody can touch their prices. Also they don't screw their customers especially the longer you've been with them. My mother has been with them for 30 + years and she caused an accident that totaled both her car and a Mercedes. They settled the case, gave her a nice check that covered the purchase of a new car and her insurance didn't go up one single penny. They also beat the Gecko insurance premiums in my case and after going through a short menu you get to speak to a person rather quickly.

Gecko can shove their person-to-person customer service up their neanderthal ass as far as I'm concerned. But, if it works for you then that's good. I just hope you don't go through what I had to...

[Ballin954]

Whereabouts do you live at? Were the roads snowy or icy, as they are around Ohio? I mean, I can't understand him flying up on you and the redlight like that. Speeding on crap roads is a dumb idea anyway, let alone up on a redlight.

I dunno if you answered this, I don't remember it, but how extensive was the damage to yourself? Concussion?

Luckily for you, someone you know or was affiliated with knew where the Inertia switch was located. I assume you drive a Ford? All that switch does is open the circuit for the fuel pump, so if there is motor damage or fire, the fuel pump doesn't keep pushing out gas.

Again, it sucks about the whole situation. I don't understand why you have to go above and beyond to get what belongs to you. The guy fuckin' plowed you. Rear end accident = autowin. And by the sounds of it, it's like me must have been impaired.

Best of luck to you anyhow.

[!$*BUNZ*$!]

Yeah, I know, and it's a light that's visible for AGES, too. It's not like it sneaks up on you after a hill or something. It had been raining so the roads were wet, but it wasn't raining when he hit. People can't drive in rain or snow, srsly. They seem to take it as a challenge to go faster.



I just had the hurt neck, which the x-rays said was okay except for a bit of muscle strain. Which is why I figure that a lawyer couldn't really get me some kind of huge amount of money - that I went to the doctor and got the okay-to-go-back-to-work right away bill of health. Which might be more relevant if I had a job.



It IS a Ford, thank you very much! You get a cookie.



Quite. I'm told that his insurance company should be contacting me, actually, which is hard to do on account of my no-phone-having. But I gave everyone of importance my mom's number so she should pass that along to me when anyone does call.

And thanks for your sympathies.

[Social Butterfly]

Have you contacted an attorney and if so, what do they say about your situation?

[scole_67]

Ok, if it gets totaled, you can keep the car, however, the title for the car makes it very hard to get it legal again. You may have heard of a salvage title? If your car gets totaled, and you think that's BS, you can accept the money, but you'll have to get a salvage title prior to getting plates for it again.

Totaled is when if costs more money to fix the car then the car is worth. If the car is worth 100 dollars and it could cost 101 dollars to fix it, they total it.

It really helps if you can find a shop to give you an estimate to fix the car. When the ins adjuster comes, and tells you one thing, you say, but this guy will fix it for...

Getting a new car or having a car payment is not a bad deal, since you can get a policy that pays your plan off if the car is in a wreck. Most people say fuck it, I'm not getting into a wreck, but you never know.

The next best thing is to have something that has more steel in the bumpers than most cars are built with these days *cough mahjeep cough*

[Mars Turrez]

Yeah, to clarify and make it simple: Totalled again means that it would cost more to repair than the car is otherwise worth. By totalling it they basically give you what they say it's worth, and buy it from you. Then scrap it. You don't get both generally.

Lee: I accidentally backed my mom's Grand Cherokee into a friend's Toyota Camry.

The Jeep lost some clearcoat, and I think that quarter panel wiggles a bit.

His quarter panel was crushed and cost about a grand to replace.

I concur with your statement.

[gv_girl]

Okay update:

So last time I posted I hadn't checked my mailbox for several days after the accident, and when I did I found it overflowing with letters from lawyers. All with the "OMG CALL US!!!1" and shit. They all have free consultation, of course, and we-no-get-paid-until-you-do, so basically I sorted them into two piles: Maybies and not maybies. Since they mostly all sounded the same, the "not maybies" were basically people who had really shitty font choice. Fonts are important to me. So there.

No but actually I picked one I'm going to try first, because he broke the shit down into little sections, like what the insurance adjuster will do and stuff. Actually giving real information, which was awesome. Furthermore he included a coupon (yeah a coupon, haha!) for 25%, meaning he'd take 25% of whatever I got. Underneath it said "Standard is 33%." Of course I don't know what the standard is and he could be lying and it could be 10%, but I doubt it and I really like the idea of a lawyer that will actually give a price right out instead of hiding behind bullshit.

So anyway, the insurance adjuster came by when I was sleeping so I didn't answer the door, but apparently he saw the car and decided it was a total loss. He called my mom, who's amazingly good for something, and said he'd give me something like $2,900 to take the car and "total" it (although we all know he'd sell off the parts and possibly make more than that because the insides are still in great shape and it runs well and has a good engine) or I could keep the car and try for repairs and take $2,600.

Obviously I'm doing neither, and will be calling my lawyer-of-choice to set up a consultation. I feel good now that I have actual figures to give him and I can ask him outright if he can do better. Of course there's always the chance he won't even want to take the case, since they don't take cases where they don't smell loads of money, but I'm trying it.

So if the lawyer doesn't take the case and I'm left with the choice, I think I'm going to take the $2,600 and keep the car. Firstly the car only cost me about that much (plus $500 when the brakes got severely fucked and I had to fix them) and secondly it still runs. The insurance guy said nothing about giving me the use of a rental car while he trashes mine and I'm out a car and have to go find a new one, so I'm sure I'd just be going around on foot. So if the lawyer ends up a dead-end, I'll keep the fucker and do minor repairs myself (that is, replace the back brake/blinker lights and such) and just, you know, leave the cosmetic damages alone.

But I think the lawyer will probably take the case, maybe probably. Although I did have a hilarious imaginary scenario where I go to the lawyer and he's like, "Damn right we can help!" and then in several months he finally calls back and says, "HA, twenty-nine hundred dollars, who did they think they were kidding?? We talked those bastards way up from that. Now let's see, with our fees that means you'll be getting about eighteen-hundred. The check should arrive in a week or so. We're so glad to have helped you!" XD