My wife's car was struck by a drunk driver-OT

[maldorf]

Maldorf, as I read your post I kept expecting to read about her injuries. So glad to hear she is just shaken up and not physically hurt! It's just money.
Thank God.

CG

Yeah, I know I should just be thankful for that and I am thankful. Its just so frustrating to see how it has affected her behavior, and to deal with renting a car etc etc. In the end we will be out about $1000 I think. We can handle the expense, but we it feels like we shouldnt have to since it was his fault. In time this frustration will fade. Its mostly my wife right now that is affected. I have already moved on and am just glad she is physically ok. She is scared that its going to happen again I think.

 

[maldorf]

With any luck the repaired damage won't adversely affect the residual value of the car. Good luck and sorry to hear about this senseless misfortune.

Yeah, I wonder about this. ANyone with experience in this matter know an answer? It wont be considered a salvaged car I think, so thats good. I just do not know how this will affect the value because it will show up on a carfax report wont it? I know if I were looking to buy a used car I would not even consider one that was in an accident and I dont care how much of a discount was on it.

Luckily the car is an 03 and not worth more than $12k according to kelley bluebook. The estimate now is $5k to fix it but I think that is going to be higher once they get under the hood.

 

[LEX]

glad she wasn't hurt....car is just metal and plastic.....you need to get her driving again and get her confidence back asap IMO the longer it goes on the worse it gets..
our typical justice system at work again here not much you can do about that...

 

[Userat204]

Sorry to hear this man. Hope your wife is ok. In most states the third owi/DUI charge is a felony where when convicted they will finally see minor jail time. Unfortunately they can't charge separate for driving under influence of drugs/alcohol because they are the same charge. It's really sad that you have to kill or injure someone very bad to get a raised penalty. All they will do is give him fines,probation,alcohol classes but he will never go and never pay and eventually they will get to the point where they lock him up for violating the terms (probation). But at that point it can be to late because he will probably kill someone by then. I would suggest the civil suit because even though we know he will never pay, it will add to the shut he has to deal with eventually. You can ask the court to add fines to recover cost for your expenses. Good luck to you and your family and hope you get through this soon.

 

[Jcagle]

Man, that sucks. Sorry too hear about shit like this. The biggest thing is your wife was not physically hurt. Best of luck.

 

[maldorf]

thanks all for the well wishes. Tomorrow we rent a car and we will see how she does driving to work for the first time. She seems terrified to drive. I guess she didnt even see the guy coming when he hit her and she is really jumpy now.

 

[mojo jojo]

thanks all for the well wishes. Tomorrow we rent a car and we will see how she does driving to work for the first time. She seems terrified to drive. I guess she didnt even see the guy coming when he hit her and she is really jumpy now.

Is your wife going to go to this guys court date? If she wants something done she should contact the prosecuting attorney and let them know she would like to testify if possible. If she shows up it will put a face to the crime he committed and the judge may be more likely to hand down a stiff sentence.

 

[maldorf]

Is your wife going to go to this guys court date? If she wants something done she should contact the prosecuting attorney and let them know she would like to testify if possible. If she shows up it will put a face to the crime he committed and the judge may be more likely to hand down a stiff sentence.

Not a bad idea. I think if it were me I would go in, but I think she will just want to be done with it and not have to deal/think about it anymore. I will run that by her though. Maybe doing that might have an impact.

 

[mojo jojo]

Not a bad idea. I think if it were me I would go in, but I think she will just want to be done with it and not have to deal/think about it anymore. I will run that by her though. Maybe doing that might have an impact.

I can certainly understand if she does not want to think about it anymore. However if this guy gets off lightly he will probably do the same thing again only this time someone might die. Your wife might be able to prevent that from happening. She'll never know either way but at least she can take peace in knowing she did what she could.

 

[Pekkerwood]

Maldorf:
Sorry for your families troubles. It certainly can be hard to get your head around when they arrive in this fashion.

As far as a few issues you raised:

1) My insurance (forced by law) gives an allowance for the diminished value of a car. I found this out because they mailed me a $1300 check out of the blue for an accident from years before with a letter. You may want to check into that. It certainly will detract from resale value for the first few years. After 100k plus miles or seven or more years, not so much.

2) Your insurance company has a right to sue him, her, etc. You probably only will get your $500 plus court costs, as your insurance is paying. For kicks you may choose to file in small claims court anyway and get the judgement. Even though you may (probably) will never receive your money, if filed with the county, it will usually show up on his credit report as a "Public Record". If you have no other public record the hit on your credit is horrendous. It will last for at least seven years and can be renewed. You need to check laws in your state. Usually you have to document some effort to collect in order to renew, but you could conceivably wreck his credit for twenty years. Not much but something. If he does show up in small claims court you may have the right to question where he works which will give you a place to serve a "garnishment" of his wages. A copy of the arrest report mailed to an employer can have negative results as well.

3) Complaining actively to the solicitor/prosecutor and making MADD in this situation aware will step up the heat/punishment a notch. Unfortunately him having these arrests close to each other will help a claim of a "short term" problem instead of the chronic problem it may be.

Again, I'm sorry for the violation your family has endured, let me know if I can help, my cell number is the same.

Pekkerwood

 

[Lymelight]

Hey Maldorf,

Sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she stays well. Surprising the bonehead was let out that eveining, usually the clerk(bailor) would put a high bail on someone with another OUI. As you prob already know, geting blood is a pain in the ass legally, though more states are looking into compelling someone to give their blood. It seems that laws dont change unless someone very important, or a politician, are on the receiving end nowadays. Its important for everyone to know to look over your car insurance policy. Its worth paying the extra 50 bucks to be covered if your hit by an uninsured driver. I would say suing this guy, through probably fruitless, may be in order. The irs can order any amount of money he "officially" makes in the future to be attached. Of course you may want to check with a lawyer in your area. Sorry again to hear.

 

[maldorf]

Hey Maldorf,

Sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she stays well. Surprising the bonehead was let out that eveining, usually the clerk(bailor) would put a high bail on someone with another OUI. As you prob already know, geting blood is a pain in the ass legally, though more states are looking into compelling someone to give their blood. It seems that laws dont change unless someone very important, or a politician, are on the receiving end nowadays. Its important for everyone to know to look over your car insurance policy. Its worth paying the extra 50 bucks to be covered if your hit by an uninsured driver. I would say suing this guy, through probably fruitless, may be in order. The irs can order any amount of money he "officially" makes in the future to be attached. Of course you may want to check with a lawyer in your area. Sorry again to hear.

Yesterday we added coverage for a rental car so that it will be paid for if some other loser decides to hit us. It was only $50 a year for both of our cars and I wish that I had done it before now. It will pay up to $30/day for a rental and the one we have now is $27.50/day and we have to pay all of it ourselves. Another thing you want to do is add in inusrance for loss of use, this will take care of you if you happen to have a car accident while driving a rental. This rider will cover the amount of money the rental company charges you for the time they cant rent out your car(lost wages). This rider also covers the $500 deductable we have so if we do have an accident in a rental we wont have to pay a dime. This extra coverage cost $40 per year. So now we are basically paying $90/year just to be safe becaues there are so many uninsured drivers out there.

The manager at the rental place said he read that LE estimates that about 20% of the US pop is uninsured.

 

[jamez]

sounds like you live in one shitty state... they just let him go?

felony hit and run, driving suspended lic, second dui, failure to appear in court for first one... here the car would be impounded and he'd be sitting in jail (and then sentenced) to at least 45 days just for the 2nd dui.. im sure the felony and other stacked charges would equal alot more time.

 

[blkbeard]

glad your wife is physically ok. I have seen people never recover mentally from something like this. She may need to see some professional help.

always hard in situations like this to not beat the hell out of people like this...especially multiple offenders. I hate to see people like this walk

 

[webster]

If it's any consolation, any losses above and beyond what the insurance company will pay, including diminished value, IS a tax deduction. That might help ease the pain of the financial loss a bit. It goes on tax form 4684. Good luck.

 

[PeterBobJohn]

Yes he is correct, point number 2: your insurance company will pay for your damage and then bring a "subrogation claim" against the retard drunk and eventually reimburse you for any deductible.
They will pursue him with all of their resources so they can recover costs, they won't sweat their legal fees so don't worry they will sue him in a heartbeat and you will have to do nothing but wait for your deductible to be reimbursed

Maldorf:
Sorry for your families troubles. It certainly can be hard to get your head around when they arrive in this fashion.

As far as a few issues you raised:

1) My insurance (forced by law) gives an allowance for the diminished value of a car. I found this out because they mailed me a $1300 check out of the blue for an accident from years before with a letter. You may want to check into that. It certainly will detract from resale value for the first few years. After 100k plus miles or seven or more years, not so much.

2) Your insurance company has a right to sue him, her, etc. You probably only will get your $500 plus court costs, as your insurance is paying. For kicks you may choose to file in small claims court anyway and get the judgement. Even though you may (probably) will never receive your money, if filed with the county, it will usually show up on his credit report as a "Public Record". If you have no other public record the hit on your credit is horrendous. It will last for at least seven years and can be renewed. You need to check laws in your state. Usually you have to document some effort to collect in order to renew, but you could conceivably wreck his credit for twenty years. Not much but something. If he does show up in small claims court you may have the right to question where he works which will give you a place to serve a "garnishment" of his wages. A copy of the arrest report mailed to an employer can have negative results as well.

3) Complaining actively to the solicitor/prosecutor and making MADD in this situation aware will step up the heat/punishment a notch. Unfortunately him having these arrests close to each other will help a claim of a "short term" problem instead of the chronic problem it may be.

Again, I'm sorry for the violation your family has endured, let me know if I can help, my cell number is the same.

Pekkerwood

 

[maldorf]

If it's any consolation, any losses above and beyond what the insurance company will pay, including diminished value, IS a tax deduction. That might help ease the pain of the financial loss a bit. It goes on tax form 4684. Good luck.

THANKS! I did not know that and that will make her feel a bit better about things. We will keep good records of it.

 

[maldorf]

Yes he is correct, point number 2: your insurance company will pay for your damage and then bring a "subrogation claim" against the retard drunk and eventually reimburse you for any deductible.
They will pursue him with all of their resources so they can recover costs, they won't sweat their legal fees so don't worry they will sue him in a heartbeat and you will have to do nothing but wait for your deductible to be reimbursed

The thing is, the insurance company may win but the dead beat will never pay. I doubt he is even employed.

 

[PeterBobJohn]

The thing is, the insurance company may win but the dead beat will never pay. I doubt he is even employed.

You are right, he is what they call "judgment proof"
meaning he has nothing so what is the point in obtaining a judgment against him, cant garnish wages, no bank account to seize money from, no real property to place a lien on.

 

[jamez]

You are right, he is what they call "judgment proof"
meaning he has nothing so what is the point in obtaining a judgment against him, cant garnish wages, no bank account to seize money from, no real property to place a lien on.

We (nor he) actaully knows any of that. He could be drowning in money. I know of a guy with a ferrari and a very successful biz.. who was a major alcoholic. He got 3-4 dui's in 3 months. Had to do 6 mos in prison and is a millionare.