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

[PeterBobJohn]

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.

I am basing my answer on the information provided by Maldorf and basically trying to help him out as well.

 

[Ashop]

I am feeling so frustrated now that I see how my wife is dealing with things since being hit in her car by a drunk driver. The guy ran a red light, hit my wife's car, and then fled the scene in his car. Luckily a police officer was on foot, this happened downtown. The officer called in the plates and the guy was caught 4 blocks away. He took the breathalizer and blew an illegal limit. The police also told us they think he was under the influence of drugs too. TOday I called the officer and he told me that the guy had another DUI that he hadnt even shown up in court for yet and he was driving with a suspended licsense. Of course he never has seen any jail time. They bookedand released him that same day. The car he was driving didnt have matching plates either. Supposedly it is his girlfriends car.
So where does that leave us? Well, we are pretty sure he is uninsured so that means we have to pay our $500 deductable and then rent a car until ours is fixed. The body place said that 25 working days is normal for repairs of this caliber! The whole front end needs to be replaced. It was appraised by our insurance at $5000 damage but I think its going to be a lot more. Our insurance has been good about it. I guess thats what we pay the big bucks for. My wife is so scared now, she doesnt want to drive. She doesnt want to rent a car, she wants me to drive her to work everyday and pick her up. She is a wreck.
The waste of flesh that hit my wife is probably out right now driving drunk again. He wont stop until he kills somebody. taking him to small claims court would be a waste of time, as he cant pay shit. Hell, hes not even scared of the law as he keeps on driving no matter what. I wish they would lock him up for a long time. What I really wish is that I could find him and beat him to a pulp.Anyone else on here ever have a guy like this cause a car accident?

Sorry to hear this. I'm glad shes ok though. I had somethinhg similar happen to me last year,,but the lady ended up getting away.

 

[maldorf]

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.

Yeah, so we will just let the insurance company work on it and see if they can get anywhere.

 

[maldorf]

Sorry to hear this. I'm glad shes ok though. I had somethinhg similar happen to me last year,,but the lady ended up getting away.

yeah, this guy would have gotten away too if it hadnt been for a good police officer that was closeby on foot patrol. He radioed in his plate and they caught the fool about 4 blocks away. THe officer was so nice that he gave my wife his PERSONAL PHONE number to call if she had any questions. I called him and got the low down on the criminal that hit her. Its times like this that recomfirm with me that there are great police officers out there. The officer was telling me how frustrating it is to let guys like this go free. This drunk is probably out there right now driving again and will continue to do so unitl he is caught again.

 

[lostin760]

When I was about 17 I was driving and got t boned by a drunk illegal immigrant. Obviously he did not have insurance and cops never really did anything about it. I don't even know if the guy was charged, they were supposed to let us know but they didn't.

Glad she is ok bro.

 

[maldorf]

When I was about 17 I was driving and got t boned by a drunk illegal immigrant. Obviously he did not have insurance and cops never really did anything about it. I don't even know if the guy was charged, they were supposed to let us know but they didn't.

Glad she is ok bro.

Thanks. I was told a day or two ago that studies show that 20% of all drivers are uninsured now. It might even be higher. Insurance sure is expensive and the rates are going up again now my agent told me. Every year they rise more and more. I think part of it might be due to uninsured motorists. The waste of flesh that hit my wife is going to cost our insurance company somewhere between $5-7K.

 

[PeterBobJohn]

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

Yeah, so we will just let the insurance company work on it and see if they can get anywhere.

If your insurance carrier pays out the claim via your collision coverage and believes the other party was at fault(which it appears he is) they will seek reimbursement from the tortfeasor which includes your deductible if applicable

 

[LS3 Power]

....
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.

I can't intelligently comment on the insurance aspect but I do know, from personal experience, that if a police report was filed it will inevitably make its way to DMV and will subsequently find its way into a Carfax report. Hence, less valuable car.

Personally, I wouldn't take a dollars loss in a situation like yours. I would find a body shop that has worked with your insurance carrier in the past and push for the highest possible agreed upon repair cost (insurance appraiser and body shop) and hope for it to be declared a total loss.

If the value of your loss is already at 45% of the pre-crash market value of the car and, by your assertion, is expected to climb even higher I could foresee your ins. company writing it off. BS situation your in man. What a prick.

 

[maldorf]

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.

Yeah, well this loser was driving his girlfriends old Impala and the plates on it didnt even match. I think its safe to say he is poor and may be unemployed considering he was drunk and high on drugs at 9:30 am! This guy wont stop till he kills somebody.

 

[maldorf]

I can't intelligently comment on the insurance aspect but I do know, from personal experience, that if a police report was filed it will inevitably make its way to DMV and will subsequently find its way into a Carfax report. Hence, less valuable car.

Personally, I wouldn't take a dollars loss in a situation like yours. I would find a body shop that has worked with your insurance carrier in the past and push for the highest possible agreed upon repair cost (insurance appraiser and body shop) and hope for it to be declared a total loss.

If the value of your loss is already at 45% of the pre-crash market value of the car and, by your assertion, is expected to climb even higher I could foresee your ins. company writing it off. BS situation your in man. What a prick.

Its a tough situation. The car is an 03 Acura TL and has about 100k miles on it. I was surprised to see that the kelly bluebook resale on it was like $12k. I guess those things hold their value. The damage estimate by insurance was $5k, but that was just from what he could see from the outside of the car. We do not want them to total it out, and I doubt they would since the repair is less than 1/2 the value. We cannot afford a 2nd car payment now. Im still out of work and we live just on her paycheck. Realestate taxes here are killing us and we still have my car to payoff, and so we are glad they dont total it. We wouldnt be able to buy as nice a car for the kind of money the insurance would pay us.

 

[maldorf]

Just got a message on the answering machine

Looks like they discovered more damage and they want to total our car now. I need to speak to them and hope that they offer the true market value of the car. If they do not come close to the TMV then I will take them to court. Hopefully we can arrive at a fair agreements. Anyone on here ever go through this before? Im scared they are going to try and rip us off.

Damn it, we just put $1,100 into the car too getting the timing belt and water pump done at the 100,000 mile mark. That car was in outstanding conditon and had just had that very costly maintenacne done. Im so freakin pissed. I would love to crush that drunk's head.

 

[Amazon Doll]

That sucks about the car. I wish I knew how to make sure they give you fair market price. Have you googled a bunch of stuff on the net? I bet there is advise from people dealing wioth the same thing.

 

[maldorf]

That sucks about the car. I wish I knew how to make sure they give you fair market price. Have you googled a bunch of stuff on the net? I bet there is advise from people dealing wioth the same thing.

I checked Edmunds.com and got the value at $8,600 if its in outstanding condition. They orignally only offered me $8070, but I told them we just spent $1000 chaging the timing belt and water pump since it was at 95k miles. They came back with $8200, which isnt too far from what I found. So I guess it was fair. It just sucks because we spent $1k on maintenance and the we are losing $500 for the deductable and also spent over $100 on the rental.

My wife's parents are coming down this weekend and are going to leave their old Honda Civic for her to use back and forth to work until we buy something.

We took such good care of that car and were counting on getting another 100k miles out of it.

Now we are going to have to take out another loan to get anything I feel will be dependable and half way decent.

 

[LS3 Power]

Looks like they discovered more damage and they want to total our car now. I need to speak to them and hope that they offer the true market value of the car. If they do not come close to the TMV then I will take them to court. Hopefully we can arrive at a fair agreements. Anyone on here ever go through this before? Im scared they are going to try and rip us off.

Damn it, we just put $1,100 into the car too getting the timing belt and water pump done at the 100,000 mile mark. That car was in outstanding conditon and had just had that very costly maintenacne done. Im so freakin pissed. I would love to crush that drunk's head.

Before you get too far into legal wrangling with what is presumably a large, heavily fortified corporate entity (ie; your insurance co.), make sure to obtain as many accounts of your cars true market value from as many reputable sources as possible. (Edmunds, KBB, Blackbook, high volume dealerships etc.). Contact your agent, you can negotiate with these people.

If all else fails, I would suggest taking the "agreed upon" amount and finding a large format auto auction in your area. Check Manheims website. They are the nations largest auto auctioning house. You will certainly be able to pull a gem out of one of their satelite auctions. Regardless, it will certainly be heads above what a stealership will try getting you to bend over for.

Now go hit the gym and try to eradicate this moron from your mind. Best of luck to Maldorf.

 

[maldorf]

Before you get too far into legal wrangling with what is presumably a large, heavily fortified corporate entity (ie; your insurance co.), make sure to obtain as many accounts of your cars true market value from as many reputable sources as possible. (Edmunds, KBB, Blackbook, high volume dealerships etc.). Contact your agent, you can negotiate with these people.

If all else fails, I would suggest taking the "agreed upon" amount and finding a large format auto auction in your area. Check Manheims website. They are the nations largest auto auctioning house. You will certainly be able to pull a gem out of one of their satelite auctions. Regardless, it will certainly be heads above what a stealership will try getting you to bend over for.

Now go hit the gym and try to eradicate this moron from your mind. Best of luck to Maldorf.

Thanks, I did look at edumunds.com and the insurance company's offer was just $400 short of their TMV value for the car if it was outstanding condition(the highest quality possible). I am happy enough with this settlement so we can go forward with this and try and forget what happened. Today we spent about 5 hours looking at cars and found some good leads on what we should settle for. Luckily we have a car loaned to us from her parents that we can use until we find a car that we want to purchase.