T bone last night: not the tasty kind...

[freshtiva]

After reading Manxbuggys accident thread Id be afraid to turn it into the insurance company.

[neanderpaul]

After reading Manxbuggys accident thread Id be afraid to turn it into the insurance company.

X2.

Karl, so sorry to hear this. I'm really glad you are okay. And really sorry about your awesome low mileage festy. Best of luck on the repairs.

[batstiva]

Karl. really sorry to hear about Twinstiva. Glad you are okay. Cars can be repaired, people are little more difficult to fix. I have faith in you, Twin will be good as new in no time.

I hope this is not some kind of omen for the rest of the calendar girls.

[freshtiva]

X2.

Karl, so sorry to hear this. I'm really glad you are okay. And really sorry about your awesome low mileage festy. Best of luck on the repairs.

I envision a new type of hit and run. The victim has to flee the scene to keep their car from having a salvage title for a minor fender bender.

[navdoc101]

T-Bone

Sorry about the 'Tiva. Your okay, thats what counts.

[TominMO]

Karl, since he fled the scene of an accident, you should file a police report on him. Then you should pressure him with this in case he is still uncooperative, so that he or his insurance company comes across with money.

[Safety Guy]

I turned in the accident report to Columbus PD this morning and picked up another form titled "Crash Report." This is for accidents with any injuries or involving a driver without insurance. I'll fill it out as I get my insurance information from my company.

Maybe I didn't state it clearly, but the other driver, who said he was insured with Safe Auto, was NOT. I called my insurance company the next morning, and then called Safe Auto. They ran his name, his address, and his OH driver's license number. No one with that info was insured with them.

An ex-cop I work with said in his experience, most drivers who run from an accident have suspended licenses. So that's a real possibility, and why I'm definitely following this up with the other report. I'll also call the city prosecutor's office (got their card at CPD) and tell them I have pictures and will press charges, assist them, etc. I'll make sure they know that instead of staying to exchange info, he thought he could duck around the corner to avoid me identifying him.

My insurance adjuster should be out this week to look at my car. I'll be collecting info on what nice shape Festivas are going for. I think my Twin was easily worth around $1500, give or take a hundred. No rust and right at 95K miles, ran well, etc. I have about $1200 to $1300 in her easily, too. Looks to me that the door and the tie rod and end need replaced. The fender might actually be salvageable and the rub strip looks merely smudged. However, there could be some damage to the knuckle, CV or even the transaxle for all I know. But I think the tie rod took the brunt of it.

The worst is the rocker panel damage. I may be able to take the carpet out and bang the rocker back out and use a bit of Bondo to smooth it up when the time comes. We'll see.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I'm not as bummed as at first because in the light of day she doesn't look quite as bad. Plus, Luxstiva is running okay even in the cold weather. I just can't go on any long trips and I'm staying off the highway.

Aqua should be ready to take over in a few days...if nothing else goes wrong.

Karl

[Britstiva]

Oh man... that sucks big time!!! I hope you'll be able to take this slacker to court!! Keep us posted and how the repairs for twin go. Totally sucks that it got it! We need a 'Tiva Mofia for these types of incidents. LOL

[Smedley]

Sorry to hear about your problems Karl. Wish you were closer, maybe I could help you with parts, but doors are heavy and would be expensive to ship.

[Safety Guy]

Thanks for the kind comments, you Brit and Barbara!

Things are looking up a bit. The adjuster was out yesterday and offered his price for me to keep Twin. Uninsured motorist deductable was $250 and the scrap value was $125. He valued my car at $2015, minus the above gives me $1650! Since I was valueing my car at around $1500 to begin with (and I have about $1300 in her), I'm quite pleased! (I would have been content enough at around $1100, and I was half expecting the offer would be lower than $1000.)

Repairs can wait a few months. I'll buy a car cover for Twin to keep most of the precipitation out of those cracks. Right now I'm driving Luxstiva, who isn't doing too bad a job of getting me around.

I know I'll be needing a new door, inner tie rod, rod end, and alloy wheel (piece of the rim chipped off, but it holds air--maybe it can be refurbished). The fender looks like it can be bent back without looking too bad and the door rub strip is merely smudged up. The steering rack and firewall mount area looks okay.

The main damage is to the rocker panel--big long dent and a gash sheared in the top just below the door. Driving her now would get a lot of salty slush inside the rocker area and mean sure rust death in a few years, so no driving at all. I can't anyway because I'll be trading my normal title for a salvage title. That should not be a problem since I'm keeping her forever.

So far nothing more on the @#$%^& who hit me. I'll contact my insurance investigators soon to ask some questions and get another police form filled out. I'll do what I can to help prosecute this idiot!!

Thanks again everyone!

Karl

[SuperDaveGulvak]

Glad to here the financial end of things worked out Karl and you will have proper funds for a proper repair