I'm calling them again today to see if there is any news.

 

Called up LAPD this morning and got a Report #. It hasn't been assigned to a detective yet, they said that would be roughly 5 Business days. My insurance is running the plates as well but they said it'd be about a week before they got anything back on it. Tomorrow morning I'll find out how much the damage really is to repair.

Question for the experts however. Once the frame rail has been crumpled as it appears in my pictures, even if it is straightened, won't the metal lose its overall integrity? Meaning, it won't be AS strong as it would have been before it was hit? Exactly how repairable is damage like that, and what does it do to the value of the car? Anyone thing they'll total it?

 

sucks...im sorry man

 

You are in luck (as it may be these days). has OEM replacement frame-rail sections. The body shop that is fixing my car cut out the rear rails and welded in two new ones. But the shop has to drop your entire rear suspension to get at them properly so you're looking at a lot of labour hours.

My rails were no where near as bad as yours so they better replace them. The biggest pain will be pulling your trunk back out. I got lucky and avoided any major trunk floor damage.

As for you're diminished value, you'll have to have an appraiser evaluate the vehicle after it's repaired. Then you get to fight it out in court since the guy had no insurance.

 

Damn that sounds like a lot of work to get it back to "normal" I still wouldn't trust factory frame rails that were welded on vs the actual factory rails. If they have to cut out the trunk and put a new one in I'd rather they just total the car out.

 

well braden, totalling out the car is not your option, its the insurance's and looking at the pics of your damage, there is no way they will total the car. Remember the cost of the repair needs to be somewhat close to the value of the car, i can't see anything near $20k in damages. It sucks but theres nothing you can do but take it to a reputable shop, have them do the repairs and if you're not satisfied, have them do it again till your satisfied. That seems to be your only option.

 

Had a guy hit me before and took off...got his plates and my insurance company (USAA) ran the plate # right away and even told me the guys name. They reported it to the police and within 2 days the guy was ready to pay out his *** to avoid prosecution. AAA sounds lazy.

 

I'm not sure why the process is taking so long on either police or insurance side, can't cops run the plates inside their cars? I have GEICO, I've heard they are pretty good about dealing with claims. I guess I'm in the process of finding out.

 

Dealing with ins. companies can be a very negative experience . You might get lucky and everything will work ouyt OK, but be prepared for hassles, frustration and heartache.
I don't know why you involved AAA in this, but you ceratinly needed to call the police right away and file reports, etc. Your ins. company also needed to be contacted right away. You probably can get the car repaired very well and if they do a good job you'll not be able to tell it was ever damaged. OTOH, you could end up with a very crappy job and you'll be miserable. Try to choose the best body shop you can find and be sure to ask the ins. company for "reduced value" compensation. The car will always have a record of the accident and the damage when the VIN is run and you'll definitely lose value at trade in or sale time. The ins. companies know this and they'll generally pay you some cash to cover this. Please be sure you are not injured, that can be much more serious than any car.

Good luck

 

I called AAA because they are open on saturday's here and they have DMV services. That was all that was involved, I didn't even go, I just called and asked.

Police report has already been filed, insurance has already been claimed. Everything has been filed. I am trying to go out the extra mile and get faster results.

I hope that everything will work out, If I find the guy I will prosecute to the fullest extent and make him cover whatever needs to be covered and whatever value I have lost in the vehicle.. If he doesn't pay I'll just keep going after him till he can pay me with his jail paycheck.

 

I keep reading these posts saying to sue the guy. Does anybody have experience getting a broke guy to pay a $5000 repair bill? Seems like you could slap a judgement all over him and he'll just say, "Get in line".

Revenge time starts as soon as you get his address.

 

Hey dude if you can where every you are taking your car to get fixed have them order that frame rail ASAP becuase it will take a while to get. They didn't have any in the US at the time and they were having to order them from Japan. Just a tip to help you out on getting the thing back without having to wait 2 months for parts.

 

Yeah, that's unfortunately true... There is not much you can do to collect from a deadbeat. I don't have much faith at all in the legal system. The hassles and money/time involved in pursuing justice tends to be more than anybody is willing to go through. I've been there before and I've gotten about zero satisfaction even when the other guy had insurance, was found at fault, got ticket and everything. Sometimes their insurance companies are really rotten bastards and will do everything they can to avoid paying a claim. Imagine trying to collect from somebody who has no money os assets

On another note, revenge is easy to talk about or fantasize, but realistically who is going to go and hunt somebody down and physically harm them? First of all, it aint easy and the roles could reverse quickly and tragically. Secxondly, it's illegal and trust me, they might not go after the guy for damaging your car, but they'll surely hunt you down and prosecute you for something like that. Finally, I think most folks are just not that vengeful and even if they manage to do some revenge type of stuff, they might later feel remorse or regret. No, it's a shame but these things are just part of lifes ups and downs. Maybe his own insurance will take care of him just fine and all will be OK in the end.

 

GEICO is real good at handling these types of claims. Glad to see that you did the two most important things (1) Notified your insurance company and (2) Filed a police report. That will save you grief in the long run.

Last year around Thanksgiving I took the family to Columbus Ohio (braved the sniper!). I could have driven my Evo but I rented to save the milage (about 1000 miles round trip) and to avoid any potential damage. Boy was I lucky! Check out the view of my silver rental van that greated me when I was leaving:

Rental Van 1
Rental Van 2
Rental Van 3

I was real lucky because a cop witnessed the entire incident. I was in the hotel sleeping when it happened around midnight. Some drunk guy couldn't navigate the corner of the parking lot and creamed the Subaru next to me. He then pushed it into my rental and shoved it into the green Cavalier. Judging from the tire marks, he didn't know what was going on for a few seconds. He then backed up and laid a good patch of rubber on his exit. Fortunately the cop was parked right at the exit of the parking lot and he busted him. The guy was drunk and was thrown in jail. BTW, David Carradine & Lou Ferrigno were at the hotel that night as guests. I wonder if they would have taken $100 bucks to come out and open a can of whoop-*** on this guy?

I made the mistake of letting the rental agency take care of things at that point. After 4 weeks I got a bill for the damages and when I asked them why, they said that the drunk driver had an expired insurance policy. I contacted GEICO (my insurance co.) and they gave me crap for waiting so long. I straightened things out with them and they finally filed the claim under my policy as an uninsured driver accident. I complained but they said that it wouldn't affect my rates and that they would take the uninsured driver to court themselves to recoup their losses.

All in all a long process to resolve with lots of hassles. Just stay on top of it, you're off to a good start!

 

I don't know how it works with deadbeat drivers, but if you have a rental and you evict someone, the eviction lawyer can go after the person who owes you rent indefinately. In fact, 3 years later you may get a check from your lawyer from the guy who owes you rent. This is especially popular with landlords who have property near a college campus. THe student refuses to pay, but ends up getting his wages garnished when he finally gets his punk *** a jobby job.

I would assume there are legal means to do this when you win a civil judgement too.