Monday, October 22, 2007
More on my car....
...that is, if I still have one. The insurance company totalled it out. I have some pictures, but I can't get my phone to send them. The damage is all confined to the left rear, but the body is pretty badly damaged, and it apparently pushed into the frame. That means that to fix it would require cutting off the entire quarter panel and putting on a new one. The body shop ballparked it at $4000-$6000 -- not good for an 11-year-old car, even if it ran great. In the almost 8 years that I had it, I spent a total of less than $1100 in repairs (not counting tires, routine maintenance, and the rear brake pads that I replaced last year at about 110,000 miles)...and over $700 of that was to replace the odometer, which was probably too much considering I've since found that the place that did it charges more than any other place I know of.
In fact, USAA is only going to pay out $2249 if I give up the car, and $1095 if I decided to keep it. I really don't see how I can get a decent car for that little money.
But there is a slight bit of hope. The body shop guy said his figure was to fix the car like new. When I asked how much it would cost to make it driveable, he said, "It's probably driveable now." There are two main issues I have to check out. One is the rear end alignment -- if that's shot, then the car is dead. But if the alignment is reasonably good, then I may be able to deal with the second issue for much less than the $1095 I can collect. That is the left tail light assembly (including the brake light and turn signal). That's almost destroyed, and the body is so smashed up that there currently is no place to mount it. But I may be able to get something rigged up so the car is street legal.
Tomorrow I'm going to check out a place that specializes in Mustangs to see what they think, and I also need to call the insurance company to see what is involved in taking the car out to be looked at. If I can get this done, then maybe over time I can have the body work done in stages, especially once I get my tax refund.
On the other end, no word on finding the bastard who hit me and drove off. But rest assured, there are lots of eyes out there watching the road. Not that I expect to get any sort of compensation if the driver is found, but it would be somewhat satisfying to see him busted.
Wish me luck. By the way, that isn't MY car in the picture, but it looks exactly like that, even down to the same style wheels.
In fact, USAA is only going to pay out $2249 if I give up the car, and $1095 if I decided to keep it. I really don't see how I can get a decent car for that little money.
But there is a slight bit of hope. The body shop guy said his figure was to fix the car like new. When I asked how much it would cost to make it driveable, he said, "It's probably driveable now." There are two main issues I have to check out. One is the rear end alignment -- if that's shot, then the car is dead. But if the alignment is reasonably good, then I may be able to deal with the second issue for much less than the $1095 I can collect. That is the left tail light assembly (including the brake light and turn signal). That's almost destroyed, and the body is so smashed up that there currently is no place to mount it. But I may be able to get something rigged up so the car is street legal.
Tomorrow I'm going to check out a place that specializes in Mustangs to see what they think, and I also need to call the insurance company to see what is involved in taking the car out to be looked at. If I can get this done, then maybe over time I can have the body work done in stages, especially once I get my tax refund.
On the other end, no word on finding the bastard who hit me and drove off. But rest assured, there are lots of eyes out there watching the road. Not that I expect to get any sort of compensation if the driver is found, but it would be somewhat satisfying to see him busted.
Wish me luck. By the way, that isn't MY car in the picture, but it looks exactly like that, even down to the same style wheels.
Labels: cars collision driving hit and run Mustang insurance criminal
