My wife and I went to Del Taco for lunch after dropping her 2000 Ford Explorer off at America's Tire to get some new shoes put on. Leaving the parking lot and heading for the driveway I saw a woman driving a newer Ford Explorer pulling in. It appeared she was going to turn wide, so I stopped well short of the driveway to give her room.
To my shock, she kept right on going straight for me. She even accelerated a bit as she hit my 2006 Saab 9-5. As she hit me I noticed she was looking down at her phone instead of where she was going. My guess is she was looking at the text of her office's Del Taco lunch order.
I loved this car. 260hp from its 2.3L turbo 4. All the luxury bells and whistles. Comfortable and quick. My favorite daily driver ever.
The damage didn't seem too bad at first. The bumper cover mounting points broke, so it was laying on the ground. The woman kept asking, "Are we OK?" She was trying to get me to just call it good and let her go. I insisted on getting her information. No drivers license with her, but she gave me her insurance card. I really should have called the police at that point, but I was truly stunned that it had even happened. I figured with the dashcam, I would be fine.
I got some zipties and put the bumper cover back on as best I could so I could move the car out of the driveway and into a parking spot.
Here are pictures:
As you can see, the damage appears minor on the Saab, and almost nothing on the woman's Explorer.
After taking down her info and taking photos of her insurance and the cars, I let her go. I then called my insurance company.
Once they saw these pics and the dashcam footage, the response was almost immediate. The accident was her fault. They had me take the car to Service King for an estimate. I rented a car for 4 days while they had the Saab ($400).
The estimate came back at well over the value of the car. There was frame damage under the plastic. But since it didn't look really bad, I figured I could fix it up good enough to drive so I took the car back.
While this was happening, the woman who hit me couldn't be contacted. Her insurance, like most, has a "Cooperation Clause" in the policy. If she doesn't cooperate with them, they don't pay. And she wasn't returning calls or answering letters.
Eventually I told my insurance to go ahead and pay me out with my Uninsured Motorist policy. So I got around $4k. $5k minus my $1000 deductible. My finance company got paid off, and sent me a title with SALVAGE across the top. Uh oh. That meant I wouldn't be able to renew the registration on the car until I went through a bunch of inspections and certifications. One of those inspections was headlights.
My xenon headlights were jacked. I mean, they worked, but they were falling apart, the auto-leveling system had an error somewhere, etc. That alone would have been a bunch of money, then I would have to have brakes, bumpers, airbags, etc, all inspected. And I would still be left with a bent car after all that effort. I decided to say screw it and sell it.
So I started shopping. I found another 2006 Saab 9-5 in gunmetal gray on Craigslist with 90k miles on the odometer for $2900. I checked it out and it was in darn near perfect condition. So I grabbed it.
And here it is:
As of today, March 10 2017, the woman still has not responded to the insurance company. My insurance is handling everything in subrogation. Once they are able to close this, I can get my deductible and rental car reimbursement. I don't actually expect this to happen and have written off my loss. $1400 doesn't feel like enough to bother with a lawyer. But I may change my mind later...
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