I was involved in an accident where I was rear-ended by a school bus. Nobody was injured, but totally his fault. We exchanged all the necessary information, but since no one had a phone, we didn’t call the police. Called the police when I got home (car was still driveable, but not sure it is technically street legal with the amount of damage), and they said filing a police report was not necessary since we left the scene. Thought that was a bit odd, but oh well. Called the insurance company and they opened a claim.
My question is, the car is only worth a couple hundred bucks at best (1988 Reliant, 107k miles), but it was reliable and would’ve held until we can get another one to replace it. My question is, do you think the school’s insurance would just give a totalled check and say go away? Couple hundred bucks wouldn’t do anything for us, and our lives would become miserable.
I’ll be calling the claim office in a couple hours when they open, but I just want to hear any opinions you guys have.
I think you can reasonably ask for “replacement value” in this case. Point out that a running, reliable car was destroyed and that another running, reliable car costs $999.
Something similar happened to a friend of mine. His 1987 Chevy Nova was in an accident, that bent the front bumper out a bit, but otherwise didn’t have any serious damage. He got $2K from the other guy’s insurance company, then used that to get a new car. The Nova was worth $100 as a trade in.
Been There…
Youre only going to receive the Bluebook value of the car, thats the way the system is set-up. I can’t beleive you didn’t suffer Whiplash effect from being rammed by a bus. If any injury is incurred your better off to consult a Lawyer.
As far as the Reliant is concerned nobody else cares how dependable or reliable it is. Bluebook is the rulebook.
I would talk to a lawyer(free consults a great) really soon. Insurance companies are pretty pragmatic. And experience has tought them that enough cases of whiplash suddenly develop, which costs them thousands in lawyer fees even if it’s obvious bullshit, that they might be willing to take care of you a bit to get things taken care of quickly. BUT I AM NOT A LAWYER, so talk to one soon.
Depending on where the accident happens, there may be laws requiring you to move the vehicles off the roadway. It’s an accident scene, not a crime scene (usually).
Given as a blanket statement, this is pretty much complete B.S. Toss this post in the flower bed and wait for Spring.
(Kelley) Blue Book as a resource for determining the value of a car is only slightly less reliable than a dartboard. The values it gives are typically 10-20% above the actual value of a car–what you will actually have to fork over in order to get the keys. There are exceptions, of course, but I am convinced they are accidents.
The system is set up to pay you what is owed to you. That translates directly into the (anticipated) cost to restore the vehicle to its condition immediately prior to the accident or the fair market value of the car, which ever is less. The idea being that it is not cost effective to pay $5,000 to repair your car when it could be FAIRLY replaced for say, $1,500. All you gotta do is call the school district, and let them know about the accident. I’m assuming there is some damage to the front of the bus that will corroborate your story? There are NOT people on someone’s payroll whose sole purpose in life is to find ways of weaseling out of responsibility. That’s just nuts.
Your best argument for the value of your car is NADA.com Which puts your car at about $800 if it’s a POS to $1,500. If your car is not driveable as a result of the accident, you are very likely owed “Loss Of Use” as well, which equates to the cost to rent a comparable replacement (a 4-door) from the date of the loss through the date a fair offer is made to you. You are owed this whether or not you actually rent a car, but you may need to ASK for it.
And if you are not hurt, do not present a claim for being hurt simply because you are frustrated. That’s called fraud, and carries some pretty stiff labels and penalties. That said, it’s not uncommon for you to think you got away without injury from a hit like this only to wake up the next morning feeling like you got run over.
My advice is to take a chill pill, document the value of your car (Yours sounds like a “grocery getter” which, if it’s reliable transpo should fetch at least $1k) and don’t anticipate getting screwed. It’s just not likely to happen. If you feel like you’re being bent over, say so here and I or someone else in this field will give you some ammo to improve your odds of being treated fairly.
There’s signs up on the freeways here telling people to move over to the shoulder if they’re involved in a fender-bender. If all vehicles involved are still driveable after a minor accident, I’m sure the police would much rather have you move out of the flow of traffic.
Call up , both the school bus owners , usually they are a fleet service and ask em , if they just wannna cut you a check for 1500 or so , like you said , just to walk away.
They pay insurance premiums too , and may want to settle out of insurance.
I just wanted to say that it’s great to have Inigo back and sharing his expertise on insurance matters. Inigo, you are truly invaluable to this board. Excellent post.
My simple advice to Viscera is listen to Inigo. He can (and lucky for us, is willing to) help. And take care of yourself. Next time (let’s hope there isn’t one) there’s damage to either vehicle, don’t leave the scene until you’ve filed a police report. Good rule of thumb: always have documentation to back up your claims.
With that, best of luck. Hope everything works out well for you.
If you do, you have violated the law in most states. If the other guy leaves, & you stay till the cops show, you win by default, because the other driver becomes a “hit & run” violator.
Baby Bosda has been in 3 accidents, & never held responsible for any of them.
Called the school this morning, they seemed helpful, they were going to relay the info to their insurance company. Called my insurance agent to give them an overview, they looked up the claim, but basically re-affirmed there wasn’t much they could do, and said that fair market value and them (the bus insurance) totalling the car was probably what was going to happen. They said that rental car reimbursal is probable (we won’t need it, but it’s there). Bus insurance called me back telling me to go get an estimate which will be done tomorrow, and then their adjustor will get back to me.
So, being involved in an accident last year due to slippery roads, it seems the process is going pretty normally at this point. In retrospect, I agree with you who say that we should’ve contacted police, but it was a relatively rural area, and neither of us had a cell phone. Next time I would probably try to flag someone down.
Inigo, thanks for the very helpful advice, at the very least it will give me more options to pursue. Definitely wasn’t injured, the bus was probably only going a few mph when he hit me (we were stopped at a light, I started to turn, but then stopped when I saw a vehicle coming, and the bus didn’t).
I am fascinated. I got nudged from behind back in late December by a distracted middle-aged lady drinking coffee, while I was stopped at a light. We both pulled off to the side of the road, and I got out to inspect for damage. She assured me (from her car) that my vehicle was unharmed, but I verified anyway - not so much as a scratch. I pointed out to her that she’d dinged her front bumper-panel pretty good - she said she knew, seemingly exasperated with herself.
She seemed disinclined to call anyone about it, and I was in a bit of a hurry, so I headed back to my truck, started it up… she pulled out into traffic and stopped so I could do likewise, and we both went on our merry way.
I figure if she tries, using Bizarro-logic, to blame me for the damage with her insurance company (because she could’ve memorized my license plate; we didn’t exchange information) I’m okay, because the front of her car hit the back of my car, and beyond that simply provable point, it’s my word vs. hers.
Arbitrary to how Montoya equates my post to Fertilizer and let me be the first to congratulate Montoya on his tele-claims adjuster degree, he obviously ignored the first two words to my post, “been there”.
In 1994, I was driving an '82 Subaru. I was violently rear-ended on the freeway with my only solace being a Police Officer witnessed the accident. My little Subaru was an incredibly reliable car which incidently, I just had new brakes installed. I also carried full collision on my policy with a major Insurance Carrier. Because my vehicle was over 10-years old, my vehicle was subject to, “perameters governing claims adjusting”. To me, my little car was worth, $3500 in order to replace it with a comparable transportation vehicle. As I recall, my vehicle was totalled and I received, $1200.
I fully empathize with your situation. Bottom Line: you are not going to receive what your reliant is worth- To You! only (un) fair market value.
11 year-old anecdotal evidence is no basis for sound advice, especially given the increasingly letigious environment surrounding insurance claims. I still say that my working in the industry for 9 years and doing nothing but settling total losses for the last 3 (well over 4,500 satisfied customers, 9 dissatisfied enough to want to talk to my boss, and only one so freaked out that a formal complaint was lodged with the Colorado Division of Insurance…my position was upheld and the customer was told by The State to pound sand, by the way) trumps a blanket statement born of bitterness and lack of understanding of the difference between what your vehicle’s dollar value is versus the cost of acquiring a vehicle which will deliver the mental comfort of a known history and reliability.
If the going price of a 82 Subaru in similar condition and mileage as yours was indeed $3,500 in 1994, then you got screwed and I’m truly sorry–but it wasn’t me, man. I was in electronic warfare back then. But if the going price was $1,200 and you wanted additional monies to cover “what-ifs” then someone did not do a good job of communicating with you.
