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This is just beautiful...

I'm lying in bed totally asleep and a bit hung over from a reception last night. I hear a muffled pounding that rouses me out of sleep and I realize it's someone hammering on my door. I look out the window to see who it is but what I see is a fire truck, ambulance and two police cruisers. My first thought is "What the f*&$! is going on???" I go downstairs, take a deep breath and open the door.

Waiting on the other side of the door is a uniformed police officer. I look over his shoulder and there's a brown landcruiser wedged up against the 'no parking here to corner' sign, and of course, my innocent little Subaru. It turns out the guy had a seizure coming through the intersection and went off the road into my car. The cop said "at least your car stopped him before he could do any real damage". At least the bastard is insured. I feel bad for anyone having a seizure but I wanted to go over and smack him. Apparently, this guy has a history of seizures. WHY IS HE DRIVING?????

That sucks dude. Sorry to hear that. About 2 years ago we where behind this guy in a S-10 and he was acting really weird when he turned the corner so I went around him. I few seconds later his truck went out of control and hit a light pole and flipped him. We found out later he had a seizure well driving. I wonder if these people should be driving at all.

Joe

I don't think that anyone prone to seizures should be driving. I might be a little biased though.

OMFG Scott, that sucks! I can't even believe it.

I agree that if someoene is proned to have seizures that they should NOT be allowed to drive. What if it would have happened on a busy street, in a school zone and he took out 25 little grammer kids instead of your parked car!!? What then huh?

I'm sorry you're going through this, it seems to be one thing after another. WHich car was it anyways, the turbo or the L ? I'm afraid it was the turbo since that's what you've been driving....

damn, i'm sorry to hear about the whole situation.

What the %$?>@!$@#??

People suck. To me, this is just like people who drive drunk, while talking on cell phones, or even just drive badly. "What? You mean there are other people on this planet? And you think I should take some responsibility for what I do to them?"

I remember my cousin who's an ophthalmologist complaining to me once about the lobbying practices of a certain group that represents the elderly... They simultaneously had people who need corrective lenses wanting disability compensation while others who barely perceive light and dark wanting to drive.

I agree with you that having a habit of going into seizures means you're unfit to drive unless they can be controlled and you are undergoing the treatment that keeps them under control. This is almost civil suit territorry in my opinion.

I'm sorry, Scott. Which car was it? How bad did he get you? Be sure to make his insurance company pay for everything. Insurance companies like to try to cajole you into accepting substandard repairs or into trusting either their judgement or the judgement of the shops they hire. They especially like to do this when you're not their customer.

if it's the turbo, and it's totalled, get a big fat check from them.

Yeah, never take the first check from the insurance companies since they always low ball you first. Even my agent told me that.

That really sucks especially where this bastard is driving one of the biggest things he could - does he expect to have a seizure and crash? There was a guy at work who had seizures and he flipped out twice at work. He was fine when he was nedicated, but didn't like to always take it. I felt bad the first time, but when I heard that and he had another one later on it just pissed me off. I didn't talk to him after that unless I really had to. The moron has a kid, too, so even if he didn't care about strangers or himself what about if he had his kid in the car? He claimed he knew just before they were about to come on, but I don't consider that valid excuse. It sucks to have that problem, but we all have our crosses to bear and big or small we have to bear them.

Steve

He pushed my bumper in, bent the trunk up and slightly dented the left side of the body. Ya know now that I drive it I think my tranny is vibrating and my front axle is acting funny now too. I don't know if it will be totalled but hopefully the repair cost estimate will be close to the value of the vehicle so that when I get it fixed I can get some additional jank out of it. I smell an intercooler and who know what else, we'll see.

Yes, it was the turbo.

I should say that he destroyed the bumper to be clear and F'd the trunk up pretty good. I guess I'm not meant to own one of these cars . I'm not giving up right away though and if it survives this ordeal it's gonna have to be made into a fast, gas guzzlinig monster.

So he hit the back of the car? Why would that affect the front axle?

But you can drive the car at least... that's good because it'll be easy for you to get multiple estimates if necessary. The Subaru dealer's estimate is likely to be the best for you, I'd think.

If the car doesn't survive (or if they make you a good offer for totalling the car), buy it back from them and put all its goodies into your L.

So he hit the back of the car? Why would that affect the front axle?

Well, it wouldn't but I'm mining for possibilities if you get my meaning.

If the car doesn't survive (or if they make you a good offer for totalling the car), buy it back from them and put all its goodies into your L.

I hope it survives. The only way it wouldn't would be if the repairs cost over $3200 USD. I would maybe buy it back if the price was right but I have no experience with these things so I don't know what they'll offer even in ballpark terms. I don't think the reapairs will be that much but you never know. I'll wait and see but I know I'll need a new rear bumper and trunk lid. Hopefully it will need a paint job too but I'm not counting on it. My goal is to start out with the most expensive quote (Fairfield Toyota around here) and then go the Subaru dealer (next most expensive) and somewhere else. I plan on letting Maaco or some other body shop actually do the work for less than the estimate so I can get some more repair funds out of it. I don't think there's anything wrong with milking the system a bit. It's not like I'm talking 10k or anything.

Well depending on where the car was and if it hit anything in the front from the impact, it very well could have damaged the front axles/suspension/drivetrain.

Yeah, I guess you should have the axles checked out...

And let's also not forget that if your car was forced to roll forwards at all it could have caused damage to the transmission... the parking pawl and the MPT clutch are both in positions to sustain damage.

If the rear quarter panels are damaged (and it sounds like they probably are since the trunk is so squashed), then it can be a big deal to repair since it's the same piece of sheetmetal as the roof.

It'll definitely need the bumper and trunk painted, right? They'll probably blend that paint back into the rest of the car's paint.

You could have the work done even more cheaply if you can get used parts... like get a trunk lid, bumper, and taillights from a junkyard. That'll easily cost hundreds less than new parts at list price. If Maaco isn't willing to install these parts, you could probably find a local independent body shop that is.

Let's hope the insurance company makes the payment out to you and not to the shop, or that you make a deal with the shop.

I'll try to get a picture and post it soon. I think Matt has a camera.

Ya, my family from Oregon just left this second so I'm a bit vaclemped at the moment but I should be able to get some pics for you soon. I want to see it too.

Cool, get a hold of me when you can.

Will do, my friend.

The adjuster priced my damage at $1890.70. He found a bumper and tail light assembly for use with the repair. I'm pretty sure I'm going to just take the money and part out the car. After that is done it will go to the dump where it belongs. It just has too many problems and I can't afford to keep dumping money into it for repairs and gas.

Hmm... that seems low. Did he give you the itemized estimate? It seems that the proper cost of a bumper, taillight, and all the bodywork ought to be more than 2 grand.

I don't think he's allowed to just find you parts and choose the low cost he found them at. Or, you're not required to accept that. There's a more-or-less standard list price. There are published damage estimating guides; the "parts sheets" in the Legacy Central Library are actually scans from one of these. I'd imagine they're updated every year, though, so I don't think you could cull prices from the PDF in the Library. But the guides list prices for all the parts and list the amount of labor required to install and remove many parts, as well as the amount of labor to paint them.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable on the board can give you better advice on how to respond, but I wouldn't accept the claims adjuster's estimate just yet. Do you think you might have time to take the car to the dealer for an estimate?

Even if you're not going to keep the car, it seems to me you should get what the damage is worth from this guy.

I haven't gotten estimates yet but I was told that it wasn't done that way. The appraiser looked at the car and gave his estimate of the damage and found the used bumper. I don't know what the rules are so I'm lost.

I'm going to go and say that I want OEM parts that aren't used and see what happens then. He also told me that the trunk will be fixed as opposed to being replaced, a bunch of crap.

I don't know all the rules either, but I do know that you are allowed to have your car repaired at whatever shop you choose. Shops remind people of this all the time -- insurance companies make friends with shops that cut corners and try to railroad people into taking their cars there, but the fact is you can take your car to whomever you trust.

To me that means that if you want a dealer to repair it, you have that right, and so you should be able to take the dealer's estimate of the damage to the adjuster and ask him to reconcile the differences.

Maybe you could even take your car to the dealer for an estimate and ask them for advice. They probably know more about the rules than we do, and would be eager to offer you advice that could result in them getting thousands of dollars' worth of business from you.

Thanks Vikash, I appreciate your guiding me in the right direction on this. It's always good to have a more informed point of view. I've never had to go through this before and I don't want to get screwed by being ignorant of the way the game is played. What I'll do is take it to the dealership and have them do an estimate on it, refuse to use the junker parts and demand they replace the trunk rather than 'fix it'. Then when I get the check, assuming it works out, I'll take it somewhere cheaper. If they total it after the adjustment then I'll just take the check. My initial thought was to try and talk with a shop to have them fix the damage and also paint the car for the entire check. One thing I'm unsure about it whether or not they check to see if the car was fixed at the place where the estimate was adjusted to, if you know what I mean.

A big part of me wants to keep the car but I don't want half-assed work done on it. I also think that since the guy had a seizure I should at least get a paint job out of it. There's also a chance that if they don't see it my way I'll seek the advice of my lawyer whom I've just retained.

No problem; I'm just trying to help... I'm only offering whatever little knowledge I have though, so don't confuse me for an expert.

You should be aware of this possibility: The insurance company may write a check out directly to the dealer, or to both you and the dealer, requiring the dealer's endorsement for the check to be cashed or deposited. In my various dealings with various insurance companies, I've received checks made out to me, to the shop, to me and the shop, and even to me or the shop.

I believe you are 100% within your rights to demand that the car be fixed with new parts rather than junkyard parts.

You might have to accept your car being fixed at the dealer, though, rather than just getting the cash.

But if they do cut you a check directly, unless you sign something promising to take it to that dealer, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Even if they learn that you didn't have it repaired, you didn't do anything wrong.

You shouldn't need to hire a lawyer, but, yeah, it might be the only way to go in the end. Sometimes just mentioning the possibility is enough to get things to happen.

Finally -- I know you're far away, but there's a really really really good Subaru body guy in Trumansburg, NY. Mark Mann. He fixed my Impreza after a run-in with a deer, and he was really helpful. He was careful to re-check the estimate the insurance company gave him, and actually found a few other things that weren't on the estimate and he went after the insurance company himself to get them to pay for the stuff. He did a few other things free of charge just to bring the whole car up to his standards too. In my experience he's been willing to travel as far south as Corning to tow a car (on his flatbed, of course)... And he does very good work.