45 replies to this topic

[Fudge_Brownie]

Volv'n8R, on 30 January 2010 - 08:08 PM, said:

also it was right after a light so we were all bunched together.

fail. around here we call it tail-gating or "following too closely"

[TorontoR]

hey man...sorry to hear about the R.

I had a similar accident a couple of years ago in Toronto during the winter...similar damage too (minus the hood damage). Anyways...I had to convince the insurance company that I wanted to keep the car. They had no idea what the real value of a yellow T5-R was....to them it was just another 850...with no real value. I remember when it got the shop...the mechanic took one look at it and asked why i wanted to keep 'this junker....and who painted the car yellow"!?!?! (I get that quite a bit in winter when the T5-R has black steelies on it...and is covered with slush and salt lol...)

My advice to you would be to be present when the adjuster comes to look at the car, and work with him directly. He may write it off...pay you the value....but then there is an option for you buy the car back in the current state and fix it yourself too. (If you are looking for a fender and hood in black as well as other parts, I have a friend in Ottawa who is parting a black 850).

Not many nice 850 R's left.....it would be a shame to see your car go.

[--Aaron--]

Damn, sorry to hear about this but it's good no one was hurt. Best of luck getting her fixed up......look on the bright side....plenty other Volvos for sale in this world.

[hgray14]

sorry to hear about your car but glad you were all okay.

I had a similar incident with someone stopped in the fast lane, around a bend in the freeway, to change their tire. I was on a motorcycle and 12 months, a busted pelvis and wrist, 2 surgeries, a totalled bike and a bit of emotional damage later...I am just getting back to normal. I have no idea what happened legally to the tire changer but because I rammed into the back of a seperate multi-car pileup a quarter of a mile back and no "directly" attached to the original mulit-car pileup, I was at fault for following too closely.

As far the car goes, down here in the People's Gaypublic of Komifornia that thing would be totalled. The way the insurance companies and the auto shops are in bed together even a small scratch is $500...which oddly is right around the deductible amount we all have. hmmm..fishy? Actually, I know a bunch of insurance adjusters and they confirm my suspicions on a weekly basis. Just make sure they take into consideration anything extra you have added. Down here you can argue with the insurance company that they need to make you whole again...that means either fixing what you have or paying you enough to get a car in like condition. This is where NOT fixing your odometer can come in handy since they don't check the computer mileage, just what is on the dash.

good luck

[Volv'n8R]

Today is the day that I find out what will happen. The guy that will tell me the value and the cost of repairs is the guy that works in the body shop. He works with belairdirect on many accidents. Anyways, I guess it's a plus having a body shop where I work, hopefully they'll know how much I'm in love with this car. I'll keep you all posted on what's happening. If it IS a write off then I won't be fixing it. With a wedding coming up in July and moving into a new house in April, it's not going to make practical sense to keep it. I'd be crushed, but I have to swallow it and move on. Nonetheless, nothing has been said yet on whether or not it's being fixed. Maybe if they're about to write it off I could chime in with some ideas on Bondo . Wish me luck guys!

[Volv'n8R]

IT'S GETTIN' FIXED! WOOHOOO!!!!

[--Aaron--]

Volv'n8R, on 04 February 2010 - 02:43 PM, said:

IT'S GETTIN' FIXED! WOOHOOO!!!!

Glad to hear! Did you get the lugs I sent you?

[hgray14]

Volv'n8R, on 04 February 2010 - 02:43 PM, said:

IT'S GETTIN' FIXED! WOOHOOO!!!!

Congrats! I know how heartbroken I would be if my car were totalled so I know how you feel.

[Volv'n8R]

yea, I'm so thrilled! Insurance is sending a cheque for $4800 and I know I can fix it for less, so I'll get to keep the leftovers! They already disassembled it in the body shop and it turns out it's not as bad as it looks! A lot is fixable or still OK

And no, Aaron I haven't gotten them yet, I haven't been to the address they would have been shipped to in about 3 days so they might be there when I get home tomorrow I'll let you know.

[TaskMule]

Volv'n8R, on 04 February 2010 - 06:29 PM, said:

yea, I'm so thrilled! Insurance is sending a cheque for $4800 and I know I can fix it for less, so I'll get to keep the leftovers! They already disassembled it in the body shop and it turns out it's not as bad as it looks!

Niiiiiiice

[prasamin]

WTF did they value the car at if they gave you a check for $4800? I need to switch to your insurance company because it seems they have alot of extra-Canadian Canadians working there.

[andyb5]

Volv'n8R, on 04 February 2010 - 06:29 PM, said:

yea, I'm so thrilled! Insurance is sending a cheque for $4800 and I know I can fix it for less, so I'll get to keep the leftovers! They already disassembled it in the body shop and it turns out it's not as bad as it looks! A lot is fixable or still OK

Thats awesome!!

[Fudge_Brownie]

I'm curious... is that check pre-deductible? I guess what I'm asking is, I wonder if there's a chance you did not take in to account your deductible. While they will "pay out $4800", you might only receive $4300.

[TaskMule]

Fudge_Brownie, on 05 February 2010 - 06:18 PM, said:

I'm curious... is that check pre-deductible? I guess what I'm asking is, I wonder if there's a chance you did not take in to account your deductible. While they will "pay out $4800", you might only receive $4300.

Good point by you. Still a nice finish, even at 4300. But yeah, let us know.

[-Matt01]

its rare that your car gets totaled by the insurance, if i crashed my car i would just tell them give me the value of my car, ill fix it myself...

[hgray14]

Matt01, on 07 February 2010 - 11:18 PM, said:

its rare that your car gets totaled by the insurance, if i crashed my car i would just tell them give me the value of my car, ill fix it myself...

maybe rare up there but not down here...and by "totalled" we mean that the insurance company determines that the cost of repairs is more than the value of the car so they just pay out for the car, mark the title "salvage" and then sell it off to a junkyard for spare parts. You can always keep the car and pay for the repairs, but they will deduct the "salvage value" from your payout. Since the shops are in bed with the insurance companies, even a minor scratch will cost at least $500 since most people's deductible is $500 and almost nobody wants to pay for repairs out of their pocket. If we are led to believe that the repairs are more than the deductible we will usually fork out th deductible so we can get the repair done thinking we are getting more than $500 worth of value. The truth is, if you were to pay the real value of the repairs it would be much less, but then people wouldn't usually have the work done since the insurance wouldn't be picking up any of the tab...and then the shops wouldn't get all that much work and the insurance companies wouldn't get to jack our rates up for filing a claim.

Also, down here the insurance companies don't want to risk having the work done and then finding out down the line that something was missed and having to re-open the case and pay out more money. It is cheaper in their eyes to just pay you for the car and be done with it. That is why there are so many decent salvaged title cars down here that have very low resale value. I love to buy these cars because often the damage was minor and I can get a great deal for a great car.

The last time someone hit me (at 2 mph in a parking lot) they dented my door, fender and mirror. When I got a bid it was $4,000 which the insurance company would have claimed was more than the value of the car and would have totalled it. Since the guy who hit me wanted to avoid insurance he paid me out of pocket. I let him off the hook for $3,000. And what was the extent of the repairs? I went to the local yard and for $250 I picked up a fender, door and mirror in the matching colour and installed them myself in an afternoon. $4,000???? what a racket!!!

good luck

[Volv'n8R]

TaskMule, on 07 February 2010 - 04:30 PM, said:

Good point by you. Still a nice finish, even at 4300. But yeah, let us know.

A cheque was cut for $5,315.00. Less my $500 deductible, so the body shop got a cheque for $4,815.00. Not too shabby Getting fixed right now! Wewt!

[Ash Filler]

Volv'n8R, on 10 February 2010 - 05:44 PM, said:

A cheque was cut for $5,315.00. Less my $500 deductible, so the body shop got a cheque for $4,815.00. Not too shabby Getting fixed right now! Wewt!

Im pumped that your getting your car back because i went through that sh*t minus another car. Mine was simply slid off the road. This is crazy though because my accident didnt look half as bad and in short tearms i needed a core support, 1 fog light, a reman radiator and some paint. for starters the car was a "total loss". i did get a check for my car but it cost me the same to get it fixed. I got a check for 5600 on my 1998 S70 T5m with 125,xxx on it i feel like now i shoulda prolly gotten more. The repairs cost about 5300 bones. so after my deductable was done an crap it was still like -100 on my end. thats kinda f*cked if you ask me. and lets jsut say the work of "carstar - world class repair shop that only allows 5% of body to use the name" did the worst job i could ever imagine. they said the car was ready and it looked like my car had a stroke. the bumper was diagnal one headlight was pushed way to far back and the hood was nice enough to have the exact opposite diagnal as the bumper. I said fix it and i got "thats the best we can do". after telling them i had 13$ in my pocket and it was the best i could do they decided to take another look at it. now its been there for 2 months already and this took another 3 weeks. Finally i go to pick up the car and it looked like it had a slightly less severe stroke but still not pleased. Long story short i took off everythign they did and redid it myself. yes, that means i paid them over 5k for parts and wasting my time. Im not ranting against you im very pumped that you are gettin your car back and hope its just as good as it was prior to dinger. Im just mad because it made me realize how f*cked i really go and kinda makes me wanna ... illegal people in their heads and illegal their house down, and illegal the shop, and double illegal the towing company.

[Fudge_Brownie]

KaptainKurt, on 11 February 2010 - 07:43 PM, said:

and kinda makes me wanna ... illegal people in their heads and illegal their house down, and illegal the shop, and double illegal the towing company.

huh?

[Ash Filler]

shoot, burn, burn, murder. fill in the "illegal"'s in that order