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No car is worth only $500 anymore, even cars over 20 years old are worth $1,500. Don't sell you car short even if it is old.
That's probably true, but the odometer doesn't work (didn't realize it at the time, but it was broken when it was sold to me), so therefore impossible to place any real value on it. It's 15 years old also.
Hey, I'm not poor! I'm a recent college grad saving the money I've earned at my first real job so that I can buy a new(er) car IN cash instead of piling up debt. My car gets me from Point A to Point B just fine. And the other guy was driving a 2012 Volvo SUV according to the police report. Lacking common sense, for sure, but didn't appear poor.
That's great to hear. If only more young folks had as much common sense about debt.
Sorry to hear your car got hit. That is one of the risks you run when you drive an older car and carry less insurance coverage and completely sucks when you did nothing wrong and get screwed anyway. I own a car that, if someone hit is and caused it to be wrecked, might get me $2500 according to blue book. The thing is, I'm unlikely to find a car in as good of shape that I know has been cared for the way I cared for my car over the years for $2500. I know this is a risk and that's why I'm always on the lookout for morons on the road.
Hey, I'm not poor! I'm a recent college grad saving the money I've earned at my first real job so that I can buy a new(er) car IN cash instead of piling up debt. My car gets me from Point A to Point B just fine. And the other guy was driving a 2012 Volvo SUV according to the police report. Lacking common sense, for sure, but didn't appear poor.
Comeon. The other guy is driving a 2012 Volvo SUV with no insurance. Sue him quick. Get a viperous attorney and go after him. Get the car. Or part of it.
I have sympathy for the OP in this case. But there are certain bottom lines here:
1. You can't get blood out of a turnip.
2. Lawyers can't afford to take cases like this where you have little prospect of only a meager recovery.
3. The OP made choices from the beginning. He chose to dispense with collision coverage because of the limited value of his car.
4. The OP chose to drive a car which has a very limited value.
5. Small claims court (where you bring your own case without a lawyer) may be an option here, but it may not be worth it. There are filing fees and if you don't win or recover any money from the uninsured driver, you'll simply add the loss of those fees to the loss of your car.
The truth is that life sometimes is just unfair. The legal system and life don't offer everyone a remedy for every wrong they've suffered. Maybe this guy shouldn't have been on the road along with thousands of other uninsured drivers. However, that sort of thing is virtually impossible to stop. Any fool can buy a used car and be on the road the very day they purchase it--whether they are a licensed driver or not.
It may be best to chock this up to "bad luck" and just move on.
Comeon. The other guy is driving a 2012 Volvo SUV with no insurance. Sue him quick. Get a viperous attorney and go after him. Get the car. Or part of it.
This is a no can lose if you pursue it quickly.
I missed the part about the car was a 2012 Volvo SUV. However, unless the OP suffered personal injuries beyond the damage to his car, his only recovery will be for the fair market value of his own car which was totaled. There's no right in these cases to recover attorney's fees or damages for pain and suffering unless you suffered a personal injury.
I'm probably what you would describe as "viperous attorney" and there's no way I'd take this case based on what I've read so far.
We were in a similiar situation a year ago. My husband was in a hit-and-run. A witness followed the person who hit him and got their information, but they were uninsured. We had uninsured motorist coverage, but hubby was driving his "cash car" which was 13 years old and had more than 180,000 miles. Our car had two cracked body panels (a door and the rear quarter panel) and a broken tail light. The tires were all ruined, but we didn't know that for a couple of weeks.
Our insurance company totaled out the car. They paid us $700. I bought the body panels and tail light for $80 on craigslist (had to drive 60 miles away and pull them off someone's junker in a field but that was ok) and put them on. We had to get a salvage title, which meant the car couldn't be driven until it had its new title, which took about five weeks. We had to get an inspection to prove it was driveable before the salvage title was issued. The tires cost $400, the paperwork for the salvage title was $150, the inspection was $18...so basically we got enough to fix the car since we did it all ourselves. We lost the use of the vehicle for five weeks, while it sat in our driveway waiting for the great state of TX to crank out the paperwork that said that our car was allowed to be on the road.
If it matters, the insurance adjuster didn't care at all that the car was reliable and had working AC. They simply compared the cost of the repairs with the value of the car and totaled it out. It's cheaper for them. They're a business, they do what is most cost-effective, not what's best for you.
If you had full coverage, you'd be in the same situation...the car would be totaled out and it would be up to you to fix it if you decided to keep it. You might get a little money, you might not, depending on your deductible and the value of the car. When a car gets to a certain age or has really high mileage, you have to decide whether or not it's necessary to keep full coverage insurance on it...if you know all you'll be getting is $500 if it's totaled, then in a year you'll pay more for the full coverage than you would get if the car was totaled.
I missed the part about the car was a 2012 Volvo SUV. However, unless the OP suffered personal injuries beyond the damage to his car, his only recovery will be for the fair market value of his own car which was totaled. There's no right in these cases to recover attorney's fees or damages for pain and suffering unless you suffered a personal injury.
I'm probably what you would describe as "viperous attorney" and there's no way I'd take this case based on what I've read so far.
Any truly viperous attorney would talk to this person about the pain in their neck or back or limbs. And get a doctor to do a few xrays to determine whether there is any damage.
I don't think an attorney would ever have to go to trial on this one...but if you could not put up a case that the plantiff had a few thousand coming after being hit by a 2012 Volvo SUV you are not viperous.
The other thing that amazes me about all this is it appears we all agree the Insurance Companies are in control of this process. Why the hell is that.
I got an old Ford Van that probably Blue books below 500. I however have at least $3000 tied up in it in the last two years. So someone hits me I am going to small claims court after at least 3500 or the cost of restoring it like it was. Let the Judge sort it out. He can deal with the actual value of the asset and not what Edmunds says it is.
And one last observation. If there is an insurance company with any liability involved they will never let the small claims court go to trial. They always settle.
I've had 3 cars totaled by cell phone talking SUVs, and mine are really hard to find replacements (50 mpg beaters).
I keep a few extras around the place (snip)
Say What, Stealth?
You've repeatedly been posting for years about how many of these VW diesel cars you have and how frequently you've come across them "for free, take it away" ... or how many of these cost you less than $100.
Additionally, you've been counseling folk on this forum to go find all of the similar cars in their backyards that can get them into the 50 mpg on waste grease available anywhere (or so you claim it to be, it's not in my region of the country because there are pro companies that have contracted for the waste fryer oils in the food biz) ...
No car is worth only $500 anymore, even cars over 20 years old are worth $1,500. Don't sell you car short even if it is old.
Not from the perspective of an insurance company. Many older cars that still run aren't worth much more than scrap value in the marketplace. A competent insurance adjuster evaluating a car will be able to show that the cars aren't worth much more than scrap value in the marketplace; you have to go a long way to prove to them that a given car is worth more than that. Even if you put a lot of money into it to keep it on the road, that doesn't mean that the sum of the parts is equal to a more expensive vehicle.
Even though an older car may yet provide transportation, it's built to different emissions and safety standards than late model cars ... add in the tatty interior, worn suspension and running gear, exterior paint that's failing, the dents and missing exterior trim, barely working or inoperative components/systems, and the net value of many cars on the road today can be almost nothing ....
Any truly viperous attorney would talk to this person about the pain in their neck or back or limbs. And get a doctor to do a few xrays to determine whether there is any damage.
Any truly ethical attorney, and there are a lot more than you think, would not raise the issue of a soft tissue neck or back injury unless his client brings it up.
Quote:
I don't think an attorney would ever have to go to trial on this one...but if you could not put up a case that the plantiff had a few thousand coming after being hit by a 2012 Volvo SUV you are not viperous.
If viperous means an unethical SOB, than I don't meet your definition of viperous. I do vigorously represent clients that have bonafide claims and that includes whiplash injury when those claims are supported by the evidence. I suggest as a little experiment that tomorrow you pick 5 personal injury attorneys out of the phone book where you live and relate just the facts to them that the OP has given us. Than come back here and tell me how many of those lawyers wanted this case.
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And one last observation. If there is an insurance company with any liability involved they will never let the small claims court go to trial. They always settle.
Do us all a favor and the next time you post here, post about something you really know about. That's not a given where I practice at all. The insurance companies here have house counsel on staff at a fixed salary. Its costs them virtually nothing to put up a defense in such a case. They routinely do put up a defense (and they should) when they run into people who claim that their 2001 Toyota Tercel is worth $15,000.
I'm oriented towards injured people and 90% of what I do is represent accident victims. However, I have seen plenty of cases where people try to get more for a broken down clunker than the car is really worth. I don't appreciate folks like this. The system has better things to do than worry over whether a car is worth $750 or $1100.
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