Hey everyone,

I was coming home from work the other night and had some unfortunate events unfold. This is my first FD and I was quite happy with it. I really don't know what is going to happen from here but figured I would post and if any of you would like to chime in and give me tips on dealing with the claim aspect of it... I would greatly appreciate any from those of you who have dealt with this before. I've never been involved in an accident.

Here's the rundown:

I was coming to the last stop light out of downtown. There was an SUV in front of me stopped at the red light. I came to a stop behind him. The F250 came to a stop behind me. We all waited. The light turned green...

Well not even a block away the SUV in front of me signals he is turning left. I come to a stop behind him, as he is waiting for on coming traffic to clear. Once it does he completes his turn. It wasn't even a split second after he cleared from in front of me... before I could release the clutch that I looked in my rear view mirror and see the Ford F250 slam into me. He didn't even notice that I had stopped.

Went to the ER to get checked out and have x-rays... I start my new job with the railroad on Monday and didn't want something to happen years down the road from it. I got hit pretty hard and they said I have whiplash. It's getting better and such but nothing too bad. It could have been a lot worse.

Damage:

I'm no expert but I do know what an FD is supposed to look like. I can somewhat tell that it's going to be impossible for them to line everything back up to oem spec and have everything fit the way it should. The driver's side rear quarter is pushed out right at the tail light area... it's not bad but still.

The bumper support got pushed into the body of the car. Bumper cover is punctured. Reverse light lens/reflector is broken. My FREE authentic '99 tails are fucked. And the hatch is moved about half an inch to the right and warped into a slight rainbow. I can tell but I'm afraid the adjuster will miss it or argue.

 

 

Don't know about the damage of the car but I do know CHA CHING for you.

My sister was in the SAME incident as you. She was in a protege and was hit from the back by an expedition. Guy tried to lie and said my sister stopped short but the car my sister hit from being hit testified and said he and my sister were waiting at a light.

She got money lol. But she had to go to a chiropractor for like 6-8 months to show for it though lol. (She wasn't really hurt lol).

Good luck man.

 

Wait where is the stop light in the pics? And do you have pics of the tire marks? Those will be very important in a case if you decide to sue.

What did the police report say? That also plays a part. Get the guy in front of you to be positive in your story.

Things can seriously get turned on you if you don't watch out on these things.

 

re-read my post

 

get as much money as you can for your injuries, because you WILL be suffering from annoying neck/back pain the rest of your life.

im 30, and was rear-ended very similar to your situation when I was 18... it SEEMS like a minor soft tissue injury at the time, but the nightly discomfort and pain years later makes me wish i had sued for A LOT more money back then.

 

Take your car to the best body shop in your area. Ask around to find out which body shop works on high end cars (Porsches/exotics/ etc). If there is a local Porsche club, ask them which body shop they like. No one is more particular about detail than Porsche owners.

Don't be in a hurry to settle your injury claim. Get the treatment you need. Don't put it off.

I owned an insurance agency for 25 years. We did primarily car insurance. I know what I am talking about.

 

Like Adam said, I would find the best body shop and take your car there before their adjuster can look at the car. That way you have a estimate from a good shop and know exactly what needs to be fixed to do it correctly. Some of these cut rate insurance companies will cut corners wherever they can, be prepared to argue if you have to.

 

If you have any sort of pain, get physical therapy and take your time with it. I was in a head on accident and only went to a couple months of PT, but I'd have the pain come back for a couple years after the accident. Wish I had gotten PT longer.

 

I also learned from my few rear-end accidents:
see hospital right away.. for both your safety and insurance perspective.

The adjuster flat out told me "you were not hurt bad enough to seek out hospital 'treatment' the same day - therefore i'm not paying you as much".. I had 6 months of PT.

 

I went to the ER immediately after the accident for X-Rays... also told the claims office that I did. I have proof and will soon have a bill for it that I am not going to pay. Just simply drop off @ the insurance provider of the person at fault.

 

After all the fear-mongering that went down on the forum I was expecting you to be using my LED tail lights. LOL

 

My advice to you is find a witness who you don't know and get a written testimony from them. When some lady (using the term loosely, there) ripped the door off of my parked FD at my kid's school, she called the cops a week later and had them change their report because she came up with a friend who claimed she saw me open my door into her car. There was no friend, and she blatantly plowed into my car while yapping on her cell phone.
I was found liable and had to pay to fix my car because some shady woman lied and cheated. Take pics, take names and take reports.

 

Well I will go back to the place where the wreck happened. I had a witness and the officer repeatedly denied needing to talk to her. I recommended it several times regardless of it needing to be done or not. She saw the entire thing. I will get her written statement and information just in case.

I've talked to some of my friends and they and now I'm thinking to take it to the most expensive body shop in our city. I've known about it for years and they fix Vette's, Porsche's, and Mercedes regularly. I know they will give the most expensive quote and will actually determine if it can be fixed.

The claims office hasn't called yet to tell me when an adjuster is coming out... said they have to prove liability first. I'm like... "Isn't that what the police report is for?!?!?!?!" He was at fault. Anywho. When they setup a time to come and look at the car I'm just going to tell them that I've already taken it to the body shop and they can look at it there.

 

Excellent advice.

Op, the damage is fixable in my opinion. I've seen much worse restored to perfect. Luckily FD's still retain good value.

 

The good news, the damage looks minor. My guess would be around $1500-2000.
It doesn't look like a difficult repair and the bumper cover is the only thing that needs paint which would fade differently anyway. Can't tell if the hatch chipped or the alignment was knocked off either. If both quarter panels line up still you're set. They looked pretty good from one of the shots.

 

Im so glad my country isnt sue happy like yours...it makes me cringe when i see people try to milk everything no matter the intentions of the person at fault.
Its sucks how quick people are over there to sue people over the smallest most stupid things.
Its sad that its come to that..
Obviously im on the other size of the world and its just the "done thing" over there.
I would get my car sorted, and injuries paid for and leave it at that.
Its not like the guy intentionally ran into you and wanted to hurt you...

 

Excellent contribution to my thread...

Where did I say I wanted to sue the **** head that hit me? I didn't ask to get into an accident... I don't think anyone does that's the victim of someone else NOT paying attention when behind the wheel of a car/truck/SUV, etc.

I simply stated that I wanted everything to be taken care of "in relation to my car" and my medical bills paid for. Didn't intentionally run into me...? I would say he obviously didn't have the intention of obeying traffic rules and paying attention while driving a company work truck while pulling a trailer.

Thread was made just to see who has dealt with this before and how to deal with the insurance agency on how they would handle this situation on our cars...

 

in Illinois, when you get rear ended by someone, it's automatically their fault. No if's or but's. If you rear ended someone, you were too close. Maybe there is a similar law in your area. Either way, I think you should be ok and will get paid for it. Hope to see the car back in it's prime shape.

 

Yeah same here. The cop faulted him... he said no matter what; I had the right to slow down or stop.

 

Anything can be done with the right amount of money.. but rear quarter panel damage can be hard to deal with... i would suspect a good shop could put everything back but it just wont be the same...

sorry bro.

 

It's not the rear quarter that's the bad part. It's very minimal "pushed lip" from the tail light pressing into it. I think they shouldn't have a problem fixing that part of the damage. It's everything else I'm worried about lining up.

 

How disappointing 1quik7…. Just more lips on the tit of society. Geez I’m repulsed.

Regardless – here is some hard knocks I just went through with an incident on my 7:
Pretty significant accident – side swiped and lost the passenger door and rear quarter as well as some damage under the car. State Farm (my insurance carrier) was notified and I insisted to be there when the adjuster showed up. The threat was if he issued a total there was no recovery; done deal. In looking over the car and knowing the car was a 1994 he was prepared to total it. I discussed with him and first required him to review NADA then discuss with me before documenting the report. As it ends up we agreed to not total and State Farm would cover to the total value and I would pick up the balance and they would not record a total loss. Correcting the car I went ahead and had the complete car stripped down, glass removed and a complete restoration. Insurance covered $12,000 and I filled in the gap another $9000. Good decision process?? I think so.

 

Are saying that you paid $21k to refinish your car? If so I think you were taken. What you described is 8k at a restoration shop, with no damage add 2k for the inside. I just don't see you having 11k in damages.

 

Yes and it's a new car for lack of a better term... I don't think I was "taken"; been around doing this type of stuff for a while. It's really not about the money as it is doing it to one's satisfaction.

Have you priced a new door, window, inner panel, regluator and window tracks, rear quarter, mirror assembly, door latch and handle, door lock, window guide trim, belt molding, weather seal, antenna, fender liner, rear wheel, upright, toe link, upper control arm, front sway bar and bracket, heat shields, trim skirts, rear light assembly, radiator mount, undertray, etc. etc. They pulled the engine and trans as well as the rear suspension. Heck I think I have 8K in paint and prep - but it's spectacular and done right.
I need to get to know your restoration shop....

But that's not the point of what I'm trying to say - Do not let your insurance company to run the show; work with them right up front so you get the outcome desired.