Life isn't fair some days

My 1999 Ford F150 that I have had for 14 years, not a single problem with it, looks good, runs great was rear-ended the other day while I was at an intersection waiting for the light. Drunk driver rear-ended the guy behind me knocking him into me. Now insurance company will most likely total mine due to age. Now I have nothing to haul my garden tractors with. Good thing, the mini van in front of was unharmed. Lady had at least four young children with her, they could have been hurt badly had I we not been there.

Yeah, that sucks. But if no damage to frame maybe you can replace the box?

Had a similar thing happen to me in 1984. I had a 76 Dodge pickup with a new engine, new paint job, and tricked out just enough to make it mine with lots of miles left to drive and enjoy it. A young unlicensed driver made a u-turn in front of me on the highway and I broadsided her. Nobody was hurt, she got four tickets at the scene, later sued me for "causing" the wreck, using bogus photos (another story in itself) and ended up being on probation for ten years for insurance fraud. What did I get out of this? My insurance finally paid me $1800 after me threatening to sue them. Just a drop in the bucket compared to what it was worth to me.

I understand your feelings here.

Take the insurance and put a nice aluminum flat bed on it.

Frame is slightly bent behind right rear axel. Body shop says its repairable. Thinking of putting a flatbed on it. Depends on what insurance offer to pay.

If it isn't too bad, you can 'get' it from the insurance co. They should pay the value, minus deductble and a fee. You get more then enough for a bed.
My dau. damaged the front of her first car,1996 Corolla,(cost$1400). It still drove.
Ins. gave us $1300.. Local salvage yard sold me all needed parts for $300.

I have a 1997 F150 like new and the box started to rust,I got a rust free box out of Georgia for $750 delivered to my yard. You can even request a box the same colour as your truck and you and a buddy can bolt it on some Saturday afternoon

Gary consider suing the owner of the vechile or the driver for additional damage if insurance pays only a little.

Glad to hear no one was hurt.

Go to NADA dot com and look up the clean retail of your truck.
If the repair bill is 75% of this amount they will total the truck.
They should pay full clean retail plus taxes if they total it.
You then have to negotiate the buy back price.
You will see how there attitude changes from low balling the retail price to when they are on the selling end.
Remind them you are saving them wrecker; storage; and auction fees by buying it back.
Never at any point talk up the truck; they have a set amount they need to pay you and will use you talking the truck up when trying to sell it back to you.
It fact the truck is now junk. It has a bad frame and will be given a salvage title meaning resale for you will be nil to void. Rear wheels may wear funny due to tracking.
Then they will remind you it still has a good motor and trans the junk dealer can sell.
Its much like dealing with a new car salesmen.

Depending on body style and mileage that truck should be worth around $4000 retail.

Jon f,

That's what I was thinking. I did that long ago and never found the pickup bed a necessity thereafter.

D.

I would fix it up after you settle with the insurance company. What they will pay you will NOT buy another truck like you have. I have never dealt with an insurance company that did not make me feel violated when they where done. It seems not having any coverable other than liability is the only way to go as they don't want to pay the value of your vehicle anyway.

I had a Ford pickup totaled a few years ago by a lady that ran a red light,insurance company offered me less than I could buy another one like it so I told them to get me a pickup just like it with the same or less mileage.After they looked for about a week they paid me what I asked.Then I asked about buying it back the adjuster called a junkyard and got a price on what they would pay and sold it to me for the same $$$.

BTDT had an S10 that got rear ended and totaled, replaced the bed with a flat. Handy as could be, put a fuel tank across the front and toolboxes on both sides. bought it back for $500 and the deductable after they settled. had to get a salvage title but so be it. ran it for years when it finally gave out it went to the crusher, less the flatbed that we sold for more than we gave for it.

I went through similar with an '88 F150 when a guy crossed the center line and hit me so hard it buckled the floor pans under my feet. They airlifted him from site, but fortunately I walked away with some bruising from the belt.

What I did, that really killed the insurance company, was have the wrecker driver bring the truck back to my place. With it sitting here, it was in my possession, and they weren't having to pay storage fees on it at a yard somewhere. In my case the truck was a high mileage, Lariat Edition. It was in good shape physically, didn't use any oil, and had had a new transmission, tires, and exhaust within just a few years of the accident. My biggest problem was that it had been in another accident a few years prior, and due to the mileage they totaled it for a minor bump up, that bent the front bumper, broke the grill, and broke an ear off the transmission. Less than $500 got me back on the road then.

Long story short, the accident wasn't my fault, and I couldn't get another truck for what they were offering. Since I had another vehicle to drive, I held out. The claim went through two different adjusters, but when the one year mark hit, they called begging me to settle. I don't know whether there is a certain time frame they are supposed to get settled in, but I do know there is, or was, no time frame in which I was compelled by law to accept an offer that didn't make me whole for an accident that wasn't my fault. So, when they asked again what I would settle for, and they finally agreed.

NCWayne: I am glad you having it towed to your placed worked for you. I have been on the other side of this. I had a two year old car totaled years ago. I had it towed to my place. The insurance company , Nation wide, offered me 25% of new price for a car that only had 25K on it. I fought with them for over a year and still never got them to get me any where near what it took to replace the car. They did not have any monthly expenses from storage so they had little to zero motivation to settle the claim. I even went to the state insurance board, still they did not get in any hurry.

So I will never have a vehicle towed to my place again. I will have it towed to where there will be inside storage that they are on the hook for each month.

ALL insurance companies are gambling dens that want to change the odds after the fact. You pay insurance heavily based on the value of the vehicle but when there is a claim they want to CHANGE the vehicle value. LEAGALISED crooks!!!

JD
I do not understand how you or Wayne have had so many problems.
Maybe it is my insurance (State Farm) or my insurance laws.
I have had 3 cars totaled over the years.

One was my sons fault.
My collision insurance covered it. They took NADA price + taxes.
Subtracted my $1000 deductible; and $1000 buy back price.
Sent me a check for the balance.

The other 2 were someone else fault.

On the first one they tried to fix it. It was a 8 day old car.
Spent about $9000 to fix. $1000 my deductible and $8000 their money.
A week after we got it back the trans was making a noise.
This put the cost over 75% of what we paid for it.
So they took the car a gave me a check for full purchase price minus the $1000 deductible I had already paid.
Car was just over a month old by this time.
About 3 months later they sent me my $1000 back as they had collected from the at fault insurance company.

On the second one it was totaled from the get go as the car was rolled.
Sent me NADA clean retail price minus my $1000 deductible.
About 2 or 3 months later got the $1000 as they had collect from the other insurance.

Louisiana state law says they must give you clean retail price if the car is totaled.
State law also says if the repairs cost more than 75% of clean retail price they must total the car.
I am assuming when I would think other state laws are similar.

I always work with my collision coverage no matter who's fault it is and let my insurance deal with the other company.
But in my case the rules have always been set in stone.
Fix the car OR if more that 75% total the car AND the price we are dealing with when deciding this is NADA clean retail.

Guys falls under each states insurance laws. Some state have laws that favor the insured and others the companies.

Here in MN for example the law reads of a total the is replacement cost for the same vehicle in the insured's local area. The MN insurance commission says that's within 50 miles of your door.

Also here in MN they have to settle a claim within 30 working days of the claim being filed unless they can prove just cause for a fraud investigation or something like medical issues where treatment is ongoing.

Some states you may as well just bend over. About 15 years ago one of the worst was Arkansas.

Rick

I've seen a number of vehicles tracking down the road not straight. Bodies all look good, but clearly the frames aren't straight. Makes for an odd show to be behind one and see it going down the road on an angle, especially in snow where the front tires are where they are, but the rears are over left or right. I have to wonder what its like to ride in one. I wonder if the driver ends up with a kink in his or her neck from always being slightly twisted.

Good luck.

Mark

I've read all these posts and remembered my recent (October of 2014) accident. I was prepared for the worst since it was a pretty bad accident--I was at about 55, in or just entering an intersection when a gal decided to turn in front of me. Hit that Rav4 with my 2004 2500 with Duramax between the wheels, turn it over went into the underside and pushed her and another car into the guard rail. Turned into a pretty easy settlement. Towed to a storage lot and the adjuster went to look the next day so I met him. Since the airbags went off he started to talk about totaling the truck so I stopped him so we could get the rules of the settlement straight. Since it was the RAV4's fault and she had admitted so to the state trooper it was the her insurance company's responsibility to make me whole, not better just to where I was, and if they wanted to total it that was fine but they would need to start looking because I liked the truck, if they wanted me to do the looking it was going to cost my labor rate. Didn't say what that was. The towing company had asked me to sign a release which I refused until everything was settled or I told them where it was to go.
Insurance company decided the truck was worth fixing.
I suspect the rules have either changed or they just don't want to argue when you understand the rules they have to live by.

I had a person back out of a parking spot and hit the front left of my car. I could have bought a hood for about $100 and the light for $50.(without shipping) Instead, I let his insurance pay out over $1100, because they were so difficult to deal with. Collect for damages and repair it yourself.
SDE

Here in PA, most insurance companies will try to pay low wholesale price on an totaled vehicle. It usually takes an attorney to get much better of a settlement.
Repairing a vehicle that has been "totaled" by an insurance company is littered with red tape and regulations. First problem is that the insurance company takes title to the vehicle when they pay out. If you buy back the "salvage," you are then issued a salvage title. In order to ever put the vehicle back on the road LEGALLY, it has to be repaired by the state's rules, then certified safe for highway use by a certified rebuilder, and then a new "reconstructed" title is issued. This reduces the value of the vehicle drastically. I bought back one salvage only because I had just put a freshly rebuilt transmission in it. Stripped it for parts, and junked the rest.
Sad that you now have to deal with an insurance adjuster and his company's policies. I don't know how some of those people can sleep at night.

I know of 2 pickups bought new new been in an accident and they dogtrack.

Jd seller, I agree with you. My motto for them is "Nationwide, Run and Hide!!" I battled with a young pup in their Colombus, O head office for quite a while before I got him to agree to my price. Meanwhile, I had a $30 a day rental car they were dishing out for . It cost them a lot to be idiots.

If you are buying it back, why would you transfer the title to the insurance company only to have them transfer it back? Sounds like a good way to pay lots of transfer taxes to the state.

My son got rear ended last year by a delivery driver for a nationwide auto parts company. 100% the delivery driver's fault. The company was self insured (the insurance company was part of the auto parts company). It was a 95 Blazer and they gave me a price if they keep it and a price if I keep it. I gave them receipts for the $500 worth of tires that I put on it the week before and they upped the price $400 to cover the tires. The price was pretty much full clean retail on that year of Blazer so I kept the truck and was very happy with the amount. No salvage title because the title never changed hands. However, you do have to disclose any damage over a certain amount when you sell it.

A lot of it depends on your STATE if you have No Fault in your state you'll deal with YOUR insurance company and you'll probably take it in the shorts. If you live in a state that has regular insurance and you deal with the at fault driver's insurance (and it isn't the same company YOU use) they have to play nice to get you to sign the release. I am insured with USAA, they are a good insurance company (an oxymoron, it's like a nice Yugo) in several accidents I've had in no fault states OR the dreaded car-deer they shave the claim, only allow C.R.A.P. (Certified Replacement Automotive Parts), you have to use "Their" shop or they won't warranty anything and only allow a Micro-mini compact for a rental car and then only for two weeks. Low and behold when I was with the county a retired Navy Lt Commander hits one of the county pick-ups with his 28' Travel trailer trying to get into the Citgo next to the Courthouse. USAA was very nice in settling the claim...any shop I wanted, factory parts were okay and they would pay rental on a 4WD pick up while it was in the shop. For any of the county vehicles I had to get three estimates, one shop in town was probably the best and always the most expensive, they got this claim so they could make some money on all the estimates they prepared and never got.

Before you do anything research you state laws, and do your homework. Find out what they have to do and what your rights are. See if there are any timelines they have to meet and if you're allowed to pursue loss of use claims or diminished value awards. With the internet you can get an idea what's around in the area and what's available regionally our even nation wide, this could support any claims of value you're trying to make. Might find the nearest rust free '99 Ford F-150 is a few hundred miles away, they might have to pay mileage and lodging, make sure you include tax title and tag fees Find out who has to defend the driver or the at fault vehicle owner if they get sued, sometimes it's the insurance company and if you stand firm against them with a reasonable claim and if it's cheaper for them to pay rather than litigate they'll settle.

Sometimes your insurance company will help. My wife's Uncle (also insured by USAA) had a pick up truck he used for his business (he had a small micro mall/shopping center). He was driving to work one day when a truck driving the other way had some body panels it was hauling fly off and hit his truck. The other truck was owned by a body shop, when the police came the driver gave the cop a song and dance that they'd be glad to fix the other truck for free and you don't have to write a ticket. The cop didn't write a ticket. The Uncle takes his truck to the body shop the next day and the tune changes, yep we'll fix it for $3,200, no ticket it's not our fault, if you don't like it sue us. Naturally Uncle decides this isn't going to work and turns the claim into USAA, two days later USAA has a check in his hands for $3800 (they're covering loss of use). A week after that the body shop calls "bring the truck in we'll fix it for free" seems USAA sent them a bill for $4,800 and if they didn't pay they were going to court, the body shop got to pay for repairs, loss of use AND USAA's time to administer the claim. He got his truck fixed elsewhere

Gary, if the truck can be driven "as is", and they want to total the truck, you will likely come out ahead by accepting a decent pay off from the insurance company and keep the truck. I have done this more than once with older, decent running vehicles. Judging by your other post, it will not be too difficult to straighten the frame, then you can either look for another box, or as you mentioned, put a flat bed on it. A few years ago my next door neighbor was rear ended in a pickup with well over a hundred thousand miles on it, buckled the box pretty bad. He took their money,kept the truck and drove that thing for two or three more years, never did fix it.

I had a good experience a couple years ago with a totaled vehicle. My daughter had a brand new mustang, only had it for about 2 weeks and got t-boned at an intersection. She was not hurt thankfully. The adjuster showed up up and said there was no need to try and negotiate with him. He would only pay what was owed on the vehicle. I didn't argue about it and had him right up an agreement since the bank was closed that afternoon that he would pay what was owed on the vehicle. He also asked me if I had paid anything down on the car. I. Said no because of it was 0 percent interest. I thought he was very fair because what he did not know was that I had borrowed an additional $9700.00 to pay off another vehicle I owned because of the interest rate on the mustang. He called me early Monday morning and said well you did not disclose that you had borrowed more then what the vehicle cost. I said you did not ask that. Lol.

He then asked if I would negotiate the payoff. I told him the same thing he told me. There's no need to negotiate the payoff because in his words he would only pay what was owed on the vehicle and reminded him of the paper he signed.

I received a call from his supervisor the following week saying he was bringing me the check in person. I asked why and he said because he was one of the companies best adjusters and wanted to see the person that took advantage of him. Lol. I said bring it on down and I will even buy you a cup of coffee.

I appreciate all the advice. State Farm Insurance Co. is dragging their feet on this so I don't know anything yet.