What A Van Did

What An Insurance Company Did

Wrote an estimate and cash payout proposal to total a C2, while this is a C3. They are now looking at actual prices of C3 and completing the estimate to make sure the doors are included plus every bolt they can account for. They got a weirdly high towing bill for the car that is being reduced, and realized when I told them and they confirmed, that "scratches" around the fog light is washable paper masking tape. Then the estimate, of course, is five percent below retail suggested prices for parts. I showed them from a dealer locally that are a thousand dollars less. I not only spoke with the adjuster, the total loss fellow, but got a call from the manager of Property Damage and then he sent the file back to the one who declared it a total with the wrong trim type.

Now everyone there knows it is a C3. And I even suggested they get a broken one that is okay in the right places to help fix my car with. They will be cursing in the office come morning. When I first suggested lowering the price of the parts, insurance man said, "The body shop has to make money!"

Sigh. And the lease payment is high enough to balk at, but this is indeed the path. They can't settle a C3 as a C2.

 

The car has its greatest fault in the payment, and getting out of it would be fine for that reason alone, but this was not done right from the beginning. And structurally, this car would be fine after it is repaired and inspected. The technology to replace the entire airbag mountings. The driver side was not affected. The rear suspension needs overhaul and I am certain it will be fine. I might be a little over-confident and I am not a tinkerer, but I know from the automotive shop I took in High School that a master mechanic can handle anything. Meanwhile I f they total it, I should know by tomorrow after they justify reasons why they can't just buy a salvage car from a local auction for cheaper clean excellent current oem parts.

As for getting hit hard. One of the reasons I thought of for posting these photos is to show what a van, really, a van, going more than 30 miles per hour, did. The car is built like a little tank. The cabin was not dented. This was not just a hit and run either. Whatever motivated whoever it was did so for accelerating and tractoring me for a hundred and twenty feet and then angling to flip me out of his/her way.

The car took it. The insurance company is doing its insurance thing in its profiteering way but this car can be fixed with around 26 parts and 110 hours of labor. One of those parts is a wheel.

A carfax could show a collision but that is a different issue. If the carfax is a reason to salvage title a car, then the whole issue changes.

 

I did some research concerning others use of carfax. I used it for a car purchase made in 1990 when it was the new obscure thing. When I was buying the car I wanted to know if it had been in a collision. It obviously had been because there was a paint mismatch on the front side panel. It affected the price from a private party but not my purchase because it was a car I wanted. I put thirty thousand effortless miles on the car. This showed me in retrospect what I recently read about car sales with accidents. Diminished value is a matter of perception, concerning the road worthy integrity of the vehicle. If the vehicle is in like new condition there is no penalty. Carfax is a report. It does not affect the quality. Many people get repairs before handing back a car. If the car passes inspection that is what matters.