So I'm sitting at a redlight behind somebody towing a flatbed car hauler complete with car on top facing toward us. While we're waiting (wife n kids onboard) my son says "hey, wouldn't it be funny to wake up mom and say that car is going to hit us head-on?". He was thinking of that utube video we saw where someone did that and freaked out their passenger. Anyway, seconds later the light turns green and the dude hauling the car drives BACKWARDS ramming his trailer into and under the front of our car! Like first he said it, then it became real! Now our best vehicle is sidelined waiting on insurance adjusters to check it out.

 

Sorry to hear that, man. I sure hope it works out for you. Was the flat bed driver drunk?

 

That sucks.

 

No Rube, he was not. In fact, after going through the "stages of grief" he was very apologetic and polite. My guess is he was fiddling with his "smart" phone trying to get unlost (he's from West Virginia, the accident was in Bedford, Virginia).

The good part is that my insurance, his insurance, the rental agency and the body shop have all been very polite and helpful throughout.

The bad part is it's almost certain they will total the car because of it's age. I would much rather they fix it since I don't really have time to work on it myself. I couldn't possibly replace it with something in like condition for the book value of that car (I've been looking).

What'll probably happen is they'll total it, I'll buy it back from the insurance company and take the cash difference and make minor repairs and drive it in duct tape while I take the remaining cash to pay overdue bills.

 

Got a friend back in TN in a similar situation. Dude ran a red light, left hand turn into the driver side door of her Chebby pickup. It's an 03 model with low miles, 4x4, extra cab with a 5th wheel. She's thoroughly pissed (understandable) that his insurance co will probably total it. I told her to let them, buy it back and use it as long as she needs it, then put it up for sale. Someone with a nice cab and worn out drive train will buy it and just swap the cabs. I think she'll come out money ahead in the long run, if she just listens to me. Shame of it is that she had it sold and that was the last time she was going to be driving it.

 

Got the Satty back Thursday evening. They did total it and offered me $1200 for it. You can't hardly find a car for that price around here that doesn't have something major wrong with it or isn't completely worn out. Other than the lock issue and being dirty as all get out my car was ready to go anywhere anytime. So for just $200 I bought the car back from the insurance company and they gave us the remaining $1000 in cash. My dear wife has already found a new radiator for $80 that one of her friends bought but never used for their 2001 SL. I'll hit the junk yards for the rest.

 

Meanwhile we're having fun with the rental car that the insurance provided for us. For some reason they thought a 2016 Jeep Cherokee "Trail Hawk" edition was a suitable substitute. They must have heard about my 4-wheeling adventures in the Saturn . Anyway, this thing has more gadgets than we can shake a stick at and is actually fun to drive. What makes it more interesting for me is that it has that 9speed transmission. I work for the company that builds the machines that balance the rotating parts in that transmission. In fact, I have built several of those exact machines myself. So it's kind of strange to know that I'm driving something that I actually had a part to play in it's construction.

 

Sounds like you'll come out ahead. Congratulations on not getting screwed by the insurance company.

 

Got the radiator swapped yesterday.
There's the new and old together so you can see how bent up it was.
How did that thing hold water??

 

Well, aluminum and copper are both malleable metals. I guess neither reached the breaking point. I've actually seen radiators bent worse than that that still hold water!