mom got into car accident, what action to persue?

[req 5,000+ posts]

hello everyone.

here is the story;

my mother was driving down the highway (2 lane - median - another 2 lanes, 65mph). a woman was driving at a moderate distance behind her, and a man in a truck was behind this woman (lets call these two people man, and woman, lol). all three people; mom, woman, man (in this order) are driving in the right hand lane with noone else around. now for some reason, man proceeds to pass woman ON THE SHOULDER from the right hand lane, susscfully passes her, and proceeds to my mother. he ends up swirving and rear-ending her right quarterpanel\bumper, scraping\hitting all the way down the side of the car, damaging the ENTIRE side, and then slamming his wheelwell into my mothers front bumper\hood.

my mom was in a 2001 saturn SL2 (non-unibody) and the man was in some chevy\ford\dodge big-truck thing (she dosnt know trucks, remember its a mother)... and then the guy stops, along with my mother and the woman. poliece arive, reports are taken, the woman offers to be a witness. we have all the information and everything.

so we go to his insurance company and file a report. turns out, the guy is gone and noone can find him. he actually went to flordia to 'grieve for his mothers funeral' the next day. he may have been distraught when he crashed the car. who knows.

so we are a WEEK without our car, and we still have to drive to work and everything. they finally get ahold of the guy and we get a rental (2005 nissan altima.. yummy) and we just got word that our car has been pronounced totaled.

car is worth $5100 (almost 100k miles, about 100miles\day to work each day - thats why its an economy car) and the repair will cost $49xx or somthing.

my mom is currently in physical therapy for her neck - a disc of cartlage is 'loose' or 'out of place' and she has touble turning her head in any direction. she goes twice a week.

fortunatly noone was hurt badly, or hospitalized. but we are being shafted out of our car that was ~15,000 new 3 or 4 years ago. what course of action do you think we should follow? we do not have a definate awnser on the money were are recieving.. but i can almost guess that we will be shafted for this ******* hitting us.

thanks for any help you can give us. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

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[Ricktc 10+ year member]

Sue him for pain and suffering. Get a good lawyer and milk him good. You won't get the 15,000 you paid for the car new, just isn't going to happen, but insurance will likely buy you another decent car, and money from the lawsuit should cover buying another decent car.

-Rick

 

[slAVeGiRL 10+ year member]

Hate to say it, but you probably ARE going to get the shaft where the car is concerned (that's just how insurance companies work). They're only gonna give you what the book value is on it. Who's paying for the rental? Is it "man's" insurance? If you/your insurance company is paying for it, go after the guy's insurance for reimbursement. Also, make him pay for the medical expenses if he isn't already doing so. Other than that, I don't think there's much else you can do.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

well the guys insurance is prudential. they are paying for our rental - thats the reason we didnt get it until a week later, is because he ran to flordia, and they couldnt get in touch with him to approve of the rental or some BS.

but i was thinking that it was

A. pain and suffering

B. wreckless endangerment

C. destruction of property

D. getting a ticket for passing on the shoulder on a major highway

E. speeding 10mph + over the speedlimit

i just dont know what kind of suit we would have. i mean its like getting hit by a drunk driver. they pay for your cars 'value' and thats it? the guy was a wreckless drive that smashed into us //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

i dont know what to do is all.

 

[Underage Driver 10+ year member]

hunt him down and kill the ****er. then jack him //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

j/k //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

Sue for loss of affection and hold your neck.

 

[sumone 10+ year member]

I have no input, except...

(she dosnt know trucks, remember its a mother)

that statement is hilarious...

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

lol thanks.

turns out they deemed the car toltaled. we get to keep it, and we get $5,xxx for what it was worth (100k miles on a 2001 - work is 50 miles away) so i get a 2001 saturn with minimal body damage (no frame damage) and my dad is prolly getting a 2005 saturn ion.

i dont know if we are going to persue the guy with legal action yet.

anyone else ever been in one of these situations?

 

[MikeofTulsa Moderator]

first thing i'd do is look up a decent attorney and go have a consultation w/ them

they can give you advise as to what your looking at as far as your legal options

and most attorneys will work for free assuming you'll get the money in the lawsuit.....they will however want about 1/3 of it.......which will leave about 1/3 for hospital bills and 1/3 for car......jus call an attorney and see what they can do for ya...you'll get more money w/ an attorney thatn w/out