So I Bought This With My Insurance Money.....A Continuing Saga

Finally, after six months of back-and-forth, the insurance company representing the guy who hit me, totalled my car, and injured my back finally decided their insured was indeed their insured and covered my car.

Evidently, in an effort to make me go easy on them with the back problem, they settled my car extremely fairly and I was able to buy this:

"This" is a 2007 Scion Tc with a five-speed manual and 136K showing on the clock when I bought it last May. The totalled car was a '97 Camry with 214K on the odo as outlined in this finely-crafted thread. I waited to post due to The Great Photobucket Debacle. Since that shook out, I can now present you with these fine photos taken in the parking lot at work.

Now there is only the back stuff to sort out. I'm finally getting an MRI as a precursor to rehab and work my way back to the studly healthy Image I had before all of this E36 M3 happened.

pics not working

They're working now. I just joined Photoberkit and I've posted like three pics on this forum (two of which were pictures of flounder) since 1999. So it took me a couple of attempts.

Tough break, man. Nice TC. And, of course, I hope you have a swift and speedy recovery.

How was the back injury handled? Just wondering what you meant by take it easy on them.

He didn't claim it.

I am claiming it. Right now, they're a bit over a barrel because they had a legal battle with their insured so it took them awhile to get to me. I am going to present them with my medical bills and they will pay them. I've been in pain with considerable instability since I got whacked. There have been some losses incurred because of that but my plan is to keep this away from lawyers and courts. If they will be reasonable, I will be reasonable.

Jerry From LA wrote: I am claiming it. Right now, they're a bit over a barrel because they had a legal battle with their insured so it took them awhile to get to me. I am going to present them with my medical bills and they will pay them. I've been in pain with considerable instability since I got whacked. There have been some losses incurred because of that but my plan is to keep this away from lawyers and courts. If they will be reasonable, I will be reasonable.

I had a few friends that were all in the same car in a major accident. The passenger with a lawyer ended up with less than half of what the passenger with no lawyer received, and he even had to have emergency surgery and hospitalized for 10 days. Some of that was obviously lawyers fees, but mostly because once lawyers were involved all defenses went up.

What I learned from the un-represented passenger? Never accept the insurance companies first offer.

There is no offer. This is what I've agreed to thus far. I get any pushback and we'll see what happens next.

Any plans for the tC? I have a soft spot for them, a buddy had the first turbonetics turbo kit in north America, at least thats what his installer told him, and one of the few ported zpi or zzp (whoever it was) heads before they went under

In reply to Opti: My plan is to keep it running as long as I can. I dinged the PO for a cracked windshield, an ineffective emergency brake, a missing emblem and a couple other small items like a crankcase that was down a quart. Speaking of which, while searching TSBs for the cracked windshield, I found an oil burning issue with these motors. The threshold for the TSB is 1,200 miles to the quart. Currently, I'm on track for something between 2,000-2,500 miles to the quart so I'm feeling okay. That mileage reflects hustling the car up the Angeles Crest a couple of times.

So far, I haven't fixed the windshield yet but I changed the oil and adjusted the e-brake. It's a drum-in-a-disk setup that I'm familiar with since I owned SAABs with the same setup. One last thing...I washed, clay barred and waxed the car. Haven't had a car worth doing that to since the turn of the century.

NEALSMO wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote: I am claiming it. Right now, they're a bit over a barrel because they had a legal battle with their insured so it took them awhile to get to me. I am going to present them with my medical bills and they will pay them. I've been in pain with considerable instability since I got whacked. There have been some losses incurred because of that but my plan is to keep this away from lawyers and courts. If they will be reasonable, I will be reasonable.

I had a few friends that were all in the same car in a major accident. The passenger with a lawyer ended up with less than half of what the passenger with no lawyer received, and he even had to have emergency surgery and hospitalized for 10 days. Some of that was obviously lawyers fees, but mostly because once lawyers were involved all defenses went up. What I learned from the un-represented passenger? Never accept the insurance companies first offer.

Also, stay away from the late night TV ambulance chasers that promise big bucks. I have an attorney friend who has been working with insurance companies for decades. He told me once the TV stars get involved, they drop the offer by 2/3's because they know the stars don't want to go to court. It costs them time and money. There was one case where a TV attorney had to hire another firm to go to court because they we're prepared to go, and it had been so long since they tried a case, they didn't have the knowledge to do it. Amazing!

A co-worker's son hit a drunk guy walking across a dark 4 lane one night. His son swerved when he saw him, but must have hit his lower leg. The drunk guy lawyered up with one ambulance chaser, but got a letter from a second chaser that was almost funny except for its seriousness. Apparently the first lawyer saw what a POS he was. His insurance company said they were not going to pay it and would go to trial. Drunk guy lives in a shelter and causes all kinds of trouble.. The shelter owner goes to church with my co-worker and told him what kind of a guy he was dealing with.

I was waiting for the light to change. I was hit in the rear with the resulting impact pushing me into the car in front. I was presented with an insurance card for a Mercedes when the car that hit me was an Audi so I immediately called 911. The Burbank Police took over the whole investigation and made their findings. It's pretty cut-and-dry. Though I have not been told in so many words, the Audi was new and the owner didn't change his insurance. They weren't going to cover him, as they only had his previous Bentley on record. The family threatened to sue so they made a decision almost six months later. The insurance company has co-operated thus far since I'm only asking to be made whole so I'm not sweating it.