[04Rodeo5spd]

Well, for those of you that have already heard, I had a run in with an old handicapped woman.... They shouldnt be allowed on the road (explitive removed)!!!

I was traveling Northbound up a busy 2 lane street (in each direction) in Santa Monica in my 2004 Isuzu Rodeo, which I had just purchased BRAND NEW 4 months ago. As I go through an intersection at about 40mph, I see a flash of white in my peripheral vision.

After I blinked and focused, it was too late. A genious handicapped old woman with Nevada plates (with a WheelChair placard on them) cut across from the Southbound, right lane traffic in the middle of the block to turn left into a driveway. Keep in mind, this idiot is going across 4 lanes of traffic with a posted 40mph limit, meaning people are usually doing 50.

Here's the result of what happened. The police determined her to be 100% at fault. Luckily no one was injured. She was driving a brand new crystal white Lexus LS 430. I'm not claiming injury, but her insurance company is comping a rental car.

They gave us an 06 black VW Jetta with the 5 cyl engine. Its very nice, but we're gonna upgrade in a couple days when theres a better selection of cars. I thought for sure the truck was totalled, but now they're saying it should take about 3 weeks to fix.

Damage as follows just from my visual:
1) Fender
2) Hood
3) Battery/Radiator Resevoir
4) Headlights/Signals/Grill/Bumper
5) Tire/Rim

Not sure what other damage they may be but if it doesnt drive the same I'm sure as hell not taking it back. Its unacceptable for a brand new car to be returned to me if it isn't driving like it was.

IF I'm not happy with it I'm most likely going to find an 04 Axiom, and if not, I dont know what. I really miss my Rodeo Here are the pictures. Notice the hood is actually shut. That's how much gap there is.

^^ Look at the bottom of the bumper. So much force!

 

[RodeoRed]

that sucks dude. it'll be interesting to see if they write off or fix.

you should petition for her to lose her liscence - just out of spite. claim she is old and senile and a danger to other drivers.

then get her to settle out of court.....

lucky for you shes at fault and that actually matters in your state. here we have this garbage called "no fault insurance" where even if someone wastes your car on purpose - you both take care of you own damage through your own insurance.

like i said - garbage

 

[ProBMXer1313]

That sucks. Front end doesn't look to bad but that fender is mangled. Have any pictures from farther back? I'm kinda trying to compare it to how mine was the first time I was hit.

 

[Gizmo42]

Doesnt look all that bad, mostly cosmetic. Make sure they use OEM parts and not aftermarket. Aftermarket parts never fit quite right, and you arent paying for it so who cares if it costs more.

They need to change licencing in this country, have to start being tougher and testing older ppl more often.

here we have this garbage called "no fault insurance" where even if someone wastes your car on purpose - you both take care of you own damage through your own insurance.

We used to have that here too, changed to a Tort system a couple years ago saying it would save everyone money. Has still gone up only now ppl dont have proper medical coverage. Insurance companies suck, ppl suck, work sucks.. etc.

 

[04Rodeo5spd]

Yeah I'm gonna check for more pics in a sec cuz I know I have one from far away. Theres a lot of damage under the hood, like everything on the passenger side is out of place.

It is at a very reputable body shop in Santa Monica. They ONLY use new OEM parts. Believe me, I made sure

Its hard to find a "bad" body shop in my area unless you go to like Earl Shibe

 

[rodeo guy]

Don't forget to ask the insurance company for compensation for loss of value to your vehicle. I've heard that you are entitled to this, but they aren't going to offer, you have to ask.
________
Fes125 Pantheon

 

[hennigm4]

Yes dont drop it , follow through with her motor vehicle dpt in her state. Request to have her abilities tested, send them copie of police report and pictures, throw in something like this could have been a young child in a yugo, and may have resulted in a death.

Old people and teen agers have almost killed me many times while I am on my bike. I do follow them home though...

 

[bigpoppax2]

I second the compensation for the loss of value. Your truck is wrecked, even if they fix it perfectly it's still a wrecked truck. When you go to trade it in or sell it it will come up as such on a search of the vin.

Your truck's value has gone down considerably.

Joe

 

[04Rodeo5spd]

Don't forget to ask the insurance company for compensation for loss of value to your vehicle. I've heard that you are entitled to this, but they aren't going to offer, you have to ask.

Whoa wait. I was just playing with this idea. Are you sure they have to do that? The company is State Farm. I will for sure bring that up because they're all of a sudden being very difficult to deal with.

And this morning the Adjuster Im working with said that they talked to the woman on Friday and she said she overheard me talking to me dad and saying "I was messing with the radio and didnt see her". Complete fabrication, but the police report puts her 100% at fault. No way around that. Shes a lying bitch on top of being blind

 

[04Rodeo5spd]

Well I just talked to the adjuster and I asked for compensation for the vehicles loss of value. Turns out RodeoGuy was right. However, she told me that sometimes they approve it and sometimes they dont and I have to file a bunch of stuff.

She then gave me a bunch of attiude and told me the estimate to fix the damage is $6,500 :jaw drop: We got into a VERY nasty argument that ended in me screaming at her.

Front end damage is hard to repair. $6,500 means its significant. Thats enough to total the car but they only total it for 80% of the value which is BS! So Im gonna call the body shop and then call her boss. Anyone have any ideas on what I should say?

I explained that I wont accept the car if it doesnt drive perfectly and I told her I knew it wouldnt. I worked every angle from doing the math of the car to the amt of damage, even saying the car is 4 months old!!!!! I explained how picky I am, nothing matters.

Legal advice or advice on what to say next? My blood pressure is sky high right now

 

[tomster]

Welcome to the world of insurance companies. They don't make money by paying out a bunch of money on claims.

My Trooper took a similar hit only slightly more to the side. I had no hood damage as my tire took the brunt of the hit. In fact I needed quite a bit of mechanical work. It was fixed and even though I am extremely picky about such things it looks and drives as new. Point being your damage is more sheet metal (i.e. easier to fix) in nature and should be just as fixable if not more.

That being said no doubt you will have suffered some resale hit. If you really want compensation for this you may have to take them to court. They know that only a few people are willing to do this. So to save money they will likely just keep putting you off until it is too late for you to go to court. Only way around this is to make them think you will take them to court and do so if they don't follow through. I fail to see how screaming will help you in this regard.

While $6500 seems like a big number it is likely not that big of percentage of the vehicle's value. It does seem in line with my repair and they didn't total my 99 Trooper.

As to what else to consider if you want the vehicle totaled, FWIW I suggest you- Find out if your State has a percentage of damage figure that they require the company to total the vehicle? Get another shop to give an estimate if you don't believe the current number. Remind them that they owe you a rental car in the meantime. In my case the shop (one of the insurance company's preapproved shops) had trouble getting parts/was extremely busy. Conseqently the rental bill was almost the size of the repair bill. Thus, the bill is not just $6500 but $6500 plus rental. Come up with a number you would be willing to settle for (e.g. what you think you could buy a similar vehicle for?) and be prepared to fight for that.

Bottom line, you are in one piece and the offending party does have at least some insurance. While certainly not ideal it is far from the end of the world.

 

[ProBMXer1313]

That's almost exactly how much it cost to fix mine the first time I was hit. If your interested go to page 8 of my CarDomain and it list most of the stuff that was replaced and the total cost of parts and labor. To bad I didn't take pictures.

 

[Gizmo42]

State Farm was pretty reasonable with me I thought. When my mitsu was totalled the other driver was at fault and thats who they had. I knew mine would be totalled since it was 9 yrs old and new mitsu parts are expensive. The quotes for mine were $1800-2300 so was too much of the value. They gave me full wholesale value for one in perfect condition ($3500). I bought it back for $500, put $500 of salvage and new parts into it plus $500 for a paint job (I should have skipped that part freakin maaco) and still came out ahead. Mine was all sheetmetal damage so a day with a wrench and porta power took care of it. Pics of the wrecked mitsu

$6500 seems like a hell of a lot to me. I would have thought half that amount, then again I havent worked in a body shop in a long time or priced new isuzu body parts. You can have your insurance company look at it and get a quote, if you can drive it you can also get quotes on your own. That could help them decide to fix it instead of totalling it.

 

[04Rodeo5spd]

Yeah well I think part of the reason its so expensive is because I only take my cars to top notch body shops, this being one of them.

Secondly, theres a fair amount of damage and although the truck runs, it wont drive b/c the bumper cuts into the front wheel. Apparently they have already started working on it and I'm waiting for my insurance company to call me back.

Headaches headaches headaches.

 

[04Rodeo5spd]

And the (*$#@&*) are only replacing ONE front tire. They wont pay for two. I'm auto-mechanically retarded and I know that you have to replace two tires.

 

[tomster]

Of course on a 4wd ALL the tires should be the same size. However I really doubt you will do any harm with one (two counting the spare) having 4 months less mileage than the others. In fact, unless you have done a lot of miles, new tires can sometimes vary that much in circumference. In addition, when you do a 5 tire rotation you will introduce at least that much variation.

It is not worth losing any sleep over let alone going to war. Instead, next time they want to cut a corner point out that you just "gave in" on the tires and it is now their turn.

Edit: Just noted you have a 2wd which means you really have nothing to worry about. Simply have them put the spare on the front driver side and then use the tire now there as the spare.

 

[04Rodeo5spd]

Edit: Just noted you have a 2wd which means you really have nothing to worry about. Simply have them put the spare on the front driver side and then use the tire now there as the spare.

The spare is cracked all along the sidewall and its from 2003. I purchased 4 brand new tires for the car when I bought it. Yokohama covered most of it under the warranty but I still had to pay $30/tire and I didnt have the spare replaced. Good thinking though,
Nick

 

[sgtboots]

Looks like the same damage I had from my wreck.

Sorry it happened to you.

 

[ProBMXer1313]

Any pictures from a distance so we can see the whole truck?

Was there any damage to the steering, suspension or frame?

 

[Philbra]

Sorry to hear about the accident and the damage to your Rodeo.

Was the Rodeo actually brand-new, i.e. never titled? How many miles on the odo when you purchased it? At the time of the wreck?