Well, I was peacefully stopped at a red light when I see it coming... I got rear ended by a Hyunday! My ride is a '93 Nissan hardbody truck. I just replaced the timing chain, had the transmission rebuilt a couple of years ago. I had a nice reliable truck, now I have a truck that handles like crap, and makes some odd noises.

I took it to a shop, both leaf springs are bent, exhaust is bent, the damn car even hit the rear transmission thing (I iam not a mechanic, I mean the thing that transfers the driveshaft's power to make the tires turn).

Any advice with dealing with the insurance folks? I am told my ride is 'totaled'. Do I need a lawyer? I am ok so far, just want my reliable transportation back. Will contact the offending persons insurance Friday when I get the report.

Thanks for any help.

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I've only been though this once, but here is what I learned...

You shouldn't need a lawyer. You have just entered a total loss situation (this means it would cost more to repair the truck than the truck is worth)

The insurace company is going to try to buy the truck off of you for what it was worth before the accident. Sometimes there are other factors as well. They also have a term "pain and inconvenience." Here they pay you for exactly what it says.

You should have contacted their insurance company right after the collision. What company is it?

I hope you got the police involved having them file a report out proving that they where at fault before you contact the insurance co. cause there going to need the report.

I have a police report, or will have one Friday. The dude with the gun and badge told me all the info would be on the report that I can get 3 days after the wreck.

Just hard to think straight at the time. I should have gotten the info, but each time I asked the officer, he said it would be on the report. And I usually do not argue with a person with a gun and a radio...

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Quote: Originally Posted by Fred_G I have a police report, or will have one Friday. The dude with the gun and badge told me all the info would be on the report that I can get 3 days after the wreck. Just hard to think straight at the time. I should have gotten the info, but each time I asked the officer, he said it would be on the report. And I usually do not argue with a person with a gun and a radio... E

Then you should be fine as long as you have that police report, you do know if you are with out a truck there insurance company should pay for a rental, at least until they pay you for new or old one to replace yours, also if this is your primary only way of transportation they have to provide you with a rental, that is what the other insurance company had did for me when i got hit and my car was out of commission for 3 weeks being fixed.

Best of luck to you, you should fair well after you talk to there insurance.

Just for information's sake, its the rear differential that changes the direction of the torque from the driveshaft to spin your wheels.

Other than that... I have nothing but condolences for your loss. Reliable transport is a hard thing to lose.

You have to contact your insurance right now man. They will take care of most things as long as you are with a good company. You need to find out if the other guy was insured to from YOUR ins.co.
You will probably also qualify for a rental vehicle at his company's expense or do what I have done in the past. (AAA told me it was ok to do) I borrow a friends or family members car or none at all and make a note saying they lent one to me and they chraged me this amount. I get a check in the mail. If you got rear ended hard you should probably see a doctor as well if only for documentation purposes. You may not even know if you are hurt yet. From what he did to your truck it sounds like you got hit pretty hard. Don't be lazy and just look out for yourself , that's what insurance is for.

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOutcast Just for information's sake, its the rear differential that changes the direction of the torque from the driveshaft to spin your wheels. Other than that... I have nothing but condolences for your loss. Reliable transport is a hard thing to lose.

Rear differential That is the words I think I was looking for. Transmissions and such work on magic smoke or FM (Farfing Magic) as far as I am concerned.

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Definately keep good contact with insurance companys. They will pay for the car (or at least what it was worth) and the other guy should have to pay for your rental (and/or borrow of a friends) and any medical bill that you need. Thats a good idea in all accidents just as NoSlak said, go get checked up, its better safe than sorry.

I have had the unfortunate pleasure of either being in an accident or having family that was so I have a pretty good idea of how the process works, at least in NY state, though it should be similar everywhere.

The police report should have all the information that the insurance company needs, including the other guys insurance info. Assuming the police report says it is the other persons fault, which 99% of the time when you get rear ended it is, then you are actually in pretty good shape. If you have not done so already, contact your insurance company. They will probably ask for some information so that they can get a copy of the police report as well.

Also, go to a Dr. and make sure there are no "hidden" injuries. It sounds like you go hit pretty hard so you will want to make sure that there are no neck/back injuries that are not impacting you now but may later. If there are, make sure to report those to the insurance company as well.

Once your insurance company has been notified and they have a copy of the police report they should send a claims adjuster to look at your car. No matter what a mechanic or auto body shop says, it is them that has the final say. At that point they will either provide you with a list of things that need to be fixed, along with an estimate and a check for the amount minus your deductible or a check for the blue book value of the vehicle before it got smashed up.

They will take care of suing the other guys insurance, if necessary, to recover the costs as well as your deductible. Once they get your deductible from the other guys ins. company they will send you a check for that as well.

If the other guy was breaking any laws, ie: speeding, DWI, etc, you will want to talk to a lawyer to see if it makes sense to sue him, especially if you got hurt.

In the meantime, start shopping for a new truck 'cause it does sound like yours will be officially totaled. Also, look up the value of the vehicle on Edmund's and Kelly's Blue Book so that you cna have an idea of what the ins co should be giving you if they decide to total it.

If the truck is totalled and you are really intent of fixing it back up and keeping it, you can buy the truck back with a salvage title, fix it, have it inspected and put back on the road.

I just went through the same situation here in CT two months ago. Hit from behind while sitting at a light. The only damage was the rear bumper and a wrinkle in the rear passenger quater panel.
But as supported by CT state law, because the truck was over ten years old, the insurance company of the offending driver only had to pay me "Book Value" of the vehicle MINUS any previous damage they were able to notice. The book value came to about half of what the same truck (year, equipment and mileage) would have sold for on a dealer's lot, and I looked very hard for a replacement. Nevertheless, according to DMV and my lawyer, it was all I was able to qualify for. I was able to get one week of rental car MINUS the insurance costs. Also the insurance company charged me 250 bucks for the salvage rights for my truck.
The offending insurance company "totaled" the car directly with DMV making it illegal for me to drive my truck (without notifying me). I had the truck repaired and had to flat bed it to DMV for a complete insection - front to back - right down to the undercoating brakes and tires.
All in all I came out (very) slightly ahead cash-wise, but not very happy in terms of the effort and paperwork all this took. But I saved myself from another car loan, and have a nearly fully restored vehicle.
The fair state of CT supports this rotten treatment of accident victims. CT is known as the "insurance state" and they want to keep the big companies happy. Also, the state benefits from this practice because it encourages more car sales, and the state collects the sales tax. The towns like it because they collect more property tax on the cars that are newer than ten years old.
So, truth be told, you just don't win. But I'm glad you weren't hurt!

Dang, that sucks prime-evil! In this instance, I am lucky to live in the state I live in. Lets see what I can stir up.

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I hate to revive an old thread, but I am still waiting on Allstate. Looks like I get 2k if they take the truck, and 1.3k if I keep it. I had a lot of work done it in the last 2 years that Allstate says may effect the dollar amount. They terminated my rental car Monday, without a check, or an agreed to dollar amount.

And now they are not calling me back. Great. I got some junk mail from a certain insurance company today, showing me I could save some money. It was from F'ing Allstate...

Cue the Bugs Bunney... 'of course you know this mean war...'

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