Saturn Safety, is Great!!

Kirk,

Nothing personal here. Opinions vary and that is why life is interesting.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion that the OP consult with a
lawyer. My opinion is that he just let his insurance company handle the
matter since this is why he has purchased the insurance. As to the lawyer
taking the case on contingency, you may actually get one to do this, but
given the small amount at stake here ($500), I doubt any good lawyer would
take this case on this basis and the bad lawyers will give you no more than
about an hour of their time and will then take the 1/3 share of the
settlement leaving the OP out the $167 to make the repair. Unless there was
some other claim (personal injury) here, I don't see how the lawyer will get
any more than what the repair estimate says that fixing the damage will
cost. I do not believe that the defendant is obligated to pay the
plaintiff's legal fees as this cost was incurred voluntarily by the
plaintiff's decision to seek/hire counsel.

Personally, in case it's not obvious, I am sick of the litigious society in
which we live and the increased cost to the average consumer to cover hidden
costs from people who are quick to sue over the smallest of issues. Just a
few hours of legal support and the OP could easily walk away without
anything at all since the legal fees could exceed the cost of the
settlement.

Bob

"Kirk Kohnen" > wrote in message
...
> I did *NOT* say to get a lawyer and *SUE* them. I suggested that he retain
a
> lawyer to let the guy who hit him know how bad his position is. The
lawyers
> know the law, and what to say to the insurance companies to get them to
> understand just what their obligations are.
>
> The guy was rear ended. Lawyers will gladly take these sort of cases on a
> contingency basis - if the defendant doesn't pay, the lawyer doesn't get
> paid. Typically, the lawyer gets 1/3 of the money, and the plaintiff gets
> 2/3.
>
> The simple truth here is that you are not going to be out any out of
pocket
> expense by retaining a lawyer on a contingency basis. The likelyhood is
that
> the lawyer will be able to get quicker service from the guy's insurance
> company (or yours for that matter) than you will. The insurance companies
> have lawyers and know the law inside and out. Shouldn't you level the
> playing field?
>
>
> The fact that insurance companies look for every possible reason not to
pay
> is the reason that you SHOULD retain competent legal advice.
>
> Oh, for the record: I am not now, nor have I ever been an attorney. I have
> no vested interest in my advice to retain one. I'm simply a guy who was in
> your situation before and got sick of being screwed by the insurance
company
> of the guy who hit me.
>
> PS - Talk to a lawyer soon. There are time limitations that the other
> insurance company has no obligation to tell you about that can inhibit
your
> ability to get things taken care of. The lawyer will know about them - you
> probably don't.

Your best action would be to let your insurance company handle it. If
you have any medical problems down the road, or have any problems with
the repairs, and you haven't reported it to your insurance company, then
tehy would not have to provide you with coverage after the fact because
you didn't report the accident to them in a timely manner. Each policy
has time limits stated for when you need to report the accident to the
insurance company.
It's amazing how much bumper repairs can cost. The damage to the bumper
cover may appear minor, but underneath there could be structural damage
not apparent until the car is on a lift and measurements are taken. If
the structural damage is not repaired correctly, then the bumper may
fail the next time it's hit.
Most good insurance companies will guarantee the repairs that the repair
shop makes, and will subrogate to get your deductible back for you. In
some states and with some companies, as long as they consider you not at
fault and the other driver has insurance, then they will waive your
deductible and just pay for your repairs.
You could also contact the other drivers insurance company (after
notifying your own) and have them handle the repairs. This is sometimes
a good idea if you don't have rental coverage on your own policy. That
way, you have no out of pocket expenses to get your car fixed, although
they may require you to get more estimates than your own company.
I worked a few years as a claims rep, and for most accidents under
$1,000, we would have a check in the mail the same day we got the
estimate from the policyholder. If the insured used one of the
pre-approved repair centers, then they didn't even have to send an
estimate, because repairs at those shops are pre-approved and we'd get
the estimate from them.

JPH


wrote:

> They did use the safety angle in the beginning, but I guess they had to
> stop it, because they could not gurantee anyone's safety in any given
> situation.
>
> I said I only had a few scratches on the Bumper well those few scratches
> will cost close to $500 to repair!! That is a lot in my opinion, but I
> want it done right, because the car is only about 5 months old!! And now
> the Person who did the damage is balking at the cost of the repair. I do
> not understand this, if it is your fault, why not take responsibility
> for it, and do the right thing? I thought we might avoid the entire
> Insurance thing, but now it looks like we will not be able to because
> the other driver is complaining about the price of the repair. I think
> $500 is really a small price to pay if you ask me, just think if someone
> had been hurt in all this, then the cost would be a lot more then $500!
> And what about the cost to me, in time, and the fact that the car will
> be in the shop for 3 days? Alll of this is just not in the thought
> process of the person who caused all the damage in the first place. If
> it was me and I was the diver of the other vehicle I would have paid the
> $500 right away,and been gratefull that no one was hurt or killed by my
> actions behind the wheel. JMO
>
>
>
>

Saturn Safety, is Great!!

Group: rec.autos.makers.saturn Date: Wed, Jun 16, 2004, 10:06pm (PDT+2)
From: (J=A0Haggerty)
Your best action would be to let your insurance company handle it. If
you have any medical problems down the road, or have any problems with
the repairs, and you haven't reported it to your insurance company, then
tehy would not have to provide you with coverage after the fact because
you didn't report the accident to them in a timely manner. Each policy
has time limits stated for when you need to report the accident to the
insurance company.
It's amazing how much bumper repairs can cost. The damage to the bumper
cover may appear minor, but underneath there could be structural damage
not apparent until the car is on a lift and measurements are taken. If
the structural damage is not repaired correctly, then the bumper may
fail the next time it's hit.
Most good insurance companies will guarantee the repairs that the repair
shop makes, and will subrogate to get your deductible back for you. In
some states and with some companies, as long as they consider you not at
fault and the other driver has insurance, then they will waive your
deductible and just pay for your repairs.
You could also contact the other drivers insurance company (after
notifying your own) and have them handle the repairs. This is sometimes
a good idea if you don't have rental coverage on your own policy. That
way, you have no out of pocket expenses to get your car fixed, although
they may require you to get more estimates than your own company. I
worked a few years as a claims rep, and for most accidents under $1,000,
we would have a check in the mail the same day we got the estimate from
the policyholder. If the insured used one of the pre-approved repair
centers, then they didn't even have to send an estimate, because repairs
at those shops are pre-approved and we'd get the estimate from them.
JPH
wrote:
They did use the safety angle in the beginning, but I guess they had to
stop it, because they could not gurantee anyone's safety in any given
situation.
I said I only had a few scratches on the Bumper well those few scratches
will cost close to $500 to repair!! That is a lot in my opinion, but I
want it done right, because the car is only about 5 months old!! And now
the Person who did the damage is balking at the cost of the repair. I do
not understand this, if it is your fault, why not take responsibility
for it, and do the right thing? I thought we might avoid the entire
Insurance thing, but now it looks like we will not be able to because
the other driver is complaining about the price of the repair. I think
$500 is really a small price to pay if you ask me, just think if someone
had been hurt in all this, then the cost would be a lot more then $500!
And what about the cost to me, in time, and the fact that the car will
be in the shop for 3 days? Alll of this is just not in the thought
process of the person who caused all the damage in the first place. If
it was me and I was the diver of the other vehicle I would have paid the
$500 right away,and been gratefull that no one was hurt or killed by my
actions behind the wheel. JMO
---------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for that information, I tried to explain all that to the other
driver, but they did not seem at all interested. I am still in
dis-belief that the other driver said If it was them, and I had hit
their car like that they would have just said, "Oh Just A Few Scratches,
Forget About It"! That is the craziest statement I have ever heard in my
entire life. Why would I even say that about a 5 month old car? If it
was up to the other driver I would get a Bottle of Touch up paint, and
that is it. And the other driver had the nerve to say It was only a
slight tap to my bumper, right after saying they were going 70mph on a
congested Freeway, before Braking! I am going to see my Insurance Agent
in the morning, I hope 6 days later is not too late to file a claim? I
think the other driver was just trying to string me along until the time
ran out to file an Insurance Claim.
What do you think? Thanks!

> wrote in message
...
> The other day I got rear-ended on the Freeway by a large work Van.
> Everyone in front of me slamed on their brakes and so did I but the Van
> did not! It felt like a train had hit my L300, and I thought the worst
> when I got out of my Car. But when I looked at my rear bumper it only
> had a few scratches on it, no dents, or anything! Even the driver of the
> Van said "Boy it's a good thing you drive a Saturn"! Well I think so
> too, but it's too bad I had to find out the hard way. The driver of the
> work Van said he would pay for any damages, and I am in the process of
> getting it fixed right now. Now, I think the next car I buy will also be
> a Saturn, it is much better to be Safe, than sorry!!!
>
>
>
>

FWIW I agree with you on this. I've never been crazy about my Saturn, but I
got into one fairly bad accident, totalled the front right side of the car,
seriously damaged the rear right side, had 5000$ (CDN) worth of damanges and
I walked out without a scratch or a bruise and was damn happy with my car at
that point. Ive also been in one of those multi car chain reaction
accidents, I was the 5th car in the line from the start of the crash (first
car was pretty much squished in half, surprised the woman didnt have the
engine on her lap) and the person who hit me from behind cracked their
bumper in half, the person my car hit in front me got some nice cracks in
her bumper, yet mine in the middle was perfectly fine, not even a dent or a
crack!. Guess there is something great about these cars after all except for
the mileage

Wurm