[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
I am not in CA and am not a lawyer. (disclaimer) The following is not legal advise, it is just what I have learned being in 4 accidents since 1997. (Hey - None were my fault...they found me!) :-) My experience has been that if it is not your fault it will not affect your insurance. (CA may be different) They just want to know about it. Was the other person cited for a driving infraction? i.e. too fast for conditions, failure to yield to right of way, etc. If so, you probably have more leverage against the insurance company or the parties involved. If you do not wish to go through insurance and the other party does, you really do not have a choice but to go through the insurances company. If you go through insurance, do not take their 1st offer, or their second, maybe their third, just depends on what you want. Make sure you get what you want (within reason). Their objective is to settle for as little as possible. I made those mistakes before. To give you an idea...my last accident I "T-boned" a guy doing 40 mph. It was his fault and he was cited for failure to yield to the right of way. Their first offer was about $4k...I ended up settling out of court for $58k. (Yes, it did take me 1 1/2 years and a lawyer. But that is a $54,000.00 difference from their first offer). You may be able to negotiate for them to pay for the vehicle without it being "totaled". Like it was said before, if they "total" your car you will end up with a salvage title and have to buy your car back either from the insurance company or the junk yard. Make sure you do not have any injuries resulting from the accident. Because once you settle, you cannot go back and ask for more money. I do not envy your situation. I know you just want to go back to what it was like before the accident. Sorry, it will never be the same. But if it was the other guys fault, just make sure you are compensated fairly! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Shameless link for search engines: http://listarchive.type3.org ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~