Drunk Driver Kills Old Faithful While Taking Nap

The Accident

Headlines are so misleading, but how else does one get another to read a story? As I napped on Saturday March 9th, 2013, an apparently drunk driver smashed into my ageing pick-up. I've owned this truck since mile 6 rolled on the odometer, and now it registers near 180,000 miles. I’ve driven most of those miles in the first 10 years. Old faithful is now a Home Depot truck. There have been a number of bumps along the way, but it has been a long and faithful friend. Diligently taking me to work each day, hauling boulders from the mountains, schlepping dirt from the local pit, and off on several vacations. Always starting on the first click of the key.

Well the drunk came barreling down Walker Street, he didn't stop at the 35th street stop sign, and according to eye-witness reports, his wheels left the pavement for a short moment on his way towards the ocean. Gaining speed, he slammed into my Dodge Ram having never hit the brakes. In the photo, you will see the skid marks from after hitting the truck. He pushed my truck over 20 feet with both my brake on and the vehicle in Park. The crash exploded his right front tire, and he proceeded down the hill pouring 6 quarts of oil over the drive, side-walk, and street.

Marilynn immediately called 911 and yelled for me to wake up. (That is very unusual)! Upon chatting with the Driver in the street, he gave me his name and so forth. When I asked for his insurance, he replied that he had triple-A and showed me a towing card. Then informed me that he didn't own the car, it belonged to his mother. That started the "She's going to be so angry" mantra which continued for the next 2 hours.

Several neighbors had gathered around, and helped keep him busy, so that I could call my insurance company, and ask them for information. Our new drinking acquaintance's mother arrived, and sat in her car crying. She is 85 years old, and the car was her 'baby' - it had just been refurbished and given a new pearlized paint job - large chunks of which lay down the entire path of destruction. Did I mention he took out a Stop Sign - this will be important.

Our drunk acquaintance called his AAA (should have been AA for him) to come get his car. Soon the tow truck arrived, and off went the 56 year old drunk with momma. I asked the tow driver if he was allowed to remove a vehicle that caused more than $500 worth of damage. He didn't know. I advised him that the police wouldn't take too kindly if he moved the vehicle prior to their authorization. Ahh, they had just arrived and substantiated my statement. "Where is the driver?" was the first question. Off with mommy. "Leaving the scene of an accident where city property is destroyed is a felony.” Remember the STOP sign! I gave him a courtesy call from the info he gave me. On his Voice Mail, I told him that he needed to return of face a bench warrant for his arrest. Then I called mommy and left the same message. He returned shortly thereafter. Was handcuffed, put in the patrol car, and sadly sat while the measurements of the accident were taken.

The Insurance

Here we are three plus weeks later and I am still haggling with momma's insurance company. Here's how the system seems to work - Completely in their favor! I drive the damaged truck to their estimator who assesses the entire vehicle, and sends in a report. The insurance company sends that to a third party to provide a ‟value” for the truck, as well as the cost of the repair.

While this is going on, I look online to see if there are any similar trucks for sale in LA. Almost all that I found, which is a very small sample was for around $4500. For a 15 year old vehicle, that didn't seem too bad, until the insurance rep called. She was pleasant, and babbled over the numbers. I am a rookie at settling with insurance companies. I asked her to send the info to me via email, which she did. They were offering me $2800 for my trusty old truck.

I take a nap, a drunk smashes into my vehicle, and I lose almost $2000? That smelled bad. I objected. They sharpened their pencil, and returned with a $2600 offer. Hmmmmm! They missed something in my side of the story.

So let’s see how this all works. The insurance company contracts with an auto repair shop, they find every issue the vehicle has that does not conform with the vehicle when it was brand new. That is written down on a form and sent back to the insurance company. The insurance company sends that report to an independent third party that values the vehicle. They take a big circle – actually half the population of Canada fits into this circle , and find the worst 10 vehicles that match my vehicle. Then they average the prices, oh but it doesn’t stop there, they continue now with your marked up vehicle sheet to adjust the price. You have brand new tires, we’ll add $70; you have dirt and grease in the engine compartment, dock a few bucks; you have scratches on a 15 year old truck knock off another $120; here’s a great one, severe rust – a California truck with severe rust- no a Wisconsin 15 year old has severe rust, but it’s a negative $500. This ingrained generosity of all insurance companies makes an already diminished value, miniscule. This is how the insurance scam works. You pay, you pay, and they squeeze every rule so they don’t.

I plead my case. Nap, their DRUNK driver, my loss??? Come on. The vehicles on the insurance company’s own list average a selling price of over $4000. I heard things like, ‟you don't expect to pay what people are asking when you buy a vehicle, you can negotiate” and ‟that's the value of your truck”. In desperation, I went to Kelly Blue Book (KBB.com) to inquire, and looked for what they claimed as a fair sale value. I looked at used car sites on line for more vehicles. Nothing below $4000. At the moment, we are mumbling at each other with our rehearsed scripts.

I expect to settle, or proceed to small claims court, now that would be so exciting (sarcasm intended).  More will follow when they find my phone number in some file again...