I think the industry has moved on to accept that most people are full of adrenaline after an accident and unless something is broken, they might not want the ambulance. I only have issues with the defense insurance when my client doesn’t get any medical treatment for weeks after.
The doing physical things after an accident means your not injured thing is a sham too. I had a client who was a landscaper that got tboned. He couldn’t afford to sit at home or not work and he went back to work. He was on reduced duty but the insurance company still decided to send an investigator to follow him and take pics of him at work and try to say he was doing landscaping after the accident to reduce what they had to pay. I had the guy’s boss testify that he indeed was on reduced duty and told the insurance company that I was more than willing to bet a jury would realize this guy had to continue working to support his family and was actually injured. They ended up settling for something like 15x the adjuster’s “final top offer” before suit.
go to the hospital immediately and get checked out. the both of you.
find a good lawyer immediately.
start coordinating your case asap.
go read the other forum thread about what happens when you have a shitty lawyer and a shitty insurance adjuster and make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
Thanks for checking in. We’re getting good care and the realization has set in that it could’ve been much worse so while it’s frustrating we’re feeling thankful that we’re still here.
On a lighter note - The car appears to need about 30k worth of work, so once Geico approves the updated estimate we’ll see how long it takes to get all the parts…
I’ve heard a bunch of stories recently about parts taking months and the insurance company finally totalling the car. Really hoping to avoid that.
Glad to read your perspective – you made it out alive. But please do not think you are okay.
Regarding 30K worth of damage, I can very well be wrong, but that will most likely be totaled. Presently, insurance companies have destroyed vehicles for far less.
Just keep hoping/praying they total that thing, and quick.
I had a little C250 my wife totaled in a rain storm. I had to drive it home after the police report was made. Suspension geometry was shot to shit (steering wheel pointed at 3 O’clock just to drive it straight.) They made an initial estimate, and the moment they removed the hood and fender, they stopped and just totaled it. Frame damage. Got the call minutes later.
Just hope/pray they total it. You deserve to be made whole.
Ideally it’ll get totalled and we’d be made whole and not waste a month+ waiting for our car which now has a major accident in its history.
However, bracing myself for the worst…
I’ve heard insurance companies threshold can be as much as 75% of the cars value these days?
Based on a quick KBB search the cars value is 60-65k trade in, 68k or so private party.
Geico technically does their “actual cash value” either way its basically below 50%.
I’ve also never dealt with a totalled car so I’m just making guesses at this point.
I’ve glossed over the info fairly quickly and didn’t notice if the estimate given to you was the initial estimate, or the estimate after disassembly.
You mentioned the accident happen recently so I suppose they only handed you the initial. I’m no expert in the field, but I am certain the expenses will mount after they take the thing apart.
LOOONG story - but eventually the car got back to our house due to a variety of issues (via tow).
A field adjuster came out and gave a “visual” estimate (just the cosmetic stuff, extremely low). Then I took to body shop who now gave a full estimate after taking the car apart looking at everything. So that estimate is basically it - maybe a few things were missed but I doubt it would move the needle much.
I know you mentioned your wife was able to accelerate just before impact and that shifted the impact to the rear doors. Glad you had that 473hp on that day - needed all that performance! Hopefully you are able to get it totaled and can work a deal for a replacement soon.
Update: Geico approved the full 33k worth of work and parts were ordered Friday.
The kicker is there is no ETA yet (waiting on dealer to tell shop) but they already know some parts will be on backorder.
Trying to understand if there is a tipping point where they would just total it or is there really a world where we wait 6 months before we get our car back?
almost every option.