A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Yep. Wow that crunch is a nasty sound. I'm sitting in the left turn lane, directly across from my business and the soccer Mom in the urban assault vehicle in front of me decides to back up and let the Fed Ex truck turn in front of her. Not seeing me she plowed right over my front to my screams of "NO NO NO" before I could even find the horn.
At least when the cops came she said it was her fault (cause it kind of looked like I drove up underneath her which would of seemed a more likely scenario then someone backing up in the middle of the road) so she got the ticket and it looks like her insurance, USAA is going to cover everything including my rental.
I called LOA and asked if they had a recommendation. Look for other similar threads because he was in disbelief saying I was the 4th person to call them that wrecked a Lotus today! Great, Probably means a long time in the body shop. lol. They recommended a shop called Auto-Glo and said that is who they use. Does anyone have any experience with them?
I need to meet an appraiser from USAA tomorrow to get a quick estimate, then I can send it what body shop I want to, so they are saying at this point. They have also given me a reservation # that is supposed to be good at any Enterprise for a Luxury car. Not like I can find one or even any available cars this evening. They should have something tomorrow afternoon. Nothing good to pick from, no sports cars so no Vettes or anything. Might be able to get a Charger or 300C in the Premium class. In the Luxury class they have Caddy DTS's or Town cars. Bummer. Think I'd almost rather have the Charger.
Never having been through this before- do any of you have any advice for me. I guess I'll have to look into "Dimensihed Value Coverage"- anyone with experience with that in GA or anything I should definatly be warned not to do or sign off on?
I'll try to update with pics later on or tomorrow. Have a ton to deal with right now. Just duct taped her all up but don't think I'll be driving it this evening.
Keith
A:
oh man, sorry to hear Keith. Does this mean my elise stickers will be on back order? Just kidding... I'm actually still fighting my accident as well. I did do a diminished value claim but they're still working on that for me as well. They estimated I'd get about $4000 dimished value back from my rear clam damange.
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That's just painful to read. I feel for you. I've been in situations like that before where bad drivers just start backing up on you for no reason and there's always a delay to hit the horn out of sheer shock. You seem to have a good frame of mind though.
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Sorry to hear about this =( Good luck with the process that follows...
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Oh man! I feel your pain. I'm sorry to hear of your bad news. It is good that she admitted fault, that's the good thing coming of this.
At enterprise pick the car you can most easily live with for a while. It's not so bad, I went through this about five years ago and it's kinda fun having a "new" car. Pick something you might enjoy but wouldn't buy. If they'll give you a luxury car, you can certainly pick a less expensive one and maybe have more fun.
Good luck. Keep us updated on your progress.
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Oh, she was also in an accident two days ago on the highway up the road. lol.
I'm really just glad I wasn't on the bike or it might of been bone damage rather than clam damage.
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Oh no! Sorry to hear this. Good luck, I hope your car gets back on the road quickly!
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same thing happened to my car only the guy drove away! my insurance covered it!!! sucks, sorry to hear it but atleast it isn't the height of summer or worse spring! snowe here this morning!!!
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USAA is good insurance, I have them, and they had no problem dishing out $20,600 for a new clam and front crash structure for me, and covering the exotic labor rates. I guess this means though that my insurance will be going up as well, because of this soccer mom... once they realize how expensive Elises are to fix...
Rentals are another story, I was stuck in a Dodge Stratus for a while... AVOID!
Hope she looks better than new when they're done with her.
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that freakin sux... but at least no one got hurt and it's covered under their insurance... but having to try and replace the lotus with a rental for a while... that's gonna suck...
Originally Posted by flyguyskt
same thing happened to my car only the guy drove away! my insurance covered it!!! sucks, sorry to hear it but atleast it isn't the height of summer or worse spring! snowe here this morning!!!
THEY DROVE AWAY!!!? WTF!! i guess the car wasn't drivable to go catch them.... that makes me mad...
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My condolences. About a year ago a lady in a Suburban backed into my Elise. In my case she told the police it was my fault because she couldn't see me sitting behind her.
Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
I called LOA and asked if they had a recommendation. They recommended a shop called Auto-Glo and said that is who they use. Does anyone have any experience with them?
Yeah, I took my car to AutoGlo for its new front clam and they did a great job. I recommend them.
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sweetdaddyd
my condolences too! man don't people think? i guess the bigger the vehicle, the smaller the brain?
man, you sound like you're taking this fairly well, good for you. at least you're ok!
t. a.
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What's up with these brain-dead SUV drivers? I hope they are getting cited for unsafe driving by backing up in the middle of the street.
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Keith:
Sorry to hear about this.
When somebody hit my Porsche in January, I went with Collision Claim Associates (1-866-438-6938 toll free; 770/887-7626 local in Atlanta). I thought they did a good job -- seemed very knowledgable (in fact the adjuster and I discussed the Elise while he was doing his work on the Porsche -- said he had recently done a similar report on an Elise), and State Farm (the other driver's insurer paid the whole amount that was indicated for diminished value). It wasn't cheap -- $279, but I think it was worth it.
NOTE: In my case, the insurer tried to get out in front of the diminished value, by sending their own check (very small amount). DO NOT CASH THE CHECK if you are going to contest the amount. You will return it, along with the claim demand to the insurer.
Send me a PM with your e-mail address if you want to see the copy of the report I got from them, to get an idea of what is involved.
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Originally Posted by swistun
USAA is good insurance
+1
If you were dealing with another fly-by-night ins company, i'd say to sic your insurance on them to make sure matters were taken care of properly, but USAA should take care of you right.
A:
Dont let the appraiser set the cost of the repair without getting an estimate from a reputable shop. Do not agree to any settlement until the repair shop has seen/inspected the car. Verify with the USAA adjuster that if more damage is found during disassembly it will be covered by her insurance.
Ask the USAA appraiser if it is possible to have warning placards attached to this womans SUV signifying that she is a somewhat dim-witted when driving.
Good luck.
MS
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Exige S, Exige S, Exige S!
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Thanks guys for the support. lol. Also thanks Mick for a second confirmation of Auto-glo being good. I hope I have another good testamonial for them in a few weeks or however long this takes. I'll know more tomorrow. As if I wasn't already not a fan of "Urban Assault Vehicles". lol. I've always had the most disregard for Escalades and H2's as I seem to always be dodging the worst drivers in them on my bike. Guess Surbabans are just about the same though.
Well I'm not really happy about it, but there isn't a whole lot i can do now but start going along with the procedure and getting her all fixed up. Maybe I can get the spot where it was egged fixed while it's in there for a little extra (even though it's not remotely close to any of the damage). I could jump up and down and be all mad but it wouldn't serve much purpose. I'll admit I was pretty hot when I got out. The lady that hit me was very respectful and apologetic, cooperative, easy to deal with, etc. USAA confirmed it with her, she told them the same thing and they were right back with me, so that gives me a good feeling at this point at least. I know she didn't mean to do it, and I can't help but not be happy with her or the situation, but she was still very shaken up 45 minutes later after it had happened. I kind of felt bad for her. Her being so apologetic, shaky, and honest sure helped matters. It seems she was under the impression I thought of the Lotus as it was my only child or something. I mean, I really really like it- a year later as much as when I bought it, but it's just a bunch of plastic and aluminum- I'm sure it'll get fixed. Certainly not the end of the world although it is majorly inconvienent (especially since I wanted to do one of the fall color Dragon runs going on this month!)
Her bumper was slightly bent down, veeery slightly- I highly doubt from this run in. I didn't even see any orange paint on the bottom of it or her hitch. I guess my starshield protected her. lol.
Going to try and attach a pic or two and see if this works...
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I just happened to be driving by and snapped this. I think her vehicle took the worse of it.
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Oh Man Keith…I feel so bad for you, Hope your alright! Was she at least cute? Kidding...
I just had someone hit me in the rear bumper of my Hummer while I was stopped…zero damage to me. Glad I wasn't in the Elise!!
Best of luck on fixing the Elise! Hope all goes well.
Bruce