Car update...

[ellenmillion]

Well.

The estimate on repairing my car keeps going up. BOTH front frame rails will be replaced, and a laundry list of other items that spans three pages, including painting both front doors (and the entire front end), removing the engine and suspension and seats and steering and dash, and replacing reservoirs for several things, and my battery, and the fender and the hood and the lights. Apparently, the whole car is one big fascinating onion to the mechanic and insurance adjuster - they keep peeling back parts and finding more damage. One of the things that will be replaced is the front left airbag, which did not go off. The suspicion is because I was at a complete stop, the impact was JUST BARELY below what it takes to trigger it. But they're replacing it anyway.

It still does not quite total my (nearly new!) car, and I am assured that what I will get back will be a completely like-new, fully repaired, totally rebuilt vehicle that will still be under warranty and drive me very safely around.

It's also going to take at least a month.

*cries*

I do get a rental, if I want it, but I have to pay $22/day to upgrade to a 4WD, which is what I'd need where I live. I may do that a few times here and there, but for the most part, I am going to be one big homebody for the next month.

Now, I think I'm going to go write about a daring rescue and stab some bad guys with sharpened rusty pipes to make me feel better.

Comments

[jenny heidewald (from livejournal.com)]

Oh my goodness....but that means you can write lots!

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

That's the hope!!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Hopefully covered, but at some point wouldn't it be simpler and cheaper to just get new car? O_o

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Not yet! The second frame rail actually added less than I expected, since most of the cost is the fact that they have to take all of the suspension off and take the engine out, which they have to do for the first one. Since the car is so new, and a Subaru in Alaska, it's got really high equity.

All covered, at least!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Whew, and hopefully you don't have to pay much yourself! It was hardly your fault after all.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Oy-vey. *facepalm* Well I hope you can work something out.


We seem to be dueling with car problems of late.

I just got back from leaving my 28 year old Dodge in the parking lot of a K-Mart in Des Plaines, IL this evening. The brakes have gone. Again. (Likely the master cylinder. Again.)

Earlier in the evening I got horribly lost and had to stop to put oil in the car. Almost didn't get it started again. So I put a battery in it.

Started just fine. But the brakes had mysteriously gone by then.

It's likely going to cost more to tow home than it's worth (despite my sentimentality) so I'll be calling wreckers tomorrow to tow it to a local yard and I'll mail them the title.

I'm maillard reactioned pre-baked flour based grain substance as of right now so I'm headed to bed.

I hope it all works out for you though. :-)

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

We seem to be dueling with car problems of late.

I DON'T WANT TO WIN! :P

Urgh - hope it works out for you! My coverage at least looks likely to take good care of me, with remarkably little hassle, considering.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

...now, see, they should factor the time away from having a car, and needing a 4WD rental, into the total(ed) cost of the vehicle, in order to determine if it's actually worth repairing. I know it doesn't work that way, but it should.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

They totally should... but don't. Rental recovery is a flat $30/day, which is fine if I need a compact front-wheel drive. :/ All spelled out neatly in our policy.

And they've decided that there is way too much equity in my car to total it (it's a Subaru in Alaska, only barely over a year old!), which honestly, I'm a bit grateful for, since what they'd pay to total it wouldn't put me in a new one. The body shop we found comes highly recommended by THREE picky people, and I dig the guy in charge - he took us on a tour of the shop and is just busting with pride in it, and keeps inviting us over to see the car all pulled apart. He's very proud of his work, and I get the feeling he oversees everything. Very clean shop, modern, and he seems knowledgeable. Even the receptionist seems competent.

[pers1stence.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried explaining to them the circumstances that mean you need 4wd and asking them to upgrade you ( the insurance people, I mean)? You probably have but if not it might be worth trying rather than just accepting that first number they give you for a rental allowance

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty clear in our policy that it caps out at $30/day period. :/ I've talked to both the national and local agent, and there's really nothing they can do about it. The local one hooked me up with a decent deal - she's actually used to clients who need them, and sympathized with the fact that it's not entirely fair, but there's nothing she can do.