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We,
me and the MoSup, spent most of of the last week on car wreck aftermath
stuff. As you'll remember, MoSup had a mishap on a wet/oily road
last Saturday. We had just finished making the last payment on a
60 month loan. The car, a Hyundai Sonata GLS/SE (loaded) was in
showroom condition, but with 60, 0000 miles. MoSup had it dealer
serviced, religioulsy following Hyundai's schedule, and had the
finish and leather serviced twice a year.
The airbags did not deploy as she slid into the back of a pickup truck
(undamaged). She drove the car immediately after, and reported that
except for the metal tent outside the windshield, she would not know it
was just in an accident. No fluids were leaking.
On Tuesday our insurance company called to tell us the car was totaled,
and they were paying us $8500. I was stunned. Well, the
voice said, the repair shop repair (they had the car towed to a Buick
dealer) exceeded the "threshold" for our five-year old car. It's an
automatic judgment.
I called the shop, and asked what the repair cost was. $5,7000,
the lady said. Well, I said, I'm better off buying the car from
the insurance company, and having it fixed. At least we won't
have a new deck of car payments. Expecting a "whatever," from
her, I instead could hear alarm bells go off in her head. A string of
negative reason not to pursue that course followed.
- You'll never be able collision insure it again, since it will be computer registered as having been totaled.
- The service guy did not take the car apart, so that estimate was just what he could see.
- Even if it's fixed it will prolly never be the same.
For reasons mostly independent of those, we decided to take the money
and get a new car while car dealers are in a state of panic. We
went to the shop in order to clean her stuff out, and retrieve the
plates. MoSup told the girl at the desk, the same person I had
spoken to, how surprised we were that it was totaled. She
openrd the folder and said, "Well, it had $6900 worth of damage." The
repair estimate had increased $1200 overnight? Later, she
volunteered that "we'll just strip it down and sell it for parts. They?
Bingo. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the person the
insurance company is depending on to provide an accurate repair estimate,
has a vested interest in seeing the car totaled. I'm telling you
all this because I want to report my suspicions to the insurance
company, so was writing it anyway, and thought some of you may find it
instructive.
Oh, we finally replaced it yesterday with a 2009 version of the car she
had (she loved it), except this one has something she's wanted for
years. Heated seats. Everybody's happy again. Also,
she was touched that so many of you expressed concern for her. So
thank you.
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