White Van with the Blues

[killacks]

...happened on my way home yesterday night. As I traveled through an intersection, a driver in a Nissan Sentra coming from the opposite direction turned left into the side of my van. Everyone was ok. Vehicles were not.

I drove the van home, then around a bit today. Still have to sort out all the details.

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[gcvt]

Oh man that sucks!

Where did you bury her body?

[Glider]

(plus obligatory 10 chars)

[rallypanam]

Ouch. I'd guess that's at least $10,000 in damage. The only way to fix it properly is to remove the entire side of the van, order a new sheet metal side, and weld it on. Gets expensive real quick!

Sorry!

[killacks]

Thanks for the condolences. Not sure what will happen next. I'm hoping insurance won't total it out, but we'll know soon.

Read closely for the extra kick in the pants... The driver had only a learner's permit. She was driving a rental, and was likely (this is my speculation) only in the area to practice driving. It happened down the street from the DMV, where she would have been taking her driving test THE FOLLOWING DAY. Her passenger had only a temporary license because he had only received his license last week. Un-expletive-believeable.

...I'll stop complaining now. This may turn into an advice seeking thread depending on what transpires next.

[bemerritt]

Wow, hopefully this has a happy ending. Police report filed and everything? I bet the driver was shitting his/her pants. How do you even rent a car with a permit?

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by bemerritt

Wow, hopefully this has a happy ending. Police report filed and everything? I bet the driver was shitting his/her pants. How do you even rent a car with a permit?

Yeah, you can't so far as I know.. so someone else must have rented it for her?

Oh well, this is why we have insurance, you can get your van fixed and your insurance company can chase it all down and figure out who pays..

[bemerritt]

Very curious how insurance handles this, as I am about to explain to them why my van I bought for $7k is about to be worth 5 times that.

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by bemerritt

Very curious how insurance handles this, as I am about to explain to them why my van I bought for $7k is about to be worth 5 times that.

Purchase price is irrelevant. Replacement cost is what counts.

EDIT: but as you have a 'home build' you will need to talk to your insurance company (and maybe others) about a stated value policy. For a SMB, there are comps insurance companies can use to determine value. For home build, not so much.

[Flux]

I'm hoping I can insure my build for at least the van, 4x4, and Penthouse Top. Surely there is some sort of "conversion" thing they can use.