On Mon, 4 Mar 2013 20:15:08 -0600, "HeyBub"
wrote:

Two weeks ago my little S10 pickup was struck, while parked, by a U-Haul
truck. My pickup is 15 years old, but only has 98,000 miles on the clock (I
don't get out much). U-Haul referred me to their insurance carrier and,
after proof of ownership and a witness list changed hands, they promised to
send over an adjuster today between 1:00 and 4:00.

It's 8:00pm and he's still not here.

Anyway, I figure it will cost about $900 to fix the truck, but for that
amount I'll bet the insurance company will total the thing and offer me five
hundred bucks to just go away.

Frankly, the truck is worth MUCH more than that to me.

So I compute my best plan of action is to decline U-Haul's offer, whatever
piddly amount it turns out to be, and march against them in small claims
court. Counting the damage, replacement vehicle rental, and loss of
consortium, I should file for about, oh, $3000. I further estimate that
U-Haul will likewise compute that it would cost them more to defend the suit
than to just cut me a checky-poo for the three grand.

Your experiences along these lines, observations, and advice would be much
appreciated.


I had a similar experience about 5 years ago. Details are a bit
hazy, but here's the basics. Son was driving our spare car, a '93
Beretta. Had about 160k miles on it. Got hit, smashing up some body
parts. Front fender, buckled hood, and front light assembly.
The hitter's insurance company paid book value and totaled it.
Think it was about $6-800. Son wanted to fix it. Think I had to pay
$100 to the insurance company for the title. Also think the title was
marked "Salvage" in the state data base, but not sure.
This is Illinois. The insurer was State Farm or Allstate.
So just ask the insurer how it works in your state. They pretty much
go by the book with everything they do.
My son fixed the Beretta for about $250 in boneyard parts, even
getting an exact color match with the parts.
He wanted to do it, could do it, so it worked out.
Think hard about what's damaged and real costs before you go that
route.