I got hit!

[stevek]

A great start to the holiday weekend as I got rearended by some lady at a stop light. She had a newer Maxima and had to have hit me at 20-25 mph. She hit hard enough that the spare tire under the Cruiser got knocked off! Her front end is totally gone but damage to the Cruiser looks pretty minimal. The rear bumper is cracked and bruised and the spare tire winch is history near as I can see in the rain. I'm hoping its enough to cover a nice new ARB or Slee

I will say this, the 100 series is a tank!

 

[SWUtah]

A great start to the holiday weekend as I got rearended by some lady at a stop light. She had a newer Maxima and had to have hit me at 20-25 mph. She hit hard enough that the spare tire under the Cruiser got knocked off! Her front end is totally gone but damage to the Cruiser looks pretty minimal. The rear bumper is cracked and bruised and the spare tire winch is history near as I can see in the rain. I'm hoping its enough to cover a nice new ARB or Slee

I will say this, the 100 series is a tank!

Steve sorry to hear about your accident. I bet with a hit like that your neck is killing you. After you get back from the emergency room and they fit you with a neck brace after all the xrays/etc. The pain you will go through until the settlement will be painful. You can normally take all medical bills and X3 that amount and that is what the ladys insurance company will pay you for your problems. This amount along with the cost to fix your LC and a rental car cost for the time your LC is in the shop is also X3. That is what you should get without a Lawyer for pain and suffering and they should be happy to pay you that amount with not much hassle. Good luck.

PS- you can also ask for demised value for your LC because of the damage.

 

[DMX84]

I hope you are ok, you might be sore tomorrow.
After you get 3 estimates you should have enough $ to get the ARB, if you do the install. That’s how I got my front ARB. But mine jumped the track at the carwash. And put a about a cantaloupe sized dent in it.
DMX

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

Since that spare came off make sure you look at your rear panhard rod as it might have got bent by the tire slamming into it. Glad you're OK!

 

[CrusrDug]

Hope you come out OK! Curious- Do you have the hitch receiver sticking out the back? Probably left a hole in her hood or radiator.

 

[NMuzj100]

The list price for an OEM spare hoist has got to be pricey.

Make sure that you do a good undercarriage inspection and make sure the tailgate; ect don't have less noticable problems.

 

[hoser]

I remember reading they changed the cable hoist at some point to a chain hoist. People kept losing spare tires with the cable. This might have applied to only Aussie 100's though. Do '03+ market 100's come with a cable or chain spare tire hoist?

 

[Jim_Chow]

I remember reading they changed the cable hoist at some point to a chain hoist. People kept losing spare tires with the cable. This might have applied to only Aussie 100's though. Do '03+ market 100's come with a cable or chain spare tire hoist?

My 03 Lx has a cable w/ adapter that accepts a wheel lock key rather than the conventional hook, 86 4runner has a chain that accepts the hook. The 4th gen 4runners (current) have cables, so maybe the USA toyotas all have cables now?

 

[SC4Hundred]

Steve sorry to hear about your accident. I bet with a hit like that your neck is killing you. After you get back from the emergency room and they fit you with a neck brace after all the xrays/etc. The pain you will go through until the settlement will be painful. You can normally take all medical bills and X3 that amount and that is what the ladys insurance company will pay you for your problems. This amount along with the cost to fix your LC and a rental car cost for the time your LC is in the shop is also X3. That is what you should get without a Lawyer for pain and suffering and they should be happy to pay you that amount with not much hassle. Good luck.

PS- you can also ask for demised value for your LC because of the damage.

Sounds like a paralegal talking lol.

 

[SWUtah]

Sounds like a paralegal talking lol.

Not really just figure the only chance he has to come close to even for the loss in value to his now "has been damaged" cruiser and his lost time and hassle is to get some money for pain and suffering

 

[macneill]

Damn, sorry to hear that. Now it's time to upgrade that rear bumper!

 

[1loudLX]

just imagine the damage to the other car if you had armor back there. I got hit once, lady ran a stop sign at 10-15mph. Bent my rear axle housing!!!

 

[farinvail]

Bummer. Check out Oleg's stuff www.irbisoffroad.com Shameless plug for a fellow club member

 

[SWUtah]

Are you kidding?

Suing because you have real pain, real damages, or real medical expenses is one thing.

Suing because some lawyer out there is going to promise you a large settlement is another.

Oh sue happy America.....

Not kidding, the DA hit him and if he just lets them drag him to the recommended repair place. He will have a "fixed" 100 series and be without his vehicle for however long it takes to repair and have a vehicle that when he trades will be worth less then it would be if not fixed. The only way for him to come out OK is to get some pain and suffering money, etc. Others should not suffer for the morans that cause these accidents. Also If you read my post I was not recommending he even get a lawyer until the insurance company gives him a problem. JMHO

 

[SWUtah]

The victim should never have any problem getting work done by Toyota or a Toyota recommended body shop. Never settle for less, of course, and if you are given trouble, involve an insurance atty.


I am the defendant of an auto-related lawsuit and it's a hot topic with me... I know just how irritating and money-grabbing the system is, and it totally disgusts me that people willingly grab at money just because they can. (I am of course talking about 6-7 figure settlements)

That's why you carry insurance right. I carry the highest limits and also a $1million umbrella policy. The reason is if I screw up I want the victim of my screw-up to be compensated. Also I would expect the insurance company that would have to pay out over $1 million to have the best atty's. But normally the people that carry a lot of insurance are never the ones at fault in a accident. It's always the ones that don't have any or only carry the minimum. That's why you have to carry uninsured and underinsured coverage.

 

[SWUtah]

What if you didn't screw up but you are still sued because you have so much coverage?

Guess what happened to me....

How would they know how much coverage you were carrying? Plus they can sue you but it's your insurance company that will be providing all the expenses and lawyer, plus if you are not at fault I would doubt they would/could win.

 

[SWUtah]

You would be surprised...

A lawyer was allowed to see all of our applicable coverage because of the accident. They can sue us, but now that it is even and issue and taken to court (our lawyers advised that those without so much coverage are less likely to be sued) anything over our coverage we are obviously financially responsible for. Without getting into all the details everyone in my family except my brother is listed on the suit since I was a minor at the time, which is a problem since my father is a Physician.

The way the law works in Florida is they first assign a percentage of fault, any percentage... it could be 1% if they want, and then they assign a value to the damages. So really they can come up with any figure they want, all the need is some fault and then they start coming up with damages.

I really don't want to get into all the details on it, but believe me it is a disgusting system and has taught me how unbelievably broken the legal system is, and how nobody knows about it until it is too late.

Very interesting, so if they decided that even though it was 90% the other guys fault and 10% your fault since you should of done some kind of BS move to get out of the way. The passengers in the 90% guys car who were hurt could sue you for that 10% of the value of the damages of the accident. Say one of the other drivers passengers was disabled for life and it was determined by the court that there lifetime damages were $10 million you could then be held liable for $1 million. That is very lame, but I've always felt Florida was a really screwed up state. They are the ones that elected Bush with their election screw-ups.

 

[Jim_Chow]

To get back on-topic...since it wasn't your fault, make sure to have YOUR insurance company handle it, not the other party's. Some insurance companies might try to force you to get the work done at a cheaper body shop, won't pay for OEM parts, etc. When my honda got hit (other guy's fault), I had my insurance company handle it on my policy and then they would get reimbursed by the other guy's company. This way, you have more say in where you want the work done (Toyota body shop using OEM parts). In the end, your insurance company will have maybe paid some thousands of dollars for the repairs (and you pay your deductible), so you know they'll do everything possible to get their money back from the other insurance company. After all, I asked myself, "What is an insurance company?" A bunch of lawyers who write fine print!!
This tactic worked quite well, as I had the work done at a honda body shop, and when a new bumper was required since there was no used one available, it was approved quickly. I also got my deductible back quickly, plus the work on the vehicle was done on time. I didn't have to pay anything until the job was completed to my satisfaction. Under no circumstances should you pay anything until the job is done! One coworker did this with the GM body shop and her vehicle just sat there for 1.5 months.

I might add that my insurance company (Allstate) as their policy would replace part with OEM parts, but used parts from the year of my vehicle or newer. If the replacement part didn't hold up to spec (say, a tail light lens was faded by the sun), they'd replace it at no charge. There are different levels of salvage yards out there. The top tier have the newest vehicles and best condition parts, and it goes downhill from there.

I would imagine that the body shop would still put your vehicle on a frame alignment machine to see if anything is out of whack and maybe want to check the alignment.

PS: Get a steel bumper. After I bought my 100, the first thing I did was order steel front and rear replacement bars. Think of it as cheap insurance in an accident. This is especially true once the vehicle is old, runs great, but has a low bluebook value (so if it gets totalled, you just get reimbursed bluebook at best and are out a reliable set of wheels, and have to shell out tens of thousands for a new toyota SUV). Sure, insurance companies will pay to repair damage, but it's never the same afterwards. Best is to minimize damage by having more steel than the guy who hits you.

 

[stevek]

Thanks for all the replies! I have talked to her claims department and the adjuster. He'll be coming out this Wednesday to meet with me. Since I own the truck they will write me a check for damages and then I head to where ever/who ever I want to do the work. If the shop runs over the estimate then they cut me (or the shop directly) another check. Sounds good on paper but we'll see how it turns out in practice.

 

[1loudLX]

You should have your insurance company send out and adjuster prior to hers coming out. Or maybe on the same day so you can make sure you dont get screwed. They might under estimate it, cut the check then your bodyshop will need more...and her insurance company wont pay it. Then it will just be a pain in the ass to deal with.