You're In Good Hands With All State My Ass
At the risk of this blog turning into a daily tirade about my recent vehicle mishap, I must let you all know how the plot has suddenly thickened.
Friday morning I called and asked about the specifics in regards to the damage. The guy said the majority of the monetary damage was actually caused by the spinout, not the monstrosity that slammed into me. He confirmed that there was, in fact, no damage to the frame and said over and over how the car would be replaced with Ford parts yadda, yadda. Then I read all of your comments, voting for my springing for a new car along with a comment from The Delawarean that said the Ford Focus does not have a frame, it has a uni body and that would most likely have incurred some damage regardless of what the dude says. Honestly, it's all Greek to me.
So I took a little more time to weigh my options. I went to work and bounced a few ideas off of people there too. A few co-workers made the point that the car was this close to being totaled, but that we all know the mechanic isn't going to actually total it. Instead he'll most likely turn around, fix it up and resell it or turn around and sell the parts. So they said to play a clever game of Let's Make A Deal. If I said to the mechanic, listen, if it's that close to being totaled, can't it just be totaled, I get my 7 and you get to keep the car? It was a longshot, but it was worth a shot.
Of course, he said it didn't work that way. To briefly translate, it doesn't work that way because I don't know him and he isn't going to do that favor for me. I don't know the specifics, but as far as I can tell, either way it's a win win for him. I fix the car? He gets a check. I total the car? He will, eventually, still get a check. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
He then starts to go on about how the car estimate is "not close" to $7,000 at $6,366. Suddenly, the repairs are no longer $6,0000 but really are over $6,000. Now while I realize we are not within the $7,000 figure within a few hundred dollars, I also realize that there are next to no items that would be under $500 to fix on a car anyhow. In other words, all I really needed was one more thing wrong with the car to push me over. Interestingly enough one of the things he said was wrong with the car was that it needed 3 new tires. Now I ask you, what idiot is going to replace 3 tires and leave the 4th one alone?! And there my friends, you have your $7,000.
Also he tells me that after the $500 deductible, I would get a check for $5800. I told him that I was just trying to figure out if it was worth it considering the car wasn't worth THAT much before the accident anyhow.
Then he tells me the figure the insurance company is quoting: They valued my car $8,100 before the accident. Sha! Yeah right! I said there was NO WAY I was going to get $8,100 for this car, period, especially now. He mumbled something about low mileage pushing it over. Oh but it gets better. If the car had been deemed totalworthy, I wouldn't have gotten a check for $7,000 but I would have gotten a check for the car's "worth", $8,100. If this is true, suddenly it became crystal clear why my car was just under the wire for getting totaled, like totally.
So again, I hemmed and hawed, and then finally called him back to say essentially, you can take this car and total it. Upon saying this, intially there was silence on the other end of the line. I had 2 options. Obviously I chose the one he didn't expect NOR did he want. Well tough nuggies! He starts in with his rant again about how it would replaced with Ford parts while I'm thinking the whole time, "dude, enough with the Ford parts already!" I said all the same, I think it is in my best interest to cut my losses, take the check and start over. Reluctantly he said ok, and that the next step would be to call the insurance company. So I said ok, I'll do that. He abruptly said no I'll do it. Right now the check is coming to him and he has to stop payment on that check. In the meanwhile, I asked when I could make sure all of my stuff was out of the car. He was totally vague in answering whenever. Silly me was asking what their actual hours were. As it turns out they are not open on weekends. So I asked if I could come and get my stuff on Monday. Once again he said he didn't care.
Lovely.
The only other thing I mentioned was that the stereo in the car was one I bought on my own and that I would like to keep it so that before it is totaled, I want the stereo taken out of the car. He said that was fine, but that I might have to "get a guy" to come in to do that. Gee thanks. Otherwise, he said he can "try" to take it out, but makes no promises. Now not that the stereo is important in the grand scheme of things but come on people. If my car is going down, I don't think it's necessary my precious little car stereo go down too! I mean really. It's just an innocent bystander in all of this.
So we hang up.
The decision has been made.
The weight has been lifted.
Or so I thought.
I call my dad a few hours later to tell him about what I had decided. Only the insurance company has already called my house in the meantime. Apparently they are "suddenly" saying I never had the option of choosing between the repairs or the check. In other words, if it can be fixed, it will be fixed, period.
By this point, I'm MAD. I'm mad because I spent all this time going back and forth only to come to a decision I was truly comfortable with and now this. I'm also mad because something smells fishy. How could the mechanic, a guy who does this for a living, get something so simple, so wrong? Why tell me I had a choice if I didn't have one? That isn't exactly the kind of thing you want to get wrong. And if it changed all of a sudden, why? Did something transpire between the insurance company and the mechanic in the phone call that HE had to make?
Now suddenly, the decision rests in the hands of an adjuster and it could take up to 4 days to get that estimate. I find it funny that if I had decided to fix the car, no one from the insurance company had to come out and see it, but the MINUTE I decide against fixing the car, the damages become their concern. It's good to know I'm a valued customer and not merely just another claim number in all of this.
So now it's a case of hurry up and wait. My guess one of two things will occur next:
1. The car will be assessed and it's worth will suddenly go down, along with the check I would be getting.
or
2. They will assess it at under and I will still be told it's a fix or nothing at all.
So while I appreciate your concerns and comments, I might need something else in the coming weeks, your blessings. That is if I am forced into driving what is quickly becoming known as, "the car that should not be fixed".
Friday morning I called and asked about the specifics in regards to the damage. The guy said the majority of the monetary damage was actually caused by the spinout, not the monstrosity that slammed into me. He confirmed that there was, in fact, no damage to the frame and said over and over how the car would be replaced with Ford parts yadda, yadda. Then I read all of your comments, voting for my springing for a new car along with a comment from The Delawarean that said the Ford Focus does not have a frame, it has a uni body and that would most likely have incurred some damage regardless of what the dude says. Honestly, it's all Greek to me.
So I took a little more time to weigh my options. I went to work and bounced a few ideas off of people there too. A few co-workers made the point that the car was this close to being totaled, but that we all know the mechanic isn't going to actually total it. Instead he'll most likely turn around, fix it up and resell it or turn around and sell the parts. So they said to play a clever game of Let's Make A Deal. If I said to the mechanic, listen, if it's that close to being totaled, can't it just be totaled, I get my 7 and you get to keep the car? It was a longshot, but it was worth a shot.
Of course, he said it didn't work that way. To briefly translate, it doesn't work that way because I don't know him and he isn't going to do that favor for me. I don't know the specifics, but as far as I can tell, either way it's a win win for him. I fix the car? He gets a check. I total the car? He will, eventually, still get a check. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
He then starts to go on about how the car estimate is "not close" to $7,000 at $6,366. Suddenly, the repairs are no longer $6,0000 but really are over $6,000. Now while I realize we are not within the $7,000 figure within a few hundred dollars, I also realize that there are next to no items that would be under $500 to fix on a car anyhow. In other words, all I really needed was one more thing wrong with the car to push me over. Interestingly enough one of the things he said was wrong with the car was that it needed 3 new tires. Now I ask you, what idiot is going to replace 3 tires and leave the 4th one alone?! And there my friends, you have your $7,000.
Also he tells me that after the $500 deductible, I would get a check for $5800. I told him that I was just trying to figure out if it was worth it considering the car wasn't worth THAT much before the accident anyhow.
Then he tells me the figure the insurance company is quoting: They valued my car $8,100 before the accident. Sha! Yeah right! I said there was NO WAY I was going to get $8,100 for this car, period, especially now. He mumbled something about low mileage pushing it over. Oh but it gets better. If the car had been deemed totalworthy, I wouldn't have gotten a check for $7,000 but I would have gotten a check for the car's "worth", $8,100. If this is true, suddenly it became crystal clear why my car was just under the wire for getting totaled, like totally.
So again, I hemmed and hawed, and then finally called him back to say essentially, you can take this car and total it. Upon saying this, intially there was silence on the other end of the line. I had 2 options. Obviously I chose the one he didn't expect NOR did he want. Well tough nuggies! He starts in with his rant again about how it would replaced with Ford parts while I'm thinking the whole time, "dude, enough with the Ford parts already!" I said all the same, I think it is in my best interest to cut my losses, take the check and start over. Reluctantly he said ok, and that the next step would be to call the insurance company. So I said ok, I'll do that. He abruptly said no I'll do it. Right now the check is coming to him and he has to stop payment on that check. In the meanwhile, I asked when I could make sure all of my stuff was out of the car. He was totally vague in answering whenever. Silly me was asking what their actual hours were. As it turns out they are not open on weekends. So I asked if I could come and get my stuff on Monday. Once again he said he didn't care.
Lovely.
The only other thing I mentioned was that the stereo in the car was one I bought on my own and that I would like to keep it so that before it is totaled, I want the stereo taken out of the car. He said that was fine, but that I might have to "get a guy" to come in to do that. Gee thanks. Otherwise, he said he can "try" to take it out, but makes no promises. Now not that the stereo is important in the grand scheme of things but come on people. If my car is going down, I don't think it's necessary my precious little car stereo go down too! I mean really. It's just an innocent bystander in all of this.
So we hang up.
The decision has been made.
The weight has been lifted.
Or so I thought.
I call my dad a few hours later to tell him about what I had decided. Only the insurance company has already called my house in the meantime. Apparently they are "suddenly" saying I never had the option of choosing between the repairs or the check. In other words, if it can be fixed, it will be fixed, period.
By this point, I'm MAD. I'm mad because I spent all this time going back and forth only to come to a decision I was truly comfortable with and now this. I'm also mad because something smells fishy. How could the mechanic, a guy who does this for a living, get something so simple, so wrong? Why tell me I had a choice if I didn't have one? That isn't exactly the kind of thing you want to get wrong. And if it changed all of a sudden, why? Did something transpire between the insurance company and the mechanic in the phone call that HE had to make?
Now suddenly, the decision rests in the hands of an adjuster and it could take up to 4 days to get that estimate. I find it funny that if I had decided to fix the car, no one from the insurance company had to come out and see it, but the MINUTE I decide against fixing the car, the damages become their concern. It's good to know I'm a valued customer and not merely just another claim number in all of this.
So now it's a case of hurry up and wait. My guess one of two things will occur next:
1. The car will be assessed and it's worth will suddenly go down, along with the check I would be getting.
or
2. They will assess it at under and I will still be told it's a fix or nothing at all.
So while I appreciate your concerns and comments, I might need something else in the coming weeks, your blessings. That is if I am forced into driving what is quickly becoming known as, "the car that should not be fixed".
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