This sucks man, sorry to hear it all. I'll echo what everyone else says here: this is the time for extensive medical tests and lawyerly consultation (one call, that's all 
)
Not to try to get rich but you guys are the aggrieved party here and none of this should come out of your pocket nor make your life harder/more expensive. Since it clearly is an inconvenience and (literal and figurative) pain, you deserve compensation.
Just stumbled across this a half hour ago at the shop that's gonna look over my 335i. Well, FWIW here it is. Not tryin' to hijack thread, just kinda related, thas all.
Basically just a shell, '93 or '95 2-door Sport XJ. No engine, header panel or front axle plus other parts picked. Has 5-speed and rear axle, interior looks rough. Normal rust for Pa., rockers, lower doors and likely floors. Title available he says. Scrap price is prolly a buck fiddy so two bills oughta speak. Gut it and trail rig?
I have a '89 4-door 5-speed w/ bad motor that could be available as well. Just sayin'.
Not meant to hijack.
Haha you're cool. This truck was completely rust free, so i'm not real interested in messing around with anything else rusty at this point. Don't have space in the fleet for a dedicated trail rig either. If i keep this one to cannibalize for parts it'll be for a Comanche or a Gladiator. 
Swank Force One wrote: Pics tell the story. Caravan that hit her. 35mph. Sure. Whatever.download_20150818_133647 by concealer404, on Flickr
Having been in a 30-35mph crash, that looks about like a 35mph crash. That said, I am not minimizing the impact of a 35mph crash.
Swank Force One wrote: I'm just trying to not get totally berkeleyed here. I can't get anything near as good for $3k.
That, in a nutshell, is the downside of saving all the money by driving inexpensive older cars. Good luck - I've gotten semi-berked twice in situations like this.
Glad to hear Ms. Swank is OK so far. DD#1 got rear-ended twice in 6 weeks earlier this year. I strongly recommend getting a thorough checkup and PHYSICAL THERAPY even if it doesn't seem to be immediately needed.
Mrs Aussie had 3 vertebrae fused after a wreck, they discovered the problem months later, document everything, keep it in a file, do not let it go.
Harvey wrote:Swank Force One wrote: Pics tell the story. Caravan that hit her. 35mph. Sure. Whatever.Having been in a 30-35mph crash, that looks about like a 35mph crash. That said, I am not minimizing the impact of a 35mph crash.
Crumple zones can make some accidents look worse even when speeds aren't excessive.
As for any ticket being issued, the officer wasn't there to witness the infraction, so any ticket related to speed would have a tough time standing up in court.
I also read skid marks mentioned a few times, remember those will be rare in anything semi-modern with abs unless moving sideways or already stopped, so a lack of marks isn't really anything useful anymore.
Glad your wife is ok, and get recommendations for a good lawyer if you do decide to purse further action.
Sacrificial Jeep is hero! Took one for the team 
Once your wife gets the clean bill of health move on from this. There is nothing productive in dragging it out trying to get every last cent. A friend/employee of mine was so proud that he got an extra $1500 for an accident he was in. It took 8 months of haggling and many days off from work. And all the phone calls at work. I finally had to tell him no more calls at the office as he could be on for an hour in the morning and then on and off for an hour or two in the afternoon 3-4x a week. My partner at the time docked his pay for the time and that actually started my friend down a road of wanting to be compensated for missed work and saying we could persue lost proffits from the time he was missing work. It was absurd. And then there was the constant talk about it. It became an obsession of sorts. The longer it dragged out the more he stewed about it concocting all kinds of crazy things that he should get $$$$ for. It was not healthy. I actually stopped hanging with him as it got old in a hurry. I know this is an extreme case but there is a time when you have to just chalk it up to bad luck and accept that it happened and move on. Get fair compensation for realistic expenses, medical costs and the vehicle and move on. No amount of money will actually make it go away.
Are you in a no fault state? If so that changes a lot of things.
In reply to fasted58:
That looks JUST like mine! Where in PA is it? I need a few things for mine before I can get it on the road.
SFO, sorry to hear about the accident. Let me know if I can be of any kind of assistance. As for the insurance part of it. Here's how it works.
From the liability side, so long as there's no allegations from the Lincoln or anything like that about your wife hitting them first, you'll be fine. If the Lincoln driver says they felt two distinct impacts from the rear, you could start running into trouble, but from the photographic evidence, I doubt that will be an issue. Also, from the photographs, I doubt the Caravan was going much more than 30-35 at the point of impact. But frankly that doesn't matter all that much if she admits to starting the chain reaction. You will get paid for the actual cash value of the Jeep. In figuring it out, the insurance company will need to take into consideration, year, make, model, mileage, options, etc... If you can find comparables, great. If not, find the closest thing you can. For a rental, they should provide you with one until typically 5-7 days after they make you an offer of settlement. If you'd rather "cash out" for loss of use, same rules would apply. Missed time from work, school, etc...they'll consider it, you just need to provide documentation. Pain and suffering...your call. Probably want to at least wait a little while to make sure she's OK.
Damn. Sorry about the 'kee, but glad the SO is okay though.
Good luck on the search for a replacement!
Furious_E wrote: In reply to fasted58: That looks JUST like mine! Where in PA is it? I need a few things for mine before I can get it on the road.
Zip 15401
I'll take a closer look at it on Monday when I drop my car off there. Looks kinda rough from the outside, expect rust. Tan interior IIRC.
aussiesmg wrote: Mrs Aussie had 3 vertebrae fused after a wreck, they discovered the problem months later, document everything, keep it in a file, do not let it go.
^ this exactly
Swankster, spotted online
http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/5150967966.html
Klayfish wrote: SFO, sorry to hear about the accident. Let me know if I can be of any kind of assistance. As for the insurance part of it. Here's how it works. From the liability side, so long as there's no allegations from the Lincoln or anything like that about your wife hitting them first, you'll be fine. If the Lincoln driver says they felt two distinct impacts from the rear, you could start running into trouble, but from the photographic evidence, I doubt that will be an issue. Also, from the photographs, I doubt the Caravan was going much more than 30-35 at the point of impact. But frankly that doesn't matter all that much if she admits to starting the chain reaction. You will get paid for the actual cash value of the Jeep. In figuring it out, the insurance company will need to take into consideration, year, make, model, mileage, options, etc... If you can find comparables, great. If not, find the closest thing you can. For a rental, they should provide you with one until typically 5-7 days after they make you an offer of settlement. If you'd rather "cash out" for loss of use, same rules would apply. Missed time from work, school, etc...they'll consider it, you just need to provide documentation. Pain and suffering...your call. Probably want to at least wait a little while to make sure she's OK.
Oooorrrrrrr.... they'll just bend me over a table without even taking me to dinner first and offer me significantly less than $2000, after taking 2 weeks to make an offer.
I don't even understand.
Guess i have a fight on my hands. If i can't get that number to come up much, i'm going to have to end up selling the Miata, and i get screwed because someone wasn't paying attention and didn't notice a RED JEEP stopped in traffic.
The insurance company gave me $900 for a dented fender on my '84 RX-7 GS after someone backed into it four years ago...I don't know what number they threw at you but it sounds like BS.
SlickDizzy wrote: The insurance company gave me $900 for a dented fender on my '84 RX-7 GS after someone backed into it four years ago...I don't know what number they threw at you but it sounds like BS.
Let's just say it was less than twice what they paid for your fender.
It's low enough that i can't buy any reliable car i would trust to get me to work for a year, let alone ANY XJ that isn't a total pile of crap, LET ALONE anything comparable to what i had. I doubt i could even get a serviceable shell to my door for that price, if i wanted to swap everything from mine over.
It's a good thing it was left in a voicemail on my way home yesterday, because i have no idea how i would have reacted in real time.
Average price on a 97-01 2dr 4x4 Cherokee with any transmission across the country on Cars.com and Autotrader seems to be a touch north of $5000. That's including the basket cases. (And yes, including some of the ridiculous $11,000 listings that will never sell.)
Do your homework, gather your evidence for comp pricing, put together a price based off of your evidence, and present the insurance company with your reasonable, and well researched acceptable price. Provide the evidence if necessary.
When the Jetta was totaled, I expected a fight, the first offer was low, I countered with what I would accept, and gave a brief rational, argument for how I came to that price, the insurance dude said, "okay," I got the offer in writing, and had a check for the agreed amount the next week.
Sure, i'm going to do that, and i was expecting a low offer, but not... THIS.
You know, not enough people out the name of the insurance companies and give the dollar amount of first offer. If the population was educated with these numbers it'd cause a massive exodus from certain companies, effecting their bottom line and prompting changes in how they do business. Out the rat bastards.
The first offer (that I took) on my Miata was $2200. I got it back on the road for $200 in parts.
captdownshift wrote: You know, not enough people out the name of the insurance companies and give the dollar amount of first offer. If the population was educated with these numbers it'd cause a massive exodus from certain companies, effecting their bottom line and prompting changes in how they do business. Out the rat bastards.
Oundersfay Insurance.
Offer was somewhere between $1570.39 and $1570.41.
EvanB wrote: The first offer (that I took) on my Miata was $2200. I got it back on the road for $200 in parts.
If i could get this thing back on the road well... at all, i'd probably consider their offer.
But i can't, the truck is a total loss not just by their definition, but by mine. It's not saveable.
You'll need to log in to post.
