Saturn Safety, is Great!!

The other day I got rear-ended on the Freeway by a large work Van.
Everyone in front of me slamed on their brakes and so did I but the Van
did not! It felt like a train had hit my L300, and I thought the worst
when I got out of my Car. But when I looked at my rear bumper it only
had a few scratches on it, no dents, or anything! Even the driver of the
Van said "Boy it's a good thing you drive a Saturn"! Well I think so
too, but it's too bad I had to find out the hard way. The driver of the
work Van said he would pay for any damages, and I am in the process of
getting it fixed right now. Now, I think the next car I buy will also be
a Saturn, it is much better to be Safe, than sorry!!!

 

Not to sound like a salesman, but in the month and a half that I have been
working for Saturn, I have heard at least 4 stories from customers who have
had thier lives saved by a Saturn when in a serious accident.

Makes me wonder why Saturn doesnt toot thier own horn about safety instead
of the cutesy commercials.

marx404

 

They did use the safety angle in the beginning, but I guess they had to
stop it, because they could not gurantee anyone's safety in any given
situation.

I said I only had a few scratches on the Bumper well those few scratches
will cost close to $500 to repair!! That is a lot in my opinion, but I
want it done right, because the car is only about 5 months old!! And now
the Person who did the damage is balking at the cost of the repair. I do
not understand this, if it is your fault, why not take responsibility
for it, and do the right thing? I thought we might avoid the entire
Insurance thing, but now it looks like we will not be able to because
the other driver is complaining about the price of the repair. I think
$500 is really a small price to pay if you ask me, just think if someone
had been hurt in all this, then the cost would be a lot more then $500!
And what about the cost to me, in time, and the fact that the car will
be in the shop for 3 days? Alll of this is just not in the thought
process of the person who caused all the damage in the first place. If
it was me and I was the diver of the other vehicle I would have paid the
$500 right away,and been gratefull that no one was hurt or killed by my
actions behind the wheel. JMO

 

Have you thought of simply pocketing the $500 insurance check and then
touching up the scratches with touch up paint? You could always get it
fixed later. And God forbid, there might be another fender bender down
the road, and then you can get it ALL fixed at once. By the way, the
asshole who hit you needs to pay up. He hit YOU. He's lucky you don't
have whiplash and a lifetime of pain. People who hit others need to
shut up and PAY. I've been driving 16 years and never even had a fender
bender.



wrote in 3315.bay.webtv.net:

 

Get a lawyer!

Best investment you can make. The lawyer will make it clear to the person
who hit you that he's the one up shit creek without a paddle!

 

Thanks for all the input on this. I have decided to let my Insurance
Company handle this. I had another talk with the driver who hit me
tonight, and all I got was a lot of Blah, Blah, Blah!! I am not going to
jump through hoops for this person now they want me to get three Repair
Quotes, and Fax it to the company they work for so that they can cut me
a check--I am sure for the lowest quote I can find. Which would probably
not be the best repair for my car! I wanted to help this person out by
not going through our insurance companies because our rates might go up,
but this person deserves a rate increase after all this! I still can't
believe this person tried to turn things around and blame me for him
hitting me!! And they tried to say they did not hit me very hard because
the Air Bags did not go off, well duh, I think that is because the
air-bag sensors are in the front Bumper not the Back Bumper!! So I am
through with this person, and I will just let my Insurance Company file
a claim with their Insurance Company. Who knows maybe they will learn a
lesson from all this, I sure did, do not try to do a favor for someone,
who will not appreciate the gesture!!

 

You have made the right decision to let the insurance companies handle this.
The way it usually works is that your insurance company will deal with you
and the you should not have to deal with the other company or the other
person at all. Then, after they have repaired your vehicle, your company
will go after the other company for reimbursement. If they/you need a
lawyer to get their money, then they will provide one at no additional
charge to you. After all, this is why you carry insurance so use it! To
the person who advised getting a lawyer and suing to let them know you are
serious, this is TERRIBLE ADVICE unless you are trying to assure continued
employment of lawyers and higher insurance rates for everyone! The simple
truth here is that you are much more likely to spend 2-4 times the cost of
the estimated repair on litigation and in the end, the other party would not
be liable for covering any of these expenses.

With regard to your rates increasing, if the accident is determined to be
the other parties fault (and assuming it did not occur in a "no fault"
state), then your rates should not change. But, be forewarned that any
insurance company does its very best to avoid paying out so will look into
the accident to determine if there were any contributing factors that might
lead to a percentage of fault being moved to you. For instance, if your
brake lights were not working properly at the time of the accident, then
even if "the other party hit you" you could still be deemed to be at fault
here.

Also, with regard to the other party stating that the air bags did not
deploy, I doubt they were referring to you. Most likely they were stating
that THEIR air bags did not deploy indicating that the collision speed was
under the air bag deployment requirement (which would seem to be true if
they did not deploy).

The bottom line here is that you tried to help them out, but they were not
appreciative, so just fall back to Plan A and let the insurance companies
work this out.

Bob

 

FYI On most GM cars the airbag sensor are in the car with you, and sense
sudden slowdown [ your car hitting something ]. Not the car speeding up, as
in being hit from the rear.

 

Thanks for the information! I think I should have gone with my Insurance
Company in the first place, but this person acted pretty decent at the
time so I went with their suggestion. And now I know that was the wrong
way to go. I am sure our Brake light's work ater all this car is only 5
months old. And I know the other driver was going to fast for conditions
because they told me on the phone they went form 70 to 0 in just a few
seconds. And we were already stoped just like all the cars in front of
us, so we had no where to go to avoid this accident. But all of this is
not stopping the other driver from turning things around and trying to
blame us for all this.
It's a pretty sad situation when someone will not take responsibility
for what they have done!!

 

I did *NOT* say to get a lawyer and *SUE* them. I suggested that he retain a
lawyer to let the guy who hit him know how bad his position is. The lawyers
know the law, and what to say to the insurance companies to get them to
understand just what their obligations are.

The guy was rear ended. Lawyers will gladly take these sort of cases on a
contingency basis - if the defendant doesn't pay, the lawyer doesn't get
paid. Typically, the lawyer gets 1/3 of the money, and the plaintiff gets
2/3.

The simple truth here is that you are not going to be out any out of pocket
expense by retaining a lawyer on a contingency basis. The likelyhood is that
the lawyer will be able to get quicker service from the guy's insurance
company (or yours for that matter) than you will. The insurance companies
have lawyers and know the law inside and out. Shouldn't you level the
playing field?

The fact that insurance companies look for every possible reason not to pay
is the reason that you SHOULD retain competent legal advice.

Oh, for the record: I am not now, nor have I ever been an attorney. I have
no vested interest in my advice to retain one. I'm simply a guy who was in
your situation before and got sick of being screwed by the insurance company
of the guy who hit me.

PS - Talk to a lawyer soon. There are time limitations that the other
insurance company has no obligation to tell you about that can inhibit your
ability to get things taken care of. The lawyer will know about them - you
probably don't.

Good Luck!

 

Kirk,

Nothing personal here. Opinions vary and that is why life is interesting.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion that the OP consult with a
lawyer. My opinion is that he just let his insurance company handle the
matter since this is why he has purchased the insurance. As to the lawyer
taking the case on contingency, you may actually get one to do this, but
given the small amount at stake here ($500), I doubt any good lawyer would
take this case on this basis and the bad lawyers will give you no more than
about an hour of their time and will then take the 1/3 share of the
settlement leaving the OP out the $167 to make the repair. Unless there was
some other claim (personal injury) here, I don't see how the lawyer will get
any more than what the repair estimate says that fixing the damage will
cost. I do not believe that the defendant is obligated to pay the
plaintiff's legal fees as this cost was incurred voluntarily by the
plaintiff's decision to seek/hire counsel.

Personally, in case it's not obvious, I am sick of the litigious society in
which we live and the increased cost to the average consumer to cover hidden
costs from people who are quick to sue over the smallest of issues. Just a
few hours of legal support and the OP could easily walk away without
anything at all since the legal fees could exceed the cost of the
settlement.

Bob

 

Your best action would be to let your insurance company handle it. If
you have any medical problems down the road, or have any problems with
the repairs, and you haven't reported it to your insurance company, then
tehy would not have to provide you with coverage after the fact because
you didn't report the accident to them in a timely manner. Each policy
has time limits stated for when you need to report the accident to the
insurance company.
It's amazing how much bumper repairs can cost. The damage to the bumper
cover may appear minor, but underneath there could be structural damage
not apparent until the car is on a lift and measurements are taken. If
the structural damage is not repaired correctly, then the bumper may
fail the next time it's hit.
Most good insurance companies will guarantee the repairs that the repair
shop makes, and will subrogate to get your deductible back for you. In
some states and with some companies, as long as they consider you not at
fault and the other driver has insurance, then they will waive your
deductible and just pay for your repairs.
You could also contact the other drivers insurance company (after
notifying your own) and have them handle the repairs. This is sometimes
a good idea if you don't have rental coverage on your own policy. That
way, you have no out of pocket expenses to get your car fixed, although
they may require you to get more estimates than your own company.
I worked a few years as a claims rep, and for most accidents under
$1,000, we would have a check in the mail the same day we got the
estimate from the policyholder. If the insured used one of the
pre-approved repair centers, then they didn't even have to send an
estimate, because repairs at those shops are pre-approved and we'd get
the estimate from them.

JPH

 

Re: Saturn Safety, is Great!!

Group: rec.autos.makers.saturn Date: Wed, Jun 16, 2004, 10:06pm (PDT+2)
From: (J Haggerty)
Your best action would be to let your insurance company handle it. If
you have any medical problems down the road, or have any problems with
the repairs, and you haven't reported it to your insurance company, then
tehy would not have to provide you with coverage after the fact because
you didn't report the accident to them in a timely manner. Each policy
has time limits stated for when you need to report the accident to the
insurance company.
It's amazing how much bumper repairs can cost. The damage to the bumper
cover may appear minor, but underneath there could be structural damage
not apparent until the car is on a lift and measurements are taken. If
the structural damage is not repaired correctly, then the bumper may
fail the next time it's hit.
Most good insurance companies will guarantee the repairs that the repair
shop makes, and will subrogate to get your deductible back for you. In
some states and with some companies, as long as they consider you not at
fault and the other driver has insurance, then they will waive your
deductible and just pay for your repairs.
You could also contact the other drivers insurance company (after
notifying your own) and have them handle the repairs. This is sometimes
a good idea if you don't have rental coverage on your own policy. That
way, you have no out of pocket expenses to get your car fixed, although
they may require you to get more estimates than your own company. I
worked a few years as a claims rep, and for most accidents under $1,000,
we would have a check in the mail the same day we got the estimate from
the policyholder. If the insured used one of the pre-approved repair
centers, then they didn't even have to send an estimate, because repairs
at those shops are pre-approved and we'd get the estimate from them.
JPH
wrote:
They did use the safety angle in the beginning, but I guess they had to
stop it, because they could not gurantee anyone's safety in any given
situation.
I said I only had a few scratches on the Bumper well those few scratches
will cost close to $500 to repair!! That is a lot in my opinion, but I
want it done right, because the car is only about 5 months old!! And now
the Person who did the damage is balking at the cost of the repair. I do
not understand this, if it is your fault, why not take responsibility
for it, and do the right thing? I thought we might avoid the entire
Insurance thing, but now it looks like we will not be able to because
the other driver is complaining about the price of the repair. I think
$500 is really a small price to pay if you ask me, just think if someone
had been hurt in all this, then the cost would be a lot more then $500!
And what about the cost to me, in time, and the fact that the car will
be in the shop for 3 days? Alll of this is just not in the thought
process of the person who caused all the damage in the first place. If
it was me and I was the diver of the other vehicle I would have paid the
$500 right away,and been gratefull that no one was hurt or killed by my
actions behind the wheel. JMO
---------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for that information, I tried to explain all that to the other
driver, but they did not seem at all interested. I am still in
dis-belief that the other driver said If it was them, and I had hit
their car like that they would have just said, "Oh Just A Few Scratches,
Forget About It"! That is the craziest statement I have ever heard in my
entire life. Why would I even say that about a 5 month old car? If it
was up to the other driver I would get a Bottle of Touch up paint, and
that is it. And the other driver had the nerve to say It was only a
slight tap to my bumper, right after saying they were going 70mph on a
congested Freeway, before Braking! I am going to see my Insurance Agent
in the morning, I hope 6 days later is not too late to file a claim? I
think the other driver was just trying to string me along until the time
ran out to file an Insurance Claim.
What do you think? Thanks!

 

FWIW I agree with you on this. I've never been crazy about my Saturn, but I
got into one fairly bad accident, totalled the front right side of the car,
seriously damaged the rear right side, had 5000$ (CDN) worth of damanges and
I walked out without a scratch or a bruise and was damn happy with my car at
that point. Ive also been in one of those multi car chain reaction
accidents, I was the 5th car in the line from the start of the crash (first
car was pretty much squished in half, surprised the woman didnt have the
engine on her lap) and the person who hit me from behind cracked their
bumper in half, the person my car hit in front me got some nice cracks in
her bumper, yet mine in the middle was perfectly fine, not even a dent or a
crack!. Guess there is something great about these cars after all except for
the mileage

Wurm