97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Very sorry to hear that. Someone crashed infront of my house last winter breaking the tree that's in front of the house.... Some people are just careless.

CASANOVA

Foxberry,


I am sorry to hear this happen to your vehicle. I hope that you find a body shop that can put it back like nothing happen specially the part that got damage cannot be replaced.

In regards to the authorities investigating the hit and run, that might be a dead end. Authorities does not really investigate accident unless somebody is hurt, which is sad. They usually will say the insurance company will fix. If they are investigating it, I hope they catch the person.

About your insurance coverage, it will be covered under collision like what your insurance company confirmed. The insurance company will pay anything over your deductible. If you know the body shop you can maybe ask to waive the deductible or pay half. I hope everything goes well. Good luck.

Foxberry

Thanks Wid IS350...I won't be greedy and ask for the Bentley...I'll settle for one of your 335i's

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

Foxberry...

i was under the impression that if your car is hit by and uninsured driver "or" while your car is parked that the insurance has to cover this 100% and its up to them to pursue this as a legal matter. i had this happen both ways. once was hit in the rear and the drive had bogus insurance cards and state farm paid the bill in full (i didnt have to pay any deductible) and the other was when the car was parked and hit. both where a few thousand dollars and when i was in the car, as minor of a car accident it was, my back hurt for months and i had medical attn for. state farm picked up the bill on everything and my premium did not go up?

i would hope this is the case for you. this is what we pay insurance for and that is out of your control. maybe others can chime in if they have had any kind of similar situations as i did.

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately, insurance laws differ by state.

JDub23

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about this. A similar thing happened to my brother's car a few years ago but the guy was nice enough to knock on the door and admit his fault. Hope everything works out for you.

Foxberry

Well, technically it is covered 100%, after the deductible...but I'm assuming you mean that in Illinois, if your car is parked and hit, the deductible is waived. Like Gernby said, auto insurance laws vary greatly from state to state. Here in NJ, I def. will be paying the deductible. Maybe I recoup that if the police somehow track down the person who hit my car, but I'm not holding my breath.

Lex Law

Your deductibles are way too high. Why didn't you just skip comp and collision like lots of "full coverage" insureds, who actually are only getting their state's minimums for the lowest possible premium.

I have a $0 comprehensive and $250 collision on my current 1992 Sentra. The premium actually went down a couple of bucks when I took the comp from $250 to $0 the other day. I'm with State Farm. When my new IS gets here, I will get $0 comp for at least a couple of years. If I get any door dings on my brand new baby, I want them fixed. The mental burden on having a new car is waiting for it to become "less than perfect", which will happen sometime within 6 months.

TangoC

The UK specification has an anti intrusion sensor where you have the sunglasses holder. When I detail my 250 I usually pull & park my windscreen wipers away from the screen..last time when I put the wipers back I flicked one down, and it set the alarm off..no way would anyone hit my car like that without the alarm raising hell.

k_dizzle

OUCH! i hate to see a 2nd Gen IS in that condition. Hurts my eyes just looking

sorry to see such bad luck! you def didnt deserve this! i dont think anyone does. I hope all goes well for you buddy.

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

If you are insuring a 16 year old Sentra with full coverage and a $0 deductible, then you really need some financial counselling. This is even more irresponsible than having a $2K deductible. Honestly, $0 deductibles on anything is going to cost you way more than a $250 or $500 deductible in the long run. Don't you think the insurance company will know that you are going to expect them to repair every single ding or scratch? You really should set your deductibles as high as you can afford to cover. If you really can't afford a $250 deductible, then you probably shouldn't be buying a new car.

Foxberry

Well, while it does pain me to fork over $2k, I can afford it. It's a gamble. I have been rolling the dice year after year and I finally got nailed this year. The difference in my yearly premiums are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% higher if my deductible was lower. To me, it's been worth the gamble, since I've had many years of substantially reduced premiums with no incidents. Since I can afford it the deductible, I don't consider it "irresponsible".
Trust me, the fact that my car was nailed is MUCH more painful to me than the cost of the deductible. I'm going to get the official $$$ estimate and time frame of repairs from the shop tomorrow, so I'll keep you all posted. Thanks to everyone for the support!

Lex Law

There's no such thing a full coverage. Whenever an insurance agent tells you that, it means you are getting your state minimums, which in KY is $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident "liability" and $10,000 PIP (medical, some wages). Comprehensive and collision are not required. Neither is uninsured or underinsured, though they are required to tell you about them. I've got them all plus towing. I'm not just buying insurance to cover you (liability). That's why I've got comprehensive and collision. I have uninsured/underinsured because it protects ME from YOU (if it's your fault).

I can afford the $250 or the $2,500 deductible. I just don't like paying for insurance and then paying alot when something happens to my car, either by a hater or someone being carless. If the premium savings for a higher deductible pays for itself in a few years, then I'd go with it. If it takes longer than that, it's probably not worth it, since I'd likely use it before then.

There was about $3 difference per 6 months to go from $250 to $0 deductible on the comprehensive coverage on a 16 year-old Sentra!

The only claim I made on the car was when we had bad hail about 5 years ago that hit every panel. It totaled the car, but it was mechanically sound and I wanted to keep it, so I got another estimate from a place that would suck out the pockmarks for less than a regular repair or replacement. I did not want a salvage title. It bluebooks for about $1,400 and I will sell it once my new car gets here. I have some door dings on the Sentra and I never got them fixed, but I will if anything happens to my new baby.

I would be really pissed if someone door dinged or keyed my <6 month-old car and I had to pay $250 or $500 out of pocket to get it fixed. Really pissed. Since I do not think I'll be putting any security cameras on the car while at the work parking lot, I'll put the full risk on my insurance company, because something will happen, it always does, to "break in" the car.

My mom had a new Maxima parked away from everyone else, and some hater rolled a shopping cart into her car when she came back. I once saw someone turning his head to check out my new 1988 Civic when I first got it, a guy who gave me a bad feeling, and when I parked in the K-mart parking lot, I stayed in my car. He came in behind me cruising the lot, and when he saw my car and me staring straight at him, he kept going, right out of the lot. F'in haters. It got "broken in" with a big scratch across the front hood by someone who threw something on it in the dorm parking lot. That was after I saved it from some bad dude, a friend of a friend, who asked where I lived on campus, and when I told him that I left the car wherever I partied because I did not drive drunk, the expression on his face dropped. [Wow, it's all coming back.] Even if you are lucky enough to be able to prove they damaged your car in court, to force them to pay what they should have never done and should have paid when they were confronted, the hassle is not worth it. Just watch Judge Judy sometime. It's the jerks in this world who target others and won't pay unless they are forced to.

Foxberry

Update - spoke to the shop today, they finally completed their estimate: $4,700...provided they don't uncover any surprises after they rip the damaged parts off. Was actually a few grand less than I was thinking. I guess when it's your car, the damage looks worse than it really is.

Evitzee

Have you priced the insurance difference on a 2008 Lexus for $0 deductible vs $250, $500, $1000?? Guaranteed it will be more than $3.00. Personally, I never see the sense of getting $0 deductible, it just costs too much relative to a higher deductible. Maybe they do things different in your part of the world, but insurance companies are in the business to make money and when they see $0 deductible on a brand new, high priced car they know it is going to cost them for every ding, dent on the car.