Ferrari Mailing List: Re: [NFC] Advice on a totaled car

[scott saidel (scott_saidel]

Yes ALWAYS  GAP insurance. And always confirm that it will cover the entire 
outstanding loan balance.  Unfortunately see it all the time.  People are left 
with no car, no trade in, and. no resources to purchase a replacement. 

Glad the family is ok. In the end that is the important part.  Cars (except 
Ferrari's) can be replaced.  And after all I've been through the past few years 
I can tell you money is just money.  Big sigh of relief that everyone will 
recover. 

As a final aside, since getting into the personal injury business - and reading 
20-30 accident reports a month - I invested in a dash cam.  When one of these 
morons hits me - I'll have the proof regarding the color of the light.  A 
reasonable $100 investment.


Not to hijack the thread - well maybe a little.  I've actually been toying with 
the idea of a website "dickweeddrivers.com" and posting some of the idiot 
antics I record during my daily commute.  Just don't know enough to set it up 
and manage it.  If any of our intrepid web geniuses want to help out - I'll 
gladly split all profits and can provide a pretty steady stream of video clips. 
 

Florida drivers are the worst. 

Except me - of course - I am The Stig of the daily commute!!!



Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 4, 2016, at 12:09 PM, John Ashburne via Ferrari <ferrari [at] 
> ferrarilist.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Matt
> 
> Just a wild thought but I wonder if the time of crash data on the event 
> recorders of the cars can be correlated with the traffic light sequence 
> schedule to determine who had the green light at the time of crash. I assume 
> that the intervals are programmed in to the light controls so that, 
> theoretically, one could go back in time and make that determination. 
> 
> Sorry for your loss, glad that the family is okay and thank you for pointing 
> out some of the gaps in insurance coverage. 
> 
> Best of luck,
> 
> John
> 
> Sent from my ATT Bell Rotary Dial Phone
> 
>> On Nov 4, 2016, at 11:15 AM, Matt Boyd <ferrari308driver [at] gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> A couple things up front.
>> 
>> i) Our 2013 Tesla Model S is totaled.
>> 
>> ii) Please consider buying gap insurance for when you have a total loss and 
>> the balance on your loan is much higher than the depreciation on your 
>> expensive car. We do not have gap insurance. No need to taunt, but instead 
>> internalize and take our lesson learned.
>> 
>> iii) Jennifer and the two kids were in the car (I was not). She is in a soft 
>> cast with what the podiatrist suggests is a second grade or third grade 
>> sprain of her ankle, and her wrists are recovering from being 
>> swollen/bruised due to the impact of the airbag.
>> 
>> BLUF: Jennifer was driving with the two kids in the car and was within a few 
>> blocks of home. Someone cut in front of her, and both cars are a total loss. 
>> She was brought to the hospital by ambulance but is recovering fine. The 
>> other driver is 24, has an international driver's license, was driving a 
>> rental car (Sentra), and listed a hotel as his home address. Both drivers 
>> claim they had a solid green light, there were no witnesses who say they saw 
>> the signal lights, there are no cameras at the intersection, so the police 
>> have said that it is a "no-fault" accident and that the insurance companies 
>> can work it out on their own. Our insurance (USAA) says that they might do 
>> some sort of investigation to see if they can determine if the other driver 
>> is at fault. Whether they try to do that or not, I don't think they will be 
>> able to prove anything, as it now is a "he said she said" thing. 
>> Additionally, our insurance has already told me that in the event of a "no 
>> fault" accident, our deduct
> ible will be waived, and the accident will not reflect at all poorly on our 
> driving record on our policy. If you look at the current value of the car and 
> the current balance of our loan, we will likely have to pull $10k-$15k our of 
> our pocket to cover the delta, and we will no longer have our car.
>> 
>> Advice requested: What things can I do to help better reflect what I have in 
>> the car? Here are some things I'm gathering receipts for. First, the 
>> original invoice that reflects that our car was a fully loaded P85 with all 
>> the options (except the "plus" option at the time, or the 21" wheels). 
>> Second, I have about $5k into a multi-stage paint correction at the time we 
>> bought it, Suntek film to protect the paint (it didn't have a single rock 
>> chip before this accident), Modesta coating (so that the car was always 
>> protected from water spots and always looked freshly waxed). I have a 
>> receipt for over $900 for having Photosync window tint installed on all the 
>> interior glass. I have used up my $7500 federal tax credit for buying an 
>> electric vehicle (a one-time thing) so I'd have to add that onto a new 
>> purchase (not sure if this counts for anything). I had a separate electrical 
>> circuit and Tesla High Power Wall Connecter installed at home when we bought 
>> the car (totals over $2k), and now I 
> have no use for it. I had Tesla upgrade our original 3G cellular radio to LTE 
> ($500). I was recently invited and participated in the Classics on the Green 
> car show as one of the "trendsetting" feature cars. I've requested (with 
> George Parker's assistance) the judging sheets from that day. The car was 
> truly in showroom condition, even better after the paint correction actually. 
> I had purchased special equipment to clean and dry the car fully hands-free 
> (several hundreds of dollars) with a power washer (which is possible due to 
> the Modesta coating). Now that stuff is pretty much useless.
>> 
>> Any other thoughts/recommendations/advice is appreciated.
>> 
>> A few of my friends here are Facebook friends of mine, and have given advice 
>> that I haven't meant to ignore, particularly to consider suing the other 
>> driver. I think it is good advice and might promote a more thorough 
>> investigation, but given that my insurance company has basically told me 
>> we'll get off with no deductible or ill-results from a no-fault judgment, my 
>> incentive to sue is lower. There are a few things we could gain from it if 
>> the other driver would be found at fault, but I have high confidence that 
>> the investigation would turn up nothing.
>> 
>> Thanks for any helpful advice.
>> 
>> -Matt
>> '85 308
>> etc
>> 
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