ChainHartMachin

I was on my way out the door yesterday morning to head to class and found my car like this!!!

Turns out a drunk driver hit it and two other cars in the middle of the night!!! (Well actually, he pushed my car into the red suburban) Flag P.D. caught him and apparently he was going 50+ down a 25mph road w/ a girlfriend and a baby in the back seat.

Looks like I don't get anything for it from insurance since they still call it a collision even though I wasn't anywhere near the car when this happened (I only had liability plus comprehensive since that was about all I could afford when insured it originally). The other guy is likely uninsured, though I'm still waiting to find out about that for sure. Probably a blessing in disguise since there's no way insurance would pay to fix all of that in a 20 year old car and it'll be a cold day in hell before I let some junkyard part my car for me.

Funny that I'd probably be covered right now if all this damage had been done w/ a sledgehammer and a torch instead of another car. Seems like hitting a parked car ought to be considered vandalism, not a collision. So I probably get no justice at all. We even asked to press charges against this guy, but the police said no because what happended to my car is flagged as an "accident" not a misdemeanor/felony. Meanwhile they're gonna prosecute the guy for D.U.I. I'm out my ride to class (and my ride to work when move to Phoenix in December, my wife uses the Caddy) and no one is responsible, great justice system

My current plan is to get another thirdgen, hopefully a bird, but I wouldn't turn down a good opportunity for a Camaro, and swap all my stuff over since I've looked and it seems my engine was not hit and no fluids leaked out on the ground (not even the radiator was cracked). There's a lot more stuff than just what's in my sig since the car was a WS6 Formula 350. I even have an aluminum driveshaft.

This totally blows.....

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

That really sucks! Maybe you can sue the drunk for your loss?

toms84ss

iTrader: (1)

Look in to taking him to civil court. Lot different then criminal court. Sucks about your car. I'll keep my ears open for another third gen.

fryer1979

Damn dude! I am sorry for your loss. I cannot believe that the state of Arizona doesn't at least classify a hit and run (or at least leaving the scene of an accident) at least as a misdemeanor. You should follow up on that on your own, just because the guy is a cop does not mean he knows all the laws. In California, that much damage and the fact that the guy split would make the incident a felony, and he would be tried for a lot more than DUI. If it turns out the cop was right, you really should go after the guy in civil court. I have no sympathy for drunk drivers. BTW, he would also be tried for child endangerment as well. Again, sorry for your loss, but I want to encourage you to go after this guy with everything you can.

azcamaro

iTrader: (1)

Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago on New Year's. The 23yr old girl who hit me was so drunk she tried to get back into her totaled Mustang to leave the scene. She was driving daddy's car with no insurance, my ride was totaled & liability insurance. (I have full coverage on both my cars now, lesson learned).
Anyway my point; when we went to court she plead guilty and as part of her plea she agreed to pay the damages. I've been getting checks from the City of Phoenix ever since. At first the checks were $220 a month, she must have changed jobs now chks are $120 a month EVERY month until $2800 is paid. The cool thing is the other victim (yeah she hit/totaled 2 cars) & I are paid restitution before the City gets their slice.
I too thought I was SOL, but at least I'm getting some compensation. I hope you do too! And remember it could have been so much worse, you weren't in the car; I had a sprained neck & back (for some odd reason I had bodily injury coverage but the lawyer & doc got more of the $8200 Geico paid out.)
Best of Luck to you! Keep us posted!

85z28nb

omg are you ok? im so sorry about the car too.

Arizona IROC

iTrader: (4)

You have to sue the #@#$ out of him. (unless he is illegal) Then your SOL

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

illegals tend to stick to the valley, lol

on a more serious note im sorry dude that sucks, id definitely look into it because it sounds like that cop fed you stright BS just to shut you up, its not right

hope it works out for the best

ChainHartMachin

Thanks guys

Agreed, it could've been a lot worse if my wife or I were in the car (we were sleeping in the apartment), or anyone had been in the other cars. I can only assume that a hit w/ enough force to put my 3180lb car (I weighed it once in Phoenix) over the side of a curb would've been some nasty whiplash for us considering the hit was at an odd angle.

My body guy is going to take a more thorough look at my car today and will get back to me (I'm not hoping for much though). I wonder if Chip Foose and the A team could fix this? (Like that will ever happen). My body guy also has an 86 IROC w/ TPI in it that he's looking to get rid of since he has too many cars, I asked him to work me up a price for it. An IROC w/ TPI already in it (MAF TPI too) might be a good situation especially if the Phoenix emissions people are fussy about engine swaps (pretty hard to prove it's a 350 instead of a 305 w/o looking at the casting # or measuring the cylinders).

The driver of the car that hit mine is actually not the owner of the car (that was his GF person who had the baby) so perhaps she has insurance. The driver might be a member of the Navajo or Hopi nation, I've heard they like to extradite members who commit crimes in Flagstaff.

azcamaro:
I would definitely want to see if I can take this guy to civil court. Do I just go to my local courthouse with the police report and say I want to file civil charges? Do I need a lawyer for this?

I can't imagine it would be too hard to prove that the drunk driver owes me some money for screwing up my car. I'd think I'd just need the police report along with the pictures of my car and the others involved. I'd just want what my car would've been worth in stock trim so at least I could overtime offset the cost of finding another one. I guess I'll never get back all the work I put into my bird though.

Daves03

if you dont tear your really nice car up yourself then some drunk piece of crap will tear it up for you, also if you park something nice in walmart parking lot some people will actually go out of the way to park right beside you even though you parked in the bottom of the parking lot to be away from everybody just so they can bang the doors up.

drknow90rs_ss@y

iTrader: (3)

Most county courthouses have a self-help center. Just go to the court house and tell the people you want to file a suit. They will point you in the right direction. All you will have to pay are filing fees (Around 35-50 dollars) It's pretty easy and you will almost definately win, as it sounds pretty straightforward.
I'm sorry to hear about your car, Good luck!

TheScaryOne

iTrader: (3)

All too common in college towns. Down here in Tucson I saw roughly 3 drunk driving accidents in my parking lot at my apartment complex per year. Two of the worst were these.

One guy was doing 50 around a corner in his Toyo Taco work truck, and clipped a Colorado, which clipped a Civic, which got sammiched between the Colorado and a metal pole that held up the covered parking thing, dude ripped the front end off of his Taco. Radiator was burst open. Gone. Was so hammered. Took the cops six hours to show up.

One guy was in a lifted F-350, and hit one car so hard that the one car hit another car, which hit another car, which hit another car, which hit another car. Then he tried to be cool about it, and drove and parked in another place in the parking lot, with the bumper from car #1 still stuck to the front end of his truck. >.<

885speed

iTrader: (1)

dude thats insane
i hope this really works out in the long run for you!

but regarding what you said in your original post about the sledge hammer, I would have taken one to that guys legs if it were my car!
but thats just me.


take his **** down as far as possible

drknow90rs_ss@y

iTrader: (3)

Take him fr everything you can. These people never learn.... Sue him for the value of your car, lost time, mental anguish (Pain and suffering) and court filing fees!

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

You will be best to hire a lawyer. A good one will know what you can and cannot recover. You should be able to recover your damages, plus legal fees, and court costs. Many lawyers take a case like your's pro-bono, meaning that they get paid when you get paid. You may be able to recover the costs of a rental car for the amount of time that you are without your ride. To get a decent price for your car, you will have to establish the value of your car. One way to do this is to find cars similiar to yours that are for sale. Even better if you can find cars similiar to yours that have sold recently. The fact that similiar cars sold for a certain price verifies that someone is willing to pay that price for a similiar car of that type and condition. It demonstrates a true and verifiable value to the court. Use those representative sales to compare and establish the value of your car. I once printed off 10 like vehicles listed on the Trader Online site, and used them to determine the value of my damaged vehicle. It worked. I got to keep the wreck, and recovered the averaged price of 10 similiar vehicles that had either sold or were for sale.Get all police records and take lots of pictures. Find the drunk's vehicle and take pictures of it if you can. If the owner of the vehicle that hit yours has insurance, the insurance company will offer you a &quot;low ball&quot; offer first. They don't expect you to take it, but if you do they have done thier job by saving thier company money. You would be surprized how many people take the initial &quot;low ball&quot; offer and get screwed. If you hold out, you can bump them up to a reasonable price. It is cheaper for them to pay you more then they feel you car is worth than to take it to court and have to pay court costs in addition to your damages.

mdurbala

iTrader: (1)

if you want to spend the money on the lawyer you can sue them, about a month ago a drunk driver hit my friends GTO and he was parked in his backyard the guy went through the block wall to hit his car then tried to leave, only thing is im sure the lawyer is gonna cost more than kbb says your cars worth

Rayzor32

iTrader: (1)

i hope they send him to that prison camp for drunk drivers where you gotta wear pink shirts and shorts like they did for the superbowl if not i would find him and beat the #%*%^ outta him

IROC212

iTrader: (1)

Sucks man, sorry about your car. If he is part of the Navajo or Hopi nation those people get money every month from the casinos. Maybe the courts can garnish some of that stuff...

azcamaro

iTrader: (1)

Did the driver get arrested? If he has any criminal charges as a result of this, I called everyone I could; Victim's of drunk drivers I think was one of them. I have the info in my paperwork, I'll look for it and post back later today. Also talk to the prosecutor, restitution was part of her plea agreement. It wasn't anything I initiated, I think it is the way they are handling DUI's. She even had to install a breathalyzer in her car. I didn't have a lawyer, but I work in Litigation Support.
until later
Lisa aka azcamaro

ChainHartMachin

azcamaro:

Yes the guy did get arrested. Victims of drunk drivers? I'll have to look that up. If you can let me know more about how your situation got resolved then I'll definitely pursue the same course of action. Thanks for the help in this.

All:
I got another bird last week. A 1992 Black Firebird w/ a 3.1 V6 and a T5. It runs pretty good and drives well enough to get me around till I'm done w/ college. Then I'm going to embark on the involved process of swapping EVERYTHING from my old car. I'll be posting in the "I need" thread for parts I need to replace.

Thanks to all for the kind words of support!

rm25x

Wow that sucks sorry for your loss, at least no one was hurt!

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

That blows. What are you going to try and get or have fixed. Definately try and sue and get as much as you can, that is your best bet...