Stupid drunks....

[HAL9000]

Had a nice wake up call Sunday morning... 4:30AM, police knocking on the door... some dumb drunk broad, slammed into the back of my truck parked outside in front of my house.... then took off. Well, fortunately, there was a witness, they found her and her car... nice part at least is she popped the rad and the transmission cooler on her car, they say her motor and tranny are toasted. Being a hit and run, my truck was immediately towed to commercial claims for both assessment, and evidence. I barely got a look to see the damage as I had to clean out my stuff... but it doesn't look too bad... rear bumper is bent in and down on the left side... this was just replaced in January from another person hitting me, and the rear drivers fender behind the rear wheel is pushed up and in a bit. So at this time, I dunno if that was it and will be fixed, or far worse and will be totalled. Sure didn't need this crap with a month of school left.

Moral of the story.. if you drink and drive, do the world a favor... put a bullet in your head before you kill somebody else... I'll even spring for the bullet.

[glc]

Is insurance getting you a rental?

[HAL9000]

I can get one... I am covered under loss of use... the problem is finding the time to do so.

[jdeb]

I am glad you were not in it.

[HAL9000]

Well... it was kinda funny... my daughter is the one that answered the door for the police, then got my wife and I up... the first thing the cop says, "I have some bad news for you"... I responded while putting my arm around my daughter by saying.."No, she's right here safe and sound".

[juppy]

I told ya not to transfer all those magnets out of the panels of your old Sunfire into the truck.....told you it would make the truck get hit as many times as the Sunfire did....but nooo, you put those magnets in there, didn't ya?

Seriously though, how do you keep ending up on the "got hit" end of these car wrecks? Does your city just have a bunch of bad drivers and they all pick YOU to hit? Sorry to hear you got smacked again though. Hope it works out okay for ya.

[HAL9000]

I swear we have some of the crappiest drivers around.

[HAL9000]

BAH!... Just looked online... I think it's totalled.

[HAL9000]

Well.. mebbe not, just talked to the adjuster... that's the default setting until the estimate is complete.

[glc]

If it's totaled and the frame is not bent, buy it back and fix it.

[HAL9000]

I may consider it depending on what they give me for it... to take it back, they take the pre-tax damage, cut by 50%, pay that to you, you repair and take for inspection if necessary.

[glc]

However - if the frame is bent, start looking for another truck.

[HAL9000]

I know that... if the frame is bent, they'll total it anyway.

[HAL9000]

Well, it's totalled. Getting $6000 for it. I think I might pull $4000 from my l line of credit and step up to something a bit newer.

[glc]

Frame bent?

[HAL9000]

Yup... I was thinking that may be the case.. she pushed it a good truck length from where it was parked.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 Yup... I was thinking that may be the case.. she pushed it a good truck length from where it was parked.

That will do it every time. Man, she is some trouble. You could go after her for more considering the circumstances and your rights. You should not have to pull from your line of credit for her actions, that is just ridiculous. I'm just saying....

You could probably buy it back cheap but you need the tools and space to work on it, not to mention the time.

[HAL9000]

Laws here are different... It's not like in the US where you can sue for farting in somebody's air space.... you get the settlement amount which you can send to arbitration if you feel it is too low. I paid $5800 almost two years ago... getting $6000 out of it. The only reason I may pull some money off my line of credit is to get something a bit newer... that's my choice. I can easily get the same truck for $6000 or a bit less.

The truck has structural damage... at this point, I don't want it back. I could get it, but could not license it until fixed. I would get about $3000 then. After putting the time and money into it, then I would have to pay to get it inspected and certified. It's just not worth the trouble.

On her end, her insurance rates will go up, after her one year license suspension for leaving the scene of an accident (minimum, more if she has any other offences in the past 10 years), her insurance covers me, but she gets nothing for her car, not for fixing it, not for the loss if it's totalled (most likely the case).

Unfortunately, she probably won't get charged for the drunk driving. The trick people try to pull here is they hit, run, go home right away. If the cops show up, the story is "Yes, I did it, I was scared and went home, I was so upset, I had a few drinks". So now you can't prove when they had been drinking. This is why the law for leaving the scene of an accident is the same as drinking and driving, no insurance for your loss and suspended license.

I've filed for a copy of the police report. I'm thinking of putting up a sign on my lawn that reads.

"Thank you for drinking and driving and killing my parked truck instead of killing another person".

She most likely travels this road every day.. and if not, you can bet some of her neighbour do.

[jdeb]

That's a shame. Like the sign idea

[acr98disc]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 Moral of the story.. if you drink and drive, do the world a favor... put a bullet in your head before you kill somebody else... I'll even spring for the bullet.

DUI is bad, but not bad enough!
What about others, who is not DUI, but still can't drive?

For example, I just happened to listen on the radio last night that Maryland going to toughen up the traffic laws. Because, they said, if you hit and killed someone on the road, whether it was a pedestrian or bicyclist, (not under DUI), all you could get is $500 traffic ticket, from the state only.

In Europe, if you got caught DUI, and even if you didn't cause any distractions, your driver's license is suspended for good, you will be taking a bus for the rest of your life.

Or, if you showed a finger to somebody... In Europe it is $500 + up to 1 year in prison if they decide to take it to court...
Not in MD. Here they will give you a case worker. So, yes, **** happens, so you just don't drink and drive, play nice with kids, stay out of trouble.

[HAL9000]

Personally, I practice zero tolerance... if I have ONE drink, that's it for driving for me for the rest of the day. It's just not worth it.

[HAL9000]

Here's what's left.. The first photo, just some scratches where the truck was pushed up against my shrubs... the second, the bent up fender, the third, the bumper that insurance replaced just in January after being rear ended... and the fourth, the cab damage from the box smacking up against the cab.

[David M]

Crap happens in threes. Hopefully this was your third and last.

[HAL9000]

(change cleaned up words into appropriate colourful words)...I've always had a thing about the statement "crap happens"... crap doesn't happen, crap is created by buttholes.

[jdeb]

Yeah, call it a night when the bed touches the cab. Technically, she moved the frame down to the lowest point in that dent in the cab, based on the pics, she moved that frame around 3 inches or more. You just got that truck not too long ago, right?

[HAL9000]

Just under two years ago.

[MaxRat]

Man I could really use that tailgate.... Too Soon????

[HAL9000]

Meh... it's gone.

[David M]

I bet she would not have ran into the back of a Ford.

[HAL9000]

That would have been the drunk that hit the next door neighbour's F-150 about 5 years ago... exact same incident.