So I was traveling down a street at 35 mph in my 2007 LR3 and a guy quite literally pulled out in front me me 50 feet away and I broad-sided him. I didn't even have time to apply my brakes. It destroyed his car and he's lucky he wasn't killed or at least seriously injured. All his bags deployed.

Of course, he was a thug and might not be insured, and of course I have uninsured coverage.

My airbags did not deploy, but everything in front is shoved backward - fenders, hood, bumper, broken lights, etc. I don't know about frame damage. I think the insurance company will say "that's a $5000 car and here's your check". The only problem is, last November 1, I searched for this car for 6 months, flew 800 miles to inspect it, paid $10K cash for it, and drove it home. It was literally like new and with every option available (HSE). It had 120K miles on it when I bought it, and around 127K now.

So...I either want the car fully fixed or I need a check for $10K or perhaps slightly less due to depreciation. I have a paper trail to support the $10K payment.

Any advice in this situation?

 

 

This is a pretty tough situation, as a hot rodder I have my insurance company and an estimator give a valuation on vehicle purchases, but not normally on a daily driver. Am afraid unless you have done that previously you are at the mercy of the insurance company, which means that you are in a very indeterminate position. I'm not a professional so you will likely get better advice and information from an experienced insurance adjuster. Keep all your original paperwork and wish you the best...

 

Of course I can not say for certain, but that appears rather repairable. The main frame may be okay and the rest can probably be pulled out. Then its just a swap of body panels. If the insurance tries to devalue it I would just be stubborn about it, dispute it and have them explain in great detail how they got to that valuation - especially if no one from the insurance comes to see it. Good insurance companies are accommodating, the no-name ones - good luck. I had a 73 Lincoln that someone crashed into. It was a show car. So the book value for something so old was really low but the adjuster came to see it and appraised it for 5x what the book said. They still totaled it out but I bought it back (no salvage title). In the end I came out ahead.

 

Tough call.and your call.
It all depends on how much work you can do yourself. If you can have the inner parts straightened , hunt down new parts, (some parts like the driving lights may require buying the whole lighting kit rather than individual parts) then get them bolted on then painted, it might be the best way to go since it was so hard to find "the one" with the options you wanted.

If not, the search may be on for a replacement.

Again your call.

Let us know what you decide.

Jeff

 

Hate to say there is luck, but you mainly hit the doors and B pillar of the Cadillac. Before I saw the pictures, I was expecting much more damage to your LR3. However, once you said the airbags didn't deploy in the LR3.

 

The wreck alone should inspire you to prevail and repair, that thing is a tank.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Null_

 

If you look inside the backside of the driver's door you'll see a sticker that says 32 PSI for front tires and 42PSI for rears (at least on mine it does). Air tires up to those specs and if the light does not go out, then it is likely one of the TPM sensors (or the spare), that's what happened to me... Welcome to Land Rover 101...!

Sorry all, posted to wrong thread!