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From: hasiuk@spp2.UUCP (Lee Hasiuk)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: what to do after auto accident?
Message-ID: <565@spp2.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Apr-85 15:53:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: spp2.565
Posted: Mon Apr 29 15:53:41 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-May-85 05:12:40 EDT
References: <1137@phoenix.UUCP> <986@vax1.fluke.UUCP> <1173@amdcad.UUCP>
Reply-To: hasiuk@spp2.UUCP (Lee Hasiuk)
Organization: TRW, Redondo Beach  CA
Lines: 27
Summary: 

I know someone whose premium condition 914-6 was hit by a guy in a VW bug
who ran a light that had been red for over ten seconds.  There were several
witnesses, one of whom had been stopped at the red light that the guy ran (his
car landed upside down on hers).

Anyway, the front of the 914 was a mess, and the VW's insurance company
refused to declare the 914 'totaled'.  Instead, they wanted to have a body
shop cut the car in half, find another 914 (probably not a six) that had been
wrecked in the back, and use the two pieces to weld up a 'repaired car'.
The body shop guy that if the owner was really concerned about strength,
that he would lap weld the joints, instead of butt welding them!

As you can probably tell, this wasn't acceptable to the fanatic owner of the
car, so he started taking all sorts of steps to force the insurance company
to total the car.  First he demanded a rental car (of course), so that the
company would be paying for delays.  The car had been his only means of
transportation, yet he still had to negotiate with the company for a rental.
Then he damanded that the wheels and other suspension components be x-rayed
to inspect for cracks.  He would call them every day with some new gem that
he had thought of to cost them money.  One day, he called and said that he
had priced having the car fixed at the factory, and wanted them to provide
a check to pay for the shipping carton to air-freight the car to Germany
(about $15,000 just for shipping expenses).

Finally, (probably to get him off their back) they asked him if he would
accept totalling the car, with the price to be determined from used car
ads in the L.A. Times.