Really?! This happens NOW?!

[vjaneczko]

Four months after rebuilding the engine and capping off a three restoration effort:

Yeah, that's mine. My girls were headed to practice when someone didn't know how to pull out into traffic and smacked into them. They're fine which is my primary concern - they are why I have a Volvo.

So after they calmed down, dealt with the police report, etc, she sent me this pic from her phone. I haven't seen it in person yet. I'm going to guess that the insurance company will total it, which totaly sucks if you've followed any of my threads in the last 4 months.

Since this is my first accident, I'm not really familiar with what will happen and wondering what my options are. 'm hoping someone with experience of accidents can chime in. I've got some new parts in it, some upgraded from factory (wheels, turbo, stereo, etc.), but all the new parts over the last three years shouuldn't go to a wrecker.

My thought is they total it but I keep it and part it out. Not sure how it all works. Any suggestions?

[xHeart]

I am sorry Vince.
It is starting to feel someone is after MVS DIYers.

[jblackburn]

Noooooooooooooooo!!!

Glad your girls are OK though, but man that sucks about the car.

[cmblackburn]

Oh no! Poor Volvo died the death of a viking, protecting it's occupants. Thank god they're okay. Sorry about your car She was a pretty one.

[Ozark Lee]

Here's how this will work. The insurance adjuster will inspect the car and deem it totaled. At that point, if you carry collision coverage, the adjuster will write a check and take possession of the car. If the other person in the other vehicle was deemed to be at fault, which is usually determined by who got the ticket, their insurance company will do the same. Having the the other parties insurance company calling the shots makes things more difficult since you really don't have an advocate. It does, however, save you the deductible and tarnish on your record. I had a 88 year old woman come across three lanes of traffic to turn left into her parking lot but she never reported it to her insurance company. That was a fun one.

If the driver of your car was deemed at fault and you don't have any collision coverage you will need to remove the car as quickly as possible from wherever it was towed to so as to not accrue exorbitant storage charges. At that point you will need to pay the tow and storage bill. What you then have is a wrecked car and it is up to you what you want to do with it.

At the time that you meet with the adjuster (either theirs or yours) you can express an interest in buying the car back and they will shoot you an offer. It is usually pretty fair but the title will transfer to the insurance company and then back to you with a salvage designation. Keep that in mind when making or accepting any offers and check with your state DMV to find out what must be done in order to register a salvage vehicle. All states are different.

It will all be a giant PITA, it always is.

Whatever you do don't let the car go to the salvage pool lot. I was going to buy back one of my cars that got totaled when my wife hit a deer. That was right up to the point where the salvage pool shoved a forklift under it, ripped the exhaust system off, and then let it fall about six feet back onto the ground.

...Lee

[rspi]

OMG!!! Sorry to see that. Glad everyone is ok.

Here's how it will likely go... If the other people were at fault (they got a ticket), their insurace company will make you an offer. They will offer you a price (clean retail) and likely keep it. What you have to do is try to fight for more money. Show then the article that IPD ran on the car and claim that it was "EXCEPTIONAL" so you can try to get 20% more than clean retail.

If your insurance company is going to pay the total, they will make you an offer for the car (and they keep it) and offer you a price and the cost for you to buy it back. So, lets say they offer you $4,200 for the car, they may offer to let you buy it back for $450. So you can get $4,200 or get $3,750 and the car.

At any rate, you may want to make a list of recent (last 6 months or last 12 month) of major repairs and upgrades. The first time you get a call, tell them that they need to take a close look at the car because the car was a "SHOW CAR" and was in exceptional condition. It was in so good of condition that a major Volvo enthusiast magazine/parts supplier recently wrote an article about the car. So, you don't expect to be offered AVERAGE CLEAN RETAIL, you'd expect more. Then offer to send them a list of upgrades, recent maintenance and the IPD article. Who knows, you may be able to get $5,500 out of it.

[rspi]

Oh, I almost forgot, as fast as you can, get anything out of the car that you would want. They lock those things down pretty quick and they won't let you near it to get anything out of it. If the insurance company ends up with the car, they may let you have 1 shot to get personal belongings out of it.

Then, usually (around here anyway), the insurance company will have the car towed to the insurance auction lot and have the quartly auction. If no one buys it there, they will have it taken to the salvage yard where it will likely be parted out.

[rspi]

How many miles does the car have on it?

[vjaneczko]

Lee, RSPI; thanks for the information. The other driver was at fault, so I'm sure that'll amp up the hassle that's in my near future. It also sucks that the car is 40 miles from home.

Not sure on the exact mileage, but it's somwhere around 230K miles. The odo broke about 4 years ago and pulling the mileage from a '97 seems to be more difficult than visiting Venus. The planet.

I'd really like to get my hands on it so at the least, I can part it out. It'd be awesome if I could get it back on the road, but I'm not crossing my fingers for that. I'd love to find another wagon, maybe a '98, so I can reinstall all the good bits from the '97.

[JimBee]

Ditto, my condolences. Such a bummer. But as you said, these cars offer a lot of protection for the occupants and there's always a risk whenever we put in drive and go.

If the suspension chassis isn't damaged, couldn't you replace the front clip from a junk yard host for about $500.00? At the U Pulls around here, fenders are $33.00. Inner fender skirt, $11.00. Hood, $39.00. Other parts are pretty cheap.

Here's a URL for a U Pull south of Minneapolis.
http://www.upullrparts.com/inventory
They have 3 850's. I think the red one is kind of rough, haven't seen the gold one.
They get them in periodically. Last summer, there were 7 between their two locations.

You might be able to coordinate with somebody like me or others in this area to check out what they have, condition, etc They won't tell you any of that b/c they don't keep any records of anything but the make, model and year.
Then arrive with a pickup at 9:00 a.m and load it up.

Just a thought.