My beloved ranger is no more...

[ajderka]

Yesterday morning I stepped outside at 4:30 am to pack my truck for a mini fishing trip. I noticed my truck wasn't where i parked it in the street in front of my house, and was extremely confused. Where the truck stood, I found, scattered about, glass, pieces of sheet metal, and my mud flaps. My truck was no where to be found. The police came, searched the general area, looked in their records, and found nothing. Over an hour later, once it was light enough to see, we spotted her...

The truck was 197 feet away (i measured), uphill, over a driveway threshold, up the driveway, and plowed half into their garage door, half into the frame of the house. I ran up, and found it with the drivers side bed basically gone, the diff ****eyed, my leaf springs in the shape of an S, the front bumper fallen off, my trans knocked off most of the mounts, and the bed shifted to the side two inches.

I tried to drive it back to my house, but it was nearly impossible to get the truck into any gear, and i had to grind it back. I eventually left to take my mind off of it and catch a few pike in the river nearby. While gone, the culprits parents show up at my house, and speak with my family on behalf of their idiot 18 year old son (the son wouldn't come with). Apparently, he was hanging out with the pothead, drunken burnout who lives four houses down from me, and decided to leave. In the time it takes to drive past four houses in a residential suburban neighborhood, his story tells that he flicked his cigarette, it came back in, it startled him, he lost control, sped up, hit the truck, freaked out and drove home. Upon returning, he explained what had happened, and his parents came by to observe the wreckage. They did NOT call the police, nor did they notify me, or even attempt to contact my house.

Does this sound a little shady to anyone?

And the kicker is: you guessed it, he hit me with a ranger.

I just graduated college, and am gainfully unemployed and broke. The claims adjuster is going to lowball me and give me crap for it, and i have had three estimates showing that it is totaled. The damage is between $5,500 and $10,000, the latter being a full inspection. The truck is worth $6,070 in excellent condition with all my gadgets and fun things on it (lift, bed cap, liner, stuff like that), and it was in excellent condition before the accident.

Anyone had anything similar happen to them? Any advice? and this is why i believe in vigilante justice...

 

[Tbars4]

...This is truly a bad deal and I'm sorry to hear this news...

 

[JW]

That is some repugnant ****. To push your truck 200 feet, he really had to be haulin' ass.

 

[ajderka]

im going to try again to contact them tomorrow, i want to know if his airbags deployed. They had to have. anyone else think alcohol or some other mind altering substance was involved? i'm convinced of it

if i figure out my new camera, which barely works for some reason, i will post pictures

 

[CrashBandit]

I have a similar story. When I lived at my parents, I parked my nissan 240sx(RIP) on the road in front of their house. One early morning I wake up to the sound of metal hitting metal and my mom screaming out her bedroom window. APPARENTLY this dumbass kid was on his way to school, SAID he saw a wild animal run out in front of him and he swerved his car(Camry) head-on into my 240. He then drove off, but decided to turn around because he knew who I was. Called cops but they didn't do anything because there were no witnesses. In the end, my 240 was totaled, and he somehow got a nice newer Dodge Ram.

Don't expect much..but maybe you can have better luck if they can prove the kid was under the influence when he hit your ranger...

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

sorry to hear bout that

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

sucks man. perhaps his family didnt call the police or insurance provider because they knew he was intoxicated for fear of him taking a breather test and his parents are too stupid to not spoil the child and sit his ass in jail overnight.

 

[JCat]

SUE SUE SUE........Your neighbor admitted fault, they should pay.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Wow- what a load. I agree- I would file a lawsuit- why should you eat any of the cost at all?

 

[ajderka]

so i drove by the house the kid lives in...

its huge, these people can pay. I'm going to have to wait until next week for the claims adjuster to call me, since the two huge storms here in the last week and all the damage they caused are keeping them busy. Also, state farm wont rent me a car until their adjuster comes out to see my truck, which wont be until next week at the earliest. i HATE insurance companies

PLUS, my mother talked to the mother of the kid who lives on my street, who the driver of the other truck was supposedly visiting. he admitted to his mom that he talked to the driver later that night after it happened, that this kid hit my truck, he called his parents, who came and GOT him that night, looked at the damage, and somehow got his truck home, leaving mine crumpled into some innocent persons house. i have a strange feeling they are covering something up....

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

I'm guess he was smoking alright, a joint! He was probably stoned while he hit your truck, and his parents are the dealers.:

 

[mrboyle]

Why didn't YOU call the police and report who had caused the accident after you found out?

 

[my pos mounty]

Contact your insurance company again, this time be a little more forceful.
If you have rental coverage, they owe you a rental today, not after some adjuster decides he has the time to meander by your house to look at an obvious total wreck. Fax them the estimates you already have to prove your loss if needed, or take some pics with a digital camera and offer to e-mail them to their office.
Worse case scenario is this: Go rent a car today and you might have to cover it for a short period of time, BUT when the insurance company decides that your truck is a total loss, they will owe you for the entire rental period.
Thats what rental coverage is for, isn't it? For temporary rental of a replacement vehicle until the claim can be settled...
Look at it this way: You paid them for the coverage at their convenience, now have them cover your loss at yours.

Next thing is that if your insurance company will not pay fair market value for your truck, you have the right to object. Don't let them stuff the first offer down your throat. It is a negotiation, approach it as such.

 

[ajderka]

oh i absolutely called the police at 4:30 am that morning, and got a report form the officer. This was before the parents of the kid showed up at my house, but apparently the police went over to have a little chat with him today, so we will see how that went.

As for the rental car, i got once two days ago, and they gave me a mazda six with the 4 banger in it. worst car ever. but at lease i have something to putz around in for now. the adjuster is coming tomorrow at some point, and i have done a TON of research and am going to rip them a new a$$hole if they dont give me my $6800 minimum

 

[ajderka]

well the claims adjuster came, saw, and stole my truck. well, they gave me two grand more than i paid for it, so i guess they didnt steal it, but i would rather have that truck than the two grand. i was more upset when the wrecker drove away with it than when my girlfriend of three years left me...i guess you can see my priorities.

craigslist is full of junk, and im not paying a ealer premium at a dealership. im from northern illinois, anyone from around here and know of anyone selling anything? preferably a ranger around my year, 2000, 5spd, and a regular cab

 

[RockcrawlerEX]

Damn, that sucks. Sorry to hear about your ranger, that's truely some bull$hit. Just keep searching, I'm sure you can find a ranger for cheap around your area. They're up all the time on craigs down here in Texas.

 

[Nixthebomb]

So what ever happened to the kid?

 

[ajderka]

well i got everything settled out now. i STILL haven't actually talked to the little punk that totaled it, i guess he's not man enough to meet me face to face, or even call me to apologize. after i did extensive research and negotiated the crap out of the insurance company, i got WAY more than i expected for my truck. two days ago i bought a little 98 ranger 5 speed with a 4 banger in it in absolutely pristine shape, just to putz around in. It's not my lifted mud eater that i had before, but it will suffice. Now I am preparing it for my post-college graduation cross country trip, which I am hoping to leave by next week. I got the truck for 2700, leaving me with ample funds to finance my trip, so I guess things do happen for a reason.

As for the kid, i heard he got a citation for leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving, so far that is all i know. I was hoping they would send him to 'pound me in the a$$ prison' to teach him a lesson or two, but so far my hopes are forlorn. But in the end i came out on top, so far. The truck, which the only problem is that it is running lean in bank one, so im going to clean out the injectors and see if that will fix it, is working just fine, and eventually i will pick up another truck for driving trails and throwing some mud