Beyond Belief!!!

[ranss12]

So on November 18 I had a minor fender bender accident - some guy in the lane beside me veered into my lane and damaged the right front fender/bumper/wheel area of my LEAF. The police report states that he veered into my lane, sideswiping me, and causing about $2300 damage. The parts arrived at the collision shop to repair the car and I made an appointment to bring the car in for repair on Monday (today). Since I wanted to watch the Bills lose to Denver, I dropped the car off at the collision shop yesterday around 3:00 pm so I'd be home for the 4:00 game (no one was at the shop, but they said to just drop the keys into the earlybird drop box slot in the door). So I did. Today I called the other guy's insurance company, to verify that they were going to cover all of my $500 deductible and also car rental. They said that they have concluded that I was 20% responsible so they were going to only pay $400 of my deductible. They said that "I should have seen him veer into my lane". Since I didn't, I am 20% responsible. Then I get a call from the collision shop - they can't find the key to my car. Then they call again - they can find neither the key nor the car itself. I turns out the car was stolen from the collision place. The car had only about 30 miles of range left in the battery so they can't get very far. And I had to open another claim with my insurance company, this one for a theft loss which has it's own $200 deductible. I expect the collision place will pay that, though, since it seems to me that they have some liability here. But the way my luck has been going, all bets are off!

 

[Deleted member 14724]

So on November 18 I had a minor fender bender accident - some guy in the lane beside me veered into my lane and damaged the right front fender/bumper/wheel area of my LEAF. The police report states that he veered into my lane, sideswiping me, and causing about $2300 damage. The parts arrived at the collision shop to repair the car and I made an appointment to bring the car in for repair on Monday (today). Since I wanted to watch the Bills lose to Denver, I dropped the car off at the collision shop yesterday around 3:00 pm so I'd be home for the 4:00 game (no one was at the shop, but they said to just drop the keys into the earlybird drop box slot in the door). So I did. Today I called the other guy's insurance company, to verify that they were going to cover all of my $500 deductible and also car rental. They said that they have concluded that I was 20% responsible so they were going to only pay $400 of my deductible. They said that "I should have seen him veer into my lane". Since I didn't, I am 20% responsible. Then I get a call from the collision shop - they can't find the key to my car. Then they call again - they can find neither the key nor the car itself. I turns out the car was stolen from the collision place. The car had only about 30 miles of range left in the battery so they can't get very far. And I had to open another claim with my insurance company, this one for a theft loss which has it's own $200 deductible. I expect the collision place will pay that, though, since it seems to me that they have some liability here. But the way my luck has been going, all bets are off!

Wow. Sounds like a movie.

 

[2k1Toaster]

Do you have carwings?

 

[ranss12]

Yes, I have Carwings! Can this help recover the car?

 

[2k1Toaster]

Technically, yes. AT&T knows the exact location of your vehicle (within a couple meters most likely) assuming it can see 3 cell towers. Nissan mostly likely also "knows", however getting them to tell you, will be hard. The police might have more leverage, but they don't generally care. If someone was kidnapped in the car, they might make the required phone call.

Have you done just a quick drive around the neighbourhood to see if it was dumped? They get in, go, realize this is not what they were looking for and have no idea how it works, so they dump it somewhere and steal the radio+wheels perhaps. Might be within a couple blocks of where it went missing.

 

[ranss12]

I just went into Carwings and updated the status. The high voltage battery is completely discharged. The collision shop is in a highly urbanized area. There are a million places it could be. The deputy said that stolen cars in this area are usually found within a week. It should be faster in this case since the car is dead.

 

[2k1Toaster]

I just went into Carwings and updated the status. The high voltage battery is completely discharged. The collision shop is in a highly urbanized area. There are a million places it could be. The deputy said that stolen cars in this area are usually found within a week. It should be faster in this case since the car is dead.

That's a good thing in that it wasn't flat-bedded away professionally for chop-shopping. Most likely a crime of opportunity. I expect missing radio, broken glass, cut seats, that sort of thing.

The frustrating thing is that the knowledge of where the car is physically located is available. It is just going to be hard to get them to tell you.

You will need Nissan to tell you the SIM Card ID Number for your vehicle. As far as I know, it is not on any of the vehicle literature, but they do know.

Then you take that SIM Card ID and call AT&T and ask them to triangulate the device. The complication is that you can't verify the account since you are not paying for the account, it is through a 3rd party company that Nissan pays. More likely you would need to contact the police who would contact AT&T and do the same thing, if you can get them to listen to you.

 

[KillaWhat]

Duuude!
You are making my day sound sooo much better.
Good Luck

 

[palmermd]

... Since I wanted to watch the Bills lose to Denver, I dropped the car off at the collision shop yesterday...

Well at least the game went as expected.

VERY sorry to hear about your troubles with the accident and the insurance and the repair shop. Just a miserable situation.

 

[derkraut]

Sad....just plain sad. I feel sorry for you. This is just another example of where our society is headed. Words like Honesty, Integrity, reliability have all but disappeared from our daily vocabulary.
I'm happy that I'm a senior citizen. It shouldn't be too much longer before I go to a much better place. My Leaf up there will have unlimited range, and never have to be recharged.

 

[oxo]

Sad....just plain sad. I feel sorry for you. This is just another example of where our society is headed. Words like Honesty, Integrity, reliability have all but disappeared from our daily vocabulary.
I'm happy that I'm a senior citizen. It shouldn't be too much longer before I go to a much better place. My Leaf up there will have unlimited range, and never have to be recharged.

And think of the concert with John, George, Jim, Jimi & Janis!

 

[GRA]

Sad....just plain sad. I feel sorry for you. This is just another example of where our society is headed. Words like Honesty, Integrity, reliability have all but disappeared from our daily vocabulary.
I'm happy that I'm a senior citizen. It shouldn't be too much longer before I go to a much better place. My Leaf up there will have unlimited range, and never have to be recharged.

And think of the concert with John, George, Jim, Jimi & Janis!

Buddy, Sam, Otis, Marvin . . .

 

[recmob]

Its not that the police don't care, most times their hands are tied on this sort of thing. My wife works for the state attorney's office (currently 14 yrs) and this is exactly what she handles. Whether its a cell company or a bank (or whomever) she puts together the subpoenas and contacts the appropriate office for the information they need. Then packages it up for the state attorneys to review.

I couldn't tell you how many times she comes home frustrated after dealing with these corporations. All they do is pass the buck to another division, state, phone number, etc. Unless a murder was involved, its usually takes 'weeks' for them to get the information they need.

Granted I'm referring to other types of crimes here, but if the corporations put the state through that much, what chance do we have of getting this type of information in a reasonable time?

 

[ranss12]

As an update to my stolen LEAF: it was found that night in the city with the battery depleted (6 GIDS). Very little if any damage - even my CDs and loose change was still in the car.
It turns out that stealing cars by fishing the keys out of a key drop in a door is not uncommon. Sometimes the drop boxes are sabotaged so that they trap keys before they fall to the floor. If the car is dropped off on Sunday for work to be done on Monday, the car can be taken, driven for 1/2 a day, then returned to the location from which it was stolen before it has been discovered missing. Neither the shop nor the owner (nor the police) ever know that the car was 'borrowed', and the drop box is never improved since the shop doesn't know they have a problem. If they had returned my car before it ran out of charge, I'd have never known it was taken.
The Nissan collision shop has been very helpful - they are providing a free loaner (2015 Altima - unlimited mileage), a free replacement key (fob), free doll-up of the interior, etc. They don't want me to file a theft claim with my insurance company.

by the way - the police report listed the value of my LEAF (2012, 49,000 miles, 2.75 years old) as $15,000.

 

[nerys]

I assume your FIGHTING them on that 20% blame BS right?

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I'm so glad you recovered your car with minimal damage.

I would definitely fight that 20% liability claim. It doesn't surprise me that they would try to get you to pay, but it is sad. Sounds like you have the police report on your side.

 

[LKK]

Glad you got your car back. In regards to the claim by the other insurance that you are 20% responsible, you do not have to accept what they say. Insurance companies will do whatever they can to reduce payouts, that's their business. My question is what is your insurance company doing about this claim? If they agree, it will cost them. I suggest you get them to reject this offer. Another approach you can take is file a complaint with your state insurance commission. I've done this and the other side's insurance quickly decided to pay up.

 

[Deleted member 7875]

Did you file a claim with your own insurance carrier for the sideswipe damage? You should do this even though it was the other drivers fault because your own insurance company should fight the 20 percen at fault claim unless they are a worthless insurance company.