Good Ole insurance company woes- need advice

After the whole ordeal with Gambino and waiting 2 months to get parts for the smashed fender on my car (still waiting) and accepting my cars condition, I had ordered parts from a Junkyard which were to be shipped yesterday. Yay, finally would have my car fixed, its summertime and i can wax it and so on. Finally.

Well yesterday some old lady nearly kills me by plowing through an intersection on a red light as I am turning left and smashes the other fender in, though not as bad. I got a nice jolt from it and am lucky I reacted as I did to get out of her way cause otherwise she would have plowed through my passenger door. She was totally at fault and admitted this to police at the collision reporting center. A witness saw the whole thing as well. Totally not my fault.

I dont carry collision on my car- my insurance is figuring out if her insurance is valid then they begin the process of having the repairs done. What freaked me out, and what i need advice on, is that they are sending an appraiser out because of the former damage on my car to assess its value. If its more to fix that fender (the one the old lady smashed) than what my car is worth WITH another smashed fender (which SHOULD have been fixed 5 weeks ago) then my car is a write off and i have the option to buy it back, she says. Im like “WHAT??”

so i have a feeling im not going to like the appraisers decesion. I know the damage is about $3000 to the other fender, including the bumper and pop-up light on that side. DO i have any recourse if I dont get that full amount? Like can I try and sue the driver of the van that hit me? Can I go after her insurance company directly? Anyone ever take legal action on an insurance company before, cause i think they are going to try and screw me as usual.

Now Im VERY upset that i dont have the other side fixed thanks to someone not sending my money back or my parts. This is fantastic…happy summer to me

sorry to hear that.

good luck suing an insurance company, they usually have lawyers on the payroll ie:they can stretch litigation on to the point the average individual can’t afford to litigate.

So your stuck with parts. My suggestion (having not seen the car), would be to take it to a frame shop and tell them to inspect it and judge from thier response. The appraiser will not be able to tell if the frame is out, there are measurements in the Factory Service Manual so you can inspect the frame yourself.

Don’t accept they’re first offer (if its a write-off). If you can afford to wait/haggle you can usually get more.