Post Accident Advice

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Connecticut

I was in an accident yesterday other driver was at fault both he and the cop said. It was a pretty good hit, my car will almost certainly be declared a loss. He was leaving a garage lot and pulled out right as I was getting there and I hit his left-front.

Outside of being nervous to drive again. I'm nervous I won't get what I need (a car) out of this to make me whole. I owe $4,700 on the $7,000 original loan.

I put the claim in and instructed my inseurance company to get it from the other driver's insurance. These cars (2002 Mitsubishi Galant) are worth anywhere from $6,500-$7,000 still. I worry I will get a little less or just enough to pay off the loan. Not sure how to negotiate these sorts of things.

What should I be entitled to and what should I be doing at this point? I have my claim in. I'm not good with this sort of stuff. What if they only will pay off the loan and nothing is leftover? I don't have the money right now to put a down payment on a car right now.

I don't wanna put anyone through any more trouble than I have to. The guy was kind enough to be more concerned about me than himself. As I, him.

I can fill in any information needed.

You are only going to get the value of the vehicle. It's not the fault of the other driver nor the insurance company if you owe as much for the car as the car is worth.

Thanks for the reply Indiana. I don't blame them if it was, I just think it's worth more than what I owe, I don't mind being back in a loan. A similar car, in this case checking prices for the same model with around the same mileage are about $6,500. It hasn't been long since I bought it, almost two years. NADA says $6,000 so I think that would be fair and put me back in a similar situation I was before the accident. I want to be strong about this and know what I need to know. I tend to let myself be easily swayed, I'm a softie, why I'm not a lawyer, heh. I feel bad enough just coming here and asking.

Don't expect as much as NADA says, they're not as bad as KBB but they do tend to be a little higher then the more accurate value reports that insurance companies use.

Ok, on the car aspect my fear didn't come to pass as much as I thought. Their offer is in the ballpark. Later the night I posted I went to the ER as I noticed an odd bruise streak on my thumb and contusions. They gave me a prescrip for motrin and sent me on my way. The lump under one of them hasn't gone away and my back has stiffened up more each day, I often have to sit at people's computers and I need to find a backrest because it hurts after a minute and I have to stand up, I can't get in to see my regular doc until the 20th. So I either wait or go back to the ER and then go.

They made the offer today and I haven't gotten back to them. Not sure what to do. They want a POA letter signed to get the title from my bank. But I might not know if there's an underlying injury. Even so, regardless of the fact the pain is moderate, I think I should ask for something, nervous to drive anxiety comes up when I'm out there driving or not. How would I do that, is it wise and should I send the adjuster the ER report and the pictures? Also, I'm paid salary so I took 2 paid days off. Does that eliminate getting those days?

Or did I totally screw the pooch by waiting to bring this up?

Also, I'm not asking it to be mean or looking for something. I'm asking because I don't want injuries being discovered up after I sign off. It's was a major collision and I'm lucky I'm not in the hospital long term. I'm not great with this type of stuff, I'm more a science/nerd type.

You can settle on the property damage, it has nothing to do with any injury claim. You need to advise them that you've received medical treatment though, so they can open the injury claim and so they know to expect it.