Accident happened 11/18. I was driving the white truck and was involved in a four car pileup in Tucson. I never saw the first car that caused the wreck. Other drivers said he drove off. Tucson Police Department responded and did not issue citations for the three of us that remained on scene. My truck and the Mustang got towed off. Best I can figure out is that the Mustang swerved to avoid being hit by the second car. As you can see, I went into the median and knocked down a street sign. Now I'm waiting for insurance to process my claim.
Front tie rods are broken and who knows what damage has been done to the suspension. Truck has 30k miles on it and is a 2019. Damage may be in the $15k range. For all we know, the truck may be totaled.
Hopefully insurance will settle soon. If not, then I'll have to get my 80 year old father involved. He doesn't mess around with insurance agents-he used to head a Fortune 500 insurance company and ran a company that did auto insurance.
Fire Department responded but left when everyone checked out okay. Driver that hit me was very apologetic. His Mustang had the left front wheel destroyed by the impact. Like you said, the thing that counts is that everyone walked away from the crash. Cars are replaceable-people aren't. Dad says that if the truck gets totaled, he'll buy a new Tacoma and give me the one he currently has. I think it's a 2021 and it only has 2500 miles on it.
I just saw in the news that there was a major hit and run crash in Mesa yesterday. Dodge pickup ran a stop sign and hit a Valley Metro bus, causing it to strike several cars and crash into a house. Pickup driver fled the scene and there were six injuries. My boss says that the estimated number of uninsured drivers in Arizona is 40%. That seems a bit high-numbers I've seen are more like 12%. Fortunately, I've got uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. That shouldn't matter in this case, as the motorist that hit me was insured. Problem is that I don't think that the police will find the uninsured motorist.
awalker1829 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 3:47 pm
Fire Department responded but left when everyone checked out okay. Driver that hit me was very apologetic. His Mustang had the left front wheel destroyed by the impact. Like you said, the thing that counts is that everyone walked away from the crash. Cars are replaceable-people aren't. Dad says that if the truck gets totaled, he'll buy a new Tacoma and give me the one he currently has. I think it's a 2021 and it only has 2500 miles on it.
I just saw in the news that there was a major hit and run crash in Mesa yesterday. Dodge pickup ran a stop sign and hit a Valley Metro bus, causing it to strike several cars and crash into a house. Pickup driver fled the scene and there were six injuries. My boss says that the estimated number of uninsured drivers in Arizona is 40%. That seems a bit high-numbers I've seen are more like 12%. Fortunately, I've got uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. That shouldn't matter in this case, as the motorist that hit me was insured. Problem is that I don't think that the police will find the uninsured motorist.
Tons of uninsured motorists is an issue in Florida also. My son was hit head on, by an uninsured driver, once they saw my sons uniform, it was like "Chi-ching". Even though the evidence showed them at fault, they suddenly had injuries, wanted a new car, medical bills paid, paid for loss wages, etc.
They had no license, no insurance, car not registered in the US, and possibly undocumented (Never confirmed, but noted on police report), and the cops let them walk. They filed a claim against my son's insurance, who told them to pound sand.
Mike
TSgt, USAF Retired
Jan 86 - Sept 08
Aircrew Life Support
"Your Life Is Our Business"
(122X0, 1T1X1, 1P0X1)
NRA Life Member
You walked away from the wreck, that's a win, in my old line I saw wrecks every day sometimes with the blood not even dry yet. Vehicles can be replaced, sucks and is hugely inconvenient, but nobody died. We have a big problem around here with illegals running vehicles without licenses, or documentation of any kind. They drink, wreck, and try and run. One guy gets a legit license, registers the vehicles with insurance, then turns it over to his buddies. If the heat gets hot enough they pull a fade back to their country for a while. In this area nobody is running anything with fake plates, and expired reggie's as every police car has the plate scanners in them now. I hear they are even in some traffic signals. Even when they get caught, they bond out and vanish, if they are not previously in the system nobody knows who they really are. In one instance we had a guy jump in a car a customer had just junked in front of the shop and take off with it. Piece of shit Dodge Spirit or something like that with a rusted apart rear suspension bar causing the car to swerve from side to side. He cut off an unmarked just up the road and got pulled over, I guess he figured he couldn't run far. He gets several tickets and they impound the car letting him walk away before the report of the theft had entered the system. We are talking maybe ten minutes from stealing the car, getting stopped, issued citations and then released, probably a record of some kind in there. Yea, that's 15g at least in damage, likely more, I have seen lesser wrecks get totaled.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m glad you’re ok and hopefully the insurance process is quick and easy for you.
We use to live in Arizona for 3 years. I had to drive I-10 to work and there were plenty of accidents. I don’t miss driving I-10 at all. The drivers in AZ were pretty bad. Someone totaled my vehicle while we were living there, traffic came to a stop on the interstate and the driver behind me wasn’t paying attention and rear ended me.
Right now we’re waiting for the police report. Talked to a records tech at Tucson Police Department. She said it may take a couple of weeks to become available as it hadn’t been approved by all of the agencies involved.
I-10 is not fun to drive on and a few years ago, there was a potential death trap at the westbound Ruthrauff Road exit. The frequent train traffic at the railroad crossing on Ruthrauff Road was causing traffic to back up on the frontage road and exit ramp back onto the interstate itself. Someone at Arizona Department of Transportation found out about this and that exit was prioritized for reconstruction to eliminate the railroad crossing. Took them a couple of years to complete the work but they got it done before any accidents happened.
Update: I talked to a records clerk at the Tucson Police Department. She told me that due to a backlog, it will be a month to a month and a half before the police report will be prepared and released. So I called my insurance company and reported that to them. I’ll call and speak with the adjuster assigned to my claim tomorrow and see if there’s anything they can do in the meantime. I don’t know as of now if the truck is repairable or totaled. So far I’ve paid $2k out of pocket for towing and the car rental.
You didn't have triple A for the towing? A month and a half for a simple accident report sounds a bit excessive, especially for one were nobody was killed or seriously injured. manpower issues, or are they just that slow?
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
No, I don't have Triple A. My family refuses to do business with them after they botched a tow twenty years ago. I had a breakdown and called them-their wrecker never showed and claimed that they could not locate me or my vehicle when confronted about the failure. Dad called them and cancelled our membership on the spot.
Tucson Police Department is severely understaffed. I talked with my claims rep and they told me that since I didn't have collision coverage, they are not going to pay my claim on my policy and they are not accepting fault on the part of the driver who hit me, who is also insured by Progressive. They are trying to contact a witness that I provided, who claims that the other insured was driving wreckless and caused the accident. I don't know what the damages are as my insurance is not going to send an adjuster to examine the vehicle until they decide who is at fault. So far between the car rental through the end of the year and the towing bill, I'm already out more than $2k. If they wait until the police report is available, that will be at least mid to late January.
At this point you are better off buying some cheap junker to run for now so you can get out of the rental payments, then sell it once everything is straightened out. That rust free Tacoma would bring very good money up here even if it had 350,000 miles on it. Even banged up it would still sell well, if you could see the absolute shit Toyota trucks that sell up here, we sell every one we get no matter what age, milage, or condition. Rust kills them all in the end, but they stay in demand until the last usable part is ruined.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
I'm documenting all of the expenses. Once it is determined which driver is at fault, we intend to go after that party for all expenses. Dad is an old time insurance man, so I'm following his directions-he was the head of a Fortune 500 insurance company and actually ran an auto insurance company during his professional life.
Update-Progressive (my insurance) reviewed my claim and determined that the driver that hit me (also insured by Progressive) is not at fault. They told me that as far as they are concerned, the third driver (insured by USAA) is 100% at fault. Since I didn’t have collision coverage, there’s nothing more I can do through Progressive, so now I’ve got a claim going with USAA.
So now I’m waiting to hear from USAA’s adjuster. I’ve called them twice and left messages.
To put it bluntly that sucks, sounds like Progessive bent you over the proverbial barrel, and didn't even have the decency to kiss you first.
Good luck with USAA, but I have a nagging feeling you're going to get close and personal with another barrel. It's getting to the point where having insurance is a scam.
And in some jurisdictions law enforcement doesn't help the cases either.
Last year my son, went across the road to the cut through/turn about, another vehicle coming from the other direction entered just after he did keeping parallel to the road, forcing my son to stop short, with the ass end of his car sticking out. A girl coming down the road, distracted with her phone slammed into the side of his car, never hit her brakes prior to hitting him. My son received a ticket for failing to yield the right away, but she didn't get ticketed for distracted driving. Based on the accident report and his ticket, she/her insurance went after his insurance laying all fault on him.
His insurance pays for her totaled car, she has no repercussions for her actions. I made this remark to his insurance company, "So it seems that if someone is stopped and in your way, you can hit their car in Florida and it's not your fault. Doesn't matter if you can avoid the accident by braking/stopping or switching lanes. Because they failed to yield the right away and are therefore always at fault."
My mouth is going to get me in trouble again one of these days!
Mike
TSgt, USAF Retired
Jan 86 - Sept 08
Aircrew Life Support
"Your Life Is Our Business"
(122X0, 1T1X1, 1P0X1)
NRA Life Member
Well, I got my attorney involved and USAA has told them that my claim is in subrogation between them and Progressive. Driver 1 (USAA) says he didn't hit me and shouldn't have to pay my claim. Driver 2 (Progressive) says that while he hit me, Driver 1 caused the whole accident and Driver 1 should pay my claim (which is what my agent told me). Fortunately, I have this attorney for other reasons so this really didn't cost me anything extra.
Nice reasoning. If some guy sticks a leg out and trips a waitress at the diner causing her to dump a bowl of hot soup on my head the waitress is getting a good tip and the bowl is going right up the joker's ass. The one who caused it all needs to suffer, even if it's only in higher insurance premiums for five years or more.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
I know. So now I get to wait to see who gets stuck with the claim before the process of fixing or replacing my truck starts. Of course, any communication between me and the insurance company will also be run by the attorney before I agree to anything. As I’ve had to rent a vehicle since the accident, the at fault party’s going to have to pay that bill. The longer this drags out, the higher the bill will be. Dad’s paying the bills and I’ll repay him from the settlement. If they try to get out of paying that, we will consider filing a lawsuit to ensure I get every penny of the claim paid.
Insurance companies are still in subrogation. Per instructions from the attorney, I’ve also filed a claim against the other drivers insurance policy. So now I have a claim with USAA and Progressive. It may be a few months before this gets resolved. The company that ends up paying the claim will be paying a substantial reimbursement for the rental car to the tune of about $1,200 a month.
I finally heard back from the insurance adjuster this past week. Progressive and USAA went to binding arbitration and the arbitrator found the other two drivers to both be 50 percent at fault. So now we’re finally getting to the point of getting the truck to the shop and figuring out if it is repairable.
