Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

PF_Flyer said:

I KNEW I should have thrown the camera in the car this morning. On my way back from the gym, as I passed a credit union building, I noticed an older Buick nose down in the drainage area (the arrow) and a "seasoned citizen" standing in the parking lot behind the hedges, discussing with three officers just how she got down there. At least I assume that's what the conversation was about.

Too bad you didn't ask us to guess what kind of car....I would of won an Edmund's coffee cup.

driver100

stever said:

I've loaned out cars quite a bit over the years, mostly back in the Tercel days, though the Subaru got used a few times in Boise. One friend flew up to visit and do a river trip and we met at the put-in a few days after he grabbed the Tercel. He'd lost the muffler in the middle of nowhere in dim light and couldn't find it but noted the mile-marker. We found in the ditch two days later after getting off the river, and I took it to my mechanic and had it welded back on.

1)If you loan somebody your car, and they are in a very expensive accident (some can be $million or more), who will they come to for the money?

2)Who is responsible for getting the muffler repaired?

PF_Flyer

I DID have the camera for this. I assume it's a Mary K car, but I don't think I've ever seen a VW as one

qbrozen

Oh, I can beat that! I don't believe it is Mary K, as the color is off, but I don't believe I have ever seen so much pepto-pink in one place. This was a big HD dually diesel I saw leaving a parking lot in Florida when we were visiting last month.

graphicguy

I was having a Lenten dinner several weekends ago at a near by pub/restaurant. It happens to be smack dab beside some clow railroad tracks. In an attmept to find parking on the side of the restaurant, a clueless 30 something lady turned right on to the tracks and drove for probably 1/2 a football field.

We were sitting at a window table and watched the entire thing.

At one point, she got stuck/broke some suspension piece(s) and could no longer for forward or backwards. These train tracks are relatively busy. So, my friend and I bolted out the restaurant, and proceeded to go up to the lady and tell her to get out of the car. She insisted on not leaving the car and locked her doors, thinking we were maniacs. Eventually, we got her to open the door and see she was driving on train tracks. She thought the road was just on poor condition.

End result, police showed up (whose precinct is actually on the other side of the tracks she was driving on. Called some sort of train dispatch to tell them of the impending obstacle in the path. And, then called a tow truck, which had a helluva time getting her car towed off the tracks.

We did not admonish her, raise our voice to her, or in any way threaten her. We just emphatically told her she had to get out of the car because of the very dangerous predicament she was in. She was totally clueless. At first, I thought she was drunk or high. No....just dingbatty as hell.

We still see her from time-to-time as we like the restaurant. She knows me, but always veers the other direction when she sees me.

abacomike

@graphicguy said:

"We still see her from time-to-time as we like the restaurant. She knows me, but always veers the other direction when she sees me."

I've heard that from a number of people who have met you, graphicguy! I always thought of you as a kind and helpful sort - not someone who others avoid. Do you think you have a problem?

cdnpinhead

Quick as a wink, your head's in the sink -- Pepto Bismol.

henryn

PF_Flyer said:

I DID have the camera for this. I assume it's a Mary K car, but I don't think I've ever seen a VW as one

They do say the best camera is the one you have with you.

Which means the camera in your smartphone, just in case that wasn't obvious to you. Which I guess it might not be, if you were actually out and about without a camera (i.e., smartphone)

abacomike

I stopped by the Collision Center for all the AutoNation dealerships in the area (about a mile from my house) to find out the progress on replacing my bumper. According to one of the managers there, the part is scheduled to arrive tomorrow from Jacksonville, FL, not Miami or Orlando. He showed me the work order with the parts that were ordered and the estimated amount of paint and labor, etc. It shows a Mercedes-Benz part (bumper) and a total cost, including labor and paint, of $2492.00.

It sure is a lot of money for such a seemingly inexpensive part. The paint and clear coat can't be more than $50.00 net cost. He showed me how they lay the bumper part on several dollies and then apply the primer and the paint and then the clear coat. Then, they move the dolly with the bumper into an oven like room to make sure the paint dries evenly. He said they apply a total of 8 coats, 1 primer coat, 5 paint coats and 3 clear-coat coats. So I would imagine the labor is somewhat intensive.

He estimated that if they get the bumper in tomorrow morning, the car could be ready Friday afternoon. But he said that Monday would be more likely. He assured me that no reports will be sent to CARMAX or any other outside sources because it is an internal repair. Let's hope he is right. I sure do miss driving my own car.

stever

driver100 said:

1)If you loan somebody your car, and they are in a very expensive accident (some can be $million or more), who will they come to for the money?

2)Who is responsible for getting the muffler repaired?

Good questions - after the 300k/500k? (I forget what my coverage is...), I guess the lawyers will get everything else.

My friend wasn't trashing the car, so I didn't mind paying for the welding. Was really happy that he was paying attention and noted where it fell off so we could find it (guess it was hard not to notice ).

I got stuck on a railroad track as a new driver and almost immediately got out of the car.

Then I jacked it up and pushed it off the jack and got back in and drove off.

Must run in the family - my dad took a neighbor to Birmingham in the 50s or 60s and took a wrong turn and wound up driving down some tracks.

snakeweasel

tyguy said:

It's all guesswork at this point, but I do believe I'll live to see a time when gas plays a minority role and those that still use it will pay dearly for the limited supply available since fuels require certain economies of scale to be as cheap as they are now.

There will be a time in the not to distant future where there will be no dominant fuel. There will be different ones filling different needs. And as long as there is oil there will be vehicles that will run on gas and/or diesel. Gas has one thing going for it that no other mode now has, quick efficient refueling. As long as thats the case trucks, boats and cabs will use petroleum based fuels.

snakeweasel

PF_Flyer said:

tyguy said:

People run out of gas and diesel, too. Same will happen with hydrogen. The key is figuring out to quickly get people back on the road again. I'm an advocate for standardized battery packs that insert where the rocker panels are. Then a "rescue" truck could easily swap in a charged battery.

From a practical standpoint, the swapable packs make sense. And it has to be easy and quick. Ideally I would not want to put cars up on a rack to swap it out. Just pull the used up pack out and slide the new one in. Now I SEE the problem with looks. Who wants a "battery door" on the outside of their car. And getting a standardized pack across brands would be a lot of fun too I bet.

Tesla's prototype had you drive up over the mechanism which would swap out the batteries. It was supposed to take less time than it took to fill a tank.

isellhondas

berri said:

Aba - I know this is frustrating and scary. But you seem like a good man and that is a trait that stays with you forever and should help you get through this. I think I speak for most, if not all of us in wishing you the best and looking forward to more of your sense of humor down the road. I'm sure you will have some stories on this next medical experience and can't wait to hear them

My feelings exactly!

verdugo

VW will offer to buy back 500,000 Diesel cars
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/exclusive-vw-to-offer-to-buy-back-nearly-500000-us-diesel-cars-sources/ar-BBs2iUT

Ouch, that is going to be expensive.

driver100

qbrozen said:

Oh, I can beat that! I don't believe it is Mary K, as the color is off, but I don't believe I have ever seen so much pepto-pink in one place. This was a big HD dually diesel I saw leaving a parking lot in Florida when we were visiting last month.

Hope it isn't a big cowboy driving that thing!

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Removable battery backs remind me of stagecoach technology in the 1870s in the Old West, where you had to switch teams of horses in order to get anywhere.

That didn't last long, either.

You might be confusing that with the Pony Express which lasted only about 18 months.

And what killed the Pony Express wasn't another mode of transportation but the telegraph.

But you did have to change out the horses every now and again with stagecoaches.

driver100

verdugo said:

VW will offer to buy back 500,000 Diesel cars
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/exclusive-vw-to-offer-to-buy-back-nearly-500000-us-diesel-cars-sources/ar-BBs2iUT

Ouch, that is going to be expensive.

I am thinking they will buy VW diesels back, ship them to some country that has no pollution requirements (Cuba or many others) and will probably make a profit on them.....since they aren't worth much any way, and that will also buoy up the price of their used cars since there won't be many around.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

I think she should go to small claims court to get something...ask for $5000 for diminished value.

But, no easy answer, our 2001 C Class was hit pretty hard in the rear end. $4000 repair, we got a loaner car, ours was repaired, but we had to report it was in an accident when we traded it in, No compensation - it is ridiculous!

Kind of hard to determine what is the amount of the diminished value. Hard to know what the car will go for until you sell it. Also the timing of the disposal of the vehicle will also have an impact on what that amount is.

Also say if you get $5K for diminished value and on the way home from the courthouse you take a turn to fast and drive into a fire hydrant do you have to give a portion of that $5K back because now there would have been a diminished value without the first accident?

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

Was just trying to catch up on all the posts from the past 3-4 days.  I appreciate all of your concerns.  I was having quite a bit of discomfort so I had to run over to the ER to get something to relieve it.

Still waiting for the CT-Scan with dye to be scheduled by the doctor.  He was concerned because I was dehydrated and felt my kidneys could not handle getting rid of the dye they need to inject.  Probably need to have another blood test to confirm.  Don't know why they just don't hook me up to IV fluids for a few hours and then do the scan.

Again, thanks for your sincere concerns. 

Good to see you back, just trying to catch up on things here and you have been making this into a soap opera. Hope everything is working out for you.

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

Pretty crappy car. I'm sure the restored ones are much better in every way than the originals.

A guy at work has one of those restored ones, he claims it is a pretty decent car.

I'm trying to get him to turn it into a time machine.

carnaught

graphicguy said:

I was having a Lenten dinner several weekends ago at a near by pub/restaurant. It happens to be smack dab beside some clow railroad tracks. In an attmept to find parking on the side of the restaurant, a clueless 30 something lady turned right on to the tracks and drove for probably 1/2 a football field.

We were sitting at a window table and watched the entire thing.

At one point, she got stuck/broke some suspension piece(s) and could no longer for forward or backwards. These train tracks are relatively busy. So, my friend and I bolted out the restaurant, and proceeded to go up to the lady and tell her to get out of the car. She insisted on not leaving the car and locked her doors, thinking we were maniacs. Eventually, we got her to open the door and see she was driving on train tracks. She thought the road was just on poor condition.

End result, police showed up (whose precinct is actually on the other side of the tracks she was driving on. Called some sort of train dispatch to tell them of the impending obstacle in the path. And, then called a tow truck, which had a helluva time getting her car towed off the tracks.

We did not admonish her, raise our voice to her, or in any way threaten her. We just emphatically told her she had to get out of the car because of the very dangerous predicament she was in. She was totally clueless. At first, I thought she was drunk or high. No....just dingbatty as hell.

We still see her from time-to-time as we like the restaurant. She knows me, but always veers the other direction when she sees me.

This sounds like an experience Mike would have had .

oldfarmer50

PF_Flyer said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, come on, that gravel certainly looks like a driveway to me.

True... on the other side of the hedge.... and across the lawn.... and heading for an extremely small tunnel leading to the main road

To us oldsters that looks like a drive-thru.

abacomike

carnaught said:

I was having a Lenten dinner several weekends ago at a near by pub/restaurant. It happens to be smack dab beside some clow railroad tracks. In an attmept to find parking on the side of the restaurant, a clueless 30 something lady turned right on to the tracks and drove for probably 1/2 a football field. We were sitting at a window table and watched the entire thing. At one point, she got stuck/broke some suspension piece(s) and could no longer for forward or backwards. These train tracks are relatively busy. So, my friend and I bolted out the restaurant, and proceeded to go up to the lady and tell her to get out of the car. She insisted on not leaving the car and locked her doors, thinking we were maniacs. Eventually, we got her to open the door and see she was driving on train tracks. She thought the road was just on poor condition. End result, police showed up (whose precinct is actually on the other side of the tracks she was driving on. Called some sort of train dispatch to tell them of the impending obstacle in the path. And, then called a tow truck, which had a helluva time getting her car towed off the tracks. We did not admonish her, raise our voice to her, or in any way threaten her. We just emphatically told her she had to get out of the car because of the very dangerous predicament she was in. She was totally clueless. At first, I thought she was drunk or high. No....just dingbatty as hell. We still see her from time-to-time as we like the restaurant. She knows me, but always veers the other direction when she sees me.

This sounds like an experience Mike would have had .

Yes - definitely sounds like one of my calmer days! 

oldfarmer50

stever said:

I've loaned out cars quite a bit over the years, mostly back in the Tercel days, though the Subaru got used a few times in Boise. One friend flew up to visit and do a river trip and we met at the put-in a few days after he grabbed the Tercel. He'd lost the muffler in the middle of nowhere in dim light and couldn't find it but noted the mile-marker. We found in the ditch two days later after getting off the river, and I took it to my mechanic and had it welded back on.

Loaned out the Lincoln to relatives who send their daughter out to run errands in it. Came back with one wheel curbed and a sliced tire sidewall requiring a new set of snow tires.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

driver...don't know how true this is, but a couple of weeks ago a guy I know who works for/buys cars for, my local BMW dealer said there's a warehouse somewhere in the U.S. filled with new Saabs that some company is holding to part out when parts for them get scarce.

Owner allegedly feels the cars are worth more as parts cars than they are as completed cars to sell.

Any car is. I remember many years ago reading that if you assembled a $5000 car from parts it would cost you $25,000.

Not if you take Johnny Cash's advice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=060A15ELz00

oldfarmer50

stever said:

driver100 said:

1)If you loan somebody your car, and they are in a very expensive accident (some can be $million or more), who will they come to for the money?

2)Who is responsible for getting the muffler repaired?

Good questions - after the 300k/500k? (I forget what my coverage is...), I guess the lawyers will get everything else.

My friend wasn't trashing the car, so I didn't mind paying for the welding. Was really happy that he was paying attention and noted where it fell off so we could find it (guess it was hard not to notice ).

I got stuck on a railroad track as a new driver and almost immediately got out of the car.

Then I jacked it up and pushed it off the jack and got back in and drove off.

Must run in the family - my dad took a neighbor to Birmingham in the 50s or 60s and took a wrong turn and wound up driving down some tracks.

Just do what doctors and contractors do...form a limited liability corporation. Just make sure the only asset the corp. possesses is a telephone.

Regarding railroad tracks...in my wild youth I took a cruise down some tracks to avoid an unpleasant interaction with members of the law enforcement community. Bent a leaf spring hanger on a track. Some wacks with a hammer fixed it up fine.

I knew it was fine because I could look at it through the rust holes in the floor.

abacomike

snakeweasel said:

driver...don't know how true this is, but a couple of weeks ago a guy I know who works for/buys cars for, my local BMW dealer said there's a warehouse somewhere in the U.S. filled with new Saabs that some company is holding to part out when parts for them get scarce. Owner allegedly feels the cars are worth more as parts cars than they are as completed cars to sell.

Any car is. I remember many years ago reading that if you assembled a $5000 car from parts it would cost you $25,000.

Not if you take Johnny Cash's advice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=060A15ELz00

Snake, I really enjoyed that Johnny Cash Video.  He was my favorite country singer.  He was the one that convinced me that country was as good as rock - maybe even better.

That was the first time I had heard that song - it was terrific.  Thanks for posting that - you made my day! 

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

jmonroe said:

'driver'

__________________________________________________________________________________

OK, if he does, that will be the only one I watch.

I'm off to cut the grass. Both next door neighbors are trying to make me look bad. I need new neighbors. :@

jmonroe

I have a better idea, tell the guy next door not to make you look bad.....both of you can just leave your lawn longer.

An even better idea in one word "AstroTurf".

Mr_Shiftright

stever said:

I've loaned out cars quite a bit over the years, mostly back in the Tercel days, though the Subaru got used a few times in Boise. One friend flew up to visit and do a river trip and we met at the put-in a few days after he grabbed the Tercel. He'd lost the muffler in the middle of nowhere in dim light and couldn't find it but noted the mile-marker. We found in the ditch two days later after getting off the river, and I took it to my mechanic and had it welded back on.

We're not talking loaning to friends, we're talking renting to strangers to make money.

stever

The risks don't seem much different reading the stories in here!

You can borrow my minivan anytime Shifty. Just keep off the front yard please.

snakeweasel

iluvmysephia1 said:

There are a lot of companies already doing that. Hertz, Enterprise, National all come to mind.

Hertz, Enterprise and National all rent Scion motorcars out? If I had only known I could've rented a baby well before trying to make a play on a Scion of my own on Friday, April 22nd, 2016. Ya live and yet you still learn each and every day, don't ya? I tried to forget motorcars for a single busy business day and look what happens when ya pop in to Edmunds ta catch up posts, pah-t-naa?

Hey, who knows what John Wayne drove? Cadillac would be my guess. Wikipedia it?

Well most of the time on the movies I've seen he's operating something with one horsepower.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

henryn said:

driver100 said:

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

They just talked about renting out your car on TV, a new company called Turo. Says most renters can make $600 a month. They said Turo will pay insurance up to $200k. In NY state a renter killed a few people, and the claim will probably be for way more than that!

They think it will appeal to people who don't drive their car a lot, or who drive only on weekends or during the week. It would seem the rental fee could help pay off a car.

I hate letting anyone drive my car....so not for me.

Something seems fishy to me. If the numbers held up, why wouldn't someone just go ahead and buy a car or 2 or 3 or more and use Turo to make money? I could easily have a $0 down $400/mo car payment on a decent enough car, which they are saying I could turn around and make $600/mo on. This is an extra car, mind you, and not one I even have to like (preferably I would not like it because I'm letting other people soil it).

Good point! Maybe I should buy a fleet of Scions at a good rate and rent them out!

There are a lot of companies already doing that. Hertz, Enterprise, National all come to mind.

But if I lease Scions for $200 a month and rent them out for $600 a month I can make a nice little profit!

But would you be able to do that and stay under the miles allowed by the lease?

oldfarmer50

Here's a car for YOU!



https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/5548846173.html

snakeweasel

OK, I'm all caught up. Now for this, we have a squatter here at my house. Took up residence right next to my garage by my front door.

Mr_Shiftright

snakeweasel said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Pretty crappy car. I'm sure the restored ones are much better in every way than the originals.

A guy at work has one of those restored ones, he claims it is a pretty decent car.

I'm trying to get him to turn it into a time machine.

Very shoddy build quality caused a lot of water leaks--that was one thing---and of course the disappointing performance. But I think most owners have gotten the bugs out by now.

At least we all know why nobody else ever built a production car out of stainless steel. Actually Ford built 6 SS cars in 1936. You can see a couple of 'em at the Crawford Auto Museum in Cleveland.

explorerx4

There were also some SS T'Birds. I remember seeing one in the driveway next door to where my best friend lived.
http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird1960stainlesssteel.html

jmonroe

Mike It's good to see you back in the saddle again. You know we're all pulling for you.

Mike said:

He estimated that if they get the bumper in tomorrow morning, the car could be ready Friday afternoon. But he said that Monday would be more likely. He assured me that no reports will be sent to CARMAX or any other outside sources because it is an internal repair. Let's hope he is right. I sure do miss driving my own car.
_____________________________________________________________________________

With all the complements I got with the 2015 Altima rental when Mrs. j's Subie was it the body shop, I should have told them to take their time with the fender replacement. Maybe even put another coat of paint on it.

jmonroe

driver100

True... on the other side of the hedge.... and across the lawn.... and heading for an extremely small tunnel leading to the main road

To us oldsters that looks like a drive-thru

Actually, that type of thing happens in Florida every day.

Usually someone around Tampa area drives into a store window or up on to a sidewalk.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

Here's a car for YOU!



https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/5548846173.html

The custom work makes it worth less.....a lot less!

berri

Actually, that type of thing happens in Florida every day.

Many years back, I think it was the Sarasota Airport where someone drove a car through the plate glass and right into the Delta check in counter. A little more humor, the Delta agent had to jump over to archrival Eastern's counter to avoid injury. I guess you could call that a quick puddle jumper

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Here's a car for YOU!



https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/5548846173.html

The custom work makes it worth less.....a lot less!

I think it would be pretty easy to restore it to the former pos state.

verdugo

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Here's a car for YOU!



https://albany.craigslist.org/cto/5548846173.html

The custom work makes it worth less.....a lot less!

It's obviously not really up for sale. That's a British license plate.

Here's the actual story: http://www.vice.com/read/slapdash-supercars-324

Somebody is going around at night and pimping random cars.

andres3

Yes they had an epic crash at the end of the season but they came out of the all star break winning a lot of games then started to lose big the last 15 or so games in the season. The thing is when they were winning they were beating teams with losing records then when they started playing stronger teams and they started losing. That's the "evening out" that the greater number of games affords and that's why single series cannot truly determine the better team.

Head to Head match-up trumps "beating other teams," every time. I don't care if a team can beat other lousy teams during the regular season, the best teams will beat the other best teams in the league when it counts the most, it's all about clutch.

The truth is that is a 7 game series was extended to a 77 game series to satisfy you, it is likely you'd get the exact same results as long as there are no major injuries. The 1989 A's could have likely won in a 39 game sweep instead of 4. Maybe the Giants take a few over the ridiculous tediousness of such an endeavor, but there was no stopping the A's that season after what happened to them in '88.

andres3

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

I think she should go to small claims court to get something...ask for $5000 for diminished value.

But, no easy answer, our 2001 C Class was hit pretty hard in the rear end. $4000 repair, we got a loaner car, ours was repaired, but we had to report it was in an accident when we traded it in, No compensation - it is ridiculous!

Kind of hard to determine what is the amount of the diminished value. Hard to know what the car will go for until you sell it. Also the timing of the disposal of the vehicle will also have an impact on what that amount is.

Also say if you get $5K for diminished value and on the way home from the courthouse you take a turn to fast and drive into a fire hydrant do you have to give a portion of that $5K back because now there would have been a diminished value without the first accident?

The insurance company could claim there was a prior accident and total you out at $5K less due to diminished value. You don't have to sell to determine value. The easy way to fix that problem if you think it is a legitimate one is to have the paying party (insurance company) buy the car and do their best to sell it themselves. That way they have incentive to minimize their own diminished value losses.

venture

tyguy said:

Here's a little closer shot:

I'm a few days behind - trying to catch up, but I'm really glad to see how nice the back splash looks. Why? I have 4 giant boxes of a very similar tile to put up when our kitchen re-do is almost finished. Not really looking forward to cutting all that glass around the outlets and switches (and there are a bunch). Maybe I'll get a respirator to wear.

ab348

venture said:

Not really looking forward to cutting all that glass around the outlets and switches (and there are a bunch). Maybe I'll get a respirator to wear.

Must be painful to have to shim all those outlets. I've never done that. Presumably just the outlet or switch itself gets shimmed? I assume the box in the wall has to stay where it is.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

The truth is that is a 7 game series was extended to a 77 game series to satisfy you, it is likely you'd get the exact same results as long as there are no major injuries. The 1989 A's could have likely won in a 39 game sweep instead of 4. Maybe the Giants take a few over the ridiculous tediousness of such an endeavor, but there was no stopping the A's that season after what happened to them in '88.

No you wouldn't get the same results. Teams never play consistently across the season, they have streaks where they win a lot of games and slumps when they can't seem to win. But it all evens out. If you would get the same results then the regular season is a sham and all you really need to do is pair off the teams and let the play best of X seasons until one team stands.

Look at it this way, if I flip a coin there is a 50% chance of it coming up heads, yet if I consistently flip the coin I will repeatedly get streaks where the result is always heads or always tails. Now while I will repeatedly get streaks where I will get heads (or tails) 4,5,6,7 or more times in a row over the long run heads will come up 50% of the time.

Same thing with sports a team that plays .667 baseball wont go the entire season winning 2 games then losing one then winning 2 then losing 1. They will have times when they win 5 or 6 in a row and there will be times when they will lose 4 or 5 in a row, but in 162 games it will even out to .667 baseball. This is why it is hard to determine who is the better team by only looking at 4 to 7 games.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

I think she should go to small claims court to get something...ask for $5000 for diminished value.

But, no easy answer, our 2001 C Class was hit pretty hard in the rear end. $4000 repair, we got a loaner car, ours was repaired, but we had to report it was in an accident when we traded it in, No compensation - it is ridiculous!

Kind of hard to determine what is the amount of the diminished value. Hard to know what the car will go for until you sell it. Also the timing of the disposal of the vehicle will also have an impact on what that amount is.

Also say if you get $5K for diminished value and on the way home from the courthouse you take a turn to fast and drive into a fire hydrant do you have to give a portion of that $5K back because now there would have been a diminished value without the first accident?

The insurance company could claim there was a prior accident and total you out at $5K less due to diminished value. You don't have to sell to determine value. The easy way to fix that problem if you think it is a legitimate one is to have the paying party (insurance company) buy the car and do their best to sell it themselves. That way they have incentive to minimize their own diminished value losses.

Now you are getting it, sort of. Diminished value really cannot be determined until the car is sold and then only if you have the sales information of the exact car being sold to a similar buyer. But your "easy fix" isn't so easy as this would have to be done for every accident, no matter how minor, where the insured wasn't at fault.

Not to mention that the diminished value only comes into play when the vehicle is disposed of. And then the diminished value shrinks over time. Say if I sell the car one year after the accident the diminished value would be greater than if I sold it two years after the accident and if I keep the car for 15 years and put 225K miles on it their won't be any diminished value.

And it totally ignores and "diminished value" that subsequently happens that is the insurers fault.

jmonroe

ab348 said:

Must be painful to have to shim all those outlets. I've never done that. Presumably just the outlet or switch itself gets shimmed? I assume the box in the wall has to stay where it is.
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Unless you are a gluten for punishment, you never want to pull the box out to the new tile thickness. The outlet screws are usually long enough to allow for the new tile thickness. At worst you replace the outlet screws with longer ones (6-32 thread).

jmonroe

qbrozen

So the VW $5k payout thing came up on the RWTIV board. I posted this there but then decided to delete and move it here...


What really bugs me about the whole thing is that $5k to the owners still doesn't mean diddly in comparison to what they did. What about me? I never owned one but me, my family, and all my descendants suffer with all that added pollution their 11 million cars put out? I was thinking about this on the way to work this morn... what would I want them to do about it? Putting them out of business doesn't help. Getting money from their pockets to everybody else's doesn't help. The only positive outcome I could want, I believe, would be to order them to now apply all of their money and resources to producing nothing but zero emissions vehicles from now on. Put on the road vehicles to offset all the damage they have done.