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Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)
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Glad you were oh Michael. Any word yet if the Saturn will be brought back to life?
The L is worth probably $8-9K in trade, so the repair bill will have to go up quite a bit in order for State Farm to declare it totalled.
The only thing I'm worried about is the A/C didn't work after the accident. There were no fluids leaking from the car, so I'm not entirely sure what happened.
Got the call from State Farm; the other drivers' policy will be covering my losses as well as the rental car -- I won't even have to pay my deductible.
At this point, I'm figuring 2 to 3 weeks before I get the L back. The place where I'm having the work done is quite meticulous, and I'm not in a huge rush - I'd rather have the work done right rather than quickly.
My car definitely was the one better off; the other car needed to be towed, as both passenger side tires were flat, not to mention the bent front right wheel.
I am not an insurance expert by any means, but I have a neighbor that is an insurance adjuster for an insurance company. This summer, he was telling me that sometimes, you can ask an insurance company to do what's called a "cumulative total". Here is my interpretation of what he was telling me (and this may not be fully correct, but worth looking into)-
In your case, you would have the body shop disassemble the car without ordering any parts to get a better grasp on what all may be wrong, as well as look at that a/c system.
Then, the body shop could tell you the new estimate after doing this, as well as a time frame for how long it will take. If they say it would take 3 weeks, you would multiply 21 days by the cost of the rental car per day, and add that to the estimate. If you had any other bills associated with this, you would add them in as well. Once you were to add all of the costs together that the insurance company would be incurring, you would then approach the insurance company to see if all of that exceeded the correct percentage of the vehicle's value needed in order to total the vehicle (and remind them that things may pop up in the future from this accident that they would have to pay to rectify).
This may work out for you, because even though you are dealing with the other guy's insurance, it is still the same company you use, so remind them that you are their customer as well. Also remember to be the squeeky wheel, and make it clear as to what it is going to take to make you happy.
But if there's no visible damage, of course the ins. co. will say it's not related.....
Oh, & I'd be prepared for the repairs to possibly take longer than quoted......1 hard to get part can hold things up who knows how long.
(Just wanted to cheer you up a bit!).
Easy to use format - answer a few questions about the make, model, VIN, mileage - and print it out.
I think it would suffice for most private transactions.
Watch out, State Farm will try to use non-OEM parts unless you demand otherwise (and pay the difference).
They have found nothing on visual inspection that could account for the A/C problems. He will keep me appraised .. they may have to take it to the Saturn dealer if the body shop can't figure it out.
Was also told that the $2900 represents 28% of the value of my car, which means State Farm thinks my car is worth about $10,367.
I wish I could get that much for it in trade -- 9 grand in equity would go a long way towards the purchase of a new ride.
I may have to revise my opinion of my rental Fusion - if not for the anemic combination of the 4 banger and an automatic transmission, it's actually not a bad car. I fit comfortably, the sight lines are decent, it's got a large trunk (though the trunk opening is a bit on the small side).
Wife has ridden in it and feels that the seats are a bit higher off the ground than the L. I was able to explain to her my issue with the short seat cushions in the VUE - of course, since she's 5'2", she never noticed.
The only thing I'm not fond of is the lack of manual control with the 6-speed automatic found in the V6 versions ... something the Saturn Aura addresses in the XR with shift paddles on the steering wheel.
Just curious if you ever found out anything regarding diminished value???
The body shop guy didn't know anything about it; he suggested I speak with my insurance agent on the matter.
Haven't done that yet ... I'll let folks know what I find out.
I actually did take a test drive when they first came out a couple of years ago.
I remember being pretty impressed with it at the time. The only thing that bugs me is that I can't get any sort of 'manumatic' control with the 6-speed auto in the Fusion/Milan like I can with the Aura. IIRC, the box has D-I-L (drive - intermediate - low).
If I'm gonna be saddled with an automatic, I at least want the ability to choose specific gears. That is, if I decide to get a new car.
Their are plenty of Mazda6 Sports with the 2.3 4 cylinder on the lots with some pretty good deals. Don't ask me how I know.
When my M6 was wrecked
State Farm was excellent; altho that was in MA. I suspect a lot of it depends on state insurance laws, & maybe the local State Farm people (??).
Their are plenty of Mazda6 Sports with the 2.3 4 cylinder on the lots with some pretty good deals. Don't ask me how I know.
I wasn't aware that the Mazda 6 offered a manumatic .. I may have to go back and take another look. Specifically, the wagon or 5-door.
My rental Fusion has the 2.3L .. around town it's not too offensive, but on the highway I've really got to put my foot into it to get any serious momentum going.
Plus, I qualify for S-plan (about $2K under MSRP), and there is a $2750 rebate on the wagon.
Now, if I could find one equipped the way I want ....
Nice car for a very reasonable price. Great seats too.
The Sandman
Plan on keeping it a while though. I traded in my ex-rental one 20 months ago and it is still sitting on the dealers lot. Sometimes I think about going back and seeing if I can reverse the deal.I think that would really mess with the title clerks head.
I did look at the 6i though, and if I had not already owned one I can see doing a 6 again. But there are too many choices out there to go back to something I have already had. I need to try all the flavors in the ice cream shop i guess.
Are you serious?
That's an unbelievable price... around here, I've seen nothing even close to it, and MI is normally a cheap place to buy imports. Inasmuch as Mazda is an import anymore.
Heck, for $15 I"d buy a stick hatch, and they could keep their pwr seats and alloys!
Are you sure this isn't one of those "with $3000 cash or trade down" type of deals?
-Mathias
Would have been fun to watch you try and decide between Ginger or Mary Ann?"
Would've been a very tough decision, as I really like the torque in the wife's 3s 2.3 liter engine.
The Sandman
I would guess they will really be dealing this time next year when the 6 gets redesigned.
Only issue I've noticed so far with the Pilot is an intermittant hard start. Not worried about it though, it'll either get better or it'll get worse then get fixed.
Super nice SUV, can't wait for winter so I can try out the stability control, traction control, and all that fun stuff, lol.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I'll bet that's it. Usually I stick the key in and put my seatbelt on, put my purse in the back, then start it. But both times it was hard to start I got in, put the key in, turned it to start right away.
I'm going to have autostart put on it sometime in the next couple months (its a keeper, so it'll get the autostart), so we'll see if that makes it behave. Otherwise I'll give it a few seconds before I turn the key. No big deal, I still love it, such a pleasant SUV!
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Good work.
Good work
LOL, nah, its under warranty and I like it so not much chance of me trading it off. 'Cides I'm needing to get a bigger horse trailer so that'll be my fix, I'm shopping for one over the winter. Our new horse is too big for the one we have.......never thought that would happen!! My trailer is a huge 4 horse, but the new mare is too wide for the stalls (she's HUGE).
Maybe you're going to have another new horse soon? :surprise:
NO, not from her at least. However the Arabian mare is a different story, come May she has a little present for us....... :surprise:
LOL, it should be!!! We traded one horse and got two! We now have 5 of the little hay eating poop machines with number 6 on the way in the spring.:surprise:
I'd love to sell one of them, but can't bring myself to part with any of them. My stallion will be getting a brain transplant on October 4th so there won't be any more surprises around here!
LOL!
However, the new '08 VUE is going into the shop on Saturday .. got a letter from Saturn indicating that the BCM needs reprogramming, as there is a problem that will potentially undercharge the battery.
Also, we've noticed a problem with the gas gauge on the VUE as well. Fill it up, and the needle goes to about 7/8 full initially. Then, after being driven a bit, the needle moves over to the full mark. Will have the dealer take a look at that as well.
Sounds like there is a delay built into the readout to prevent it from dropping or rising suddenly if you're parked on an incline, etc., but it's not working like it should. Could be a problem specific to your Vue or a design flaw in all Vues.
Total repair bill was around $3900, plus another $390 for the rental .. all of which is paid for by the other driver's policy.
And, it turns out that our VUE was not affected by the recall on the BCM reprogramming -- had to go to the dealer to find that out! Wish they could have told me on the phone when I was making the appointment.
(Crickets chirping)
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
First impressions are good. Very comfortable car plenty of power and just as fast as my MINI was when it was stock. Not as nimble as the MINI but this was a V1.0 C30 without the dynamic chassis so a 2.0 with suspension upgrade might get close to a MINI. They didn't have a manual in stock so I had to drive an automatic. Throttle response is a little on the slow side with the automatic or so I have been told. Almost no torque steer even with the Stability control off. Being a Volvo you can't turn it completely off but I am sure there is a way around that.
Unless the Clubman really blows me away I think we will probably end up with the C30 next summer. Only other car I can think of looking at is a Rabbit TDI but VW still makes me nervous. Plenty of people I know lately have just had never ending problems with their VWs.
Dark gray 07 Vibe, new, stick (of course), pwr stuff, side bags & ABS. Picked it up half an hour ago.
It's not all that exciting; almost a copy of my '04, but I'm glad to have gotten it. $2k in rebates + some GM Card money pushed me over the edge.
What does covered storage for a Conversion Van usually run a month?
Cheers,
-Mathias
That $4K off rebate on 9-3 SportCombis got my attention the other day; friend has 105k on a 04 Aero and has had no problems. A 2.0T manual wagon at invoice less rebate...hmmm...
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
I'm guessing $1500 to $2000 to get it fixed. Hopefully you guys can resolve who is paying without getting the lawyers involved.