Screwed over by our legal system

I can't say that I've ever been a petrol-head, I've always thought of a car being something that gets you from point A to point B and that's all I needed. Ever since making the switch from a piece of **** Mitsubishi Magna 88 to a VS Commodore Executive SII '97, I've loved every drive I make. That was until January 6th, 2006.

What happened? I was driving home from Brisbane with my family (wife, daughter and brother-in-law) and as I pull up to a red light I get smashed into, not once but twice by a truck. What an asshole! Funnier thing is, later that night when I rang the guys' boss, he said that his driver wrote and signed a statement which said that I claimed that I was at fault for the accident, ha! Never have I seen such a dodgy attempt to escape an insurance claim, especially since he didn't even get a scratch on his truck due to his big-ass bullbar on the front.

So the entire rear of the car is crushed and there are minor problems with the two rear doors. The car has since been deemed a total loss. Damn it, I only bought the car 3 months ago and since I've been financing it, I still have to pay it off even though nothing was my fault at all. Now all I get out of it is market place value and compensation for my wife's injury. This is crap, the driver doesn't even own the truck so he's laughing all the way and I'm left to pay off a car that I no longer have.

:b:

Anyways, anyone have an idea of what I'd get for market value? I'm guessing maybe $5,000 - $6,000. It was well kept, it was an ex-government car, never missed a service and only had about 100,000km on the odometer.

Here are some pics of my (dead) car...

Sorry to hear about the accident mate, i would get some legal advice asap mate, those buggers shouldnt get away with that. the commodores popularity has become the 2nd hand market undoing, with $5000 being a generous value for even a well maintained car like yours. your insurer wouldve had an agreed market value on record, do you know what that is?

Umm no I would be seeing my solicitor about this. That isn't right. Did you call the police. I would have.

Well, I've spoken to lawyers and such but there's nothing I can do really. Only thing we can claim besides the car insurance is my wife's injury which will mostly just pay for the medical bills.

As far as the value of the car goes, I don't know of a market value on record. I bought the car for $11,000. I'm so stupid, I know but I know nothing about cars really. It just says that it's insured for market value, they get someone to assess the car for its value and once all my documentation is in and final, they pay me whatever they say its worth. I got screwed.

Are you claiming on his insurance or yours...?

If you are claiming on his dont accept what they offer... you have the upper hand...

My wife got hit up the A$$ in her old car worth about $2.50 and we got $5000. It was an FSM Nikki her Dad gave her....(We were not married then)

You couldn't sell them for anything so he gave it to her... But a yard had them for sale for 5K so we bitched and bitched and got the 5K......

DONT GIVE UP............ AND REMEMBER IT IS MARKET VALUE OF YOUR CAR SO HAVE IT PROFESSIONALLY VALUED... You will be surprised don't just accept what the INSURANCE offers...

You can sue for Fraud, if he wrote and signed off on a piece of paper pretending to be you saying it was your fault.
Besides all legal documents really need a third party signiture which means he wouldn't be the only one in on it.
you may not get much for the injury's or the insurance, but Fraud......., "could cause you alot of emotional distress......" and the compensation for that in court, you'd be laughing to the bank!!!!!!

that sucks mate. if the legal system wont help, find out how you can bring down the company. Get a copy of this 'letter', because at least is acknowledges that he was invovled in the accident.

on sadistic note, can you post piccies of the crashed car?

I go through my insurance and they go through his. At least that's what I've been informed. To be more specific, he never signed my name on that statement. He wrote it, signed it, apparantly got the tow truck driver to sign it (even though the towing guy said he was at fault, hehe) and handed it to his boss. When I rang his boss, he said that he had that statement and I said that it weren't worth **** without my signature so he tried to set up a "date" with me to discuss the incident. I told him I would even though I had no intention to, so he expects me to go talk to him but instead he'll be recieving letters and phone calls.

I've been worying over this crash for ages now and I'm to the point where I've spent so much time, money and energy on it that I'm about to give up and just get whatever I can quickly. I'm checking out a black commodore esteem 97, looks similar to my (dead) car... they any good?

vlv8vic said:

on sadistic note, can you post piccies of the crashed car?

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Hmmm, sorry. Car is gone now, I did think of taking pictures but since I don't have a car anymore, I'd have to pay $30 just for a taxi to get there to take the pictures.

if your insured dont they give you a price for if your car gets writen off???? mines a vn and its insured for $14,000 just because i had it valued when i got insured

boona15 said:

if your insured dont they give you a price for if your car gets writen off???? mines a vn and its insured for $14,000 just because i had it valued when i got insured

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OMG $14000 4 a vn, wouldnt they bring it down over time, or if it gets written off or distroyed would they updated the value when u claim