So, today while I was driving some moron in a little VW was driving like a maniac and swerves behind a car that was infront of me and decides to ride his a$$ the entire time, so i keep my distance from this guy because I noticed only one of his tinted taillights are functional and hard to see. Well later on when the traffic cleared this moron speeds up and I'm a good 3 cars behind him and all of a sudden I see him slam on his breaks and than hit the car infront of him... Well 3 cars between another wasn't enough at 50 mph... I slammed on my brakes but didn't have enough time to swerve or react so I ended up slamming in the back of him. Car was smoking and leaking and the whole nine yards... was making a weird hissing/fan noise for 10 minutes after shutting the engine down.. couldn't open the hood up to see the real damage but from the hood being smashed in I could kind of see the engine block was raised up past its normal position, radiator was completely bent in half... We will see what the real damage is I guess when the adjuster gets to the tow yard tomorrow...

So a three car pile up.. Florida's a no fault state so if you hit someone in the back regardless of the situation you get a ticket too... Awesome...

So I get a $164 ticket, 4 points on my license, a $250 deductible to my insurance and two days of agony to find out if my car is totaled or not.

Here are the dreaded pics

 

I can buff that out. Seriously, i'm sorry to see that even in your awareness to give another driver some 'buffer', it wasn't enough to avoid the accident. I see the airbags did not deploy, that's good...I'm not adjuster, nor an expert in car frame damage, but that looks like bumper, front bumper support, hood, headlamps, maybe quarter panels if they buckled...and you said the radiator buckled, but i would think a little more impact would have to occur to lift the engine and move it back. I'll guess its a $7.5k repair, and not totaled. Let us know, I like to see if my crystal ball is working or not.

 

What a lame luck , glad you're ok , accidents just don't happen .

 

I know its cliche but Were all glad your okay. That really sucks. I remeber getting a small scratch on my car, and it didnt nearly as good as yours and I was heart broken. I really hop that guys gets his *** chewed out. And insurance takes car of you.

 

as long as you are fine, its cool man. life is not replaceable. the cat can be replaced. take it easy. BLESS

 

...if he had tinted tail lights you can get hi in trouble for that

 

Sorry to hear. That would be a tough call. Ordinarily, with the bags good, I'd say that was a repair. But these cars are different. Combine the crazy price of parts and the depreaciation these suffer...it could be close.

It's just dollars and cents to the insurance company. Normaly they will go about 80% of retail before a total. But they also factor in chances of hidden damage and rental car costs when it gets close. Around here they seem to be eager to total them. I guess it's simpler for them than having to deal with the repair process and possible supplements ect.

Make sure to mention all of your add ons to the appraiser. If you have reciepts it would be great. I would do some research on the value of the car just to be prepared. They take an average of more than one book value. You could also look to find a few for sale at dealerships in like condition and note the prices. Technically they are suposed to reimburse you what it will cost to replace with exactly what you had.

Hopefully they fix it. It seems that most times the owner looses out when they get totalled.

Good luck and glad you're OK.

 

+1 to Bodyman

I've "argued" my way out of a total before with the insurance company.

My 63 unibody got drilled while parked in front of my house by a drunk. It was a hit and run that I solved myself. Once I did, luckily the driver did have insurance and they came out to assess the damage. Given it was a 40+ year old vehicle they just said "totalled!" I came back with tons of facts about what was in the truck, what it was worth citing several vintage truck guides and real world sales and got them to cut me a check for repairs and not total it. In the end, it was up to me to fix it as it was a settlement but I still have her and with a clean title to boot.

 

First, sorry to hear your bad news, glad you're ok.

Whenever you hit something with your car, it's pretty difficult to prove your had complete control of your vehicle. That being said, you weren't exactly given a fair chance of stopping in time with the condition of his taillights. It'll be tough to prove one was nonfunctional before the crash but it is possible.

If tinted tail lights are illegal in FL, I'd definitely fight the ticket and points in court (I hope you got pictures because he's probably at the body shop right now putting the lights back to stock). Those points could really cost you later and lots of judges will at least waive the points as a last ditch to close the case there and keep the small fine. If you win, be sure to inform your insurance company.

Disclaimer: I'm not an attorney. Your mileage may vary. Good luck.

 

It makes me so sad to see an X-type in that condition! Good luck, and I agree with C5pilot, I think the tinted taillights issue could be relevant

 

CRap deal man, I am sorry, your car was nice. BUT I'll tell you what happened to me, maybe it'll help. I was on the hwy following a semi with a 53' trailer. I had about 5 car lengths between us at 45mph. I saw up ahead there was a slow down and had my foot on the brake but a 5 ton truck swung into my lane between me and the semi and within 30 seconds he went from 45 to 0. Apparently the semi hammered on his brakes and the 5 ton rammed into the back of him. Since my 5 car lengths went to 1 car length I hammered on my brakes but my car (a Z3) slid about up to mid hood under the step at the back of his truck flattening out my hood and cracking my cam cover.

I assumed that because I rear ended the guy it would not go in my favor but it was determined 100 percent the 5 tons fault for cutting into my lane and not allowing me enough room to stop. That is what you have to say, you allowed yourself enough room but when the car cut in front of you and hammered on the brakes you did not have enough room to stop and didn't have time to back off from him to allow more room.

 

Sorry about your accident. One of my college professor would get another car if he get into an accident. The car is not the same any more after the accident because he would bring it to the track. But that's an expensive hobby. Supposedly Jaguar is coming out with an affordable entry level XS.

2013 Jaguar XS sedan
Would be nice if they make the Bertone B99 though.

 

hope everything works out, bud.

 

Sorry to hear man.. Hope all works out and your X gets fixed good as new.

 

Oh dang, sorry! But like as most said, the car is just a few grand. The important part is that you're okay.

 

Sorry to hear it happened glad your ok. Was a nice car. My experience with insurance is.....if its totaled you have 2 options. 1 they will pay you blue book value and they keep the car. 2nd they will pay you a small percentage i wanna say about a 1/3 of value and you keep the car. They probably wont consider any mods you made unless you had them added to your policy. In some cases stock parts are more costly than mod parts which may work in your favor. I would see if its worth fighting the tinted light issue at least to save money on points on your insurance

 

Sorry to hear about what happend, glad your alright. Best of luck to you and your Jag.

 

Sorry to hear bout the car good thing you're ok. I wasn't so fortunate when a lady hit me with her suv while I was on a sunday ride on my bike. I no longer have the use of my right arm and have to undergo serious surgeries. Good luck with the car mate.