Good news! Hopefully the guy is a man of his word (which he probably is) and follows through with the settlement. Congrats.

 

No offense intended and I'm glad you got what you want however this is more of a case of a company choosing the cheaper way out then an actual determination of cause and responsibility.

 

Jandreu,

Of course it is a less costly strategy for the insurance company to settle with me. Hence the term "negotiation", which I've stated to all involved I was willing to do. When his revised offer met my expectations yesterday, I opted to settle rather than drag the process out any longer than necessary. My time (and my wife's time since it's her car and she was the one who was hit) carries a value as well, and if I can obtain a reasonable settlement without the hassle of going to court, I'm more than willing to do so. A relatively easy decision, actually....

 

Update:

I received Allstate's Diminished Value settlement check in today's mail. I'll deposit it in my Vehicle Maintenance Money Market Fund on Monday morning. Case closed....

Now we can turn our attention back to making the decision on whether or not we will keep the car....

 

Hopefully the car concerns are worked out and you continue to enjoy it. With a little $ to boot.

 

Congratulations on the settlement; hopefully it will fund your routine maintenance for a couple of years!

 

Update:

After more than five months of post-accident shakedown, my wife leaves early tomorrow morning for her first XK8 solo trip to and from Tampa to visit her mother since the May 27th accident. That's typically a 1,500-mile round trip depending upon how much around-town driving she does when she's down there. Since picking up the car from the completed accident repairs on July 1st, it has not been more than 125 miles from home. It now sports new rear shocks (early October), new brake pads on both axles (late October), and a new coolant outlet duct assembly (late November)....

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an uneventful, trouble-free trip....

 

Jon, you have done all anyone could have done. We can't fix those little gremlins that hind in the black boxes until they show their ugly head.
I wish Jan the best and hope you stay out of trouble while she's gone.


Wayne

 

Wayne,

Thanks for the good wishes. In the past week Jan has stocked both freezers with her homemade spaghetti, vegetable soup, chicken & noodles, chicken pot pie, and a few other meals that I don't yet recognize. So at least I won't starve during the week that she'll be gone....

 

Jon, Christine would like to know if Jan could stop by here with a care package???


Wayne


She really does look after you.

 

Wayne,

She's headed due south, not west, so no care package from Jan tomorrow. Sorry....

Maybe I can make the trip to Spencer this weekend if the weather cooperates and I can leave the dogs outside all day while I'm gone. I'll bring along some of Jan's world-class spaghetti and meat sauce and we'll cook it up in your kitchen for a splendid lunch for the three of us. I'm serious. Are you?!

 

Send a plate to Shreveport! Sounds delicious...

 

I'm going to heat up some of her spaghetti tonight, so I'll eat a couple of platefuls for you....

 

Jon, Do I feel bad. I was involved with doctors Thursday, two golf tournaments Friday and Saturday and trying to find the heater people I slap *** missed this post on the lunch. You know I'm unset but Christine ripped my arm off. The weather was great and we could have dove into the rams for a little while anyway. SORRY!!


Wayne

 

Wayne,

No worries, my friend. My priorities changed drastically on Thursday morning when our downstairs HVAC system failed. As you know, since Jan left for Tampa on Thursday my life has revolved around what I'm going to do about HVAC replacement. It would have been impossible for me to drive to Spencer today so there's no need to beat yourself up about missing my post. Lots of online research yesterday and today and again tomorrow, and I'm meeting with one more geothermal vendor on Monday afternoon. I hope I'll have all proposals in by Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning at the latest. Then we have to make a decision on which direction we're going to go. If we stay with a conventional heat pump and just replace the downstairs system, we'll have downstairs heat again by next Friday or Saturday. If we take the plunge and convert to whole-house geothermal, we probably won't have that system up and running until early January. Jan is due back on Thursday night. She says she can tough it out either way. My guess is I'll have to keep the family room fireplace stoked for her during the day in order to allow her to survive downstairs. But she could also choose to spend most of her days at the pottery studio until they close for the holidays. If she chooses that option, clear your shelves for more of her pots, bowls, and plates. We'll see what happens....

 

Update:

My wife returned last night from her solo trip to Tampa to visit her mother. I'm glad to report that her XK8 handled the trip flawlessly. I just checked the coolant level in the expansion tank. It remains exactly where it should be, just below the bottom of the filler neck. So more than 1,500 miles after replacing the plastic coolant outlet duct assembly, I think I can chalk this one off as "sorted" and put the engine dust cover back in place....

Here's to a happy and healthy holiday season for everyone....

 

Good wishes back at you Jon. This is a very interesting thread to follow as a relatively new XK8 owner. Are you keeping the car?

 

Tony,

At this point we do indeed plan to keep the car. Accident repairs were top-notch, we've had a long shake-down period post-accident, significant maintenance performed by Wayne and myself in October and November, and my wife still loves her XK8 more than any other vehicle she's ever owned. So unless it goes ballistic on me and turns into a money pit overnight, her XK8 remains in our stable for the foreseeable future....

Best wishes with yours....

 

Update:

It's now been exactly one year since we picked up my wife's 2006 XK8 after the accident repair process was finally completed once the long search for a matching chrome Atlas front wheel proved fruitful. She's put another 15,000 miles on the car and remains very satisfied with the quality of the repairs (guaranteed for as long as we own the car). Looks like we will indeed get to keep it....

 

Good news Jon.