Merc63

Driving on freeway, stopped for traffic and a pickup truck with a trailer hammered me from behind. Hit us hard enough to send us flying into the car in front of us, which also went flying into the car in front of it. Total of 4 vehicles smashed, me being the worst.

The worst part is I saw it all happen via my rear view mirror, I was looking back saying this guy is coming way too fast, I yelled out to my two passengers that he is going to hit us, right as I took my foot off the brake to try move out of the way he impacted and sent us flying.

Car is a write off for sure, trunks smashed right into the back seat, front is damaged as well.


I guess I don't have to worry about my lifters being noisy on hot starts now..

Anyone have suggestions on how to deal with Insurance regarding replacement of the car and mods, IE: Headers $3500, 2 VIN coded ECU tunes $2000, Lowering springs, rims, etc. Hopefully Im not out 10k in mods because of some *****.

Even Money

Sorry to hear. You definitely need to hire a lawyer, immediately. It should be fairly easy since it appears obviously not to be your fault. You will likely have to sue the other guy to get your full damages including your mods. That'll be the difficult part. I'll be honest, it's going to suck. You did nothing wrong, but it will take months to work out. Negotiating with insurance companies blows. At least your OK. And like you said, an excuse to get something else, maybe.

farhadahmad

^^^^ he is right. insurance is such a pain with mods!!! they dont care for them. so u get your money back by SUEING the other guy. i just wrecked my c63 2012 edition 1 coupe.... ill make a post but insurance asking me so many questions. but is getting fixed. but remember get a lawyer asap cuz its not your fault! so lost of property damage.. pain... time took away from you. so many more reasons.. HOPE YOUR OKAY tho thats what really matters. cars come in go.

Merc63

Thanks Guys. GF was in the back seat and taken out by stretcher to hospital, shes pretty sore and banged up. Will be contacting a lawyer tomorrow and insurance.

Just sucks as we have had this car since brand new It was like part of the family. Hard to replace something that you had new off the showroom floor.

bhamg

Nor will you need to post about head bolts any more! Seriously glad to hear it wasn't worse for the occupants. My insurance covers ALL my mods (all I need to do is submit receipts) so don't give up hope before you check with your insurer. Best of luck, hope to see you back in a '13 C63.

CoolBDPhenom03

Sorry about the accident. That super sucks. My first accident was similarly unavoidable. I'm shopping around for insurance now and AAA says they'll cover anything permanently fixed to the car.

w202mylove

this sucks , hope you all recover from this. goodluck with this!

c63edition1

sorry to both you and farhad .. but hey we have a saying in arabic "tiyee bil 7adeed walla tiyee feek" meaning let these things happen to "steal" and material rather than it happen to you or those that are close to you. These things will happen in life, its unfortunate, just be positive in the way you like at it however tough it maybe. Seriously, it is juusst a car, no matter what, to hell with it, ur surrounded by people that love you which is more important than anything.
feel better, and good luck with everything

gthal

Very sorry to hear this!

On the mods, my insurance company said they won't touch them. They actually told me they would decline insurance for a car with any mods that improve performance (this is TD Meloche Monnex). For my E36 M3, I had to go to another insurance company to even get the car covered (due to exhaust, header, etc) and they were very clear that if there was an accident, they would only cover the car up to the value of a standard unmodified vehicle. The broker checked with 8 insurers before finding one that would take the car with existing mods. Canadian insurance companies are bad for mods. Hopefully your experience is much better!!

Fung63

wow... when i saw your thread title, i was like no not another rear end accident!

first off i hope you and your passengers are ok. to send multiple cars flying that truck was moving pretty fast.

as others have said, and if you have the receipts... see if your insurance covers it. i'm not up to date with US laws but it does kinda make sense to me when other members say you can try to sue the other party... can try to recover your losses there... especially if it was a company truck.

just a thought... will you get another c63? maybe you are able to salvage some of your mods off the car? and maybe the tuning company you used will flash your new ecu for you.

take care man and good luck. i have slight soreness from my accident and that was nowhere near as crazy as yours.

rage2

Sorry to hear, hope you and your family is OK.

As for insurance, mods are never covered unless declared up front, and most insurance companies don't even bother with you if you have mods. There are some though, I'm with TD (not Meloche, but the main TD), and I've had full receipts, build photos, dyno charts, etc. and an independant appraisal, and they insure me for the appraised value of the car. I don't really mod cars much anymore, but had no problems with my HPF M3 from 2 years ago. The car was involved in an accident (someone turned in front of the car while the mechanic was out for a road test) and every single mod was covered. So yes, there are insurance companies in Canada that are very mod friendly.

mthis

Sry to hear about your incident. Good thing is you are ok.
Here is my 0.02 cents find 3-5of the highest priced used c63 on the market and tell your insurance that's what u want. I seen this work before and my friend got a lot more then what he should have.
Good Luck now go get u self the a new 63tt.

Zeee_Q

Really sorry to hear this. It's unfortunate things like this happen but I agree with everyone above on getting a lawyer and pursue everything in your best interest. Sounds like a pretty bad accident.

jvanbrecht

Sorry about the accident.. here is my experience with aftermarket products. This covers mods, audio, bike racks (up to an including the bike that is on it at the time of the accident, did not happen to me, but has happened to others I know who use tow hitch racks).

you have to notify the insurance company in advance of any accident what they are, and generally what they cost. They will most likely devalue them over time, same as vehicle depreciation. Then you would have been able to claim them.

This being a total right off, not sure how you would proceed, but in a general accident, once you have had one, the value of your vehicle takes a huge dive, even if you get it repaired, you would then go after the at fault driver (and his insurance company) for the difference, that being the depreciated value between what your car was worth, and what it is now worth post repair.

Use your insurance company.. let me repeat.... USE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY... so many people try to avoid talking to their own insurance company when they are in an accident that they did not cause.. This makes absolutely no sense, that is one of the reasons you pay for insurance.. It is in your insurance companies best interest to go after the other person/their insurance company to cover the costs, they have lawyers... lots of them.. use the resources at your disposal.. before you go out looking for another lawyer that you will most likely have to pay out of pocket initially (if this is not a company, good luck getting lawyers fees out of them when you sue).

The first thing you do after you make sure your GF is fine.. is contact your insurance company.

My experience by the way.. was with audio.. back in the day, on 3 separate occasions my car got busted into and $3k to $5k worth of **** got stolen.. The first time was not covered because I never told the insurance company that I had anything, the second 2 times they covered, of course I was paying slightly higher rates to cover those items.

When you notify the insurance company of the modifications, they will not turn you down, well some might, but Progressive and Geico won't, but they will charge higher rates, and depending on how much of a perf increase, significantly higher rates.

novae500

Sorry to hear about your accident. You and your gf will be needed Physical Therapy and rehab for the injuries. Happened to my wife last winter. Chevy Tahoe hit her at a stopped light. $5k damages and 6 months of rehab. Retained a lawyer a week after the accident. Whole mess to go through subrogation for the medical treatments/expenses.

I'd try and buy the car back for cheap and part out what you can??? or at least take the ecu out of the car sitting at the tow yard.

Good luck in getting back to pre accident health.

Merc63

Thanks for the kind words and of course the advice.

I am in Canada for those who don't know.

If they are saying they are not covering the headers, whats stopping me from removing them?? Do I have to install the stock ones completely?

I have two sets of rims, one 19 OEMs and TSW Interlagos which were on the car when the accident happened. Should I leave the TSWs on?

Nachtsturm

Which ever you can get more money for.

jvanbrecht

Once a claim has been paid out, the vehicle is owned by the insurance company, as it was when the claim was paid out (which means if you remove the wheels and parts prior to the claim, the amount they pay out will also be significantly less). I also suspect that if you go and replace parts prior to the assessment, but after the accident, that may constitute insurance fraud. Your pretty much screwed I suspect

As someone else stated, if you can afford to, after the claim has been paid out, try to buy the wreckage back from the insurance company and part out the vehicle (and I do not just mean aftermarket parts like all the other part out threads seem to be, I mean as in every single item on the vehicle that is not damaged or too worn out, sell it.. hell, if it has a passenger side fog light in good condition I would buy that ). You may end up making a little profit... especially if the engine is in good shape still, that is worth a small fortune.

Unfortunately for you.. the insurance companies know that as well, so they are not likely to let it go cheap.

Sincity

Hope everything works out for you and speedy recovery for your GF.

BTW-If the vehicle is totaled and the insurance company doesn't cover the mods, ask them to allow you to remove them.

HoozyerdaddyC63

First I'd like to say I'm glad you and your passengers are alive and at least somewhat ok.

If they total out your car I would take whatever you can salvage from it and part it out or install on a new C63.

I was in a similar situation once where a stolen Caddy literally drove through the rear end of my car. They never caught the person who hit me, but I took out the stereo and everything else custom that was able to be salvaged because the insurance company didn't want to cover it.

Best of luck with whatever you have to do and definitely get a lawyer to make sure you are protected.

LIC63AMG

Glad everyone is ok. I know exactly how you feel when you watch the guy come at you from your rear view mirror. I was rear ended in stop and go traffic and helplessly watched it unfold Hope everything works out!

I am Jeff

Nothing is stopping you from removing your headers, especially if the car is sitting in your driveway. As for the rims, stick the set that you least care about or worth the least on.

lyyca

Oh man, that sucks dude! But I'm glad you guys are ok.

Derek@MACAutoCouture

I'd recommend at least ATTEMPTING to handle your claim yourself initially. Hiring an attorney will put them into instant lock down negotiating. Submit the receipts to them and you should be good to go with a 3rd party claim like that.

SonnyakaPig

Merc, I’m sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you and your passengers are okay and heal up quick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvanbrecht

Use your insurance company.. let me repeat.... USE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY... so many people try to avoid talking to their own insurance company when they are in an accident that they did not cause.. This makes absolutely no sense, that is one of the reasons you pay for insurance.. It is in your insurance companies best interest to go after the other person/their insurance company to cover the costs, they have lawyers... lots of them.. use the resources at your disposal.. before you go out looking for another lawyer that you will most likely have to pay out of pocket initially (if this is not a company, good luck getting lawyers fees out of them when you sue).

First, an insured has a contractual obligation to notify their insurer when they have been in an accident. Also, if you are not at fault, your rates won't increase.

Second, the property damage aspect of a car accident can be handled by your own insurer, under your collision coverage, but your insurer does not have any reason to value your property damage higher than the at-fault driver's insurer. What you are describing, where your insurer's lawyers sue the at-fault driver to recover for the amount they paid on your claim is called subrogation. So, the fact that your insurer has a contractual subrogation right to stand in your shoes and sue the at-fault driver, does not in any way mean they will want to value your property damage higher than the at-fault driver's insurance. In fact, the more your insurer pays you, the more they have to collect and when they demand collection and potentially sue to recover that amount, they may not necessarily recover a 1-for-1 net amount from the at-fault driver's insurance or the at-fault driver (if they are not covered).

I don't know how tort laws work in Canada. But, in the U.S., personal injury attorneys handle car accident cases on contingency, meaning they don’t get paid unless they settle or win your case at trial. So, no fees up front and no fees unless there is a recovery. The lawyer’s recovery comes out of the gross settlement or jury verdict.

It is in the accident victim’s best interest to contact an experienced personal injury attorney after an accident and not to speak to the at-fault driver’s insurance. You may speak to the at-fault driver’s insurance, but only to notify them that you are filing a claim against their insured, that the accident occurred, that it was not your fault, the date of occurrence, whether their was a police report, and that your vehicle was damaged, and if you may tell them if you were injured. Then you simply say “I will be speaking to an attorney and I will not say anything further.” Remember, insurance adjusters are skilled at their jobs and they want to get you talking.

Generally, insurance companies are pretty fair about valuing property damage. They are not fair at valuing bodily injury. Whether they will compensate a person for vehicle modifications will vary from case to case. They will never value your mods at the price you paid. Sometimes, they will even value your entire car less with mods than it would have been without mods. Again, this outcome will vary.