Chevy Volt rear ended AND IT DIDN'T EXPLODE!
 

A kid driving an old Ford Ranger in the rain without brakes hit my wife and I as we were stopped in a line of traffic in my 2014 Volt. I heard his tire squealing and looked in my mirror. He was so far back I thought he could stop, but I had some room and hit the power demand pedal to move forward, hoping he could stop. Watching in my mirror as the right front of his truck whacked into the left rear of the Volt. I was so pissed off I jumped out of the car and started yelling at the kid, ask him how the he ll he can be such a bad driver, etc and he said he had been working on the brakes and they didn't work! The tire squealing was from him locking up the parking brake.
It's 1 AM and I've had a vicodin, some muscle relaxers and two glasses of cheap win and I still can't sleep. Maybe I need better wine.
There was a fire truck right beside us when it happened so they called an bambalance and took some vitals. My blood pressure was at 160 and heart rate at 100. Bambulance guys sqeezed some sore ares on my neck and put me in a collar and took me to the ER. My wonderful wife took care of getting the car home before she came to the ER to get evaled. Looks like whiplash-type extreme muscle extensions for both of us, and she is actually worse though she didn't show it at the scene. She is made of steel. At the end of the world it will be just her and the cockroaches that survive.
Pain for a while and we'll be OK. Tomorrow I'll talk further with my insurance agent about what to expect. They have USAA and considering the kid was driving with no brakes I expect a big azz rental car for the time the Volt is recovering like a 20 foot Lincoln town car. The impact bent the steel cross member at the back of the car pretty good, so it's not just damage to plastic.
It's 1 AM and I've had a vicodin, some muscle relaxers and some win and I just want to sleep. Sorry if I'm rambling. My refrigerator is making odd noises.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1471324634.jpg

Crap. Glad you are going to live into your seventies. Hope the car can be fixed.

Not good... But life happens. Deep breath, relax. It could have been so much worse.

I wish you and your wife a speedy recovery.

Don't be surprised if it gets totaled. I'd lobby for it- get a new one or another one.

If you get a new one wouldn't you get the tax credit again? Something to consider...

Whoa! Glad you and your wife are OK.

I would have it totaled.

What about those fridge noises?

Very sorry to hear that your refrigerator is having problems, Patrick.



:D

Glad you guys are ok.

deep breathing exercises.
be thankful? - could have been a much worse outcome.
best wishes on a speedy recovery.

Were the police summoned and this information put into their report? I would want it in writing somewhere that the kid knew that there was a brake problem but still chose to operate the vehicle on the public streets.

Glad you are OK. It could have been worse.

That sucks.

Car is a utility and can be fixed or replaced.

Glad you came out of it as well as you did.

Feel better.

Glad you guys were not hurt worse.

Hope you finally got some sleep, too.

Our best to you and your wife on a speedy recovery.

Glad it wasn't worse, and trust there will be no long term health consequences.

The Volt did the job of a modern car, and it may have acted as the crush zone for both vehicles to boot.

Good that the Volt isn't the modern equivalent of the Pinto.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

_

You're drinking the wrong stuff!:D

I thought hippy types were supposed to be naturally mellow? Here you are screaming at people and mixing pills with alcohol just to get control of yourself!

Glad you guys are ok. It sucks to know it's coming. They say you tense up and that makes it worse.

I sure hope you're feeling better and glad you and your wife are OK.

Thanks Red. I couldn't get comfortable last night, neck and shoulders hurt. They said, "If it hurts today, it will hurt worse tomorrow and even worse on the third day." So far they are right. Wife is in more pain that I am. Nothing serious, just whiplash.

Careful with the wine and pain pills there brother, glad you are mostly okay.

Chicks are tougher than dudes, well known medical fact.

Just a bit of advice. I learned from an accident I had a long time ago never to say you saw the other driver coming at you. The lawyers for the other side will claim you should have done more to avoid the collision and at the very least find comparative negligence.

Dude, you shouldn't be driving on Vicodin, muscle relaxers and wine! Call a cab!!!


It's a car. A hassle for a minute and hopefully soon everything will be back to normal. Glad nobody got truly munched. SmileWavy

Geez, you got out and yelled at a poor redneck kid who thought he was going to die in a fiery explosion/ electrical fire.

Having had some recent experience with lawyers representing a scumbag I absolutely believe they would do that.
I should be pretty well covered as to liability, but you never know. He told the police and me that he knew his brakes were defective. I didn't see them, but my wife says his parents showed up at the scene and they also said the brakes were defective. My wife was livid. "What kind of parents let their kid drive a truck that they know has bad brakes!"
I had good, chemical-free night of sleep. Wife was up all night with neck pain.

You're OK and your wife are OK- that's whats important.

And if you're going to get hit by anyone a USAA insured driver is- by far- the best. They will make you whole. They're not a GEICO or a Progressive and you won't need to worry about their lawyers. They will not question paying dimunition of value and they will compensate you for the pain and suffering.

i've been there and it sucks but remember what's important in life....I wish you the best.

The parents and/or the kid would be U.S. military. You probably gave him PTSD or shell shock.

I couldn't get in touch with a live human at USAA until this morning. Two days of frustration - then BAM! They accepted liability and explained the procedure for getting med bills paid, identified the same Volt-trained body shop that I had located as the place I wanted to get it fixed, lined up a rental car, and sent a tow truck all within an hour. I was literally still on the phone with USAA when the tow truck showed up. Tow truck guy didn't know how to operate a Volt and asked me help him load and to follow him to the body shop to unload. That was a good thing, because they had some serious mistakes on the paperwork.
I'm happy. The only question I have is that they offered $1000 each to my wife and I for pain and suffering. We missed 2 days of work and each had a sleepless night. We both still have some pain, but it's more of an annoyance than anything serious. Why would they offer a grand each for that? Is that about right? I have no experience with this kind of thing.

Patrick, come on I know you're smarter than that.

They (insurance) want to limit their liability if you have more medical bills. If you claim more pain and suffering, disability, loss of income, loss of sex life, a case of the shakes when you see pickup trucks, etc etc, they can say that you accepted the grand, and that you must have been ok therefore.

^^
That's pretty much what the attorney said. The insurance guy led me to believe the $2000 was just for the pain and suffering. My atty said the check is THE release for everything. He said don't sign anything until the car is fixed to my satisfaction and we're sure we are healthy. Adding up time spent on the claim, lost productivity, etc. now. I'll be checking in with Mrs. WD on the lack of sex life tonight.
Like I said, I have no experience at this kind of thing. Sharks are everywhere.

Anybody had any experience with their insurance rate going up if they are in an accident and found not at fault? Two people in my office experienced it. My Ins agent says no, our company doesn't do it. But if I every change companies, they might charge more.
Neck still hurting. Seeing a doc again tomorrow.
Car repair is up to $4800 in parts alone. If they have to weld in a new rear crossmember they have to take the battery and its electronics out- $$$$
Rental car they gave us is a Chevy Sonic POS deathtrap. I'm letting it sit and driving my truck.
This little crash is getting to be a big PITA.

I was wondering who got the GOOD one.

Serial question: what the battery dead at the time?





http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1471988384.jpg

:rolleyes:

Haha!

I'm glad you're alright but I would insist that they total it for that damage. That bad of an accident will follow that cars value forever. A trained eye will be able to easily spot that large of a repair. Better to just get a new one.

Ha! Funny. No, we were driving on volts. I was about half charged. No follow up from the body shop since Friday. Looking at 2016 Volts.

You should only need to see a few to get the idea.

So, solution to a crisis...

Take drugs and alcohol and jump on the internet.

That's the ticket.


Hope you're back with the consious and that you both recover quickly and completely.

Thanks. Not being able to sleep because of neck pain isn't exactly a crisis. But what are you going to do at 2 AM? Nobody's up to listen to me complain, so I shout into the nothingness of the internet. And feel better.

The nice young man Serge from USAA was on the phone three days after the crash and asked if giving "each of us" $1000 for pain and suffering would be adequate. I'm thinking, "What the heck, I've been in pain before and didn't get paid anything. Send each of us a check for a grand." So they send me a check.
Just as some very helpful people here and my atty told me, the check is not for pain and suffering. Serge from USAA lied to me. The check was $1000 for BOTH of us, not each of us, and it was payment for releasing them of all liability, present and future.
My atty is a peach of a guy. He said if they hear from him they will never speak to me again and it will get expensive. So he'll walk me through what I need to do and only get involved if it get hairy for some reason.
I'm posting this as an illustration for others who, like me, may never have dealt with something like this. Even in a little fender bender, saying the wrong thing can bite you in the butt.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1472058951.jpg

^ LOL that was funny.

Patrick, don't let them roll you. Don't get worn down. This may take years if you have permanent pain.

Just saw this. Glad you're OK, P...

Here's to making you whole again! Clink!

Does anyone understand how personal injury insurance works? Why should Medicare pay for injuries due to this accident? The kid who hit me was at fault.

It's coming up on 5 weeks since that moron driving without brakes rear ended my car. I started getting calls from ambulance chasers this week. The car was in the body shop for 24 days and is fixed now. It seems to be fine. Much of the delay in getting it fixed was because USAA would not pay for a new deck lid, so they had to spend time sourcing a used one. USAA did pay 100% for the work and provided a crappy little rental car the whole time. I was able to drive my truck instead of the rental the whole time since it was not needed at work. The rental guy was perplexed. "You had the car for a month and only put 29 miles on it?" The repair bill was only $5800. My neck pain went away after about 2 weeks, so all is good. Almost.
Getting the injuries paid for is becoming problematic.
Mrs WD and I each got bills from the radiology lab about three weeks after the accident. They are sitting on my desk with the check from USAA while I figure out what to do. Yesterday the hospital called and said USAA is requiring that I file a claim with Medicare. I'm curious as to why my medicare has anything to do with it. Ohio is a tort state, I thought the at-fault party was supposed to pay all the bills.
My attorney offered to help with this, and I think I'm going to take him up on it. The $1000 USAA offered for a release is looking pretty paltry at this point.

Just venting here.
It's been four months since that moron driving without brakes rear ended my car. I'm still trying to get USAA to wrap this claim up. Going on a week now they have been saying they are going to email me some kind of form. I keep calling and faxing, they keep failing to send the form. I have kept careful records and I now have wasted 98 hours in dicking around with various people (body shop, doctors, dentists, and most of all the USAA rep) and I'm way past tired of it. I'm on the fence about getting my attorney to put together a demand letter for an amount that reasonably compensates me for the time, trouble, annoyance and aggravation, not to mention pain and suffering. I would have to pay him, but I'm about ready to just turn it over to him. My company charges $150 an hour for my services. That's about $15k worth of my time that stupid kid has wasted. It doesn't seem like enough. Medical bills were about $11000 (covered by USAA so far), plus all this time wasted. Arghh!!