Daughter hit mailbox and rolled car , question
she’s ok thank God.
here’s the background
Paid cash for car 15000
Thought she was responsible so I only had liability insurance. The repairs are going to be at least 12,000. The car is pretty new and I’m really kicking myself for not having comprehensive insurance but I’m here now.
should I pay to get it fixed or just junk it and put 12000 into a older , higher miles (unwrecked ) car ?
Ros
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If it was my daughter I would d do the second choice. Then make darn sure she had it insured.
I don't see how she managed to do that. Was it a slow speed wreck or faster?
Joe
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Relative had an accident and the estimate was for 8k- went up to 11k, the way the supply chain is look at 15k in repairs. Toss up, but like low mile cars that have been maintained. Was a nice looking ride. (Any texting while driving )?
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The good news is she was not hurt. Give thanks...
Since you ask- My advice, I would sell the damaged car for salvage and buy her something safe and reliable regardless of price and fully insure it. Cars come and go daughters are priceless.
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Give her the Mercedes.
Seriously, glad she's OK. Looks like the mail box pedestal was made of stone.
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What the heck kind of mailbox bid she hit to do that?
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Forgemonkey should be along soon, he can will flip the car upright, and make everything good again.😉
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I'm so glad she is ok.
Its amazing how easy it is to roll a car. I've seen it happen with my daughter and my mother....both times were relatively minor events, but they managed to flip over.
The air bag being deployed is almost always an indication the vehicle will be totalled.
I wouldn't bother pouring money into it.....once a car is wrecked it seems it is non stop issues.
You'll be kicking yourself if you spend all of that money to get it worked on and the repairs never end.
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Flip it back on its wheels check fluids and drive it until it expires.
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Glad she’s not hurt. Offload (the car!) and move on.
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Glad she is OK
I also say sell the car and just buy another
Also you may want to check I know there is laws about mail boxes and the supports because of such things and damage if hit there suppose to snap or break off to avoid such damage as your daughter's
Not saying it's the property owners fault well maybe but something you could look into if the mail box was built too strong which looks to be the case they may be lybal for the damage to the car
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For a moment, thought I was looking at neighbor's yard. Two teen girls took the curve too fast 3 days ago. went into ditch, flipped car end for end, taking mailbox. Both OK.
Am retired from insurance company. Our rule of thumb- if repairs equal 75% of blue book, it's a total. When you start teardown, there WILL be other damage you did not see at first. I would say aloha to car, contact a salvage company like Car Parts, replace car. Comprehensive would not have covered that- collision would.
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Dump that car.
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Trust me, She is beating herself up real good, right about now. The metal can be replaced, but your daughter cannot. I'm so glad she is okay. At this point, I would buy her another vehicle.
Don't feel bad, I bought our son a brand new expedition for his HS graduation present. He went against my rule about taking it back in the woods. Ended up driving it into a lake and destroying the motor. I replaced the motor and he paid me back for it. I never said one word to Chris about it, because I could see he was madder at himself, then I could ever be. These are called life lessons.
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If it were a son, you, him and his buds could just hammer it out and let him drive it. Lots of Bondo.
Since it's a daughter, she already feels bad. Get her another nice reliable, safe vec and move on. Some things she just will never forget.
Thanks god that she is Ok.
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File a claim against the home owners insurance where the mailbox was located.
Those big stone mailboxes are hazards and should not be allowed.
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Glad she is okay! That side airbag looks to have been very helpful.
As someone else mentioned, if you can, flip it, do the bare minimum to make it legal/drivable….. and let her drive it. Forget the body work. Doesn’t really matter what it looks like. If that big stone mailbox managed to jump out in front of her, something else is likely to do so again. A dent on top of a dent is a lot easier to stomach.
Also, if you’re updating insurance, it’s COLLISION you want to add. Comprehensive is for other non-collision stuff (falling trees, hail, stuff like that).
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Whoa. Glad she is OK, that coulda been a lot worse.
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Why does everyone think they have to buy cars for their kids? I bought my first car, a '67 Pontiac, with my own hard-earned money and if anything went wrong I paid for it.
But, when my kids got to 16 I bought each a $2000 car (old Mercury Grand Marquis, my favorite car) and they learned with them. At one time I had 6 Mercury Grand Marquis licensed and insured. Still have one, a 2009 which will still be running after I am not!
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I agree, kannoneer, but $2000 cars are a thing of the past.
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You made the choice to not insure the car and this is the result. Education is expensive. I'd suggest not even trying to fix the wreck.
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Start over for $12,000.
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If it were my infamous neighbor The Stock Contractor he would be driving it lol
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kannoneer: 30166182116251/comments/-1
Why does everyone think they have to buy cars for their kids? I bought my first car, a '67 Pontiac, with my own hard-earned money and if anything went wrong I paid for it.
But, when my kids got to 16 I bought each a $2000 car (old Mercury Grand Marquis, my favorite car) and they learned with them. At one time I had 6 Mercury Grand Marquis licensed and insured. Still have one, a 2009 which will still be running after I am not!
I also paid for my first car with money I had saved from 6 years of throwing a paper route.
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Jesus dude can build a mailbox. IMHO Cars not worth repairing, I’m afraid you’ll be chasing alignment after transmission after goblin keeps popping up but close
thought comprehensive was expensive before, now it’s going to be worse. I think a $5k car might be a good fit
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Spectickles
Enjoy the funny trials and tribulations of marriage with Spectickles!Best Regards - AQH
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Locust Fork: 30166182116251/comments/-1
I'm so glad she is ok.
Its amazing how easy it is to roll a car. I've seen it happen with my daughter and my mother....both times were relatively minor events, but they managed to flip over.
The air bag being deployed is almost always an indication the vehicle will be totalled.
I wouldn't bother pouring money into it.....once a car is wrecked it seems it is non stop issues.
You'll be kicking yourself if you spend all of that money to get it worked on and the repairs never end.
Exactly, Replacing a single air bag usually costs $1,000 to $2,000, but some cases may be much more expensive. After a significant accident, expect the total cost of replacing your air bags to range from $1,000 to $6,000, with most bills averaging $3,000 to $5,000
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I don't like that style of mail box support. I once did, but I changed my position.
Such a structure is a good defense against vandals playing mailbox baseball, and they can be made quite attractive, but that's where their utility ends.
In 1995 I moved to an address on a highway maintained by TXDOT. TXDOT will not allow such mailbox posts/structures on their right-of-way. Instead, they install a simple mild steel post, not pretty but eminently practical.
One night, in a heavy rainstorm, a vehicle ran off the roadway and hit the mail boxes of my neighbor and myself. The posts performed as designed; they just bent over level with the ground, causing very little damage to the vehicle, and no injury to the occupants. I "got" it then.
Since then, my boxes were hit again, with the same result. I was able to convince TXDOT to move the posts to a point behind the apex of the curve, and the boxes have been safe since then. When anyone runs off the road now, they do so after they have passed the boxes.
The brick mailboxes are pretty, but not safe.
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I lost a very good childhood friend back in 1980 who was a passenger in another friends brand new corvette that hit a multiple mailbox cluster. All the boxes were for an apartment complex and were housed together in a fancy brickwork structure placed along a busy going out of town highway with a fairly wide shoulder. The set up was very quickly replaced with the boxes being moved within the entrance drive of the apartments.
I'm very glad your daughter was not injured in this accident!
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Get a lawyer on this at once. Here in Minnesota if you have an obstruction like that stone mailbox, you are liable for any damages to a vehicle if it hits it. You have to remove heavy objects on a boulevard and cannot have large stones for decoration. Do this at once as the homeowner may file a suit at you to fix his mailbox, and your suit would only go against his homeowners policy, otherwise your inaction will cost you 12 grand. I hope this helps but get legal help right away and don't blame your daughter. If it was a wood post and she hit it would only be a minor damage, not 12K.
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kannoneer: 30166182116251/comments/-1
Why does everyone think they have to buy cars for their kids? I bought my first car, a '67 Pontiac, with my own hard-earned money and if anything went wrong I paid for it.
But, when my kids got to 16 I bought each a $2000 car (old Mercury Grand Marquis, my favorite car) and they learned with them. At one time I had 6 Mercury Grand Marquis licensed and insured. Still have one, a 2009 which will still be running after I am not!
You know, You are 100% right. I did my son no favors by buying him this new truck. In a way, he kind of earned it. He made straight A's, finished number 1 in his graduating class, while achieving hid black belt in Karate and working a part time job, saving for a car. He paid for his insurance and did pay me back for the motor. I guess what it comes down to is, I had to work for everything and my parents didn't help me one bit. I wanted him to start off college on the right foot, and not be worried about having good transportation and payments. In reality, I should have made him buy a cheap car and know what it is like to have to work hard for everything, So I see your point in this comment. 😉🙂
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