My son was hit by a drunk driver last week.
Luckily, he wasn't seriously hurt. Looking at the wreckage, that in itself is amazing. So I am thankful for that. What I am angry about is the reaction of the drunk's insurance company-one whose name you know. Their spokesperson is a woman named Flo. The story begins as my son is heading back from the Subaru dealership where he had just purchased a new air intake for the Impreza WRX he had bought two months earlier. It was not a new car by any means, but the interior looked like new and the few dings on the doors were largely cosmetic ones that he planned to have repaired down the road. While driving along a rather large street a man in a 2009 Jaguar ran a light at a left turn hitting a Mustang in the inside lane and then my son. Both the Mustang and my son's car were totaled. While my son was in the ambulance being looked at by EMT's, the guy in the Jag ran. He was caught down the road and failed the field sobriety test. So you would think that seeing he was drunk, he ran and he was arrested that this specific insurance company would want to settle quickly. And they did settle with the guy in the Mustang who had comprehensive. But this is a 21 year old and comprehensive insurance is costly. So they are trying to screw him over by offering less than half of what it will take to replace his used car. He wasn't expecting a new car. His request was to have enough to replace the cute little blue WRX that he had lusted after since sixth grade. But the insurance company tried to snow him with alleged comparable cars for sale in the area. Never mind that we had been on every single general and specific auto site for the American southwest seeking comparable pricing. So they think they will simply allow him to dangler on the vine. The problem is, he started a new job this week which is farther away. He was borrowing a car, but it has problems. My own car is currently in the shop for radiator problems and his dad needs his car for business. So my son is in the position of being forced to take a lowball offer or lose his job. This is a travesty. The drunk guy lives in a very nice house, is 63 years old and a stockbroker. He could probably write a personal check to cover this and everyone would be happy. Instead his jerky insurance company is pushing us to sue. They even yelled at my son "Nobody is going to take this case! You better settle or your will lose even this." which tells me they are playing defense. The guy that hit him was drunk, the drunk ran, he was arrested. Therefore, the ball is in his court. As much as I hate to do it, we will be talking to lawyers this week. This is why lawyers continue to get rich and why average folks despise insurance companies.
