It looks like my Caddy is a goner..

[CarlaValentine]

Oh yeah...for the heck of it, I feel like sharing with you all the car that I am currently stuck driving...apparently it was the only thing bigger than a Prius that the rental place had available.

Yeah. A Kia Soul. Isn't it awesome? *sarcasm*... I hate this thing, for many reasons aside from it being quite ugly. It has less space inside than anything I have ever driven. My old Chevy Corsica was even bigger. There is BARELY enough room in the cargo area to fit a small cooler. Sure the back seat folds down for more cargo space, but I have 3 kids so that isn't exactly an option for me. The steering is awful. It's responsive enough, but it's so stiff that I can't turn it with one hand, and the steering wheel is smaller than a dinner plate. It handles like a brick on a roller skate. Going over bumps and such, it's very loud. When it rains it sounds like you are sitting in a shed with a tin roof. The blower is obnoxiously loud (for the ac/heat). The thing is overall just tiny. I am very used to driving bigger vehicles. The seats are very hard and fairly uncomfortable to sit in for more than a few minutes. The ONLY good things I personally have to say about it are that the AC does work quite well, though the vents are awkwardly positioned, it gets very good gas mileage, and the stereo in it sounds great. Aside from that, I hate it and would definitely not drive one by choice...unless my only other option was a smartcar or something equally small. I am grateful to have something to drive for now and all....but I still felt like complaining about it. After all, it's not my Caddy!

[Bruce Nunnally]

Hope you get good a good offer from the Insurance, but good to expect to have to negotiate.

Thanks for the review of the Soul. Once you are accustomed to luxury it is hard to go back to bare essentials.

[CarlaValentine]

Well we just talked to the insurance company. Their offer is 1,800$. That's total crap and I'm NOT settling for it. They estimated damages to be over 6,500$. No word yet on the buy-back cost. We have to turn in the rental car by Monday, which I think is stupid considering they told us we had it for 2 weeks when we got it on Friday. They haven't even given us time to get anything figured out. I'm pretty sure my boyfriend is going to lose his job over this. This whole thing has just been a complete nightmare. It's weird how someone you don't even know can turn your life completely upside-down with one careless and stupid mistake.... I think we are going to get a lawyer if the insurance company won't budge on their offer.

[Cadillac Jim]

Carla - the combination of the nice guy, the early call-in by the rental car, and the lowball offer tells me that the squeeze is on. You need a copy of your policy, and, if you can afford one, a lawyer.

[CarlaValentine]

I plan on getting a lawyer. My father-in-law offered to pay for one for us. It's not MY insurance company that is giving us the hard time..it's the other driver's company. Our company has held up to their responsibilities covering medical and lost wages, etc. The other guy's company is responsible for the damages to the car and the rental. From what they said, their duty to provide us a rental car ends once they make an offer to us. Whether we accept that offer or not has nothing to do with it. I think that's ridiculous. They should provide a rental until one of two things happens..either an offer is made that is accepted, or the decision is made to take the case to court. I don't expect them to provide a rental until we find and register a new vehicle, but at least until an agreement can be made about the offer would be the "right" way to do it.

As upset as I am about this whole thing, I still don't hold it against the guy that hit me. I do however believe that there should be a law requiring people to take their road test again once they reach a certain age. I'm sorry but if you're so oblivious that you don't see an entire line of traffic coming at you when you attempt to make a turn, then you truly should not be driving.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Her's a thought -- If you have not already, I suggest you also make a formal counter-offer in the same method they used to make their offer.

So if they called you to make the offer call them back and say

I would like to make a formal counter-offer. I do not consider your offer of $x a fair value for my Cadillac. My counter-offer is $Y.

Please consider this offer good for xx hours. Settlement requirements will increase by the cost of alternate transportation and legal fees if any after this time.

If we have to proceed to litigation, please confirm that your correct title and mailing address are: XX,yy,zz

Fair disclosure: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the interwebs.

[SevillesDevillesnEldos]

I think its a gonner but i recomend getting a 2002 eldo just make sure the heads are good there nice cars and still turn heads alot of people ask me what kind of car im driving even next to some new mercedes and beamers the Eldo looks sharp

[coolnesss]

The insurer's offer is nonsense.

Print out ads for similar cars from dealers - not private parties - in your area. Send them to the adjuster.

If that doesn't work immediately, and if you don't have a lawyer, and, assuming the ads show a different cost, then, go right down and file a suit in small claims court for the highest price of the ads you have.

Get the local sheriff or whatever to serve the other driver.

That is the pressure point you can put on the insurer - they won't want to explain to a judge why they're offering only $1800.00 if the car is worth 5 grand.

But, you must do it immediately.

I'm a lawyer - this is the way to go. Insurers no longer are reasonable with claimants, as you can now see. Hit 'em with a lawsuit. It's the only language they understand.

[CarlaValentine]

The insurer's offer is nonsense.

Print out ads for similar cars from dealers - not private parties - in your area. Send them to the adjuster.

If that doesn't work immediately, and if you don't have a lawyer, and, assuming the ads show a different cost, then, go right down and file a suit in small claims court for the highest price of the ads you have.

Get the local sheriff or whatever to serve the other driver.

That is the pressure point you can put on the insurer - they won't want to explain to a judge why they're offering only $1800.00 if the car is worth 5 grand.

But, you must do it immediately.

I'm a lawyer - this is the way to go. Insurers no longer are reasonable with claimants, as you can now see. Hit 'em with a lawsuit. It's the only language they understand.

I'm pretty sure that's what we will have to do. The insurance company told us to send them copies of any ads we may find that show a higher value for the car, which is exactly what I will do. And there is one other thing I find interesting... they claim to use "automobile red book" online to value the car...which is a site that I can NOT verify the information from. Is that legal?

[rockfangd]

I wish you the best of luck. one tiny thing springs many bad things. been there done that. but in the end it always works out

[BodybyFisher]

Try going to www.kbb.com and putting in your year, model, mileage and condition and see what you get, use that as support, then go to ebay, craigslist, etc

[Cadillac Jim]

The insurer's offer is nonsense.

Print out ads for similar cars from dealers - not private parties - in your area. Send them to the adjuster.

If that doesn't work immediately, and if you don't have a lawyer, and, assuming the ads show a different cost, then, go right down and file a suit in small claims court for the highest price of the ads you have.

Get the local sheriff or whatever to serve the other driver.

That is the pressure point you can put on the insurer - they won't want to explain to a judge why they're offering only $1800.00 if the car is worth 5 grand.

But, you must do it immediately.

I'm a lawyer - this is the way to go. Insurers no longer are reasonable with claimants, as you can now see. Hit 'em with a lawsuit. It's the only language they understand.

This is your only leverage. Anything else is just talk. And, *they* have a lawyer, and are going down a path that has worked for them in the past. If there even is such a thing as the "red book" you don't know what they are entering into the wizard, so anything that they quote from it is BS.

[Ranger]

Also check http://www.nada.com

[coolnesss]

Carla, what is happening with your car?????

[rcirobin]

Carla, what is happening with your car?????

Carla, what is happening with your car?????

[Cadillac Jim]

We can hope that she filed a suit, and that she isn't able to post about it until it is resolved.

[CarlaValentine]

Ok, here's the update. I did have an attorney looking into my situation about filing a suit, but we decided it would be basically pointless because I would end up paying more for a lawyer in then end than I would ultimately get for my car.

So instead, here's what happened. We argued with the insurance company for a few weeks, making offers back and forth in an attempt to get what I deemed a fair price, and finally came to a deadlock. They settled on a value of 2,600$, took off some money for prior damages (the grill, no working AC, rip in the cloth top, tear in driver's seat, and a few minor scratches) and ultimately we settled on an 1,800$ check and got to keep the car. We would have loved to fight for more out of them but unfortunately we did not have the luxury of time. We were borrowing a car from someone and without the insurance money had no way to buy another vehicle.

Sooo as of now the Eldo is in my brother's garage and will be restored as I have the money to put into it. It may take me a little while but I WILL get it back on the road one way or another!!

And I am the not-so-proud owner of a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan.... Yeah... I hate it. It's already giving me a headache and I've only had it a week. The ONLY thing I like at all about it is that it has a lot of space in it for my 3 little ones.

I just want my Caddy back.....

[Cadillac Jim]

I had a similar situation with a used car that we bought near Boston in the middle 1980's, a Pontiac T1000 (think Chevette). These were uninspired, but not really bad cars, and my wife like hers - except that it had one thing after another. I noticed an Avis maintenance sticker on the battery when I changed that, and noticed some ham-fisted maintenance issues, such as when the center bolt on the damper wheel suffered a tension fracture and it went bowling with its damper wheel on the Boston Beltway, IH95/Route 128. When the tyranny went, all within the first year, I did a title search, and, viola, it turned out that this was a fleet car with its title laundered by the Chevy dealer that we had bought it from. We tried to negotiate with the dealer for a trade, then investigated legal action, and we found, as you did, that negotiation was based on the reality that legal fees would equal the cash amount that we were owed. So we fixed the transmission and had the car checked out, making it finally a perfectly good car, and sold it for a local college student's daily driver, moved to L.A., and bought another car there.

I checked a few years later, and found that the Chevy dealer no longer existed. It's still a family joke, when we see a car cratered on TV, that "they are going to have to trade that one at [withheld] Chevrolet!"

The Dodge, while not a great car, isn't a bad car. Get it in shape and it will carry you until you can get your Cadillac back on the road, or horse-trade yourself into another Cadillac.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Carla do you have a work list or parts that we could keep an eye out for, etc?

[CarlaValentine]

Jim, this van has been nothing but a headache. The brake lines blew out on me a few days ago, I have to replace a few sensors...etc. It's not my Caddy, so I am not happy spending money on it! Lol.

Bruce, I haven't torn into it too much, as I have to be able to move it out of the shop in the event my brother needs the space. So far the only parts that I know for certain I need are as follows (all driver's side front):

Inner and outer fenders

Driver door (still works, but it's not happy)

strut (spring is good, new a year ago and survived the wreck)

Tie rod and ends

sway bar

sway bar links

control arm bushings (arm itself looks ok, but may need to be replaced)

ball joints (both sides)

cv shaft/joint

grill

also needs new tires all around, but the rims seem ok.

It might need a new wheel hub. It seems fine now, but won't know for sure until it can be driven a bit.

As you can see, pretty much the entire suspension needs replacing. I have not looked into the steering components aside from the tie rod, or the passenger side, so may need work there too. I plan to use salvaged parts where possible (such as fenders, door, sway bar, grill) but it's still going to be an expensive and time consuming repair. The frame also needs to be straightened, but due to it not having any rust at all, the steel is strong enough to handle it without breaking. If you turn the key it still fires right up with no trouble at all...that's a Caddy for you! I just do not have the heart to send this car to a scrap yard. If worse comes to absolute worst and I can't pull off the repairs, I plan on selling the engine to my brother... but I am really hoping it doesn't come down to that. Right now this stupid Caravan is eating a hole in my pocket so I have nothing to put on the Caddy, but soon I will!