Totalled

[dreadnotmusic]

I can't believe I'm alive to type this. Today I flipped my 78 Riviera three times. My friend and I were travelling east on San Diego's I-8. I was in the right lane, going 60mph. I hear a screech to my left, look to see a car skidding in my direction from two lanes over. Bamm...hit's me right in the lower front corner of the driver door. Bus immediately goes right, and begins it's first roll....slide.....hit the right divider....roll.....slide.....hit something else....roll back over onto the wheels (or where the wheels used to be)...and spin around to a halt. All the windows and windshield are gone. My camper top is gone. I look to my left and see a tire roll to a stop. I recognize it as being one of my new ones, with only 500 miles on it. Bummer. The freeway looks like a camping equipment nightmare. Shit everywhere. I try to get out, but by now there are about 20 people there telling us to be still and wiping blood off my face. I have a good cut on the top of the head. Four staples later and I'm good to go. My friend,,,,hardly a scratch. We're both taken away on stretchers as soon as they saw the bus. Bystanders remarked at how the bus held up through it all. Ironically, we were on our way to purchase a Bug for my friend.
The kicker of it all? The guy never even stopped. Just kept right on going. I only have a dent in the door to show for my encounter. Oh,,,and one other thing....his front bumper came off when he hit me. Wouldn't you know the liscense plate was on it. Funny how convienent that is. Doom on you ass wad. You're screwed now.
I gave my friend a hug as we climbed out of this thing. Then we just had to laugh at the fact that we should've probably died. Someone smiled on us today....I'll have to make sure and thank HIM when I get there.
Love to you all. Thank goodness for full coverage.
Mike Ellis

[dreadnotmusic]

Oh, you might remember that I just bought the bus two months ago. Immediately I had new tires, and a new paint job put on. You might remember my posts with pictures of it.

Anyone have any stories about dealing with the insurance company? Did they give you enough for it?

[westy78]

WOW! Glad to hear that your still around to tell this story and to know that the Bus was able to stand up to three rolls without disintegrating.

I would suggest to get some ads for your local area of busses in good shape. Show them to your insurance company as proof of what it would have sold for. Maybe get a quote from NADA.com to show them also.

Good Luck
Jasan

[westy78]

Hey...Doom on you? SEAL? I just read Richard Marcinko's first book.

[dreadnotmusic]

I've read them all. You caught me. I love his stuff.

[Ms. Priss]

Hey, Mike, so sorry to hear about your s*#%$ty day but SO GLAD to hear it from you than a loved one. As my dad used to say, "any landing you can walk away from is a good one..."

[westy78]

I just started reading Red Cell. Demo Dick is one badass.

Keep us updated on this idiot who hit you. I'd love to hear how this turns out. Get the asshole off the streets!

[[email protected]]

Mike,

Got smashed by a drunk driver once.
It was very ugly. Some people were hurt pretty bad.

The insurance is a nightmare. Lots of testimonials. They wanted psyche evaluations for emontional sufferings.
Get lots of pictures and anything else from the incident. Write down what happended from a factual point of view and also from a personal point of view. (ie emotional content is good here- how you felt, scared, pissed, everything!!!!)

The insurance company will drag it out for a very long time. It took me over 2.5 years to actually get my settlement. They kind of wear you down. Whatever the insurance company offers you is usually very little as to what you can get. Mine went to arbitration and my lawyer worked on a contingency.

Anyways, sorry about your bus man.

B

[Keith Baker]

My 77 westy was totalled last August when someone ran a red light and hit me. Their insurance, Progressive offered me $1700. I went on line, found every comparable westy for sale, bought one for $3500, showed them the bill of sale and collected $3500. It took several months, they count on you needing to settle to get the $$ to get another vehicle quickly. They still havent settled the injuries, and pain and suffering part. If you can afford to wait, it helps. Good luck, be strong. e-mail me if you have ??

[OB Bus]

Mike - How awful, although I am glad that you and your friend escaped worse injuries. Your bus was beautiful! My family had a nasty wreck a few years back in Barstow. We were very very lucky to be alive, and only minor injuries.

Dealing with insurance companies. Remember, no matter how good they are, they want to settle as quickly and as cheaply as possible. DO NOT BE IN A HURRY! (If you need wheels, rent something from Enterprise.) As suggested above, do your research. Pictures are worth a thousand words -- or dollars. See what they offer, asked where their information came from. If you cannot replace the vehicle (or at least come close) for what they are asking, refuse to settle. Tell the adjuster that "you want to settle this at his/her level". You have the right to appeal the decision to a supervisor, or even to go to arbitration.

You will never recover everything, but with luck you will get a "fair" settlement from your insurance company. If you can identify the other car then you also have an opportunity to recover from their insurance company. At least for the deductibles that you might lose out on.

Thank the Big Guy Upstairs now. Your personal "thank you's" can wait for many more years.

Peace be to you, your lovely Wife, and your friend. E-mail direct if I can help.

Larry in OB

[dreadnotmusic]

Thank you for all the kind words. Here's a pic https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/78524.jpg

The cops haven't found him yet. Insurance is saying two weeks to pay off. We are so lucky. Thanks for the advice and kind words, again. I'll let you all know what happens. Time to shop for another bus. Too bad I got that one for such a good deal. She was great fun. I'll miss it forever.
The paint job was just a few weeks old. Bummer.
Mike in San Diego

[chabanais]

Wow doesn't look that bad. Sorry you lost your Bus. Mine got hit by a red light runner but a "new" front end and she is back again.

[chabanais]

Who did you use for insurance?

[dreadnotmusic]

I'm in the good ole' Coast Guard, so I use USAA. They seem pretty good. I was really hoping they wouldn't total it. But the whole body is tweaked from flipping over 3 times.
Mike

[[email protected]]

Congratulations on being alive Mike. You were really lucky...or blessed depending on where you come from with that. Like everyone said, your best friend is time.

Not to be a downer but, don't try to be a tough guy coming out of this. Brains have real working parts just like an arm or a leg (not just a bunch of smoke and electricity up there). My point is that, unlike an arm or a leg, a brain can be "broken" and it is very difficult to diagnose. Trumatic brain injuries are commonly overlooked and tend to manifest their symptoms within the following year or so. Time will help you understand better also if you have any residual effects of a knock on your noggen. If you did have some physical damage up there, you'll really want to have some recourse for bills and hardship.

Good luck with everything. Hope you're able to find a suitable replacement bus.

Hans

[vwrunner]

mike,

glad to hear you guys are okay, sad to hear the bus isn't, it was a great bus. the good thing is that, thanks to the samba et al, there's always another vw to be had. shows that our lives and those of our friends and family's trump our love of our vw's everytime.

ts

[OB Bus]

Mike:

I'll second Hans' thoughts. For most of a year after our wreck, I would replay (in my mind) the last 10 seconds before our crash and the 4 seconds that included both collisions. Don't be Mr. Macho like I was. If you need help - get it.

Larry

[[email protected]]

Mike, I must have missed that mishap report. Glad to hear you're okay after a wreck like that.
After being quoted $1500 to paint my bus, seeing your paint job a few weeks ago gave me hope that a decent one could be had for much less. Keep us posted!

Another bus drivin Coastie!

[Richard]

sorry ya lost your bus, but it's good that you are still here to share your story with us...I rolled my first fastback across the highway, and the moron that caused it did not stop either (It really sucked) But the positive part is that you are still alive. good luck finding your next dub...

[turbo_g]

Mike,

Glad you are still with us. Praise to HIM. You should try and go to the Bob Baker Vintage show this weekend, maybe there will be a splittie bus with your name on it.

Good luck finding a replacment.

Turbo_g
66 Custom Kombi