A Drunk Driver Killed My Syncro

[BenjaminCA]

Ugh. Yesterday at approximately 0400 I get a call on my cell phone from one of my co-workers (I am a CHP Officer). He tells me he is sorry to wake me and he needs me to come outside right now. I quickly got up and rushed to the front door. As soon as I opened the door my heart sank, my Syncro was no longer parked where I left it. A new vehicle was parked in my front yard, a beater Mazda Tribute.

Actually the Mazda was parked in my front yard now. My van was pushed across the street. I could see from my front door the damage was bad. Considering it was fixed not too long ago and brought back from a previous collision. The custom bumper and front end compartment was crushed to the wheel well. Cracked the right front rim when it was pushed into the curb. Busted the rear tire carrier away from the bracket and swung the spare into the body. Dislodged the front windshield cracking it and bending the metal. After all of this, I was still able to start the van and rive it back to its original spot. The tire rubbing on where the floorboard is now. Stout little bus.

I soon found out the driver had foot bailed following the collision and was picked up by another CHP unit down the street. Driver admitted to taking "Norco's" and "Smoking a lot of weed" prior to the collision. Driver also noted he had no insurance. Awesome.

Here's the best part. A man, Mike, had flown from Colorado the night before to buy the van from me. I know, shouldn't have sold it. It was time for a new owner, and we were going the new house route. Mike was excited to buy the van and had flown in late the night before with his cashiers check ready. He planned on buying the van and going on an epic road trip immediately after. I texted him when it got closer to 0800 to break him the news. I drove to his hotel room not 1 mile away from where the collision occurred. I wish I could have been joking, for both our sakes. He was blown away, same as me. Couldn't believe the timing. I showed him the van and we both just looked at each other in disbelief. Regardless of what happened it was time to figure out how to get Mike home. He flew in to Arcata Airport in Humboldt County, and flights out of there (one way to Colorado) are insane, think $1100. So after covering up the van, I drove Mike (In my soul crushing Honda) to the SF airport to get a reasonable flight home, $80. All the while in complete shock of what happened. We talked about vans the whole way and even hunted for a new prospected van for Mike. Go figure. Hug your vanagons tonight, you never know whats going to happen.

[dobryan]

Damn that sucks!

Looks like the damage goes all the way back to the B pillar....
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[jkallo]

That is so horrible, and the timing is the worst kind of irony.

I will def give my van a hug tonight.
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[61Scout]

Man... So sorry for your loss. That absolutely sucks. Hope you get all the money coming to you and hope the buyer finds his van soon. Drunk drivers are the worst.

Kevin
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[BenjaminCA]

The van in better time! And my daughter Penny along for a ride.

[Abscate]

I know you don't need to hear this from me, as you see stuff that people should not see, but its property. And, it could live again, if you choose.

Thanks for your service from all the way across the country (NYPD family)
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[BenjaminCA]

I know Abscate, Ive seen drunk do much worse to human life. Just this thursday I handled a scene where a drunk killed his passenger (best friend). We will recover. But I pity the next deuce I catch.

[WestyBob]

Really sad and hard to see/hear about that. I guess you didn't hear when this guy ran into it ?

Hope it can be repaired. Every year more and more syncros bite the dust.

[SCM]

Man that's a bummer. Sorry to hear it.

In the 11 years I've been in my house (corner lot on a round-a-bout) I've seen 4 or 5 parked cars get hit - including my own - when people take the intersection too fast. I've also known 2 others who have had drunks slam into their parked cars (one was a really nice 60s Ford pick up).

I'm so glad I can fit my Westy in the garage alongside my wife's daily driver.

My driveway is too short to park all but the smallest of cars in. When it becomes time to get rid of my Pathfinder I'll be looking for something small enough to keep out of the street.
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[Merian]

I don't see damage all the way back to the B pillar; just the door and front.

Any valuable vehicle can be repaired with partial damage like that - it's just an issue of how to do it right and how to pay for it.

Good Luck on bringing it back.
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[kamzcab86]

This is the number one reason all three of my vehicles are never, ever parked on the street overnight... and I rarely park them on the street during daylight hours.
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[llilibel03]

Total bummer.

That is such a nice synchro I would try, or let someone else try, to salvage it.

[HBB]

It would be pretty unusual if your auto insurance policy didn't provide UM/UIM coverage. Might want to get in touch with your insurance broker.

[sanchius]

I'm so, so sorry. I feel your pain. Trust me, I really do.

If there's one good thing, it's that you and yours were safely in the house when it took the hit.
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[bluebus86]

Bummer. Uninsured, great. Funny how when I spoke to my state rep about uninsured drivers he assured me they had a handle on it. A while back I could turn on and off my liability insurance by a call to my agent, in month incriments that way I could save money on cars Id store for extended periods by removing liability from them till I was ready to drive them. Until the state changed the law to combat uninsured drivers by suspending the cars registration as soon as the insurance company reports the insurance has lapsed, reporting is mandatory. To avoid penalties, one now must make the vehicle non op, abot $20 covers making it non op. Note in many cities you may not park a non op vehicle in public view. Now when I want to drive it again, not only do I call my agent to turn the liability insurnance back on, I also must reregister the car with the state, for the price of a fullmyears registration fee, no prorated fee!

Now if the state knows when insurance has lapsed by the mandatory reporting requirement, why force the car to be unregistered???? You really think the crooked driver cares if he is driving an unregistered vehicle in addation to being uninsured? What does happen is honest folks are burdenned by the stupidity of this law.

So not only was the guy that wtecked this sad syncro uninsured, his vehicle was unregistered, as registration was canceled the moment he let the insurance lapse. great law, really helped.

We used to impound cars of uninsured drivers, no insurance, then no car for thirty days, then a fee to get it out of the impound, towing costs, etc... But the law givers decided that was too tough on the poor, who depended on thier car to get to work (and scam the system by not insuring) So the law was changed to protect the law breakers.

See the big switch a roo??? a law that was effective at getting uninsired drivers off the road (at least for 30 days anyway) was dropped to protect the crooks, and a law that does nothing to deter the uninsured, but cause big hassel and cost to the honest folks is passed in it place in order to "crack down on uninsured drivers", brillance from california!

At anyrate everyone in ca
ifornia that drive should have un insured protection, costs not much, but helps a lot as their are lots and lots of uninsured in this lawless land. Got me 70 grand once by me having the extra insurance. lady hit me while I was riding my bicycle, she only had the minimum 30K policy, all legal, but not enough for my injuries, but I had a 100K uninsured policy and it covered the 70K and her company the 30K. Yes your own policy for autoinsurance will cover you even on a bicycle, or walking, or sitting on a park bench, if you hit by a car, and you have an uninsured policy

But I learned the hard way in california an uninsured policy does NOT cover a unknown hit and run damage. it will cover it if the hit and run driver is identified, and found to be un or under insured, but if you cant find the run away driver, your out off luck, unless you have full coverage, which is very expensive.

other states may differ in these rules, but ask about uninsured extra coverage, all policys as standard included 30K of this coverage, unless you opt out, but you can buy extra coverage for very little more. If I only had the standard 30K coverage at the time, I would have only gotten her companies 30K, and none from mine, no matter how big my loss, injuries are.


good luck, hope she can be repaired, or you get a good replacement. as for the norco weed smoker(whats norco???) hope he is thrown behind bars for a long time, But feel safe, weed is legal and non addicting so our law says, what could go wrong?
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[dobryan]

[epowell]

Back in '94 I lost my last Bay Bus in this way... It could have been fixed but ICBC wrote off the van because of major frame rust. They gave me $600 (I paid $900 2 years earlier and had not put any money into it) so I was not too choked.... ...but the bummer was that I needed a vehicle ASAP and could not find another van so ended up getting a NISSAN diesel pickup, which also served me well and I drove to the ground - foolishly.
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[bluebus86]

[ThankYouJerry]

Ben - So sorry to hear this! Unbelievable! I say keep the Syncro and find a donor Westy to swap it to. Look at how much your kids enjoy it! You will have many years ahead of fun and adventures with them. Hope there is a way you can get reimbursed from the driver and/or insurance. Best wishes.
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[syncrodoka]

Sorry to hear of your loss, hopefully there is a silver lining in there somewhere.
I hate drunks and dope heads.