Losing my Cutlass...

[Ted C]

(

Wednesday 10/13/04 4PM: Clear Sunny Warm Fall Day in New England!

Some drunk with his 12 year old daughter in his '93 Diamante Wagon plowed into my parked '92
Fire Engine Red Cutlass SL 3.4 DOHC and totalled it.

Then, he fled the scene. Neighbors got his plate and we tracked him down...

NO F#!@%^*&:?/']%$#@! Insurance!!!

It is total loss. He is being summonsed to court. Big F'n deal. He'll get a fine and I'm out $$$. I know I can take him to court and get a judgement against him. He lives in a rooming house!

John D. F'N Rockefeller he's not.

I manged to find out his brother owns a car dealership: )

www.woburnforeignmotors.com/

Sells Jaguars, Infiniti, Toyotas and Nissans.

He isn't interested in keeping his drunk sibling out of court by buying his way out of this.

I'm not sure I would either.

Life goes on and, yet, my Aurora STILL overheats!

Water pump leak fixed. New Water Pump Belt. Radiator leak fixed. Damaged radiator cap replaced. I even used the GM horse pills that mechanics swear by to seal head/head gasket cracks and leaks. It will idle all day long. Drive it, Redline that temparture guage.

Going to AllData tomorrow to see if there are any bulletins on this.

If it turns out to be that DEX CRAP Anti Freeze...

[Amanda]

I am so sorry to hear that Ted!

[scottydl]

Yikes, sorry man. I don't know what else to say. Someday we'll all look back at this and laugh... ?

[Marc]

A drunk with no insurance that left the scene of an accident. Where I live, New York State, that individual
would have a good chance of going to jail.
Hopefully, it'll be the same where you live.


________________

GM!!! BRING BACK OLDS!!!

[Ted C]

Well, the unfortuante thing is that none of the 5 people who came out of their houses are willing to testify that they saw him driving. The drunk part is a dead issue because the police didn't get called so they couldn't assess his sobriety.

If he had insurance, it wouldn't matter who was driving, the car did the damage so the insurance would cover it. But he's claiming that someone, unkwon to him, must have used the car without his knowledge. With out the neighbors standing up and saying" I saw him behind the wheel" Then he will probably get off. I got this great news since my first post. The time frame when I can look back and laugh at this starts when?

[Letitroll98]

My condolences as well Ted. Bad things happen to good people for no reason.

But what is the deal with this yokel. If your car wrecks into something/someone, and you claim someone else was driving, don't you have to identify the other person? What if someone was killed, would the cops/prosecutor let him go? I don't think so. If your gun shoots somebody and they find it in your house with your fingerprints on it, you're going to jail.

If this car had been turned in as stolen, or even if it remained stolen after the fact, his case could be supported. Circumstantial evidence will work in court. If none of this is true, can we shoot this guy and say, "I don't know, somebody else shot him I guess."

[Roice]

Oh hell. Really sorry to hear this, man.

I just don't understand why not one out of 5 people who witnessed the wreck don't want to testify. Lord knows I'd be up on the stand in a heartbeat.

Incidentally, I've had a red '92 Cutlass SL 3.4 for years, up until I was given a really purple Buick back in July. Not a thing wrong with the Cutlass, it's sitting outside. Just has too many miles for me to think about taking it on long trips. Though, at 170000 miles we pulled the heads off, and could still see the honing marks on the thrust side of the cylinder bores.
We've taken good care of the car, I'm sure you did the same with yours, and it breaks my heart to hear about some irresponsible person trashing something like that. Best of luck in court.

[kobalt]

Sorry about your incident - glad you were not inside your car when it happened. As for the overheating I would look into replacing the thermostat. Also, make sure your cooling system is purged of air.

[hockeydad33]

Sorry to hear about the bad news Ted. In Mn we can get insurance to cover teh vehicle if the other driver had no insurance (uninsured motorist I think it is called). I think I will double and make sure it is on all my cars. Maybe with a little luck something good will happen. Maybe his brother will give you a good deal on another vehicle (I know don't hold your breath, worht wishing for though).