RIP Shadowfax

Message

earendel · #1 Post by **earendel** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:53 am

Yesterday started out like any normal Sunday - elwing and I got up and headed for church. Our Bible study hour was going to be pre-empted by our pastor's "State of the Church" address, so we decided to duck out and have some breakfast. Afterward we found a parking space in front of the church (rather than in the lot at the rear) and went inside for the regular worship service. During the service the lights flickered several times. After the service our youth were holding an auction to raise money for mission trips; about 15 minutes after it began the lights in our Fellowship Hall (and all over the building) went out. Emergency lights came on and the auction continued, albeit without sound amplification. Halfway through the auction one of the young adults in the church came to the table where elwing and I were sitting and asked if we drove a silver Prius and if it was parked on the street in front of the church. We said yes, and he informed us that a tree branch had fallen on our car. So we went out to check, and sure enough a large branch had fallen across the rear deck of the Prius, crushing the back window and inflicting a fair amount of damage to the right rear quarter panel. It appeared that the rear axle might be bent also, since the right rear wheel was splayed. We called the insurance company and were told that given the number of calls they were having to deal with, our best bet was to take the car home somehow and an adjustor would come by to assess the damage. Not wanting to risk driving the car (not only because of the possibly bent axle but also because the rear deck is where the hybrid batteries are located and they migh have been damaged), we tried to get AAA to tow us. But of course they were busy as well; not only that but there were trees down along many of the streets around the church, making it difficult for a truck to get to us. We eventually ended up driving the Prius home, where it now sits in our driveway. There's no telling at this point how bad the damage is and whether it's reparable or will be totalled. I hope the former, because replacing the Prius will be very difficult - local waiting lists for new Prii are 9-12 months long.

For a picture of elwing standing next to Shadowfax, go to:

http://www.courier-journal.com

Click the one of the camera icons accompanying the lead story; as of this posting the photo is #4 of 20.

Bob Juch · #2 Post by **Bob Juch** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:59 am

Well that sucks! I hope repairs come quickly.

MarleysGh0st · #3 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:08 am

Yikes!

Best wishes for Shadowfax's repair and recovery.

mntetn · #4 Post by **mntetn** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:19 am

Wow ...

It was blustery here, but nowhere near that bad.

NellyLunatic1980 · #5 Post by **NellyLunatic1980** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:19 am

There are a lot of trees around where I live and there is only one tree near my church. I am fortunate that the only personal casualty of yesterday's windstorm was the umbrella of the patio set.

Now the electricity... that was another story. It went out at my house no fewer than 7 times in the last 24 hours. Six of those times, it was off for less than 5 seconds. When it went off at 5 PM, it stayed off until about 7:15. My mother had a chicken going in the rotisserie at that time, so that chicken sat there half-done for over 2 hours. We didn't get to eat dinner until about 8 PM.

Ultimately, the weather was so bad here that I was forced to drive home from Lexington after Sunday morning service rather than stay in Lexington for Sunday evening service.

5LD · #6 Post by **5LD** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:31 am

here in central ohio we are out of school today. we were without power for about 10 hours last night. our yard is covered in leaves and branches but we managed to keep the trees. The wind was strong enough it rolled our grill several feet across the deck to the other railing.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #7 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:16 am

I was thinking that Shadowfax was a horse or an animal.

I hope that your car is able to be repaired quickly!

peacock2121 · #8 Post by **peacock2121** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:17 am

yikers

Sorry this happened.

Hooray for insurance!

earendel · #9 Post by **earendel** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:21 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I was thinking that Shadowfax was a horse or an animal.

I hope that your car is able to be repaired quickly!

Shadowfax is the name of Gandalf's horse in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's described as being "silver-gray" in color (not white, as depicted in the movies), so in keeping with my LOTR theme, I named the car after the horse.

minimetoo26 · #10 Post by **minimetoo26** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:42 am

It's also the name of some band, and I was thinking "the whole band?!?!?"

I obviously have never read the books...

Catfish · #11 Post by **Catfish** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:41 am

Whoa! If this is what happens when you duck out on the State of the Church address, I'd hate to see what missing the service would do. I hope Shadowfax is good as new in to time. Glad no humans were harmed.
Love,

Catfish · #12 Post by **Catfish** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:43 am

minimetoo26 wrote:It's also the name of some band, and I was thinking "the whole band?!?!?"

I obviously have never read the books...

My thought too. My reaction was, "Wow, are they still around? I guess not anymore."

SportsFan68 · #13 Post by **SportsFan68** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:51 am

Ear, I'm so glad you and Elwing are OK. I'm feeling relief similar to what I did when I found out about the power pole squishing the beautiful silver Camaro, but not the beautiful SilverCamaro.

I posted the same message to LB.

Whew!

earendel · #14 Post by **earendel** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:33 am

elwing just spoke with our insurance company. They will try to have a claims adjustor come by some time this week and look at the Prius but they are "very busy; they've had a lot of calls" (quoting elwing). And it turns out we don't have a rider that pays for a rental car while we're without. So if the adjustor comes this week (my guess is Thursday) we'll still have to find some place to have it repaired (if it's reparable; if not, things look even more dismal). That probably means a dealership, which may be overwhelmed with other cars that need to be repaired. And since the Prius is not made in America, I don't know whether replacement parts are stocked locally or if they'd have to be ordered. All in all it's looking like it'll be a long time before Shadowfax is back up on its feet, if at all.

ghostjmf · #15 Post by **ghostjmf** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:26 am

That sucks majorly bad.

You sound like you have what they call around here compehensive insurance; the kind that covers "acts of G-d" like tree limbs falling on your car. Even I, on my 21 year old car, have that, largely to cover glass breakage, which has no deductable on it.

sunflower · #16 Post by **sunflower** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:31 am

My suggestion would be to swing by your Toyota dealership. If they have a body shop, they should be able to take a quick look...if they don't they can refer you to a suitable body shop, that should be able to take a quick look. The adjuster is the final word on the matter, but they can look at it and know if it's likely to be fixable or totalled. If they think it's fixable, they might be willing to hold onto it and have the adjuster look at it there...and if it's your dealership you might be able to talk them into a free (or discounted) loaner.

I did that, not in the same situation, but when my car was hit and not at all driveable, I had it towed to the dealership (also a Toyota). They stored it there for free for the nearly 10 days it took for the adjuster to go out (as long as I agreed that they'd do the work if it was repairable). They gave me a free loaner until my rental kicked in (I did have coverage). And my sales guy had a price negotiated for me on a new car if I needed to go that route. They were great. Maybe give that a try?

earendel · #17 Post by **earendel** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:42 am

sunflower wrote:My suggestion would be to swing by your Toyota dealership. If they have a body shop, they should be able to take a quick look...if they don't they can refer you to a suitable body shop, that should be able to take a quick look. The adjuster is the final word on the matter, but they can look at it and know if it's likely to be fixable or totalled. If they think it's fixable, they might be willing to hold onto it and have the adjuster look at it there...and if it's your dealership you might be able to talk them into a free (or discounted) loaner.

I did that, not in the same situation, but when my car was hit and not at all driveable, I had it towed to the dealership (also a Toyota). They stored it there for free for the nearly 10 days it took for the adjuster to go out (as long as I agreed that they'd do the work if it was repairable). They gave me a free loaner until my rental kicked in (I did have coverage). And my sales guy had a price negotiated for me on a new car if I needed to go that route. They were great. Maybe give that a try?

Great suggestion, sunflower, although the insurance agent apparently wants us to leave the car in our driveway until a disposition has been determined. FWIW elwing used the Internet to purchase our insurance so we don't have a local agent per se, unlike State Farm or Allstate.

ulysses5019 · #18 Post by **ulysses5019** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:51 pm

earendel wrote:
sunflower wrote:My suggestion would be to swing by your Toyota dealership. If they have a body shop, they should be able to take a quick look...if they don't they can refer you to a suitable body shop, that should be able to take a quick look. The adjuster is the final word on the matter, but they can look at it and know if it's likely to be fixable or totalled. If they think it's fixable, they might be willing to hold onto it and have the adjuster look at it there...and if it's your dealership you might be able to talk them into a free (or discounted) loaner.

I did that, not in the same situation, but when my car was hit and not at all driveable, I had it towed to the dealership (also a Toyota). They stored it there for free for the nearly 10 days it took for the adjuster to go out (as long as I agreed that they'd do the work if it was repairable). They gave me a free loaner until my rental kicked in (I did have coverage). And my sales guy had a price negotiated for me on a new car if I needed to go that route. They were great. Maybe give that a try?
Great suggestion, sunflower, although the insurance agent apparently wants us to leave the car in our driveway until a disposition has been determined. FWIW elwing used the Internet to purchase our insurance so we don't have a local agent per se, unlike State Farm or Allstate.

Doesn't Kay make house calls?

Snaxx · #19 Post by **Snaxx** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:29 pm

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I was thinking that Shadowfax was a horse or an animal.

I hope that your car is able to be repaired quickly!

I was thinking Shadowfax was a business and it was another bankruptcy announcement on a day of Wall St gloom and doom.

Ditto PSM's thoughts.

earendel · #20 Post by **earendel** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:33 pm

And now the latest...

The claims adjustor came and looked at Shadowfax and determined that the repair cost would 90% of the resale value, so there will be no repairs. Instead we're getting a check for the book value, less what we still owe, and now have to decide what we're going to do. elwing contacted the dealership from which we purchased Shadowfax and it just so happens that they have a new red Prius available (red was the color that we wanted in the beginning), so we could buy it, using the insurance settlement as our down payment and borrowing the rest from our local credit union at 6%. If we wait two weeks, our credit union is merging with another, larger institution, and the loan rate would be 4%. But neither we nor the dealership will wait that long. We're driving to the dealership this evening to look at the car.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #21 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:37 pm

I am glad that there is a new car available for you.

Will your insurance go up because you will be driving a newer car?

MarleysGh0st · #22 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:42 pm

earendel wrote:And now the latest...

The claims adjustor came and looked at Shadowfax and determined that the repair cost would 90% of the resale value, so there will be no repairs. Instead we're getting a check for the book value, less what we still owe, and now have to decide what we're going to do. elwing contacted the dealership from which we purchased Shadowfax and it just so happens that they have a new red Prius available (red was the color that we wanted in the beginning), so we could buy it, using the insurance settlement as our down payment and borrowing the rest from our local credit union at 6%. If we wait two weeks, our credit union is merging with another, larger institution, and the loan rate would be 4%. But neither we nor the dealership will wait that long. We're driving to the dealership this evening to look at the car.

Wil the book value cover whatever premium the dealers are charging for a new Prius?

Any chance you could get a bridge loan now, until that new rate becomes available? Even if you have to pay credit card rates, that'd be worth it.

The issue of your credit union telling you that the rate will be 4% in a couple weeks but they have to charge you 6% if you take the loan today is another issue.

earendel · #23 Post by **earendel** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:45 pm

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I am glad that there is a new car available for you.

Will your insurance go up because you will be driving a newer car?

Probably. But it would have gone up anyway because of the claim. Since the company can't get money from anyone - the damage was "an act of God" - then it goes against our record. I'd like to think that because we haven't had any other claims in many years this one blip wouldn't make a difference, but I suspect not.

earendel · #24 Post by **earendel** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:51 pm

MarleysGh0st wrote:
earendel wrote:And now the latest...

The claims adjustor came and looked at Shadowfax and determined that the repair cost would 90% of the resale value, so there will be no repairs. Instead we're getting a check for the book value, less what we still owe, and now have to decide what we're going to do. elwing contacted the dealership from which we purchased Shadowfax and it just so happens that they have a new red Prius available (red was the color that we wanted in the beginning), so we could buy it, using the insurance settlement as our down payment and borrowing the rest from our local credit union at 6%. If we wait two weeks, our credit union is merging with another, larger institution, and the loan rate would be 4%. But neither we nor the dealership will wait that long. We're driving to the dealership this evening to look at the car.
Wil the book value cover whatever premium the dealers are charging for a new Prius?

The difference between the asking price for the new car and the adjustment from the insurance company (less the loan payout) is right at $15,000.

It's interesting to note that the "book value" of Shadowfax is a lot less than the "resale value" based on offers we've received from the Toyota dealership to buy back our car (not enough to buy a new one).

MarleysGh0st wrote: Any chance you could get a bridge loan now, until that new rate becomes available? Even if you have to pay credit card rates, that'd be worth it.

The issue of your credit union telling you that the rate will be 4% in a couple weeks but they have to charge you 6% if you take the loan today is another issue.

Possibly - elwing is looking into such matters (she has a much wiser financial head than I). As to the difference in the loan rates, I think it was nice of the woman at the credit union to tell me that. Whether it was a breach of ethics, I can't say.

MarleysGh0st · #25 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:58 pm

earendel wrote:The difference between the asking price for the new car and the adjustment from the insurance company (less the loan payout) is right at $15,000.

It's interesting to note that the "book value" of Shadowfax is a lot less than the "resale value" based on offers we've received from the Toyota dealership to buy back our car (not enough to buy a new one).

I wouldn't expect the insurance payment for a used car to equal the cost of a new one, but it ought to reflect the cost of replacing it with an equivalent used one. If the book value doesn't reflect what Prii are really selling for these days, you're getting ripped off!

Where's our Bored insurance people to comment of this? Kay?