Random musings

I would drive a hunk of junk if the choice was between house and car. Actually, we both drive hunks of junk as it is, and our house is not exactly a castle. We have a 2004 Hyundai Elantra and a 2007 Mazda 5. It makes zero sense to me to buy a new car when ours are paid off and running.

We would be totally fucked in your situation. Forget house vs. car. Car payment = Abby gets job. We have savings, but not enough to buy a car. Not that I'm against getting a job. I'd just hate to be in a "have to" situation. I do realize that I'm damn lucky that it's optional right now, though.

I personally spend way more time in my house than in a car, so it seems like a no-brainer to me, but you have about 1000 more factors to consider than I do!

Don't you get any replacement cost through insurance?

Very good chance this ends up being drug out. She couldn't present insurance at the time. But claims she has it. If she does my insurance company gets to fight hers on who pays if no fault can be determined. (As of Friday it had not. They were still trying to find witnesses) if it remains no fault and she has insurance it could be months before a settlement is reached. And that's assuming she doesn't take me to court for her medical expenses (the cop told me to prepare for that. That she seemed the type) because while I carry full coverage including personal injury.... if it remains a "no fault wreck" and both insurances refuse to cover HER ... she Is within her rights to come after me civally.


It's a cluster fuck if they can't prove she ran that light. And while I will eventually get restitution for tank it may take months.

They will ship, it's in Austin now it looks like. You can shop them and have a car shipped from anywhere--for a fee. I've never bought from them ether but my bestie and her husband just did and they are very happy.

Because ive yet to find one under 30k here with decent miles and a clean Carfax within a decent driving distance. Thought we found a nice escalade online today....


Carfax was sketchy AF.


I hate car shopping

I'll look into it. Closest one is an hour and a half away but we end up searching in Houston a lot anyway.

Ok, on the lawsuit thing...who the hell have you been talking to?? 'Cause I'm a (formerly) licensed insurance rep., and I'm here to help. :-) Your BI/PD liability limits are there IN CASE YOU GET SUED. That's what liability insurance means. If your agent is a decent human, and knows who you have in that car, you should have at least 100,000/300,000/100,000. The first is what she can get for bodily injury, per person, the second is the bodily injury aggregate, the third is property damage. You would not believe the number of panicked calls I've recieved on this subject. Missouri is an at fault state, just like Texas, so I know the drill. She can try to come after you personally, IF she wins a court settlement where she is awarded an amount in excess of your BI/PD limits (they almost NEVER go to court). Until then, she needs to be referred to your claims adjuster. If you get served papers, those should be forwarded to your claims adjuster. She can't just start taking your assets. It does not work that way, I promise.

She lives out of state, correct? Even if she was not ticketed for being causal to the accident, she should have been cited for not showing proof of insurance. There should be a court date on that ticket. She either shows proof by that date, pays the fine, or a bench warrant is issued. Any one of those things should alert your adjuster. They either have an insurance company to deal with at that point, or they can proceed under the assumption that she does not. I warn you, your adjuster will very likely not even think about following up on this. But you can. Either by staying on your adjuster's ass, or just getting the info yourself. Granted, you should not be responsible for any of that, but sometimes it's easier to do 15 minutes of stuff that's not your job rather than 30 days of mounting, increasing insanity as you witness them NOT doing theirs. If she's uninsured, they should pay your claim, minus the deductible, and then subrogate to get their money back from her. You should have to deal with NONE of the subrogation.

If you need help along the way, ask me anything. Car insurance is one of those lovely things that everyone has to have (well, I guess supposed to is more accurate), but no one understands. Because it's simultaneously boring as hell, and widely misunderstood and bungled. Often, the misinformation is delivered by well meaning cops who are believed to be an authority on all things, but aren't, and have no accountability for being misleading on the subject. It's a problem.

Again, feel free to call me with any questions you may have. Be sure to ask me about Homeowner's, Life, and special Liability Umbrella policies, too. Because I want to make sure you have all the coverage you need, when you need it!