[FRS Dad]

First post. Sorry about the circumstances (and the length). I was an adjuster for a decade or so, so I may be able to offer some insight and clarification. With respect to liability, if you come to a stop in traffic and then are rear ended into the car in front of you, you have no liability.

A following driver owes no duty to stop a certain distance behind another stopped vehicle, and he doesn't owe a duty to anticipate what his car might do if struck from behind by another car and leave a greater interval as a result. (i do by habit now as the result of having been an adjuster).

Damage discrepancy front vs rear can be caused by height variations among the three cars and how the bumpers align. If a low riding car like the FRS is pushed into a car or truck with a higher bumper, you'll see that kind of damage with the front fascia destroyed and the hood tented up because parts that weren't intended to absorb an impact did so.

Our guy is in the clear. The guy who sandwiched him owes both for his car and damage to the car he was pushed into.

With respect to repairable vs total loss, a seasoned adjuster who's been burned a few times by paying several thousand dollars extra repairing a car that should have been totalled will take a few extra steps to prevent that sort of thing.

The right way is to pay the shop (any shop at this point) a half day or so to do a tear down and pull all the damaged plastic and sheet metal off so you get a clear view of any underlying mechanical or structural stuff that could come back to bite you. Then and only then should the initial repair estimate be written. Skipping the tear down can result in a low initial estimate, which can incorrectly tip the car into the "repairable" column. Unfortunately, once repairs are underway it's too late and that's how a total loss gets repaired.

If after a tear down and comprehensive estimate the car is repairable (value of the car plus tax and less salvage recovery is greater than cost to repair plus a small margin for supplemental damage plus rental car expense) and you don't want it repaired you have a few options, all of which suck to some extent.

1) Have your own insurance company write an estimate and do their own total loss analysis. If you go with their numbers you'll owe your collision deductible and may not have rental however your carrier will recover both their expenses and your deductible from the at fault drivers carrier and reimburse you for the deductible at some point. Best of all the at fault carrier can't argue with your carriers decision or the amount they paid. All they can do is write a check. This is not considered a chargeable loss and will not increase your premium on your policy. Seriously.

2) Remember that you are never obligated to go thru insurance at all. The at fault driver personally owes to restore you to a pre-loss state. You're free to file a small claims lawsuit against him directly, and his insurance company owes him a defense and owes to pay whatever judgment you win, while simultaneously being cut out of the process. (The maximum amount you can sue for in small claims is limited by your jurisdiction so confirm that limit first.)

Once faced with this claims-handling nightmare, most adjusters will find a way to settle the claim to your satisfaction. (I just did that exact thing myself against State Farm last year, except they went ahead and hired an attorney and took the case all the way to trial. I still won but it created a lot of extra work.)

3) Have the repair check written to you and your lienholder. Pay the loan off with the proceeds. (You may need to come out of pocket some depending on equity) Sell the salvage piece yourself and hopefully get close to whole.

My recommendation in this case would be to request a tear down if they haven't done so already, and ask to be present once the tear down is completed and the estimate is written. Ideally the tear down needs to happen at the shop doing the work, and you can arrange for the shop owner or manager to be present for the estimate as well. Three sets of eyes and all. I always welcomed that input as an adjuster and if yours doesn't there's a problem.

No adjuster wants to commit to repairing a car that should have totalled. Total losses are an adjusters best friend...you write one check and you're done. Big repairs take weeks and weeks of monitoring and reinspecting and rental car extensions. Trust me...we love to total stuff.

For shop choice, if you have a trusted shop based on prior experience go there. (Generally stay clear of the dealership body shops unless you already have a trusted relationship.)

If you don't know a good shop based on previous work, an independent shop that handles high end work (Mercedes/BMW/Audi etc) is a safe bet. Their customers are incredibly picky and they typically have the best techs and equipment.

Finally, most insurance carriers have preferred repaired facilities and will offer a satisfaction guarantee if you use "their" shop. I always offered our preferred shop but on a heavy hit it was a relief when they didn't take me up on it, because I knew I was stuck with that car forever.

If they took my check and went somewhere else and then hated the repair, i was completely off the hook and they had to hash it out with the shop themselves. Otherwise me and the preferred shop had to bend over backwards to make it right, up to and including a couple of instances where we as the insurance company bought the car back. essentially paying both to repair and to total the same car. (See why seasoned adjusters pay for tear downs?)

if you don't have a trusted shop by all means used the carrier's preferred shop and make your problems the adjusters problems as well.

If you want to scan or PDF the estimate by PM or posting I can let you know what you're dealing with. Good luck!