Miata Mailing List: August 1998, Message #183

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My name is Mychelle and I'm a member of the MiMiata club in Michigan.  I own 
a '91 silver and last Thursday I was run off the road by a Semi as I was no 
my way back to work after lunch.  Physically I seem fine, but emotionally 
I'm still a wreck.  In order to avoid being road kill, I had to pull into a 
left-hand turn area (known as a Michigan Left) in the median.  I did not 
have enough time to stop, hit the curb and subsequently bent nearly every 
suspension part on the front right side.  The semi driver just kept driving. 
 The dealership estimate is about $1500 minimum.

I had the car towed to the dealership I trust, and they are now waiting for 
the insurance adjuster to come look at it.  Since there are no witnesses, I 
still don't know if the insurance company  will make me pay the $500 
deductible.  I also got the bad news from the dealer that insurance 
companies pro-rate the cost of suspension parts.  Is that true?

I'm 28 and my only other accident was 10 years ago, so I have no experience 
with these sorts of things.  (Because there was no other vehicle physically 
involved, I didn't even think to call the insurance agent and file a claim 
until the dealership told me to.)  So, now I am full of questions.

I have a whole list of suspension parts (I won't bore you with the list) and 
they said they cannot know if the steering rack or the wheel was damaged 
until they get the other parts on the car, and do the alignment.  Is there 
anything else I should make sure they check?

They are only replacing the parts on the Passenger side, how is that going 
to affect the handling of my vehicle?  Do I need to have some of those parts 
replaced on the Driver side, too?   My Miata is my only car, and it has 
100,000 miles on it.  I was already planning on replacing the shocks all 
around, but hadn't had the money.

I'm also concerned that they may total my car.  I don't know at what point 
the insurance company will declare a vehicle totaled.   When a car is 
totaled, what numbers does the insurance company go by to settle the claim? 
 The Kelly Blue Book retail or trade-in value?

Anyone with a comment, please respond to me directly, because I'm on daily 
digest.  Thanks for listening, and sharing my sadness.