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Date:         Sat, 1 Aug 1998 11:40:58 -0600
Reply-To:     Rob MacLeod <macleod@CVRTI.UTAH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Rob MacLeod <macleod@CVRTI.UTAH.EDU>
Subject:      Bus crash
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM

Folks,

A few months back I joined this list and the first question I submitted was how safe a VW bus would be in a crash. Since then I found a beautiful '87 Westfalia, the car of our dreams, and was busy enjoying it and fixing up the little things to make it just right.

Well, this morning we had a first hand opportunity to evaluate the crashworthiness of our bus. My wife was alone in the bus, heading straight through a green light on a collector road here in Salt Lake (2100 S at 1700 E, westbound, for those on the list who know or care). She was doing 25-30 MPH and coming toward her were two cars going in the opposite direction. The first one suddenly turned left in front of her and she was able to brake enough to avoid hitting it, but then the second one did the same thing and there was a collision.

Turns out the two cars were driven but a husband and wife team and when the wife (first in line) went through the intersection, the husband (second in line) dutifully followed. There may be a message here, but I won't touch that one. Both admitted they did not see a thing, and they were driving into the morning sun so visibility was bad. Conditions that might make someone sensible consider being a little extra careful, but not our intrepid husband and wife team. After all, they had to drive two cars to get to the start of a run they wanted to do.

So the Jetta (car #2) got spun around and was pretty much a wreck, major bashed-in front end. The damage to the bus was local to the front driver's side, but also looks pretty bad, if a lot less so than the Jetta. Front light, door, bumper all pushed in (front door would not open), and the wrecker was pretty pessimistic about whether it would be salvageable, whatever that mean.

So, now my questions. First one is how not to feel so damn angry. We considered ourselves really really fortunate to have found this bus, it was in mint condition, only 65k miles, and almost never used for camping. You could not find a cleaner '87. I guess I'll just have to go ride my bike for a while and take my anger out on the pedals.

More important second question: How do I tell and who do I trust to tell me whether the bus can be fixed or is history? I cannot do anything with the insurance company or police report until Monday, but do I trust the adjuster the insurance company sends out, or have a local VW person check it out? What are the things that really need to be checked to determine whether the vehicle is fixible to a state similar to original?

I should add that in 25 years of driving, my wife has never had a single accident and my last (and only) one was when I was 19, so we have great records, but no experience in dealing with insurance companies in cases like this.

Which leads to question 3: how do we make sure we get a decent settlement from the other drivers? They admitted to not seeing the bus, and my wife clearly had the right of way (there were two witnesses to support that statement) so do I have to worry about any question of fault? And once blame is assessed, how do we make sure we get all our expenses covered and either fully fix (I guess that part is easier) or get a decent financial settlement so that we can go out and start searching again for another Westy?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Rob Sad owner of a once beatiful, now pretty sick, '87 Westfalia -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob MacLeod, Ph.D. Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI) Building 500, University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 ____ __o Internet: macleod@cvrti.utah.edu ____ -\<, Phonemail: (801)581-8183 ....0/ 0 Fax: (801)581-3128 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------


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