I got hit in the passenger side of my truck Tuesday. The other driver turned right on red, swung wide thru the turn and sideswiped my van. The costmetic damage is minimal BUT the impact caused my starter to short out. The short burned a hole in my starter. That's right, I have a hole in my starter.

Today is day two of not being able to work due to the van being out of commission. This, of course, happens when I am swamped with work.

The van is supposed to be fixed today barring any other electrical problems. The dealership won't know till they try and start it.

And then I begin the arduous task of trying to get reimbursement for my downtime from the other driver's insurance policy. We both have the same insurer........

Out here on the left coast, whenever there is a 2 car accident, it is extremely rare that both parties actually have insurance. Usually in these situations you have one party that caused the accident, and the other party that has insurance.

Sorry to hear it, Sparky.

Downtime might be a tough one for you. The easier route is renting another van, continuing to work, and getting reimbursed for the rental.

The insurance company looks at it like...
A phone call for a tow to your mechanic.
A taxi or ride from a friend to the rental van.
Ride the van to your mechanic to transfer the tools and you're back in business.
When the van is fixed, tranfer the tools back & return the rental van.
A PITA, but not 16 hours downtime.

Dave

spelling

[This message has been edited by Tiger (edited 07-21-2005).]

Yup, when we have the van out of service, we are renting a van that day, never miss a minutes work time, sort out the who, what later.

Renting a van, should not be something that puts pressure on your budget, try to treat your truck as a budget item, and be sure to get all your truck expenses, included in this budget figure, and include this expense on every job, this way, when the unexpected happens there is little or no strain.



[This message has been edited by LK (edited 07-21-2005).]

+1 for the rental option...

admittedly, if your back end is full of parts, it'll be a mess for the interim, but even if you leave you spares @ the dealer, you can get to the site and keep your tools with you while you main ride gets fixed.