My Accident, The NJ DMV, and my Jeep....

[liobes]

I like to think I have a pretty nice Jeep - a 99 TJ. I bought it a few years ago with my mother. Well on the first of this year...I got into a little accident - big ole 14.5 inch wide Mickey Thompsons and pouring rain are not a good combination let me tell you....I ran off the road - uprooted two trees with my brand new rockcrawler bumpers with coincidentally knocked my front diff
The damage:
Snapped the driver side control arm mount off the diff
bent the control arm
slightly slightly slightly tweaked the driver side frame
Bent my header pipe
bent my front driveshaft and last but not least
I cracked my transfer case in half

My insurance company deemed the car a total loss but I wanted to keep it- Im sure many of you will agree that once you start putting money into your baby (or even if you still drive her stock) you dont wanna loose her - so I took the hit and bought it back from the insurance company and I thought all would be well...NOPE
My insurance then tells me they are going to drop me - GREAT
I now have to look for another insurance company, but not an insurance company, with the slew of tickets I received, I am now also a high rish driver......more great news - higher premiums
So I said screw it.....its only money...
I started searching around for parts to start fixin her up - I figured while I was at it - I might as well upgrade
$10,000 later (thats parts mostly)....with the Jeep about ready to leave the body shop I figured it was time to get this thing registered and insured because summer wasnt over
there I am last week sitting in the dmv line with a salvage title now that was in my momthers name that I needed to changeover to my name - there I sat for an hour and a half, of course, its not like they have a question line there, until I finally get to the window and the lady says, "Oh salvage titles, they are handled in Trenton." Well thanks for telling me
SOOO I call up the number in Trenton where I must have gotten redirected at least 12 times till finally some lady tells me I have to drive down to Trenton and get this salvage title changed to my name - One FRICKIN WORD changed
Alright fine, I made time yesterday and traveled to Trenton with the directions the lady told me to go - well what do you know - I get to Trenton and there are road closures all over the place - I get redirected every which way, I have no idea where I am, and theres no way in hell I stopping to ask for directions because the outskirts of Trenton is like downtown Harlem
I finally arrive at the MVC office - I wait in line for an hour until finally the lady at the counter tells me itll take a few minutes to change the name and $20....Sweet - I figured hey not bad
she hands me a packet of papers moments later and says here ya go have a nive day
I get into my car thinking man that was easy - I look at the packets of papers - a new Salvage title in my name and then a bunch of papers about inspecting the car - and no registration...hmmmmmm
so I go back inside..wait in line again - then finally I get helped by the same woman - I ask her where the registration is, she replies,"OH you wont get that until you get the car inspected at one of these three facilities on this paper." So me frustrated asks, "Well why didnt you tell me that before???" She replies,"Oh well I figured you knew....."
So here I am filling out more paperwork - I sit on line again and the lady tells me alright I need a $200 check for the inspection
Okay I said
then she hands me more papers - tells me I have to fax a bunch to the inspection site I chose - and then call them up to set an apointment - and then after that inspection - I have to drive all the way back down to Trenton to get the registration!!!!!
So I called the inspection site this morning - the next available date is Sept 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't win.....I just can't.......
If anyone else out there can relate........................

[ian-X]

let me get this straight, you got in an accident in a vehicle you knowingly(or unknowingly if really it matters) made unsafe for certain road conditions, got a bunch of tickets in the process, had the insurance pay out the claim(which they were liable for and took responsibillity for), you're young, and wonder why you were non renewed(they didn't cancell you)? and to top it all off, you're frustrated because you didn't ask enough questions when speaking to the people with the answers?

all i can say is be greatfull you weren't hurt and write everything down so in the future you don't forget this lesson.

one more thing, use the phone, it decreases your driving time dramatically.

[MrMischief]

Want to talk about insurance frustrations? I'm 23, clear driving record. I've had state farm insurance since I was 15 paying about $100 / mo for coverage (I lived in Montana). During this past winter I was driving in my old car through WY. It was snowing pretty bad middle of the night. To make a somewhat long story shorter, I ended up sliding off the road into a cooley (let me tell you, when you're in a slide, hit the ditch and suddenly all you see in your lights is the black of night, that's scary). My friend, my car and I were fine, hitch a ride to the nearest town. Find a tow truck, get dragged out of there. I have full coverage and roadside assistance I'm golden right? Well state farm covered the tow bill no questions asked, but they would not let me renew my coverage. That has been my only claim. So I paid State Farm about 9,600, I had one claim that amounted to 300 I think it was and suddenly I'm to high of risk for them to cover. Frustrating. At least there was no problem with the claim. I now work for Ford Motor Credit in their loss prevention department. It's amazing how long an insurance company will twiddle their thumbs looking for any excuse not to pay for a claim. I think it was the modern day philospher Chris Rock who said "Insurance should be called incase $#¡†. If $#¡† doesn't happen, you should get your money back." Or at least, if $#¡† does happen, they should pay without so much of a hassel.

One of my business law professors once said that government is nothing more than a large collection of average minded people. I try to remember that everytime I have to deal with any government agency.

[sfr246]

I prolly shouldnt mention that i am 18 and pay less than $350 every 6 Months for insurace, :-)

liobes, Your best bet is to start selling insurance, looks like you are in a heap of a mess

[liobes]

OH yeah - I am very grateful I didnt get hurt - In fact, when I got into the accident, I didnt even feel much, just a slight jerk forward
And yes I am a young kid - 21 to be exact
but I am smart enough to use the phone, I guess I left that part of the story out
well I first called my new insurance company to get coverage on my jeep and asked them - look I have no idea what I am doing, I have a salvage title in my mothers name but I need to insure this car
they told me its no problem - have your mother sign it over to you as a gift - heres your policy number - GO TO THE DMV AND GET ANOTHER SALVAGE TITLE - mind you that is exactly what the woman told me to do
so that what I did - and then we get to the other part in my story where I tried calling the Trenton DMV office and I got redirected 12 times
or how about when I called to ask for directions and I was given the route with a traffic light every one hundred feet and road closures all over - granted it may not be that persons fault but all I am saying is - I cant catch a break (and yes I know, I have to say that I am lucky I didnt get hurt) but cmon....

[Whybu1]

Funny thing about insurance companies, they only want to insure those folks who are least likely to need the insurance (ie clean record). I have learned that when dealing with govenment agencies, ask many questions as they tend to only give you what you ask for. Still I feel for you as it sounds like Murphy's Law sure came into play.

[ian-X]

all I can say is that not all insurance companies are created equal. if you have state farm or farmers then tighten down your boot straps, you're going to be in for a rough ride. they had two consecutive rough years and are looking to decrease their losses. they have already placed a moratorium on certain lines of insurance in certain states with dramatic increases(and non renewals) in others.

[AirborneSilva]

If you had never been through anything like this before then how in the world would you know what questions to ask!?!?! I do feel your pain and hope that you can get this straightend out as soon as possible. Also, I'm sure that you were happy that you or no one else was injured so you then turned your attentions to your jeep and getting that cleared up....

Aloha

[lostwire]

NJ has the worst insurance around... sorry to hear about all that.

By the way, these three inspection stations you mentioned... are these places you have to go to get your tip papers? Please post what you had to go through as I'll have to go in two years. One of the best ideas I've had this year (& I don't have many) was to take my Jeep through inspection a month early... a few weeks before I had my lift installed

[liobes]

Thank You......Im glad that somebody understands....

you got it - the 3 places are Morristown, Asbury park, and Winslow
Apparently the gentleman I talked to on the phone at the Morristown site said that these places are the only places you can go to get the tilt test too - mine will have to go through that
they didnt give me any special instructions yet, but when i find out - Ill let you know

[Dioxide]

I hear ya man. I just recently had an accident on April 1st. Heck of an Aprils fools joke on me. It was raining like it has been for what seems like most of this year in NJ. I am just waiting for them to say we are in a drought again. I was in PA and needed to make a left turn there was no light so you pretty much turn when you can. Well I let the first car go by no problem but the second car that had no lights on and was a black car I didn't even see. So I went ahead and turned. He caught the rear end of my Jeep. Ripped my CB antenna right off as well as dented the rear panel and bent up the bumper. Of course the CB mount being extruded aluminum opened his fender like a tin can. All I could think of was oh great I just turned 25 and now I am going to get screwed by the insurance company before I can enjoy a lower premium. Luckily the policy renewed that very day so I have a bit until I either have to pay out the a$$ for insurance or I get dropped. Not really looking forward to that. I have never even gotten a ticket before either. Accidents seem to be my thing. I was rear ended two times when I had my 98 XJ and a third time the XJ was hit by a car when parked put a nice dent in the tail gate. But the TJ hurt the most for me I really love my TJ. Cost me $1,400 to fix it at Holman body shop in Maple Shade they are customers of mine so I drove the Jeep over the day it happened. Originally it was going to cost almost $2000 but I told him it was out of pocket so he messed with it here and there to lessen the pain a bit. That I was not as worried about I could come up with some crazy way to get the cash, it's the insurance that has me worried I already pay $2600 for the Jeep now. And thats before the accident.

Gota Love NJ