Hi J,

Wow,  sucks to be you.

A few thoughts off the top of my head:

1. Maybe you can find a way to get her to finance the repair over
time... a hundred a month over two years might be affordable.

or:

2. If she's had two at-fault accidents in the past year she should
think about hanging up the keys. She could sell the Cherokee, pay off
your repair bills and use the rest to pay cab fare. Find a drug store
that makes deliveries. Get friends and neighbours to help her get where
she has to go. My grandparents used to spend a fortune on their car
even though they only drove about 20 miles a week. If they had taken a
cab instead they would have come out way ahead on the $$$ they were
paying for upkeep, insurance and fuel.

The second choice seems more mercenary, but she is going to have to
stop driving eventually. Perhaps this is the right time, **before**
someone gets hurt.

Happy trails,

Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato**  LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com

On 22-Jul-04, at 12:46 PM, J. Stefanovich wrote:

> Then I heard a crunch.  She had backed her late husband's 79 Cherokee
> into the front of my van.  Here's the damage.
>
> http://img49.photobucket.com/albums/v149/skerarro/
>
>  I got five estimates for repair, ranging from $2100 - $2800.  Here's
> the problem. This lady is in her late 70's and lives on Social
> Security of less than $900/mo and spends a lot of that at Walgreen's
> on medication.  She has had two claims against her insurance in the
> past year, once when an uninsured driver rear ended her and one when
> she ran into a Coke machine in front of a convenience store.  She
> can't afford to pay $2000 + for repairs out of her pocket and she is
> certain that if she files with her insurance company she's gonna get
> cancelled and then won't be able to drive.