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I have a 1980 242 DL with 265k miles, 4 speed manual, lifetime warranty on my recent (<2 years) brakes, alternator, starter, water pump, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor; all fluids changed, including Dex-Cool antifreeze, new spark plugs, repacked wheel bearings within the past 1000 miles (they looked fine - very important piece of info), $180 to diagnose and fix fuel distributor/idle problem, installed electric cooling fan, solar battery charger, all told about $2,000 of parts since I bought it 2 years ago.
Last night, a SOB in a Saab tried to squeeze into a parking space and hit the front of my brick. I couldn't see much bumper damage, but my right front wheel was pressed against the curb (tire was compressed but not flattened). On driving, the car pulled to the left on all surfaces and the steering wheel vibrated at 55+ mph. The insurance adjuster was skeptical about the degree of severity of this problem. Happily, their repair facility confirmed that this was an unsafe situation and offered a front-end alignment, further diagnostic evaluations, and a rental car (not a Volvo :<). They diagnosed a bad right front wheel bearing and damaged rack and pinion steering, but more problems may exist if the alignment isn't normalized after these problems are fixed.
My concerns are:
I don't want the car totalled over this accident and get a salvaged title after all my work. I'm hoping that all my receipts will be adequate to show the value of the car
I want to prove that these problems did not exist before the accident (I had a mechanic work on the fuel distributor 3 days ago and hope he can comment that the car steered normally). I believe that the mechanism of the impact explains at the rack and pinion damage and wheel bearing problems. Is this a reasonable explanation? Can I do anything else to bolster my position in case the insurance fights me? I'm thinking of having an independent Volvo mechanic shop help out.
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