Just had a car accident. Arggg!!!!!

[todd2000]

So I just had an accident in my 06' Corolla. Traffic came to a stop in front of me, I stopped, and the Lincoln Towncar behind me didn't! He actually hit me under my back bumper, and dented/crushed the spare tire well pretty good, and scratched up the bumper. He must have hit with a bit of force, cause it dented/buckled the rear Quarter Panels? (Not sure if thats the right term.) Also bent a few spots that you can see when you pop the trunk, and there looks like a spot where the weld broke.

Of course it figures I am supposed to leave, and drive to NJ on the 29th, this happened last time I was supposed to go to NJ too. I think I have to stop going to NJ!

Anyway here are some pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/tms2010/Oops?feat=directlink

Even though I don't have to pay for it, anyone have any idea what are we looking at as far as damage/repair cost/time goes?

[dukebound85]

bummer at least youre ok

i dont know about turnaround times as it depends on the insurance company

i believe you should get a free rental car for the time your car is getting worked on. ask your insurance company about it

[jessica.]

That does suck, but I don't think 9 days is enough time to get it all sorted. A free rental may be covered under your policy or the driver's. Hopefully one of the two. You're ok and that is what is key. The rest is just stuff.

I gotta ask, what is with all the sand and such in the spare tire compartment?

[todd2000]

bummer at least youre ok

i dont know about turnaround times as it depends on the insurance company

i believe you should get a free rental car for the time your car is getting worked on. ask your insurance company about it

Yeah, his insurance should pay for the rental, or we have coverage if not, but I'de rather drive my car 1000+ miles, instead of a rental.

[fireshot91]

It's not a thousand miles to NJ from VA. Unless you stop by in California on your way to NJ there isn't a possibility from VA to NJ is 1K miles

[rhsgolfer33]

It's not a thousand miles to NJ from VA. Unless you stop by in California on your way to NJ there isn't a possibility from VA to NJ is 1K miles

Round trip it is pretty close. And a stop by California would add about 2700-3000 miles to his trip (one way).

[dukebound85]

Yeah, his insurance should pay for the rental, or we have coverage if not, but I'de rather drive my car 1000+ miles, instead of a rental.

well you may not have a choice lol.

just think of it as 1000 less miles to add to the wear and tear to your car

[yg17]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. If you get a rental, you better check the terms of it. Some of them have limited mileage, or some only have unlimited mileage if it remains in certain states. If that's the case, you might want to see if you can get a friend as the authorized driver on the rental, let them drive it, and you borrow their car.

[jbrenn]

I think it might be totaled. I know the bumper on a 99 prism was $800 five years ago. Prism is 90% corolla

[iJohnHenry]

I won't argue to the point, but just 3 model years old??

Still, the unibody is totally farked, as evidenced by the creases over the wheel wells. If will be hard to pull it back to shape with a frame machine, or whatever they use now-a-days. ;)

[yg17]

I won't argue to the point, but just 3 model years old??

It could be a brand new car, and with frame damage, they'd still likely total it out. Frames can never fully be repaired to the state they were pre-accident without extensive and expensive repairs.

[AppleMatt]

I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a new car out of this, that's knackered.

Ignoring the structural damage, which itself looks quite significant, cosmetically...

Unfortunately the 'panels' it 'dented' aren't really panels at all in the usual sense. If the front quarter was damaged, you unbolt it, stick a new one on and blow it into the rest of the car. What you're looking at however are a series of panels that are bolted on during manufacture, then precision aligned, then welded, filled, sanded and finished so it looks, and functions, as one large metal body. You can't just stick new ones on.

See for yourself; look at the large dents behind the passenger rear windows. Now look for the edges of that 'panel'. You'll see it tracks right across to the front of the car, both along the top (terminating at the windscreen) and the bottom (terminating at the base of the front wheel arch). It also goes right down to the base of the car to form the rear wheel arch. Finally, it wraps around the back of the car (terminating at the boot). Assuming you did manage to get all this fixed, there's no real good angles for a body shop to blow into without it always looking like a partial re-spray.

Hire a rental, claim it on his insurance. See if you can't get a garage to report that it would be uneconomical to repair. In the mean time, look all around the car for any differences in the distance between the panels (check both spread apart and raised up - it can help to stand at one end and 'look down' the car). It's blindingly obvious the rear doors, bumper and boot are all out but there may be more.

AppleMatt

[iJohnHenry]

I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a new car out of this, that's knackered.

Especially if you "develop" whiplash. ;)

I've seen cars like this repaired. Follow them down the road, and they look like ruptured ducks. I bet it would never track straight and true again.

[AppleMatt]

Especially if you "develop" whiplash. ;)

Before I edited it, I had said "Looks like quite a blow, how's your back and neck?"

!

AppleMatt

[EV0LUTION]

http://www.forumammo.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10072/car-accident-with-tree-you-fail.jpg

[SFStateStudent]

That poor thing is probably totaled. The value of a 2006 Toyota Corolla is probably about $8,000.00 max, regardless of the mileage. Sadly, rear-end traffic accidents are worse than they look. Probably lucky that you didn't rupture the gas tank, though the gas fumes are difficult to get rid of if your gas tank or its components from the gas cap to the tank itself are damaged or evenly slightly out of alignment. Like the earlier posters mentioned, you may want to have it totaled then work on a down payment for a new one or a late model...:(

[Rodimus Prime]

Well I am going to assume it is repairible after I smash the hell out of the front of my 04 sentra about 2 months and did over 5grand worth of damage to it and they still repaired it. Remember they have to pay you cash value of the car which is going to be what it cost to replace it general from a dealership. That is a lot higher than the trade in value. My 04 SE-R sentra has a Cash value of about 12 grand which is what I would of gotten if the car was totaled. Kind of sad considering I only payed 16k new.

It is going to be in the shop at least 2 weeks if not longer because of the holidays. The holidays hurt because they have both reduced staff and fewer working days.

I will agree with you the rental car will suck. I had a rental and I hated it during the 2 weeks my car was in the shop. It was just not as conformable as my car and I sure as hell do not miss it.

It sucks but insurance should cover it all.

[Gray-Wolf]

In the pics, the damage doesn't look all that bad. You got off lucky it wasn't a strait on hit. A lot would have been crushed beyond repair.

[iJohnHenry]

It sucks but insurance should cover it all.

Yes, you could have no-fault, which, up here, means the tort system is dead.

No one is ever to blame is this pure World.

(Please, don't wind-me-up.)

[ucfgrad93]

Glad you weren't hurt. Definitely a bummer though.:(

[todd2000]

I gotta ask, what is with all the sand and such in the spare tire compartment?

Cat litter incident. :)

As for it being totaled, Im not sure. It seems to drive ok, the alignment seems fine. We shall see.

[63dot]

Sorry to hear that. The main thing is that you are OK.

[SUPERSTEVE9219]

I think it might be totaled. I know the bumper on a 99 prism was $800 five years ago. Prism is 90% corolla

Your car is alot cheaper than his

[jbrenn]

That poor thing is probably totaled. The value of a 2006 Toyota Corolla is probably about $8,000.00 max, regardless of the mileage. Sadly, rear-end traffic accidents are worse than they look. Probably lucky that you didn't rupture the gas tank, though the gas fumes are difficult to get rid of if your gas tank or its components from the gas cap to the tank itself are damaged or evenly slightly out of alignment. Like the earlier posters mentioned, you may want to have it totaled then work on a down payment for a new one or a late model...:(

the value is way off it is more like 14,000 depending on options and milage it might be more toyota holds value really well

Well I am going to assume it is repairible after I smash the hell out of the front of my 04 sentra about 2 months and did over 5grand worth of damage to it and they still repaired it. Remember they have to pay you cash value of the car which is going to be what it cost to replace it general from a dealership. That is a lot higher than the trade in value. My 04 SE-R sentra has a Cash value of about 12 grand which is what I would of gotten if the car was totaled. Kind of sad considering I only payed 16k new.


It sucks but insurance should cover it all.
The damage has to be more than 50% the value before the insurance company totals it. so your sentra was close.

Your car is alot cheaper than his only in resale value but the bumper was the same as a corolla. I bet the price has gone up over the past five years.

If it is fixable make sure that you have someone look at the engine and transmission mount this accident could have damaged them. if the transmission mount is damaged and not repaired your transmission will fail sooner. The price of a transmission is about 2 grand more if you go to a dealer. just let us know if it is totaled.

[Rodimus Prime]

The damage has to be more than 50% the value before the insurance company totals it. so your sentra was close..

Not always. It varies company to company 50% is the normal starting point for total but they will quite commonly go up to 70-80% of the cars value in repairs.

[tdevers]

Glad to hear you're ok. Rear end accidents are never fun.

You will be getting a new car. With the C pillars creased like that, there is some serious structural damage. It was designed to crease at those points so the transfer of energy wouldn't reach your body. That's also why you see the crush points distorted when you open the boot. I wouldn't feel safe in that car even if they were able to straighten it out on the frame machine.

[LeahM]

This is why I don't like people who drive with bologna tires. And I'm kinda glad that parts of Canada are enforcing snow tires.