maximental

I was turning left and a little oriental lady in a Ford Explorer dicided to slap Betty in the a$$. She caught the last 5 ft. of Betty's right, (passenger,) side. As I was turning, she hit me, at slow speed, and slid the rear of the car over and around 3-5 ft.
My son was strapped in his carseat on the opposite side of the car. He was a little shook up, but fine. Everyone is okay, except Betty.
The Explorer had a little paint on the bumper. The towhook, and the liscence plate were scraped off.
I was able to use the spare and get her home. I looked for damage to the suspension, etc. when I had the wheel off and didn't see anything. We'll see what an alignment guy has to say.
I get to deal with the insurance people today. What a major PITA, I really didn't need this right now. Oh, well. If I'm lucky they'll total her out, and I get to start over. Good thing I got that "GAP" insurance.

Later,

Maximental

Ryan K

iTrader: (11)

That Sucks!

Were you turning left, in front of her, and just weren't quick enough? Did you get a ticket or was it here fault? I hate to see peoples insurance jump. I had a accident and my insurance nearly doubled.

Ryan K.

Z ANGEL

Oh, that's a bummer! It looks like a pretty hard hit!

I'm glad you and your son are both ok though, that's what matters most!

SmokinWS6

burbman

Unfortunately it does not look like near enough for a total loss. Glad to hear that you and the kid are OK. Best of luck with the insurance.

Poik

That sucks, but that is a pretty kickass spare..

maximental

Yes, I guess I just wasn't quick enough. I was going west, and the sun had made quite a bit of glare around the light. I had sunglasses on, and still had a hard time seeing the light, I had to shade my eyes. I waited for the light to turn green, and went.... The cops never showed up, so no one got any tickets.
RE: the total. I don't know. It will need, 1: a rear quarterpanel, I'm sure the labor for that and the part will be very expensive. 2: a new rear light housing, I know that will be several hundred dollars. 3: two new stock wheels, and a new tire,- there's almost 1K there. 4: a rear fascia -there's another few hundred dollars. 5: paint - 1K +... 6: a good alignment shop to look her over and make sure she is up to standards worthy of her stock performance #s.
Considering my 32K car is now bluebooked at 20K, 5K+ might be close enough to the % necessary to total it. I don't know at what % they do that.
What really sucks if they don't total it is the fact that I will probably have to wait for some parts from Australia. I have read posts where getting parts has beem a problem when other people have had accidents. It doesn't seem like GM has much of a parts inventory over here. Everything seems to still be in Australia where the cars are made.
I am going to try to get the ins. co. to get me a rental for the duration. I don't feel safe going highway speeds until she's fixed. The stock tire gets cut as I drive, I can't commute to work 22mi. round trip every day on the low milage spare.

Maximental

maximental

May look cool, but only 5" or so wide.

maximental

Nathan

that is shitty

WAHUSKER

iTrader: (4)

Man, that SUCKS Max. Such a pretty color too. What is it with all these Goats getting squished lately?

CHarris

iTrader: (5)

Sorry to see so much damage to that area. It'll be hard to get that to all look good again.

I'm happy everyone is at least okay, though.

I had a new front and rear fascia replaced from accident damage on my old vette. It was over 5K with no significant welding required. That panel is gonna be very expensive and the installation is gonna cost about 3 times the panel price I'll bet. It's too bad she didn't just hit the front end. That stuff is much easier to fix.

Crisisman

iTrader: (1)

I feel your pain Max. My front end is taking a beating. I got dinged in July...estimate was $900(not enough to justify the claim when the deductible is $500)...then just the other day I got slapped by a large piece of tire left by a semi truck. It didn't do any real damage, but scared the crap out of me, knocked the front fascia loose(popped it back into place just fine), and left me a huge black streak on the car(which shows up all too well on yellow).

Murphy's Law

maximental

Progressive, (Insurance Co.) had me drop the car off at a body shop this morning. I guessed at least 5-6K when I talked w/the guy doing the estimate at the shop, and he didn't argue. On the positive side, my deductible is only $500.00. We'll see how long this is gonna take, and how well she is when it's done.
I noticed some more damage to the car this morning too. A scrape on the lower front fascia, and the steering wheel doesn't line up right when driving straight down the road anymore = possible front suspension damage from hitting the curb after she spun me to the side.
Good grief Charlie Brown. I'm beginning to hope they really do call her a total.

Maximental

My1st Truck

iTrader: (8)

Sorry to see that man, hope it works out for you!

Amorget

If she hit you why does your deductible come into affect? She should be paying for this...

JP87GN

I do collision repair for a living and from the pics I seen there is going to be hidden damage to the inner quarter panel wheelhouse. Sorry about your luck!I hope its at a respectable shop!

Flaminchiten67

I think I saw you driving down 99 yesterday morning, I saw that same color goat with a guy driving it down 99 near Circle in the morning around 8:45 ish.

I would have been the guy in the pewter SS breaking his neck to get a good look at your car

GEARHED

iTrader: (5)

*repeat everyone else*
That sucks royal and glad you and your son are okay. I have noticed Progressive is more prone to total a car that has GAP, they did us and a few friends when I *know* they were repaired and re-sold. If you ask they pretty much will do it and no, you don't have to pay your deductible.
Q: did you decide not to wait for any police to show because of your son? I would have held out. Nothing beats a police report with so many people thinking they hit the jackpot even if they caused the crash

I'm not sure what is up with people lately but there have been a bunch of crashes - last night there was a fatality here where people constantly try to beat the left turn oncoming traffic light. I rolled up just as EM vehicles were - its so not fun to see a driver squished between the steering wheel and seat. At least the airbag was covering their face but not the blood.

Ya gotta watch it out there. People are going bonkers for seemingly no good reason and they seem to be out to get US!

Take care and don't be surprised if your son has nightmares for a few months even though he was fine. Mine did at 2 years old when a drunk driver hit us head on and same deal, not a scratch or bruise on the outside.

99blancoSS

iTrader: (115)

Very sorry to hear what happened, the most important thing is your kid was ok. As far as a total, I doubt it very much unless there is some frame damage. Your looking at obviously a new quarter as well as some other parts but unless the frame is bent a total is very unlikely. I have progressive as well. They were very quick to take care of things when someone smudged my SS with their boat trailer. Good luck and if its not the way it was before the accident take it back and make them fix it to the point of the way it was. From my dealings I've had they will total if the dollar value of the repair is more than the worth of the car, or the car is not structuraly sound (bent or damaged frame). Not sure why you want a total here anyway, you'll loose money. You just bought the car, it has to have depreciated past the point of breaking even. Unless you have insurance that covers the replacement cost of a new car and does not take depreciation into account. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd be surprised to see anyone break even at this point in ownership. You havent even paid for a full year have you? My guess is that you'd be loosing about 3k-5k on the deal. Like I said maybe I'm wrong. OR you could have the thing paid nearly off which would change the matter but I'd look at that before I decided to total

maximental

That would have been me. I had stuff to do that morning in town. I live just a little ways north on 99.

Ya can't miss Betty once you know her.

RE: not waiting for the cops. The ones here are completely useless. They probably would have found some reason to harass me or write me a ticket. Based on my previous experiences with them, (I grew up in this town,) I was better off not getting them involved.
Re: the total. Yes, I had the "gap" insurance put in the loan contract. The difference between what I owe on the car and trade-in bluebook is about 12K at this point. I've had it almost a year. It would be nice to get out from under the 600+ payments every month and start over. I've always liked the late model f-bodys, although some are a bit overdone on styling, IMO.
RE: Who pays what. It has been my experience that the insurance companies pretty well thrash this out amongst themselves. As to who's fault it was, etc..
/rant on
As a consumer, I feel that I really don't have much control of that process. This sux, but whacha gonna do w/out killing yourself by paying tons o' legal fees, and putting up with all the bs.
The insurance lobby pretty much gets whatever the hell they want in this state. Look at the "Mandatory" insurance law. In my mind, that's a perfect example. Mandatory insurance = more expensive insurance. I have never seen where the comission that is supposed to protect the consumers of this state have actually taken any action to reduce insurance premiums. Ya know if they had, we would have heard the insurance companies screaming bloody murder. /rant off

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words, and best wishes.

Maximental