Long story short I got into an accident. I got hit sideways in the front right corner of the car in front of the wheel. I need a new hood, fender(s) rad support, bumper with cover, radiator, one headlight, one bumper signal light. That's from what I can see visually, don't know what else might be involved.

I think the frame is bent as well...

I'm feeling really shitty right now. I don't know what to do. Insurance won't cover it so the only options are either me doing it with some help from my dad or just let the car go as getting it fixed by a professional is expensive. I had a quote for $1500 for labor and paint but not parts. I'll take some pictures and post it some maybe you guys could tell me how hard it would be to fix her up because I really don't want to let this car go especially that it's not worth much money and I still really like it. Where to get parts at reasonable prices besides junk yards as these cars are really rare where I live.

Any success stories of restoring accidented cars would be greatly appreciated. I need some sort of DIY links or something if anyone has any.

 

I'm so sorry. I can only imagine how that feels

 

that sucks

 

Ouch!! Sorry to hear that. Glad you made it out safe. What exactly happened? If someone hit you, why their insurance won't cover it?

 

Sorry.

 

Damn, that really sucks! What happened?

~Cheers~

 

Whose fault was it? If not you, will they pay for all the repairs? Or just pay you the salvage value of the car? Is that your concern?

 

I stopped at a stop sign, didn't see anyone so I started accelerating and then BAM! a young kid came out of nowhere and hit me in the front right corner. It's a hundred percent guaranteed that he was speeding but there's no way to prove it. Problem is that I had a stop sign and he didn't. That's the reason that the insurance is not going to cover it. One person standing around told me that there's an accident at that intersection almost every week. It's poorly designed, but that doesn't really matter now.

Things like this happen all the time but usually both people are looking at the road and stop in time, wave at each other and continue on with their lives. But this guy was going over the limit, was probably talking to (and maybe looking at) his girlfriend who was with him and didn't pay attention to where he was going. Situations like this are usually avoided, but this time it wasn't and I get the worst of it.

I don't know what to do... Anyone who has had anything similar happen to them knows how it feels.

 

The damage is the proof that he was speeding. Even in an intersection light his where he technically has the right of way, he is supposed to slow as he approaches. I would get a lawyer and fight this because hitting you in the front right corner means that you were already an entire lane into the intersection, since Canada drives on the right side of the road.

~Cheers~

 

I asked my insurance co. if it was possible to get my car examined to determine that he was speeding and they said no. In Quebec the law says that responsibility is either 100% or 0%; you cannot have a 50/50 situation and the fact that he didn't have a stop overrides everything.

To add insult to the injury after filing a report the police officer at the scene even wrote me a ticket for not giving right of way to the guy who hit me. He said that his computer was down and that I would receive the ticket my mail. I don't know how much it will cost and how many demerit points I'll receive but I'm guessing ~ $600/5 pts. Moreover, even the freakin' fire fighters showed up (never seen that before) and they cut the wires that go to the battery and cut my oil cap off! It's just insane.

I don't think it's worth to fight this in court as it will most likely end up costing me more in legal fees on top of my car being wrecked. The car's sitting in my dad's garage and I don't even want to go see it to take pictures... Maybe I will this weekend.

 

sorry ..

 

Sorry about the accident. An engine bay tweaked sideways is done and can never be put back into spec. Shop for a new car.

 

 

that sucks..

hopefully some good comes out of this!

 

Don't see any good coming out of this sadly. This really sucks especially that I spent so much cash on having everything run tip-top. Today I received the RL shift knob that I ordered last Thursday. Painful.

 

I am sorry to hear about your case.

I spent a whole weekend giving this BMW I owned a complete detailing (claybar, wash and wax, the works). Then that Monday, it was destroyed in a car accident. Same basic situation as yours. I had a stop sign and there was a neighborhood marker post thing at the corner that blocked my view of incoming traffic. I thought it was clear so I came out and got nailed in the driver side.

A few weeks later, the marker post thing was removed. Took an accident to wake somebody up.

So I know things suck for you right now, but it happens to the best of us.

 

sorry to hear what happen to your car, about a month ago i got into a terrible accident the same day i went for an estimate to get my car repainted for the summer. had to drive four hours away from my home to get all the parts from a junk yard from the only first gen that was sitting in the yard.

 

Ironically enough I was also going to get an estimate from a body shop to see how much it would cost to repair the rust that I have on the car.

Thanks for the support guys, it helps because at least you understand how it feels to lose a loved car, whereas a lot of people say that it's just SOME car.

 

I feel the pain. But this this ugly experience to something positive....there has to be a good side to this.

Good luck with your quest to retrieve your car, or else start shopping.

Our 1st gens are a class of their own.

 

Here's a little update.

I decided against fixing the car because paying someone to do it will cost too much and since I don't have a garage I can't really fix it myself neither. I'll be striping as many parts as possible and try to sell them in order to recoup some of the loss.

I needed transportation and finally settled on this:




It's a decent car but I still prefer the TL even though many people told me the opposite. At least it'll be good in winter.

 

Congrats!! thats a nice looking truck.

 

I've always loved those Infinitis Hate to hear about the TL though

 

Gl!

 

how bad was the damge on ur TL...

 

It basically needs a whole front end. It's hard to find these TLs around here and there's a lot of labor involved. If I would have a garage then I would keep the car there and fiddle with it. Over time I would probably end up fixing it. But it's just not really possible right now and I don't want to pay $100-150 to rent a garage in order to store the car.

 

Also I wanted to ask what parts are worth stripping. I have the rare charcoal interior which is in pretty damn mint condition - Only the driver seat has a few cracks but the other seats near mint condition so are the door panels, dash, center console etc. Would anyone be interested in buying the whole interior?

As for under the hood? What is worth taking out?

 

If I still had my TL I would buy that interior.

 

Congratulations on the purchase. The QX4's are bulletproof. Only downside is the MPG

I had an 02 a while back, I really liked it. What year did you get?

 

I wanted an 01+ but it was more expensive than I was willing to pay so I ended up getting a 99. They are really underpowered compared to the 01-03's and the interior is not as nice but overall it's OK. The mpg is worse than the TL but not that bad. I keep it in RWD for now but it will probably use more fuel in winter with 4WD on. Ironically the mpg ratings for the pre-01 and 01+ models are exactly the same even though the newer models have a bigger engine.

I like the fact that they're reliable and that they have those oh-so-rare yellow fogs just like the TLs.

 

How many miles?

 

132k miles. More than my TL had but it runs smoothly. The previous owners were pretty anal with their maintenance. I also managed to get the person whom I bought it from to get the timing belt changed along with the water pump, t-stat and 3 seals.