tftimm

All,

I got sandwiched on Friday thanks to an idiot in a XTerra who hit the car behind me, the car hit me, and I hit the car in in front of me. We were all stopped letting a car turn into a gas station and BAMMM. He was probably on a cell phone or something, who knows.
My back bumper is damaged on the bottom from about the middle of the bumper to the right side. Nothing serious, the bumper moved a bit, but hardly at all. THey will need to fill in the scrape marks, buff it out, and re-spray it.
As for the front, it is just around the license plate bracket since it got pushed back into the bumper. Probably just a simple buff and re-spray of the front bumper. Also, the frame for the A now sticks out a bit (about 1/8") since the bumper got pushed back a bit.
Oh yea, I need 1 new exhaust tip since the tip of the tip got bent about 1/4"

My question is, how much am I looking at for both bumpers to be re-finished, sprayed, and mounted. Just curious. I'm going to take it to the dealer sometime this week to get in fixed once I get the police report and contact his insurance company. Any thoughts???

I'm pissed, my 08 has less than 6K miles and i already got hit.

I'll try and post pictures ASAP, they probably won't be real clear though.

Destrejc

I'm sorry about that man, but from your description, your probably looking at 2000K to 3000K, (I'm guessing here) Hopefully everything works out.

LukeaTron

You typically don't repair bumpers that have had an impact since they're one shot deals at dissipating the energy from that impact. You've surely broken a large number of the mounting tabs which cannot be reliably repaired (the vibration tends to rebreak them when repaired). You'll need to have the metal frame behind the bumper checked out to make sure it hasn't been damaged. Also look closely where any piece of metal lines up with another (door edges, trunk and hood lid) to make sure nothing has been tweaked.

Hopefully the other guy has decent insurance as you deserve to have your brand new car brought back to condition it was in before this asshat's negligence f'ed it all up. You should also inquire to into diminished value recovery if it's applicable in your state since your vehicle history will now show an accident and that will lower it's market value if/when you decide to sell.

Good luck.

DLTSX6MT

That blows. Good luck. And don't be surprised when the guy in front of you sues you for massive neck and back injuries.

CGTSX07

since you are not at fault and your car is practically brand new, i would demand brand new OEM bumpers

odannyboi

I heard that Acura TSXs that have rear impact has expensive costs.

Saw it on one of those dateline TV shows, at low speed at cost like 2K to fix the rear.

LukeaTron

It's all the energy absorbing stuff. This is going to be an issue for all cars going forward. The bumpers are one time use jobbies. They're designed to take lots energy moving in one direction (a big heavy car plowing into you) and redirect as much as possible into random directions and heat. This removes energy from the impact thus protecting the cars squishy insides (you) from being the recipient of that energy.

The way your body and the car deal with this energy are very similar. They crush, stretch and otherwise deform. If the energy levels are sufficiently high, they break and fly apart. It's a lot cheaper to put the pieces of a car back together than the pieces of a human.

In the old days, collisions between cars were essentially inelastic with the car tending to absorb nearly all the energy in a single direction thereby inducing a massive G-load on itself and any one inside. Smart people have deemed this a bad idea and now cars are far less rigid and the collisions biased toward the elastic flavor. This is all with the intent of keeping the squishy insides at a consistent level of squishiness. If that means more expensive repairs, I can live with it.

TS_eXpeed

+1
My sister's car got hit about 8 months ago or so, and it hardly looked like anything, but when they actually got to taking the bumper off, there was some pretty decent damage to it. I think it may have shifter or something, I can't exactly remember. But definitely have the bumpers checked out!



Regardless if he hit him, the guy that initiated the chain of events is responsible. He should be sueing the guy who started it.

HI OFECR

If your exhaust got hit you should be sure to check it all the way to the block, chain reaction could have done more damage than you think.

tftimm

I spoke with my insurance and I'll get the police report tomorrow. I'm sure it will clearly state that all the fault was with the XTerra. My insurance said the only issue would be if the guy in front puts a claim against me. As long as the police report states that it was all the fault of the XTerra, no big deal, we will all file against him.
As for the damage to the car I hit, it made a couple little chip marks, it was like an 06-07 accord. The car behind me took about 70% of the damage, the car is jacked.
All three vehicles were stopped, so we weren't trailing to close or anything like that. I want two new bumpers, but we'll see. The front is hardly noticable.
As for the exhaust, I thought about that too. The tip is bent on the top of the tip and best down at about a 45, only about 1/4" so I'd be suprised if it caused more damage, but I'm going to mention it.
I took pictures of it, I want to take it to the dealer I bought it from, about 150 miles away, but I don't trust anyone else to make it like it was before.
Thanks for your advice, and I am suprised at how well the TSX held up.