Mike_TX

Guy pulled out of a parking lot into the side of my RL as I was driving along minding my own business. Another vehicle in the lane next to me was turning into the same lot he was pulling out of, so I guess it blocked his view.

I jammed the brakes to the firewall and tried to steer out of his path, but to no avail. The aftermath is shown below:









At least he has insurance, so I don't have to deal with some illegal alien who'll run back across the border. (Sorry, but that's too often the reality around here.)

Bummer. Just had the TL in the shop a few weeks back because of hail damage, and now the RL goes in. This just ain't fair.

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synth19

dude, that sux! glad you're OK though.

vluu

Very painful to see..... I feel your pain, sorry dude!

Rob144

That's painful to see.

It just takes one person not paying full attention to do something like this (or worse). Its all too easy to see how someone could pull into traffic if their view is blocked by another car making a turn.

What was the offending vehicle?


Rob144

Go90go

That's not getting t-boned, and the dents will buff out.

~Cheers~

SPUDMTN

Sorry to see the damage done. Does indeed look painful.

Good thing the offending driver has insurance--that is going to be rather spendy. How much do the door handles alone run? I'm assuming they cannot be too cheap considering the keyless access.

Does that door open alright? Window roll down? Just wondering how the car held up. Glad to hear you held up alright.

And like Rob asked, what was he driving? A white...?

Go90go

THIS is getting t-boned:





Or when I was spun around in an intersection before colliding with a third vehicle's driver door, which belonged to my friend's wife. She was about to get in to take her kids to karate practice and if she was 30 seconds faster, I might've killed her by pinning her to the door. My amp, which was drilled into the body on the left side of the car, was ripped out and went flying to the right side, tearing all power cables and speaker cables along the way. My rear passenger door was knocked in 2 feet.

~Cheers~

TampaRLX-SH

Mike,

Glad you are OK. That looks very repairable. I would think the most dificult issue is the paint finish / wetsanding effort.

But I have to ask....what resturant were you enroute to? This always happen when you eat out...I warned you.

slawek65

If any of You guys can post pics for me I can show You what happen to my RL.I am OK,an thanks God You are to Mike.

dtrose

Glad to hear that you are ok. If you'll remember I'll the one with the nasty front end accident last December (pic below) and did approx $16,000 in damage.

Although its been repaired, its not the same car.

Chas2

Mike,

I am so sorry to hear this. I am glad that at least you were not hurt.

ssim3

So what r u going to replace it with?

GoHawks

Sorry to hear about this Mike. First the hail damage and now this.

FWIW, there doesn't seem to be any structural damage. Probably will replace the doors.

Did the side airbags or curtains go off?

Doesn't look like it.

sab35263

It hurts me to see these vicious photos of your RL. Some drivers out there should not be licensed to drive at all. Hope you get it fixed fast.

SpicyMikey

First, glad to see everyone's OK Mike.

Major inconvenience, but, look on the bright side, he had insurance AND you're leasing! No need to worry about your residual value going to sh** after it gets reported to CarFAX.

RL06tech

Sad to see such a waste. Although not major damage it still hurts. I bet the repairs will cost a ton. Send us some pics once its fixed and let us know how it all works out.

AsianTL

Sorry to hear your car was damaged.
At least, you are ok.

Rob L

Damn sorry that happened to you and in the way it did. However, as stated, there doesn't seem to be any major damage so a couple replaced doors and a fix of that rear panel scrape and should be good to go.

neuronbob

Damn, Mike, you can't catch a break, can you? At least you're not hurt. Hopefully all they have to do is replace the doors.

dtrose

Sorry for the repost. The previous Pic Hosting provider appear not to be working so I'm reposting pics

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VOdoc

Yikes! Our collective worst nightmare, getting hit. Glad the car protected you as designed.

If the doors are structurally OK, the body shop may just replace the metal "skin" and the front door handle. It'll cost plenty no matter how they do it.

Unfortunately a repaired car is never quite the same from an emotional point of view, even if it turns out to be mechanically and esthetically indistinguishable from new.

jswearingen

Doh! Glad you're ok, my Texas Amigo. If you're in Houston, having the guy who hit you have insurance is a pleasant surprise.

In the other good news department, at least you didn't pull the trigger yet on some new wheels that may have been carved up in the mess.

Curious if your lease has a clause about diminishment of value due to an accident. If so, it's something to discuss with the insurance agency on top of your other damages. From the looks of it, you're going to get paintwork done on both doors and the rear quarter-panel, which really hurts resale. Sure you have other things on your mind (like being thankful to be alive) but if you can get some info from the leasing company about the hit you're going to take for this, it should be added to the schmuck-driver's tab.

miner

Mike,
I'll be in the DFW area this weekend if you would like for me to bring my RL by for you to drive - in case you go through withdrawals.

Mike_TX

Sorry, guys - we left town the morning after the "hit" and I haven't had access to the forum.

Thanks for the sympathies. No one was hurt, and I've filed a claim with the offender's insurance company. I think they plan to come out in the morning and make their own appraisal (which, of course, matters only for their own records, since it's going to be repaired by an Acura dealer and they'll pay whatever it costs. )

Answering your questions: The vehicle that hit me was an old '88 Ford Ranger pickup. And this time, I wasn't going out to eat (or returning from eating. LOL.)

I'm planning to take it to the dealer tomorrow morning to get their estimate and make arrangements to get it in the shop. I haven't even tried to open the doors or windows on the "hurt" side, since I don't want to end with a door that won't close back. Also, opening a window might subject it to bent metal inside the door, damaging things worse.

The airbag didn't deploy, presumably because there was no passenger in the seat.

Unless the repairs somehow end up being a complete mess, I'm planning to keep this one. Otherwise, I'd just trade for a 2007 or 2008 RL, since I've really enjoyed the car. Given the RL's not-so-great trade-in value, though, I'd probably have to fork over a lot more dough than I'd like to, so I'm going to try to make sure the repairs are A-1.

And, Dtrose, I know what you mean, but Im crossing my fingers they can do a good job on it.

As for the lease, I have two options: One is that getting it repaired by an Acura dealer should put me in as good a spot as possible relative to lease surcharges. I figure I can say, "Your own people repaired it to Acura's specs, so don't give me that diminished value stuff". Failing that, I will reopen the claim with the other guy's insurance company for DV. In Texas, we have that prerogative. But I still plan to broach that with them up front.

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Mike_TX

Miner, you're too good to me.

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SpicyMikey

Mike, I didn't realize having an accident puts you in a bad spot with a lease. Are you saying they can hold the leasee responsible for any reduced value caused by the black mark an accident causes? Even if it is fully repaired? If that's true you're better off having it totalled.

I've leased several times in my life but never had an accident with them.

SpicyMikey

Mike, I didn't realize having an accident puts you in a bad spot with a lease. Are you saying they can hold the leasee responsible for any reduced value caused by the black mark an accident causes? Even if it is fully repaired? If that's true you're better off having it totalled.

I've leased several times in my life but never had an accident with them.

Mike_TX

What happens is if you have, say, $5,000 worth of damage and you take the car to Uncle Willie's Paint & Body and Tacqueria and spend $2,500 on it to get it patched up, they will ding you when you turn the car in at the end of the lease.

If, OTOH, you get it fixed to Acura specs, they won't give it a second look. So says Acura. That's why my RL went into the dealer's shop this afternoon. They can't quibble with repairs made by their own people!

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Mike_TX

Oh, I don't think I told you the same hail storm that trashed my TL also totalled the 4 yr.-old roof on my house. I thought it was okay, but when the neighbors all started showing up with roofers I called the insurance company. The adjuster climbed down the ladder and said it has to be replaced. Oh, did I mention I have a $5,800 deductible? *sigh*

No, this is not the year for breaks for me.

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SpicyMikey

Well, you got a new roof for $5800.

Just trying to look on the bright side for you buddy

Mike_TX

Yeah, and not only that, but I got it 26 years before it was supposed to wear out! What a deal!

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TampaRLX-SH

Even the hail is bigger in Texas!?

lindros2

Interesting how my $23k in damage was "mostly cosmetic"... Airbags and panels and paint and labor cost a sh-tload.

BTW - my RL is perfect after my incident, but there was no door damage (which is tricky with windows and electronics and such).

Mike_TX

The dealer's body shop guy noticed one ominous thing: The body-colored "tupperware" bumper cover underneath the passenger-side headlight was bowed out like a little bird's mouth waiting for food from mommy. That means there has been some kind of torquing of the front fender.

I had previously thought the dude's bumper missed my front fender and just started at the passenger door, but this suggests the fender has been pulled or otherwise distorted enough to pop the bumper cover out of its track clear around on the front corner. I hadn't even noticed that before he pointed it out ...

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TampaRLX-SH

If you ever watch those crash videos in slow motion, you can see how the body panels fex and flutter with any kind of impact. Part of the energy absorbing structure. The downside is that more is affected in the energy absorbtion than the traditional rigid structure of body on frame in the past.

I was just watching the luxury car impact videos on CNN today. Rear bumper impacts made the trunk sheetmetal flex and flutter like cloth, even though here was no direct impact to them.

I think the key to repairs will be if the B pillar or the side rail was distorted. Not to say they cannot be well repaired, but that would lead to more body alignment issues.

Our armchair evaluations are merely opinions, but that damage looks very fixable. I think the detail of paintwork / wetsanding with be the toughest job?

I know you will keep us posted!

Now it is safe to go out and get a bite to eat. We'll pray for the MDX.

Mike_TX

I sure hope so ... I'm starving.

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Mike_TX

Looks like the preliminary estimate for my RL's repairs is about $4,750 ... a bit less than I would have guessed. Of course, the total could grow as they get deeper into it.

I was there yesterday to retrieve some things from the car, and they had cut a basketball-sized hole in both doors to peek inside and get an idea of internal damage. Looked odd to see a cutaway of my car's doors!

Body shop guy says he doesn't think at this point that the B-pillar has been damaged enough to be concerned about. I had expressed some concern that it might be tweaked enough to create problems with door alignment, etc. He kinda tried to hide a smile, and said they could handle anything they ran into. Looking around at some of the casualties in the shop, I guess I have to think mine is small potatoes by comparison.

In the meantime, I'm motoring around in the Hertz rental - an '07 Nissan Altima. No, sadly, it's not the V-6 version. But I have to admit the 4-cyl is a lot spunkier than I expected. CVT is a little weird, but I expected that.

All in all, having a car in the shop sucks.

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miner

Now, the Altima is not the same class as the RL. Doesn't the offending driver's insurance need to put you in a 'like' class car? Who is doing your work? $4750 is less than I expected, too.

Mike_TX

No, the at-fault insurance company will generally pay only for reasonable substitute transportation. In this case, though, I am having my own insurance company handle the repairs under my collision coverage, since the other guy's insurance company was dragging their feet. My own rental coverage is limited to $35/day, so that's what I get for $35.

The repairs are being done at a local Acura dealer, Goodson Acura.

(BTW, my insurance company is subrogating against the other guy's insurance, and I'll get my $200 deductible back when they collect. In the meantime, it's worth it to be able to get my car on in the shop.)

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Mike_TX

Wow, the dealer's body shop keeps me updated via email daily, and they have already progressed to the "paint" stage. They've effectively had it only 4 full days, since it was Friday afternoon when I took it in, so I'm impressed with their speediness. Yesterday's report showed "metal work", so I guess they got both doors skinned yesterday.

Of course, the paint stage involves lots of stuff, including prep, sanding, primer, paint, clearcoat, etc., and lots of drying time in between. So I'm not expecting it to be finished for another week or so.

Nevertheless, after having another shop take a full month to fix my TL's hail damage, this is really encouraging.

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