Hi, I got into a accident and my friend that drives a 08 TL-S told me to come here to ask you guys for opinions. I got into a accident last night. I was driving normally and it was really slippery for some reason. I was driving straight and then I came upon a curve that was pretty sharp. ( i drive this everyday ) but yesterday for some reason my car just lost traction. There was a audi driving next to me same speed and didnt have any trouble driving on the curve. Once I hit the curve I slowed down like usual, and for some reason my car just started loosing traction and first it almost hit the audi was probably 1-2 inch away then the audi heard me going out of control and he dodge my car perfectly. ( damn those audi got good handles) Soon my mind was to make my car go straight ASAP and i steered my wheel to the left and it wouldnt stop sliding and i crashed onto the curb and almost went onto oncoming traffic. Right now 2 of my axles are broken. The front one is bend in wards and pulled back and the rear one is bend outwards and pulled back. My lip has a minor scrape. The thing is, what would you guys recommend me to do? Should I claim insurance? If I do they would just put stock parts back on and I will put coilovers on eventually. Also my AEM air filter came out and it was all bend. My side air bag deployed off my chair and didn't do crap. I am planning to pay this off my pockets and not deal with insurance. I saw axles for $100. Please give me some opinions. Thanks

 

i think you should talk to insurance. if your airbag went off....they MIGHT total it. i've heard crazy stories about minimal damage and the car being totaled. maybe totaled might be good for you, you could get another one.

oh and btw....audis have quattro. that's why he out-handled you. plus audi > tl

 

Hey sorry to hear it happened, good thing you didn't hit anyone else. I would suggest you to get some estimates and balance out the costs. If it is not much to pay yourselft, then go for it. if it is too much then you need to file a claim, and balance it out the costs if your premium will increase. you surely need more advices from people who already dealt with similar cases.

 

just got a shop to help me fix it. My friends shop. So he asking $1200 to fix all the suspension stuff. Axles,shocks,springs, etc. Hes getting the part used from a junk yard. So who knows if the shocks are blown or not. And for the airbag. I think I have to go to the dealer to fix that. Probably cost a thousand or two. thats what they quoted me.

i dont think that audi was quattro. it was a 05+ a4 2.0T. he had a advantage because he was on the outter lane. which gave him a bigger turn. I had to make a sharper turn. and it was raining so it made things 100x worst.

 

sorry about the accident. $1200 sounds pretty good though. The airbag deployment screwed you over though.

Do you normally brake hard for that curve? if so, could be an ABS failure. For the insurance to pay for the mods, you have to have had reported the modifications w/pics as soon as you got them on, and then your insurance would've gone up, but I guess you didnt do that.

I doubt insurance will cover it, they'll just claim driver error.

Maybe you shouldn't have been driving normally when the road was wet? any chance of black ice?

Good luck getting this sorted out.

BTW, i thinks 2.0s can come with quattro.

 

Do not buy used shocks and springs, especially not for $1200 or so. Might be a decent deal with the axles, but you could certainly do better.

 

Have a 2nd shop check it out- if the transmission was damaged when the axles got bent and ripped out---thats big bucks
The first question would be: do you carry Liabilty Insurance only?- that covers the other guy and his car if you hit someone.
If you carry Comprehensive- that covers your car and accident should be reported to your insurance. New parts will raise the repair price considerably.
A shop can give you an estimate- depending on your specific policy fine print- the insurance can say that aftermarket fenders and axles are to be used- saves them money.
They make a check for the total- if the shop and you agree to different shocks or whatever....within the same price range

 

Go to www.fivestarairbags.com and send them your vehicle information. You'll save a ton of money on the air bag. They will give you a quote and even offer phone technical support so that you may install the airbag yourself.

 

How much would you guys estimate for axles shocks and stuff around it. I actually have full coverage insurance but yet i dont want to deal with a raise on my insurance. It will only cost me 1200 to fix the stuff around my wheel not including the rims and tire. I know if i went to a junkyard myself i can get the parts for a steal.

 

You need to get a 2nd opinion on all the damage- just the visable stuff is not enough
If you start fixing it and see its worse than expected- now the insurance wont help you
Subframe damge would be expected if you tore the axles out while itr was in motion

Its going to cost well over 2-3gs yourself anyway right?
there is no way your insurance premium will rise 3000$$$$ in the next 3 years- so dont sweat it. This is WHY you carry full coverage- to cover YOUR car in an accident- well guess what happened....

 

$1200 is entirely too much for front end suspension fix. It's decent but not good. Check out car-parts.com. They have airbags at this site. What year TL do you have I have purchased two airbags and the control module for $700 shipped. In your case I would probably just go with the insurance company like the post above me suggested. If it is your first accident most likely your insurance company will not increase your premium

 

I would personally do insurance first and get back to OEM and then upgrade back to what you had. At least you know that the oem will be covered for any issues that may arise in the future.

 

its $1200 for everything around the wheels. Like the cambers shocks springs. the damage was all on the left. the right side is fine. $1200 is too much?

 

Depending on the shop you go to they might just put in whatever you want for the money you get. Depends on what the manager or owner say.

 

Yeah he's right

 

Do you think 1200 is worth it for the axles cambers shocks springs on the left side of my car? I am planning to just pay for it out of my pocket. I want a clean record because i am still young. For the airbags i might just leave it. What i am not sure is if my tranny was damaged during the crash. I might even have frame damage but this place is not taking a lool at that.

 

WHAT!!! not checked for frame damage!!!!,,, and you want to put money into it!
Not until the frame gets a laser frame check- or the old school method,
but most body sjops have gone computerized measurements.

So lets just imagine you put 1200 in, then find out the trans is jacked from the impact- that's 3000-4000 MORE dollars, plus with no airbags your comprehensive insurance is void, and if the other car is at fault in a future accident, and they discover your airbags did not inflate due to prior accident....suddenly your car has no replacement value as it should properly be titled as Salvage- since Airbag was standard safety equip- it MUST work- you cant sell the car knowing its not fixed either- major liabilty issues

You need a professional body shop to inspect it fully and document everything.
Your insurance doesnt screw you when only your car gets hurt- just when you take out 2 or 3 other really nice cars that your rates are affected
Stop guessing and call your agent

 

Just found out some horrible news today. My car actually has frame damage which will cost me 6-7k to fix including the side airbags on top of that i gotta pay for the axles shocks etc. 1200 dollars. Now the thing is if is if my car totaled because these prices is because i know the owner. So it may bay way over 7k to fix. My car is worth only 15000 kbb excellent condition. Should i just report this to the insurance .

 

Definately report it. Frame damage = totalled car. They'll pay you out for the whole thing, then just get yourself a new one,

 

 

i am so sad right now. I love my TL. Well the thing is. I don't have insurance under my name. The car is insured under my dads name. He is right now debating if he should report insurance because he owns 10+ cars ( company cars insurance, etc ) if they find out he totaled a car.

 

Didn't care to mention that earlier huh?

 

There was no police report taken down. No witness. Didnt mention it before because I was going to pay out of my pockets even if the price was over 3k. but now since is 8k. I have second thoughts.

 

well if you registered in his household youre ok, but your premium could up like woah.

 

Even if he claims insurance. It wont be under me. It will be through him. I am still young ( 21). He has a clean record. No accidents in his life/ticket. So I wonder how high will his insurance sky rocket? SO is it better for him to just leave it and not claim insurance? because in the long run if his insurance is really high, he will basically pay more than 10k in the future.

 

8k? Sorry man. How about just drivin one of your dad's 10+ cars? You won't need to fix anything nor higher insurance premiums.

"So I wonder how high will his insurance sky rocket? SO is it better for him to just leave it and not claim insurance?"

^It shouldn't go up THAT much because he's had such a clean driving record and assuming that he's older, but it will be higher than average because he does own 10+ cars. Are you listed as a driver on the insurance card for the car or no? If yes, that could also raise the insurance premiums because the insurance company knows that you're also driving the car. If no, then the the increase in insurance premiums won't be as high if your name is listed on the insurance card.

 

Well he has 2 car under his name my TL and his other car. But he also have company cars, company that he own himself. Not sure if it will bother his company insurance but he got 10+ company car under his name. I do not have any insurance at all. My dad is good friends with the insurance guy so then he told me that I dont need insurance. If I ever get into a car accident he will take care of me. But which means he will add my name and I will have to start paying insurance. Might turn out to $8000 per year because I totaled a car? This is so complicated.

 

ok, so i claimed insurance already. Insurance listed a couple of shops to go to. If i choose those shops they will not send a insurance rep. to take a look at the car and will trust the auto shop. If I bring it to the auto shop that isnt listed, they will send a insurance rep. So, what should i do? I want my car to be totaled. It will cost approx. $6k for just the frame damage,airbag and probably $1k for the axles wheels, etc. I asked the shop earlier and said if you don't want your car to be total then bring it to us. My car only worth 16k KBB private. If its trade in only 14k. So, should I try to find a shop that will try to make my car a total?

 

If you are all right with your car being totaled (I would be in this case), take it to a shop and see how much they can find wrong with it.