Hello all,

Is my TL totaled? That seems to be the question of the day. My 2000 TL was hit by some drunk punk (no license or insurance of course) that ran a red light last Friday. It was hit at about 45 MPH in the front left tire/door/quarter panel area.

The front airbags both deployed, but the side airbags didn't, even though the collision occured on the side.

The frame is bent and at a minimum I will need a new door, qtr panel, tire, wheel, front bumber, hood, paint etc. That doesn't include any of the damage to the motor or interior. My big fear is the suspension. At first glance the repair guy seemed to think it would be totaled, but now he's not so sure.

Quite frankly, I want it totaled. The car will never drive the same, not to mention the diminshed value when I try to sell it.

I'm pretty bummed, because it is a great car, but it's pretty messed up and I don't want to take the risk of future problems.

Does anybody have any thoughts or advice?

 

Were you standing still... and that drunk was doing 45mph when he struck you? if so... I am glad to know that you are okay...

If you meant that you were doing 45mph while this all happened... it's hum... well still nice to hear from you...

welcome to this board BTW...

From what I see I think this car should be totalled... cuz my guess is that the front axle is most likely bend... if the front axle and the front suspention is still okay... then they might try to fix it...

but just sit back and relax... the two airbags alone are gonna cost some serious $$$... so..... I would guess that your car is GONE...

 

Actually, I wasn't even in the car when it happened. My wife was on her way to work. She was turning left onto a highway (some of our highways have stop lights). The guy headed south didn't stop at the red light and hit her. She was going 15-20, he was going at least 45. It threw her accross the freeway about 45 feet and she (lightly) hit another car that was stopped at the same light headed north.

Remarkably, she is OK and the car handled the crash incredibly well. It was still running at the end of the crash! Actually, I was shocked. She is just a bit sore, but that's it. The safety mechanisms in the car all performed well except for the side airbags.

Get this, the guy has had 4 (yes I said 4) DUI's, he has no license, no insurance, the car wasn't his and he fled the scene! The cops rounded him about 15 minutes later. The bad part is that he is blaming everything on a minor head injury and he will likely get out of the DUI and fleeing the scene. Did I mention that it was 9AM and that he had 12 beer bottles in his car!

It still blows my mind!

The car was running, but I doubt it would start now. It looked to be leaking fluids.

What is the magic number to total the car? I think it's worth about $22,000.

Any idea what the price is of having the airbags re-packed?

 

Dont worry man....I thought my car was totalled but it wasnt ( i wish it was though) I got all new suspension parts, tire, wheel, evrything on the front right side, hood, panel, HID light ( that whole thing was about 800) and the whole passenger side and some of the driver side had to be painted. The other ladys batterie exploded. But none of the air bags deployed.

 

Well, I ain't no expert at this... But with American cars, they sometimes total them for less seriours crashes. Part of it is because the value of the car is so low that it's better off for them to totall the car.

e.g. 1994 Dodge Intrepid, perhaps to fix the car is like 10k while the value of the car by the book is about 5k.

With Japanese cars, they usually hold their value pretty well. So, it's less likely for them to total a car.

I personally think that it really depends on the insurance company. My friend crashed his M3, and most people would think that they had better off total the car. But they choose to fix it. The frame alone cost $8000 Canadian Dollors...

So....

 

If the Unitbody is bent bad enough and you have sheet metal damage aft of the firewall, there is a good chance they will total it. Do all the door still close fine on the drivers side? What about the passenger's side? how bad is the engine compartment damaged?

 

The last time I heard, it was still about $3k each for the airbags, in addition to the other sheetmetal and possible front end damage. Not to mention that the insurance company needs to compensate you for the depreciation of your vehicle following the accident. I'm guessing it's probably totalled, although your adjuster should be able to tell you for sure.

Any legal ramifications for the idiot that hit her? After all, if this is his 3rd DUI, they need to lock him up and throw away the key. The guy's a menace to society.

 

Not too many people now that if they choose not to total the car, you can get them to pay for the decrease in value of the car due it being in the accident. So if they do not total it, you can still get the depreciation value of the car from them.. If not just call a lawyer, they'll do it. Your insurance policy insures that your car is returned to you in the condition before it was damaged, including the value of the car, thus they have to pay depreciation value to the customer. Not too many people know this and just settle for the car being repaired without fighting for the depreciation value.

 

Didn't realize that on the decrease in value. Good information to know!

 

Yeah, I didn't know about that depreciation until I had seen a consumer reports article. Those airbags are gonna be expensive, not to mention the frame straightening, that'll be some big bucks. I'd say that if you have structual damage aft of the firewall that they'll total it due to the fact that straightening it will cost soooo much money. Look at your door gaps and check in your door jams and that'll give you a good idea. Also, tell your insurer and bodyshop that you will only accept genuine Acura replacement parts and that you want to see the invoice from the dealerships, that'll push estimated cost up a little and make totaling likely. Personally I wouldn't accept anything unless it came from the dealership/factory when it comes to a car as new as yours. Good luck!

 

Here is what I can say.....

Is your car has NAV? What's the milage? That makes the car value go higher or lower.

The insurance company consider total loss when the damage reaches 70 or 75% of the car value depends on the company. I was imagine your vehicle's damage and I don't think it will go more than 20K damage.
Your side airbag didn't deploy so it's less than 3K damage only on the SRS system. (2 airbag, control module, wire, seatbelt, etc)
And about the front suspension, even though the insurance company decide to replace everything on left front suspension, it will not go over $3K.
Either way, it's quite a lot of damage. However, TL has pretty good resale value than other domestic vehicles.
Good luck and let us know.

 

I've seen lots of insurance company putting A/M parts or LKQ parts on 99 vehicle, even 00 vehicle nowadays. That's really up to appraiser or outside adjuster who comes out and inspect the vehicle.

 

If anyone needs price on suspension part just tell me I still have my list from my accident. My parts list was 2 pages long.

 

Odds are it is NOT totaled due to what the car is worth. I can pretty much assure you that they will be able to fix it cheaper than what it would cost to total it. But if I were you, I would push heavily on having it totaled. It will NEVER be the same once fixed.

 

I thought in Cali that we hand the right to choose who performs the insurance repairs which would essentially give us the right to request Genuine Acura Repair parts because if a shop doesn't give you the right to choose you could simply choose another shop.

 

Yes, you're right. The vehicle owner has right to choose the repair facility. However, there are certain insurance company's policy that the insured has to take the car to the pro-shop only. Otherwise, they're going to take off 20% of the estimate price and parts discount, etc.
I am not saying that they will put every A/M parts or LKQ parts on the car. However, there might be a possibility that they choose to go A/M parts, like radiator, A/C condenser. I didn't mean to scare you guys, but I just wanted to share my feeling. That's all!

 

Well, still no news about the estimate.

They did tell me that they will use genuine Acura parts, which is a good thing. The frame is bent pretty good. The driver door does not open or close, the rear drivers side door appears to be ok, but it's hard to say because we haven't tried it. The passenger door opens and closes, but the frame is bent on that side as well. The qtr panel overlaps the passenger front door.

Would I get a higher quote by towing it to a dealer? I wonder if they would be more likely to total it if they new they may sell a Type-S if they did ! :p

As for the idiot that hit her, no news there either. I hope they get him good. This is his FIFTH alcohol related incident! What a joke! I can't beleive that he is still driving.

 

You've gotta be kidding. Are they waiting for him to kill someone before they finally lock him up? If I were a judge I'd put him in an institution for the rest of his life. BTW Sorry about the car, but at least your wife was not hurt.

 

Hey Wingnut, what ever happened with this? I'm in the same situation now.

 

I was in an accident on Saturday night. My TL has all front end damage and both air bags went off. The car was not driveable and had to be towed away. It is a 2000 and prior to this was in excellent condition with 50,000 miles. Will this car be totaled? I know that I will not be happy with anyone that fixes it because it will never be the same.

 

i don't know, where do you live?

I have a 2k TL and i think blue book is still high enough to not total a car with that kind of damage... is your engine still ok?

 

I live in the suburbs of Chicago. The cop asked me to move the car because it was blocking traffic. It started but I could not get it out of Park. It was completely locked up. The front end is literally crunched in half and most of it is hanging on the ground. When I looked at the car and how badly it was damaged I was amazed that I was able to just get up and walk out of it.

 

I am not 100% sure on this but I think a car is totaled when the cost of the repairs is more than the value of the car. I am sure that you could probably do some research and find that out for sure. Good luck with it and I am glad to hear that your wife is okay.

 

with out pictures all we are doing is guessing.

and where do you get it will never be the same?? if its a good and reputable shop they can repair it to where its the same as original!

 

Yes, you can choose shops, but you are dreaming if insurance companies will use OEM parts on a 2001. They'd be dumb as hell if they used new OEM parts on a car that's 4 years old. They will most likely use LKQ (like, kind, and quality or used) parts.

 

The car was just 1 year old when this was posted.

 

I got into an accident approximately 1 month ago in my 1999 Acura TL 3.2. An 18 year old girl with a paper temporary license hit me with her brand new 2005 Toyota Corolla. I had JUST bought the car 2 weeks previously!

Here are my experiences.

Just from being hit on my front left side. They had to replace the whole quarter panel, hinges, bumper, fender, etc. A nice bit of damage... but it didn't look all that bad, and my airbags did not deploy.

My adjuster came out and quoted $8,000 in damage.

It wasn't done there though. I took it to the body shop that I knew had a very good reputation (FYI, Aaron's Body Shop in Hayward, CA was AMAZING). The estimate rose to $9,400.

Here's how they do their calculations for totalling. I know this to be true. They (insurance companies) have their own version of the Kelley Blue Book. The prices listed are MUCH MUCH lower than Kelley Blue Book. We're talking $11,000 for my 1999 TL with 45k miles. They take about 10-20% of that for salvage value -- meaning if they decide to total it, they will sell the parts off for that amount. So I was looking at 9400 bucks in damage, and about 1500 in salvage (my numbers are off, it's not exact). That means that they can repair it still (and they did, but 100 bucks more and it would have been totalled.

My guess is your car will be totalled. I also hate to depress you on this, but if you owe money for your car still, and it's over the value they give it... you're SOL. I owe 12k on my car. They would have given me 10.5 (deductable taken out). I would have been screwed, with no lube.

Remember, EVERYONE loses in accidents, your fault or theirs. My accident was not my fault, but I still ended up losing money on it, though not as much as I could have.

Sorry to bear bad news.

 

Thank you for the responses. I just received the repair estimate from the body shop and it is $8900. So now I have to wait for my insurance company to decide if they are going to fix it or not. I don't owe any money on the car which is good.

 

This man knows what he's talking about (in above & prior post). In addtion to above, an insurance company will consider totalling a veh if repair est is => 80% of actual cash value (acv). acv is usu determined by independent appraiser like CCC. factors that affect acv are:
mileage
overall condition
refurbishments
any prior damage

you can still get oem if after several attempts, the LKQ or A/M parts don't work or fit.

btw, above est will get you close to t/l. it will now depend on your car's acv. best of luck to you.