All,

Coming home from a friend's wedding outside Toronto ... usual stop-and-go traffic on westbound 401. I get to the end of the line ... come to a complete stop. Traffic was going no where. Then ... tires screech ... bam ... then a second bam and my car jerks forward. JUST GREAT -- I got rear-ended. Luckily, no one in this 3 car chain reaction was physically injured. The people in the 2nd car (who got sandwiched) was a little emotionally traumatized by the situation but eventually calmed down. Clearly it was the guy at the end following too closely and going way too fast in such conditions (dry, sunny day around 83 F).

Took police about an hour to arrive. Paramedics came. I was pissed by all this due to my terrible luck. Then I realized it was fate for it to happen. I did everything right -- keeping a decent distance with the car in front of me, otherwise my front end would have been damaged (ie hit the car in front of me). The cop took my info & deposition ... made sure my bumper wasn't going to fall off and allowed me to go home. My folks were scared that I was seriously hurt (401 accidents tend to be really bad...) but I didn't seem to be any worse for wear. Will probably go see a MD (it's a long weekend in Canada -- Civic Holiday) but I have to work Sun & Mon. To the litigation happy out there, Ontario has no-fault insurance and collecting due to pain & suffering is next to nothing. What bugs me is my time lost to get my car fixed.

Below are pics of the damage ... I'm going to demand a new OEM bumper + rear skirt (if I can find it in eternal blue pearl!) Don't know if the trunk can be salvaged. I'm also afraid to check and see if I get open my trunk to get my suit out from the back. I am afraid the trunk won't close after opening it. When I look through the pass-through in the rear armrest ... I can see daylight. Hope it doesn't rain in the next couple of days...

Bummer! Glad you weren't hurt. What kind of car was sandwiched in between, and what hit her? Got any pics of the other two cars?

I have pics of the other 2 cars (perpetrator being a Chrysler minivan ... the sandwiched car a '97 Civic). The Civic's rear bumper is totally squashed and almost on the ground when I looked at it ... his trunk along with the 2 rear body panels will need to be hammered out (or replaced). The Civic was towed away. The minivan had rad fluid leaking after the impact so it had to be towed as well.

So all things considering, I came out not too bad. I have pics of the other cars but since it also has the other people involved with the accident, I won't post them since I don't have their permission. (avoiding legal problems due to lack of consent)

Damn, sorry to see that. yeah the accidents on the 401 are really bad when it comes to them! Hope everything else goes well.

I had a similar accident in March. That will run close to $6k in damages. There is alot more damage than it looks like, and I'm sure you will get a new rear lip, and they will paint it when they paint the bumper. They did that for me, so I'm sure it will be similar for you. Good luck with everything

Damn, I drove by you and didn't even realize it! Left Mississauga 2PM back to k-W. I saw a minivan in the left lane and a car. didn't realize it was you! I was pissed off b/c the traffice had been stop and go for 1/2 an hour. When I saw the minivan parked on the shoulder i was pissed thinking that this was the reason for the back up...it turned out that the reason was a tractor trailor flipped on its side and the right lane of the 401 was closed at hwy 6.
We almost got rear ended in the stop and go traffic by a Durango...the Durango had to veer into the shoulder to avoid hittting us.

The most important part is that you weren't hurt. Well maybe you'll hurt on the inside after seeing the rear end of your baby violated like that, but at least you weren't hurt physically

Figures! 'Cause you were afraid that I'd ask you to drive me back home in case my car wasn't driveable ... J/K ...

Wow Derrick, sorry to hear of your unfortunate accident. At least no one was seriously hurt. Hopefully they isn't any / much structural damage underneath. I was rear ended last year. Luckily all that had to be replaced was the bumper. Hope everything works out for you.

What a bummer Derrick. Good to hear that you're ok. Best of luck with the repairs.

looks like about the same as my accident... get a Wings west rear and mugen spoiler out of it like i did!

I'm not too sure about the WW rear skirt ... fiberglass if I remember correctly. I'll try and find an OEM rear skirt. As for the Mugen spoiler ... I was thinking about it ... but then I would be afraid someone here would 'jack the badge or even worse ... the whole spoiler. Maybe I can recycle the OEM spoiler since the insurance will try and do everything as cheaply as possible.

Daym Bummer Derrick! That sucks!!! atleast no one was hurt!!

WW rear skirt isnt fiberglass, its urethane... they damaged my rear oem skirt for like 2xx and my OEM spoiler for 5xx.... so i even had change left over from my mugen and ww

Oh, no, Derrick. That sucks. But glad to hear that you didn't get hurt. Good luck with the repairs.

Hey sorry to hear about your car, hope you get it fixed and everything works out. On a side not did you ever go to the doctor? Even if you are not seriously hurt it would be a good idea to go to the doctor. Just to make sure everything is okay, you never know.

Not sure how it works in Canada but I have been in a couple of accidents and even though I was not seriously hurt their insurance company fixed my car and then gave me some money for my troubles. (pretty much dealing with this bs, that isn't your fault) Hope that makes sense.

Good luck to you.

So far, I feel OK ... nothing out of the ordinary. Contemplating if I should see an MD or not. The force of impact wasn't that great and my neck didn't snap at all (since I saw it coming in the rear-view mirror at the last second).

Since it's a long weekend in Canada, I can't get anything done until Tuesday. (ie insurance claim, etc). Don't feel like going to the E/R of hospital or walk-in clinic for a half-ass assessment since I know nothing is broken. My good friend Mike, who knows cars & restoration, will help me go to the insurance adjuster and pick out what good body shops are in town (he has hook ups in the auto business in town).

Glad to hear your OK, bummer about the damage.

i had the exact same thing happen to me a month after i got my car. My damage was not this bad, but like you said the time wasted sucks. Not to mention the accident will probably appear on carfax reports now. Glad you are ok!

Sorry about the accident, but you should always get your back checked out from being hit in the rear. It may not hurt now but down the road it can cause pain. Looks like the accident I had in my civic and it was about 6500 to fix so they totaled it.

Well,

I called my insurance and they told me to go to any body shop in town. The shop will take pics and then send it to an adjuster to assess and then cut them a check to do the necessary work.

In the meantime, I'll be pimpin' in an '06 Sebring. Talk about 2 steps down in quality and feel.

So far, I feel fine. Don't have any real time to see a doctor. Have too much on the plate. Maybe next week...

only 2 steps down i think its closer to 4-5.

as for seeing a dr, if you were going to be ailed by something it would have/should have poped its ugly head by now. Keep us updated on the car.

go to a doc, get therapy and take advantage of those massages!

dats what i been doin for 2 1/2 months now lol

you can post them right?... all you have to do is paint their faces so you cant see em... its on TV all the time.. and their license plates

Well, just a quick update: I got my car back ... everything looks ok on the surface. However, the INSPIRE lettering they recycled and they did a poor job spacing out the lettering. Also, they are having a difficult time finding the rear skirt since it is a discontinued part.

In the meantime, I will wait until the part comes in so I can tell them to redo the lettering in the trunk. Plus, there is something rattling inside somewhere the rear area (sounds like a loose screw or piece of plastic) rolling inside some body panel ... only happens when I make a quick turn in either direction.

It never ends does it? The car won't be the same as before until you do a little troubleshooting on your own; "repaired" cars rarely please us car guys/perfectionists. Quite frustrating, indeed. I got in a wreck in March and it was an ordeal. I spent about 30hrs on the phone with the rental company/insurance company/body shop. The guilty partys insurance company acted liked they were doing me some sort of favor and the rental company was just flat out incompetent. That was during mid term week too... I do recommend going to a doctor though. I thought I was fine and I was until I started back at my old summer job. The work I do requires me to be on my feet all day and to do manual labor. Unfortuenatly, as I began to exert myself, I wasn't the same as the previous summer . I'm just suggesting you see a doctor because it is better to be safe than sorry.

Good luck