wyowolf

Hello everyone, My 2001 TL was run into the back of by a suburban, someone hit him, and he hit me, i hit tahoe in front of me... my car sustained substantial damage , the trunk, bumper are pushed in at least 18 inches or so, back qauter panel buckeld, and the front my my car hit the hitch on the tahoe and pushed it in about 8-10 inches damageing the light, hood, and of coarse bumper, the steel frame for the bumper is bent as well, no airbags deployed. I am wondering what they are gonna do for me. my questions how much will this cost to fix?? i am guessing the car is worth around 8k or so, and i would think that they would just total it out, that what i am hoping for, i dont like the idea of fixing it and getting it back with an accident on its record. mostly looking for advice. I was hurt slightly, went to hospital to check out neck and arm., neck is sore but getting better... thanks in advance for advice...

Frank

fsttyms1

odds are it will be totaled if both ends are damaged the way you say. I dont know what type of advise you are looking for. Contact your insurance company if you havent already.

wyowolf

mostly general advise, never had an accident in 25+ yrs of driving yes called insurance Company, not sure if driver had insurance, though he was driving a fairly new Expedition so i would think so.. just looking for others experiences... venting ect...how can you not see cars stopped in broad daylight ?? a suburban is a pretty big car not to see...thanks

Frank

fsttyms1

Were the police involved? Get police reports and see who is at fault. Ask your insurance company for advise as well. You shouldnt have to do much of any thing. Your car will need to be inspected by a body shop to get an estimate of damage, which will then have to go the insurance companies involved to see if they are going to total it or not

wyowolf

yes police were there... they are sending someone out to check out the damage, was doing some research online this weekend and reading peoples stories...some sounded pretty crappy, dealing with Ins is a first for me, never filed a claim before... but firgured there would be people on here who went through similar experiences...

Frank

fsttyms1

There really isnt much you can do but wait to see what is said first by the insurance co. You go from there working out details on the repairs and such. Dont let them push you around.

wyowolf

i have pics but cant figure out how to add them??

ChrisQ1980

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113321

That will show you how to post pictures

wyowolf

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wyowolf

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wyowolf

thanks !!

ChrisQ1980

No problem. I think they are going to total it out, but the damage doesn't seem all that bad. It is fixable but that's up to you if you want to keep the car or not. How many miles are on the car, and has the transmission ever been replaced?

wyowolf

yes tranny replaced at about 36k...a month after we bought it...now about 113000 or so... keep in mind those pics the bumper is pushed in about 12 inches or more in the middle... i figure a new trunk, bumper, front and rear, and the RR qp is bent... not sure about frame damage... i coundlt get under to tell...

wyowolf

sorry the hood is bent in pretty good too, front light busted...kinda hard to see in the crappy pics.. wifes cell phone.. at least my son wasnt in the car at the time, it was very hard hit with no warning....i keep my id in the hole under the radio... it was in the back seat !

fsttyms1

Well looking at the pics the damage real terrible, i guess its going to be up to the insurance and the hidden stuff not seen. Get a body shop estimate and have your insurance look at it.

wyowolf

never having been to a body shop or having repairs like that done, i would think it would cost a small fortune to replace all that and repaint as well.. the hood and trunk i would think are pretty pricey... not to mention what ever they fix underneath all that...

wyowolf

i looked up underneath the back bumper and the steel bumper and its " struts" are bend down at a 90 degree angle... i think thats part of the unibody "frame". mostly was curious about repair costs for such things, thanks for the advice..

Frank

rob-2

Take it to your local dealership and get them to quote on it. They will work with a local body shop. If you're going to have the work done on the car, incase they don't scrap the car, you'll want all Acura OE parts. The insurance companies will try to get you to goto their body shop where they use, old, used and often off brand parts to bring it back to drivable condition.

If you've been injured, I would consult a laywer and get some compensation from the person that hit you.

Finally, I wouldn't be driving that car. I would either drive it myself or have it towed to a dealership. Call the insurance company of the person that hit you and tell them you need a rental car and use these words "the car is unsafe to be driven" no one is going to argue with you.

Get yourself in a rental car, and be driving something alot safer. You really have no idea the damage done on this impact. Something could be about to go with your brakes or something major. You yourself could be the cause of the next accident.

I'd get tough about this, otherwise you're going to get pinched. Geico wouldn't let me get a rental until I did the above, turns out some major wheel and suspension damage was done that wasn't obvious to me at the time of my crash.

wyowolf

my company gave me a rental and when the get the insurance from the other guy they will pursue him, did go to hospital got checked out.. am ok.. neck is a little sore but much better then yesterday. I figure at least 5k on repairs?? does that sound right? the car is only worth 8 or so.. if they do total it , what does that mean? what will they do with it?

Frank

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

Well if you were rear ended the other person should pay for it. It sounds like they are completely at fault. Sorry that happened and best of luck getting it all fixed up.

rob-2

I didn't go to the hospital. My car with some slight body work was $2500 to repair. I don't know how totals work, someone told me more then 70% of the used car value will see it totaled, but I have no idea.

Tom, gave me some good advice and informed me to notify my insurance company of any major repairs done on the car in the last 12 months.

BTW - I'm sorry your hurt, and I'm sorry you have to deal with insurance. It's been a 4 week saga for me.

wyowolf

yes this whole thing has me a little worried, maybe because all i hear are the bad experiences... at least no one was really hurt... the guy got a broken leg/ankle i think but that was it, the people in the suburban behind me seemed ok, i dont know if they saw him coming or not... i never heard or saw a thing...

gc86

Im 90% sure that TL is totaled, are you still making payments? if not your going to get top dollar if its written off. My TL-S was 13.3k after taxes at a dealership, I totaled it and got a check for 15.8k

And this is from cheap progressive insurance.

wyowolf

yes i owe about 6 grand or so left on it, still unsure how all this works. i think the frame is bent, i crawled underneath it yesterday and the back portion was all crumpled in where the steel bumper meets the body, the police report should be ready by tommorow so will see about this guys insurance... out of the 4 cars it looks like his and mine were the worst... i dont think the tahoe i hit had really any damage to speak of. not sure if they will pay for my neck pain or not. will just have to wait and see...

jwskier187

this same thing happened to me. Some lady went to go grab her little old dog from the floor of the car because it fell and BAM 4 car pile-up. The damnage looks about the same. They should have given you some info on it when they looked at it to make sure it was driveable at the crash site. Either way they'll fix it up and get it back on the road most likely. Damnage on mine was all payed for by the idiot with the dog but it was around 2g

wyowolf

well the lady just called and they will inspect the vehicle and tell me the good news...

jazzman_q

iTrader: (1)

Sorry for your loss...Not sure where you are from on this rock we call earth, but just be glad no one was seriously hurt in the crash.

Now for the fun stuff: PRAY the other person did not have some state sponsored insurance, we have MAIF in Maryland, and they suck...EXTREME LOWBALLERS.

Or Geico: Biggest Ripoff in Auto insurance: Gotta pay that fricking geco.

Hopefully, they have good insurance, so you don't have to go through your own policy, and run the geico risk of "if we pay out more than $500.00, your rates will go up" or the dreaded no-fault claim.


1) you get to choose your body shop, unless you don't want to go throught the hassle of finding one yourself, the insurance company CANNOT make you pick a certain shop over another.

2) Check out the shop your self: Look for dust in the work area (good sign of Bondo usage) find a shop that mainly refinishes "Highline" vehicles (Mercedes BMW Lexus) as they tend to only use OEM Parts, not aftermarket parts.

3) Let the Pros tell you the damage, even the Insurance adjuster can/will miss something. They should guarantee their work for the life of the car, or as long as you own it.

4) if they agree to repair see if the body shop can assist you with the "Diminished Value Claim" that is what is the vehicle worth after the repair Vs what it was worth before the repair. You should be able to collect that portion of $$ for yourself.

5) If car can be repaired, Cool, when you get it back go over it with a fine tooth comb and point out any and or all problems back to the insurance company so they can have it fixed properly.


Good Luck: Not to be a shill for anyone, but If you were in around MD/DC/VD I would say ColorCrafters, as their work rocks....

Just my:

wyowolf

thanks to everyone for advice, well they called and said they will total it : now i just have to find out his insurance and get its straightend out... what a PITA... they are paying 8500 total it... now i have to find another car... in Alanta...

thanks again

Frank

achen0122

go to a certified body shop and ask them how much to fix the car. Similar accident happened to me a couple months ago and the insurance company totaled my car but I decided to get it repaired because for $8500 you're not going to be find anything similar to what you were driving before.