i'm heartbroken... i've had my car (6MT,Anth/Qtz,Navi) for less than 6 weeks and a stupid dog darted out of a car in front of me today. i would've swerved left but an even bigger mental giant, the owner, chased after it without checking to see if there were any cars on the road.

it's one of those situations where i was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- i was going 35 in a 40 mph zone.
- dog darted out and i get on my brakes.
- abs kicked in and i was on the horn same time i hit brakes.
- i swerved right to avoid dog.. dog continued to run across and i hit it at about 15 mph.
- there's dog shit on my left quarter panel but no dent. i think it was scared enough to poop.
- i'm half on the road and half on someone's soft front lawn and i had no choice but to hit their small tree (approx 7" in diameter) at about the same time the dog was hit.
- it was raining so road was slippery and grass was too. the tree uprooted even at that slow of a speed.
- the dog ran off really fast but kinda limping. i feel terrible about the dog too but why wasn't it leashed?!
- owner was some kid ~20 i'd say. didn't even say sorry or anything but maybe he was upset about his dog.
- the damage seems like the entire front right fender, HID light, windshield wiper reservoir, wheel well lining, front bumper, side piece.










should i take it to an acura dealership to fix? the closest one is 60 miles away.
how much do you estimate it will be to fix? i hope nothing major is damaged... i'm thinking it will be around $5000 or more...
is my insurance (state farm) going to up the premium even if the police report will say that the driver was wholly not at fault for this accident?

i'd appreciate any input people.

 

i think you should go find the kid with the dog, talk to his parents. They should cover the cost, i think, cause it was cause by thier dog. but im not so sure. sorry man, at least ur alrgiht

 

dun think its going to happen. its unfortunate and i feel bad about the whole situation but i'm afraid you are probably going to have to go through your insurance.

 

should've ran over the dog. j/k. go through your insurance. they'll probably take it to the dealer regardless so they can make sure can is safe. sorry to hear about the accident. glad everyone is ok. the damages looks pretty bad. i'm guessing at least 7000 worht of work. and i would definitely try to find the kid and bring that up with the insurance.

 

can't believe part of your fender is torn off.

 

the fender is meant to break off, mine did too. it's abs plastic of the sort i believe...

 

Very sad. You wrecked the TL trying to avoid a dog and now you're going to get hit with the insurance premium. I feel for ya.
Does anyone know what that thing is hanging in front of the passenger wheel? Is that some type of sensor? just curious.

 

That sucks!! :'( :'( :'(

 

Check if there are any leash laws in the town the accident occurred in. You might be able to go back to the owners in that case and try to get damages from them.

Sorry to hear about it though. Glad noone was hurt (including the dog...he'll get over the limp I'm sure). Best of luck getting it fixed.

 

sorry to hear about accident. good thing you didnt get injured. you went all the way to rallye to buy car and you live in from ithaca?

 

I just spoke with my insurance company about my cracked rim and I've decided not to go through them due to my high deductable. Anyway, I think you'll be ok as far as insurance goes. They look at 3 things which will raise your rate. 1. Frequency of accidents, 2. if the damage is over $1000, and 3. if you were at fault. Unlike a 6" bolt on the road that rips through your tire and rim, an animal in the road is a no fault accident. You'll probably just have to pay whatever your deductable on collision is and State Farm should pick up the rest. If they raise your rate when you go to renew your policy shop around for a new provider.
Also if I were you I would probably definitely go to the dealership to get it fixed. They'll probably even give you a loaner while they're working on it.

04 TL NBP/Parchment
3 stock rims
1 donut

 

You bought it from Rallye, take it back to Rallye. Bobby Garu, at the Rallye Body Shop, there will take care of for it. You can tell him Gee recommended you, he helped me out twice in the past year. I think the place is located on Glen cove road between LI and Northern State.

 

Much to my chagrin I have had several claims with State Farm Ins. over the years. Recently they, State Farm, have started guaranteeing ALL repairs to your car for the life of the car under your ownership when the car is repaired by a State Farm "Service First" repair facility. That can be either an Acura dealership or a independent body shop as long as they are in State Farm's "Service First" program.

So the main concern for you, imho, is making sure that the place you take your car to for repair is affiliated with State Farm and is under State Farm's "Service First" program. Also, be aware that lot of dealerships, not just Acura, sub out their body work and major repairs and hardly ever do them at the dealership.

My best advice to you would be "cover all of your bases" and also cover your a_ _".

The only one looking out for you is YOU!


State Farm's "Service First" web link . . .
http://www.statefarm.com/apps/rflocator/rfsearch.asp

 

Hey everyone, yeah, my parents live on LI and i got the car there. The hanging thing is the HID headlight... i had to look at that up close as well.

i was able to speak to the kid and wrote down his contact info including telephone and address. the insurance company will want to know that right?

 

fuckin a

score another casualty for team anthracite.

 

Typically if you have been with State Farm for a while they will 'give' you one accident. However they will likely lowball you on the payout and they will authorize remanufactured parts or original to keep costs down. But, since you have a 2004 TL there may not be any parts but, OEM. If I had to do it over I would NOT use the State Farm Service First partner. I would go with the dealer.

I went through this with my 2000 Accord in Jan.

If after it is all said and done and you are unhappy with State Farm you do NOT have to wait to leave you can start a new policy with anyone at anytime and get a prorated refund on the balance of your policy.

Really sorry to hear about your car getting smashed up.

 

I live in Toronto where the insurance laws are a lot different but I will put in my 2 cents worth.

First, if you have been accident free (i.e., not your fault) for a number of years a number of insurers have an endorsement that essentially gives you one free at fault accident. The endorsement works differently from company to company. You should ask your State Farm agent if you have such an endorsement and if one was available. If it was and wasn't offered to you, then the agent should bloody well explain why.

Second, many companies have an endorsment they add to almost all new cars, which in Ontario is called a limited depreciation waiver. It obliges the insurer to, in the event of a total write-off, to pay you the minimum of the amount you paid for the car or the amount that a new replacement car would cost. There are other provisions in the endorsement which I don't have at my fingertips right now. The upshot of it is that most insurers only use new parts to fix cars that are less than two years old. My wife had someone make a left hand turn in front of our '04 TL 3 weeks ago and we had about $5,000 damage to the front end. The insurer authorized repairs which included a new hood, new bumper cover, new grill, new condensor and new rad without any hassle.

If the kid lives at home he may well be covered for his negligence by his homeowner's policy. If State Farm doesn't go after him, you can sue him for his deductible and you should go after State Farm's money as well. If the parent's insurer pays and State Farm makes a full recovery, then I doubt that State Farm will treat this as an at fault claim as they are not out of pocket.

I am glad that no one was hurt. I hope you don't miss your TL too much while it is in the shop. I got fed up with my loaner car prettey quickly especially given the loss of the HFL, Navi, voice command etc.

Good luck.

 

damn, sorry to hear this. to be honest, you should've hit the dog so both parties will have an even amount of loss. when someone backed into my PARKED TL my front, left fender had to be replaced and the hood, front bumper, and trim under the driver door had to be realigned. this cost around $1050. so you're looking at that just for the fender alone. those HID's are expensive too. i also have state farm and they did a great job helping me get my baby back on the road.

i've been seeing too many accidents in this forum that relates the 04 TL. i now drive as if i'm still breaking in my car (8100 miles) just to be safe. i don't like seeing my car (or anyone else's for that matter) with damages. just brings tears to my eyes :'(

good luck to you and keep us updated.

 

It sounds insensitive and cold-hearted, but next time just hit the ____ (insert type of animal here) head on. Don't even swerve. It's instinct to swerve, but in that situation you will almost always make it worse for yourself and your car and possibly others around you. Many fatal accidents happen in situations like these, which could have been avoided by simply hitting the animal head on.

I love my cats and dogs and I'd do almost anything to protect them, but at the same time you have to put your safety over their's.

Glad everyone (including the dog) walked away from this one, and good luck getting your car fixed up.

 

This is awful.

I am not a lawyer and I do not live in NY. But in Illinois, I would subrogate the whole incident through my insurance (which is not State Farm). This means your insurance company fixes your car and the damage done to the guy across the street. Then they go after the dog owner for all reimbursements, including your deductible.

The dog owner is clearly liable for this. Dogs have to be in their yards or leashed, at least where I live they do. Since you hit it in the street it is proof that it was not in its yard. Did you report this to the police or animal control? Was the dog owner issued a ticket?

They are also responsible for the damage done to their neighbor’s yard.

If this fails, get a lawyer from the firm of Sleaze, Slime, and Suem.

Keep the faith! This will work out.

 

Hi everyone... thanks for all your input on this subject matter. I really really appreciate it as I've never had to go through anything like this before. I called the claims office and they are supposed to be getting back to me to take a look at the car. I have the option of getting a rental car and State Farm will reimburse, for the most part, the costs. I can also opt to receive $10/day if I don't rent. I'm hoping to take it to the Acura dealership and they can give me a loaner car. Unfortunately, I'm in Upstate NY and do not want to chance driving it back to LI to Rallye... thanks Bxscig though.

Thinking back, yeah... I should've ran that dog right over and at ~20 mph, maybe it would've still survived but with some bad injuries. What gets me ticked is that the owner didn't even look and was just chasing after the dog! I think if I swerved left, I could've avoided the dog. How would I explain running a person over? Witnessing Darwin's Theory at work?

The dog owner and his family just contacted me yesterday and want to leave the insurance companies out of this and pay me in cash for the repairs (I'm guessing they know they're in a really bad situation as Ithaca, NY has leash laws and it was blatant negligence). They probably don't realize that it's probably going to cost A LOT of money to fix it up. My first estimate was something around $5000 but my roommate laughed and said at least $7000.

I think I've decided to wholly go through State Farm and have them deal with the family. I wonder if the homeowner policy would still cover them if the dog wasn't on their property. The owner was not (to my knowledge) issued a ticket though.

Smoore, sorry to hear about your wife's accident. How long did it take you to fix up your car? ~2 weeks?

Thanks again everyone for your sympathies...

 

Dude...sorry to hear and see. I moaned out loud. Good luck with the repairs.

 

Wow - it seems like there's been a lot of accidents lately. Remeber that school is starting back up in many areas of the country now. The morning commute with no school zones is about to end - BE SAFE!

 

Very sorry to hear about your misfortune. This is one of those genuine"life isn't fair deals". There is no rhyme or reason for a misfortune like that, but in the end everthing seems to even out. I'm sure one day you will inadvertantly cause someone undue pain and hardship. It makes us all stronger in the end! There was no ill intent on anyone's part, just stupidity and bad judgement on the dog owners part. Rest assured you did the right thing. Best of luck to you in your repairs!

 

After my wife's accident it took two weeks to get the car back. It would have been a couple of days quicker but the insurer had a computer downage. I was told it could have taken longer because there can be part shortages. The appraiser at the dealer's bodyshop told me it usually isn't major parts like headlights and body panels but odds and ends like mouldings.

I do not think it should matter whether the dog was on the property or not. Most homeowners' policies cover the insureds (including dependent children) for their neglgence on or off the property. For example, if you were walking through a department store and accidently knocked over a table of expensive crystal your homeowner's policy would cover the loss. There is an exclusion for accidents arising out of the use or ownership of an automobile but it shouldn't be engaged in these circumstances. However, every policy has slightly different wordings so someone from State Farm will have to review the policy wordings.

Most auto policies require you to report accidents where the damage is over a specific dollar value. Your accident is almost certainly reportable. I agree with your decision to report this accident and let the insurer handle the claim. It may not be the most compassionate decision but it is certainly the safest course of action. I have seen too many problems where one party has agreed to pay for repairs and then backed out when the bill comes in or tries to get you to take your car to some hack to get get it fixed.

Good luck getting your repairs.

 

I agree 100%. OK to slam the brakes but you have to try to program out the natural tendency to swerve for smaller animals. In my book, swerving gets reserved for people.

 

Only the Service Dept will give you a loaner, My car was rear-ended , 11 weeks later and $11,500, and it's still at the shop. No loaner, and the rental ran out the first month... The insurance won't pay more days than that...

The Dealer/Body shop told me the 04 TL was too new, and that they were learning how to put together all the parts (Welding points) - so I guess we pay for them to learn with our cars...

Best of luck though...

 

Agree here too. You could have hit a big tree and die right there...

part of me is glad you are all ok.
the other side is sad for your TL...

best wishes. and outcome.

 

Geeze that sucks to hear all these accidents lately. Car's replaceable people are not. Glad to hear these accidents come out with favorable endings.

Hope your TL gets fixed soon NOX 3.2 I can't believe it's been at the shop for this long.

 

uh... the insurance guy just came today and estimated the total cost of repairs to be $3111.43 and with a $500 deductible, they are expecting to pay $2611.43?! He did note that there might be possible hidden damage...

I don't know, but it seems like repairs are gonna cost much more than that...

 

I can personally attest to that. I sell parts at a Ford dealership and we don't have a body shop on site but rather refer them all to an independent shop down the street. Luckily, I get all the business from them, which is quite a bit.

 

A dog hit my '00 and the owner was liable. The owner's sons are, how should I say it - familiar with the local police. They decided that it was smart to play fetch across the street. The dog was chasing a ball thrown across the street and was tooling along at about 30MPH looking back over his shoulder and ran smack into my driver door. I was going maybe 20 (200 yards from my drive). $1500 bucks damage to the car and the dog just trotted away.

The guy tried to play games, but his insurance company told him to stuff it and they paid up.

Two months later, one of their other dogs (a pit bull) bit a neighbor. So, you are not necessarily doing the right thing by letting it go.

 

Could have been worse.. Good thing you and the dog are OK... The damage on your car will be repaired and be as good as new.. newer than the other 95% of the Car.. Not to worry.. Have some patience and it will work out just fine.. :P

 

the fucking punk didn't even say sorry or hey, thanks for not killing me? if i didn't run them over with my car, i def would have killed them after the accident.

i hope you got the kids info - he might be on the hook for negligence. you'd have to sue him, but if you're thinking about paying for this yourself instead of through insurance it's worth checking out.

 

In speaking with an insurance guy today, he said it is the guy's fault (or the dog, but the owner is responsible).

-josh

 

I appreciate all of your responses... what do you think I should do? Should I call up the owners? If so, should I ask for the $500 deductible since I'm going through my own insurance? Should I not even go through my insurance and go third party? Thanks!

 

What is the total $$ of damage?

 

The insurance guy said $3111.43. Crest Acura in Syracuse is still looking at it so I don't know but he said an educated guess is another $2k in supplemental money they have to ask from State Farm.

 

I would go with the insurance. You may get a judgment against the owner or the son but then you have to collect. That is often more difficult than getting the judgment. There is a good chance that when the insurer settles, it will sue the owner and kid and claim your deductible back. They usually charge you with a percentage of their legal costs in recoverying their money so you may not get back the entire deductible. If they can confirm homeowner's coverage it will be settled quickly and you should get back most of your deductible.

 

Amazing how fast car parts add up.