so yea... going to work this morning and i was at a stop light... pickup truck in front of me... our light turns green... other cars going the same direction are already going, but the guy in front is not moving.. before i could honk he starts to go... so i go.. not angry or anything.. just thought it was wierd.. then he slams on his brakes and i slam on my brakes.. immediatley my ABS comes on and i litterally could count the seconds before i hit him. the ABS was kicked in for 2-3 seconds. then boom. WE JUST STARTED TO MOVE!!! kinda wierd if you ask me. the car shoulda stopped. but anyway... i asked him why he stopped and he said there was a pedestrian walking, but i didn't see any.. and the car next to us were going, so i doubt a pedestrain was walking... kinda pissed.. we pull over swap info... It just sucks that this happened.... brakes or not, pedestrian or not... the fact is i hit him and it's my fault...

i dunno.. i'm pissed at myself. a NEW CAR TOO!

Now i gotta get a new hood and the bodyshops say it's not much more just to buy a new bumper and paint it then to fix and paint my current one.

here are some pics. (Sorry for the picture quality... was taken by my phone)




if you look closesly you can see the urethane has a crease in it.




On this picture the headlight has sunken in a bit... my finger and fit in between the headlight and fender


But this is the other light and i can't put my finger in there...


list of parts that need to be replaced:

Hood... some creases that cannot be fixed
the silver plastice thing on hood cracked
the bumper and creases in it and was told it is not much more to get a new bumper and paint it
the silver grill... the thin piece that goes on the outside is cracked.


ugh!

I'm gonna go off an cry now..

 

Look at the brightside. When the bumper is off you can clear the headlights

 

jeez man, that is rough. good luck.

 

damn man!! I hate shit like this.

 

well... i'm not gonna be clearing the headlights, but thinking of painting the silver girll parts black.. what you guys think?

 

that's horrible. are you going through your insurance or no?

might as well get the RJ front bumper if you're going to replace it. OEM would cost just as much, imo.

hope everything works out... at least you didn't damage your wheels!

 

Why don't you sell me those wheels to help pay for the bumper, I will be in Seattle Wednesday night and can pick up.

Sorry about your fender bender.

Michael

 

Sorry to hear that, at least it wasn't the wheels, that would have been really bad. Hope you get her back to 1 piece.

 

well the bumper costs 273 unpainted and the hood costs 510 unpainted... and i have a guy that i bring my cars too for tune ups and repairs and he is charging 550 for painting and install over everything.

so one good news is.. his paint will not have as much or no orange peel to stock AND his paint will most likely be stronger and thicker than stock so less prone to rock chips.. i already have a couple rock chips ... but those are goin away now.

hopefully i don't have to go through insurance... i don't wanna pay those monthly charges for 3 YEARS!... paying cash is the preferred method. his truck isn't bad... the chrome steel back bumper thingy is dented in a LITTLE bit. he already has a HUGE dent on the side of the chrome thingy. so.. we'll see

 

"but thinking of painting the silver girll parts black.. "

No, no, no . . . . part of why your combo works is your wheels match the grill perfectly.

Leave it be.

 

sorry to hear that, silver lining of course is that now you can go ahead and do a custom grille when you re-install the full bumper, or go ahead and black out your entire grille assembly.. think modification advantages, not accident... sorry again buddy

 

This is a classic insurance scam... they stop quickly when people are not expecting it and when they can not avoid by changing lanes...

Report it to your insurance and see if they have anything on this guy... my brother in law was in one and they all were claiming whiplash... the insurance took care of it and did not raise his rates

 

OR should i get the grill painted to match the rims? gunmetal? i think it might look good.

i don't wanna cut into anything though.. plus i would like to keep the car looking more on the stock side... subtle... nothing flashy.

 

yea.. i dunno.. this accident seems a little odd to me... something's not right.. i just know it, but reporting to insurance means that there is a big chance of my premium raising.. and I really don't want that... my last accident will be erased in nov and my rates will finally go back down.. so whatever i can do to keep this from insurance i'll do it.

who's your brother in law's insurance company?

 

paint the grille black...




Anthracite may not be bad either, would match the wheels.

 

Sounds like a scam to me. Did the guy start complaining about neck injury? I'd check his record to see if he's filed any bodily injury lawsuits. That should be public record and any lawyer could check for you. Good luck.

 

My friends dad just got served with a court fee over an 8k plus bill for a ciropractor from a fendor bendor that happened a year and a half ago. Make sure you discuss that with this guy ASAP, to make sure he has no Quality Of Life issues.

 

First thing I though when I read your story was that guy was pulling an insurance grab. Some jack@$$ did that to me one time, so I know how it is. If it goes insurance, your rates will go up depending on how much they pay out. If there's not much damage, could be cheap and your rates will be ok.

As for your grille, paint it gun metal to match the wheels...that would like awesome!

 

Since this sounds like him being scammed, shouldnt he report this to his insurance ASAP? With insurance, it offers him a bit of protection. They will fight it for him if he is going to be sued since they will have to pay. If that guy sues, wouldnt he be in a bad position not having reported this to his insurance?

 

well... it doesn't look like the guy is going to say he is injured or what-not... and i don't think he will sue, but i don't think he'll fix his truck anyway.. i didn't put a big enough dent in the chrome bumper.... he had WAY bigger ones on it anyway.. he'll probably just pocket the money.

 

that sucks bro. i don't know about the black on black, i think the contrast looks good w/ the black tl but gun metal would be cool i think.

cunty comment about your accident coming from bolt james in 5...4...3....2...

 

It doesn't even look that bad. I'll have to look at it carefully to spot it, otherwise, any other person who isn't checking out your TL wouldn't even see the dent. Unless you're really obsessed with your car, I wouldn't spend so much money for a new hood or repair. That being said, of course, unless your insurance or the pick-up truck driver's insurance will pick that up.

 

Be aware: If you do not report this insurance, you are not protected if he suddenly decides to claim down the line.
Defense: Call your insurance company and make them aware of the incident and that you have decided not to file a claim for the collision to keep your record clean but that they will be responsible should another claim related to this incident arise. This way you are protected just in case.

 

No way! That looks too understated...it reminds me of the grille on the current Honda Accord. That weird buck-toothed look.

 

When you say it doesn't even look that bad, be sure and look at the picture of the entire hood. Notice along the passenger edge...the whole hood is buckled! It is pretty bad, especially for a fender bender.

I think the guy is scamming for some $$$$.

 

Also it takes away the glow of the silver when the car is in the sun. I love the way the grill glows (not shining like in ) when I see a TL in my rearview driving towards Sun.