catbert430

On my 13th day of ownership, I was visiting my Mother in PA and was rear-ended while stopped in rush hour traffic.
An 18-year old girl was looking at her phone because, like everyone's phone in the area, it was receiving a flash flood alert.
She hit me so hard that the front of her 2013 Toyota Corolla was demolished and needed a flatbed.

My RDX is drivable and barely looks damaged but, has a cracked bumper. The exhaust pipes were pushed in. The tailgate latch was pushed forward and there are gouges in the tailgate itself.
It still opens and closes with a bit of hand assistance and all the panel gaps around the tailgate are off by a quarter inch. Even the panels in the cargo area are misaligned,

I take it to the body shop for an appraisal Monday. I'm very worried that they will have trouble getting the needed parts. Since the tailgate is resin instead of steel, I'm sure that will need to replace the whole thing.

So depressed about this. The car has 600 miles on it and it needs to be perfect. The body shop has a stellar reputation and Acura certified but, I just can't accept 99%; It needs to be 100%. Wish the insurance company would just give me a new car. The crash will be on Carfax forever and hurt resale.

GTF

So sorry to hear, but hoping you get back 100%.
Check into "diminished value" with your insurance company or attorney. It can offset future resale harm.

copmagnet82

Sorry to hear that... that cannot feel good. Talk to the adjuster to get you extra money to compensate you for resale value loss. My friend was recently in a similar situation with his Macan and the insurance company was trying to short change him on parts saying that some items can be fixed. Eventually they replaced everything, so make sure you don't settle.

ChrisBesu

http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/BBN09109.PDF

This is from our Forum At this link. Scroll down and pay particular attention to the tailgate replacement procedure and make sure they understand the steps and get it right the first time .
https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...mation-969939/

catbert430

Yes, I saw that. Thanks,
As they are Acura certified and the two local dealers send cars there because they don't have body shops of their own, I assume they have access to the Acura body shop manuals.

jajji

Sorry to hear about the accident.

On a side note, am impressed to hear the car barely looks damaged and is driveable whereas her car needed a flatbad. Is this due to the ultra high strength steel inner-outer door ring system?

ArcelorMittal shows off 'world's first' UHSS inner-outer door ring; design launches on 2019 Acura RDX - Repairer Driven NewsRepairer Driven News

How are you doing? Any neck / back issues?

frankjnjr

Glad your OK. Acura certified Body Shop, would certainly be my choice, for the repair, and Should be Most Capable, of doing the job RIGHT! IMO, a 13 day old, 600 mile vehicle, SHOULD, warrant all NEW OEM repair parts. I would contact your Insurance Company, and request their assistance, in insisting, on NEW OEM! Regarding the "diminished value" issue, your Insurance Company, should also go to bat for you, for potential, FUTURE LOSS OF VALUE, due to the accident being listed on any car history reports. You may want to ask the Body Shop, if they report such repairs, as NOT ALL Body Shops DO!

Madd Dog

NightWriter

Sorry to hear about the accident, but the important thing is that no one was hurt. Other than garage queens, no car remains 100% forever. Good luck with the insurance claim and body shop fixes, but remember to count your blessings.

oblio98

Damn. That sucks. I don't know how I would handle that. Geez.

BLEXV6

How unfortunate. I would be pissed, but it happens. My sisters boyfriend had a brand new Tesla S and was rear ended. He was not happy either and cant blame him.

Boltface

My '05 MDX was less than a year old when a bear running full speed hit the right front wheel, spun him him around crashing into the passenger door. Dead on impact, bear poop all down the side of the car. The town coroner came out. He'd never gotten a call like that. The game warden asked me if I wanted the bear. No.

idgystinks

First this situation really stinks. 34% of people in OK do not have insurance even if "required".

Second, I just had to have the all new Honda Odyssey in 1999. One of the first built we had. Then my sweet bride and infant son found a way to back it into a concrete light pole then put in drive and panic forward side swipping the entire thing. A dark emerald green.

Third. at that time Honda had no spare power doors. Egads months went on and no car. Dealer fixed a way to install old crappy one and tape it all shut while we waited on a door.

Fourth, Honda finally apologiized and gave us a rental car since they had failed to anticipate parts needs and the van was selling HOT.

I hope they learned from my incident.

Oddly I sold at one year old for nearly sticker price. There were crazy wait lists and some folks just had to have it via private sale with my FULL disclosure of damage repaired

guytdt

I can feel your pain. Yes, you’re the first, highly likely.
Definitely hire someone to do diminished value for you. This does take 2 to 3 moths for them to negotiate with insurance company. I did that about 10 years ago and got 7K+ and I split that money 60/40 (if I remember correctly) with the company I hired.
cannot remember its name, but it is in FL and we worked via email. No injury for my case at that time.

ultramart

Every possession is just another stick to beat yourself with.

(From Johnny Cash)

So true.

Don't hit you too hard with this stick.

catbert430

Went to the body shop this morning and was favorably impressed.
Large Acura/Honda Certified sign out front. Most of the cars inside are Acuras from my dealer; TLXs, MDXs, RDXs; most are CBP for some reason. He's a big fan of the new RDX and said that it really was hit hard and took it very well.

They said that they could get started July 9th but, then the manager noticed that the tailpipes were getting the bumper very hot so, moved it up to July 2nd.

They are confident that they can get the parts within a week due to their special relationship with Acura.

I mentioned that the dealership has a new BMW body shop near their BMW dealership. He said they are having major problems getting qualified technicians and that the dealership wanted him to take on BMW, Lotus, and Saab but, he has more business than he needs from Acura and doesn't want to expand.

Will report any developments.
Thanks to all for your concerns and empathy.

TacoBello

Be a bit weary of the repair shops dealerships use... they often go based on cost/volume, rather than all-out attention to detail. At least here, when you get into a collision, by law you are able to choose whatever repair shop you want and the insurance company has to honor it. Personally, I go to one of the most expensive shops in town- a one man operation, where the guy typically works on restoring old muscle cars (but does new cars too, to keep business steady).

Shop around. Find a shop with very high ratings. Don't be afraid to ask to inspect their shop. What does the paint booth look like? is it absolutely spotless, clean, with perfect lighting? If not, walk away. The last thing you want is dust specs getting trapped in the paint.

Also, how good are they at matching to the OEM "orange peel" in the clear coat? This is my #1 sign to tell if a car has been repainted. Shops generally don't care enough to match it perfectly as most people would just not notice. But under certain lighting you can definitely tell something was done. Same goes for color matching. This can be a challenge in itself- does the shop blend into the adjacent panels? If not, you'll more than likely see a difference in color.

Also... the car may look alright from the outside... but wait until the bumper is pulled off, etc. Who knows what the shop will find. I remember reading about a Porsche that was lightly rear ended... looked super super minor. Until the shop pulled the bumper off and found the carnage behind. The repair ended up being many times more expensive than initially anticipated. This can be the same.

catbert430

I agree that there is a lot of hidden damage and that this is going to be expensive.
FWIW - Every one of this shop's Yelp reviews is 5 stars and I have excellent word of mouth recommendations. Not a big shop but, some of his guys are there 20-40 years. Nice clean facility and lots of talent.

Thanks.

birdonamission

I don't know how common it is, but the dealership I bought my '17 RDX from, and with whom I'm interacting about the '19, has their own body shop -- just steps away from their service department. I also don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing (price-wise).

I do know one thing...they absolutely know Acuras inside and out (and how to repair them).

acuraada

Sorry to hear! We can only offer condolences and support here. Good advice on going back to the dealership (assuming they have a shop) . The usually do a super job and would know all the parts (new or old) . They are usually more expensive than third-party but since insurance is paying, that shouldn't deter you.

On a flip side, at least we know the car is solid during a rear end while we wait for NHTSA testing.

Good luck with everything!

catbert430

The dealership (Park Ave) is the one that uses the body shop (Mazzola's).
They have their own BMW body shop but, send Acuras to Mazzola's.

Fury63

TxLady

lil12002

catbert430

Got the estimate.

Car is so new that 2019 is not in the estimating database so they had to write it up as a 2018.
Parts include tailgate, badges, bumper cover, lower bumper, and parking sensors.
With labor and paint, it comes to $3,211.

The rental car will be from Enterprise. Probably something heinous. I'll find out next Monday.

idgystinks

Maybe Enterprise will give you the model car that hit you That would be a cruel irony.

Damage sounds manageable. What color was you RDX again?

Make sure they know you will be looking for any signs of paint work such as: orange Peel, bugars left and pained over (or a spec of dust), over spray.....

best wishes......

catbert430

It's Performance Red Pearl.
Enterprise is giving me a 'Premium' car; Nissan Maxima or similar.

The shop has a really clean downdraft paint booth so I expect a good job. I mentioned to them that I had body work done at a competitor about 10 years ago and found overspray from the clear and made them cut it so they know I'm picky.

catbert430

Car went into the shop today.
They said it will be at least 2 weeks.

The rental is a 2019 Jeep Cherokee.
It's a very nice little car let down by a droning, gutless engine and the dreaded ZF9 transmission.
It also has our favorite auto-stop disable button.
The UConnect entertainment system is easy to use, sound good, and has nice old-fashioned volume and tuning knobs.

catbert430

Update:
The replacement tailgate was damaged in shipping so they needed to get a second one. I'm told by the shop as well as the insurance company that this is much more common than it should be.
It's been painted and awaiting installation.
They've discovered additional hidden damage behind the bumper.
This comes as no surprise to me as the car was whacked hard.
More parts due to arrive tomorrow.

I'm getting very impatient but, reminding myself that perfection is more important to me than the speed of the repairs. Been missing my baby for 10 days now. The accessories are piling up at home.

Curious3GTL

I am not sure if it's been mentioned to you or not but make sure to file a "depreciated valve" claim against the person that hit you insurances company. They will cut you a check for the "lost value" of your vehicle for being in an accident.

catbert430

Just heard from the body shop.
In doing the final assembly, they discovered that the part that contains the camera, license plate light, release handle, and lock button does not fit on the new tailgate.
Unbelievably, Honda/Acura has redesigned the tailgate without telling anyone that they would also need to replace theses parts.
We are now waiting for new parts to fit the new tailgate.
Perhaps the tailgate was redesigned so that it doesn't moan?

acuraada

Madd Dog

catbert430

I'm fine. Thanks for asking.
I had no physical, emotional, or spiritual affect.
Just getting tired of driving a low-level Cherokee instead of my new RDX.

Madd Dog

Dizzyg12

catbert430

Sorry you were second.
The universe hates new cars.

Dizzyg12

TxLady

catbert430

Wish I could get some info on why and how they redesigned the tailgate between May and July.
If there is some defect in the original design, I would expect a TSB at the most. A full recall is only for a safety issue.

The original one moaned slightly. Can't wait to see if the new one is silent.

Maybe it will appear in one of the OnePack videos.