Insurance and lowered cars

[Blitz392]

I got into an accident on my 4.5 camry about a week ago and im pretty sure my car is totaled. The insurance people haven't came yet because of the holidays and I was wondering if having the car lowered is going to affect the coverage

[LittleWhiteBubble]

Unless its crazy dropped I doubt they would even notice. Technically that is modifying the car and they're suppose to be notified but nobody is really going to care.

[Mister_Perkins]

Nah, it doesnt matter. If you dont have airbags installed though that will affect it a lot. I found that out. lol

[LittleWhiteBubble]

haha My airbag has been gone since I got my car. I have fiber fill and a neoprene cover over the center of my steering wheel.

[Blitz392]

Oh alright, cool... because I'm responsible for the other car because I was the one that hit

[Chris Crash]

Originally Posted by LittleWhiteBubble

haha My airbag has been gone since I got my car. I have fiber fill and a neoprene cover over the center of my steering wheel.

Why? Also....pics?!?!

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by Blitz392

I got into an accident on my 4.5 camry about a week ago and im pretty sure my car is totaled. The insurance people haven't came yet because of the holidays and I was wondering if having the car lowered is going to affect the coverage

As long as your coverage was paid up, there is little to worry about. The only thing I've seen insurance companies freak out over is blacked out tails. They tend to deny claims when people with blacked out tails get rearended.

[96ToyoCam164K]

The bastards couldn't even cover me when someone smashed into ME, when clearly they ran a stop sign. So my motto:

[Frodo65]

Originally Posted by Blitz392

I got into an accident on my 4.5 camry about a week ago and im pretty sure my car is totaled. The insurance people haven't came yet because of the holidays and I was wondering if having the car lowered is going to affect the coverage

There are mods that will make collision damage worse, and lowering the suspension is one of them - specifically, by increasing the likelihood of bumper under-ride. This puts the other car's 'hardened' parts into your 'soft' parts like rad support, instead of the frame rails. There's also the issue of damage from the road, i.e. leaving your sump on a bump. So, you may get lowball figures on your car's value - with 'discounts' for damage made worse by the drop. It's not likely to create issues with the liability portion of coverage, i.e. paying for damage to the other car.

That said, unless it's really extreme, you're likely OK. There's a very real limit on the drop you can do on a Camry - more than 2" and you're scraping on even smooth roads.

<RANT>
By far the bigger danger is vehicles that are 'lifted', especially those with bumper/frame more than 25" off the ground. These are flat-out killers in any collision, as they override crash elements in a normal car and mangle the passengers, particularly in a side impact. These things should be black-flagged off the road and the drivers charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter in any wreck.
</RANT>

[Chris Crash]

Originally Posted by Frodo65

<RANT>
By far the bigger danger is vehicles that are 'lifted', especially those with bumper/frame more than 25" off the ground. These are flat-out killers in any collision, as they override crash elements in a normal car and mangle the passengers, particularly in a side impact. These things should be black-flagged off the road and the drivers charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter in any wreck.
</RANT>

Lowered car versus a non-lifted F150. Would hate to see it versus a lifted one....

[LynchburgCSI]

That's an F150, boss. I know my Ford trucks.

[Zembonez]

Yup.

[Blitz392]

Thanks for the replies. Well what had happened was:

I was driving on the 91 freeway and it was raining for about 3-4 straight now so yeah. I was just driving on a straightaway on lane 1 (next to the carpool lane) and out of nowhere the car makes a big swerve to the left. So I was trying to gain control of it but then the right tail light whips into the side of another car. And then just as the car was about to hit a 360 turn the same side (right rear tail light) slams into the center divider and the car comes to a complete stop on the carpool lane, facing oncoming traffic.

So the front end is untouched just the back of the car, so will that have any effect on the car's value?

or should I try and put the stock springs back?

[LittleWhiteBubble]

"reason for editing, ken's a dick" ahahahaa priceless!

My airbag is missing cause I bought my car totalled and it deployed. I replaced everything except the airbag because even the junkyard wanted 100 bucks for one. So I disconnected the airbag computer and cut out the old airbag. Then I used fiberfill like for a blanket to keep the original shape of the center of the wheel and used a stretchy book cover to cover it all up. I forget about it most of the time, most people don't notice until I tell them. I'll toss a pic up after work I guess.

And I wouldn't worry about changing springs back. I would leave it as is. It didn't have any factor in the accident so I don't see why they would even pay attention to it.

[Frodo65]

Originally Posted by Blitz392

Thanks for the replies. Well what had happened was:

I was driving on the 91 freeway and it was raining for about 3-4 straight now so yeah. I was just driving on a straightaway on lane 1 (next to the carpool lane) and out of nowhere the car makes a big swerve to the left. So I was trying to gain control of it but then the right tail light whips into the side of another car. And then just as the car was about to hit a 360 turn the same side (right rear tail light) slams into the center divider and the car comes to a complete stop on the carpool lane, facing oncoming traffic.

So the front end is untouched just the back of the car, so will that have any effect on the car's value?

or should I try and put the stock springs back?

From the description, the lowering is unlikely to have impacted the damage.

That said, it sounds like you crunched both rear 1/4 panels, rear structure, and taillight panels. While it's likely repairable, the cost is also likely to exceed book value of the car.