So I was minding my own business when a car drives on the wrong side of the road to make an illegal left. Slammed on the brakes, car skid on the wet road, hit him at about 10-15 MPH.
The damage includes:
-Headlight
-Sidemarker
-Slight bend in fender
-Slight bend in hood
-Underbody splash shield cracked
-Tow point on frame is bent.
Here's a picture of the damage
According to the other person's insurance, the car is totaled (100% his fault accident). RIP :/ It's a 1999 with a rebuild motor (6k miles), custom stereo, and remote start. They haven't given me the option to buy it back as of now nor have they given me a quote of how much I'd get.
Before you accept the check from the insurance company get comparable prices for other similar cars. My son was able to get more for his totaled car by showing similar cars. with higher prices. The insurance companies will low ball you if you don't watch out.
I'll definitely do that, thank you. I'll probably be buying the car back from insurance anyways. I'll replace the headlights and not care about the rest. The motor is rebuilt, this car is lasting forever.
I forget, how many miles does your '99 have? I'm really interested in hearing how much the insurance tries to say it's worth, if you don't mind. There's a '99 Corolla in my household, so this thread is definitely of personal interest to me.
My car's a few hundred miles off from 196k miles. I'll be dropping the car off today and I should here back by mid next week. Will keep you guys updated.
I work for a major insurance company and worked at our total loss yard for 2 years. Typically the values I have seen are much higher than private party sales because our company uses dealership listings for comps to get a "market value". Our cars are not worth very much, so anyone that thinks they are, are kidding themselves. Sorry for your accident and if you have any questions about the process or the numbers they present for you, I would be glad to look them over for you.
So got the quote from insurance. 1,969.87 or get the car back with a salvage fee of $105. Obviously at that price I'm buying the car back. My bungee cord has been doing wonders holding everything together. In the future I plan to replace the lights ($60 new on eBay for L and R + side markers), replace fender ($30 at a junk yard) and use my trusty zip ties to reattach the splash shield.
In the end, I'm happy. I spent $1100 on the car + about 800 for 4 new tires and alignment, front wheel bearings, all 4 shocks, gas tank and engine rebuild. About $300 went into my amp, speakers, HIDs, LED dash lights. I know for a fact this car is lasting a long long time.
Your lucky the airbags didn't go off. That would have been more expensive to fix.
Funny how the insurance company got away dirt cheap. Sounds like they didn't spend a dime and you spent money to get it back on someone else's fault. Did you deal with your insurance or the other guy's insurance?
I dealt directly with the other person's insurance. Honestly, I'm happy with the deal. The car is worth a bit more because of the new parts but insurance will never take that into account. I bought it for $1100, got around $1850 now, and know a friend who wants it for $2000.
If the airbags went off at 10-15mph, I'd be surprised. If the airbags went off in that accident, I guarantee you I'd be hurt.
If the guy was coming at me at 60mph and I was slowing down to 15mph, I would want the airbags to go off. Lucky the guy coming at you slowed down too. :wink:
I hope they were written a heck of a ticket! How horribly unsafe, part of me wishes they'd been hurt or their car damaged more. What amazing composure you must have to not have gotten out and beaten them. I can't say I'd have been as calm...
I'm surprised I was calm too. He made a left out of the alley under where I put the red dot. Notice the barrier. He essentially went diagonally on the road. He got an "Emerging from Roadway 39:4-66" ticket worth 2 points.
A couple things...air bags are not all about speed. Angles and location have a lot to do with it. I have seen some cars where the radiator supper is completely hammered, but the impact sensor is mounted to the frame rail, so no deployment. I have seen others where they bottomed out and blew every air bag in the car. And as far as insurance is concerned, they look at market value. Although us car enthusiasts spend more on our cars then they are worth, to make them how we want them, they look at what the car is worth to an average consumer in the market place.
I am glad you are both ok and glad you got to keep your car!
True but I can get a new aftermarket hood, fender, lights, and get the frame pulled for less than $1000. Why wouldn't insurance choose this option? They essentially paid more right now.
Other factors come in to play as well. The salvage from you buying the car back is deducted since that is money the insurance doesn't have to pay. They would have had to pay about $30/day in rental. So they would have had a break even which showed if repair or total was the most cost effective thing to do. At the end of the day it is business. They are going to do the most cost effective thing. It has nothing to do with the age of the car. It comes down to the $$.
You have a point. In the end, I'm happy. I got money and my car still drives fine. It might be time to sell it (after fixing it) and pocketing the most before I dump unnecessary money into it to rice it out.
My thoughts exactly. I had a similar issue with my 05 Celica with the Tsunami factory body kit about a year ago. Hit the guardrail because my tire blew out. Destroyed the front frame rail however everything else was fine. Insurance gave me $7300 plus my car (salvage fee was about $700) and I fixed the entire car up for about $5000 including a new paint job, rims, and new tires.
So I got to take off the headlight and look at the damage a bit more in depth.
The bottom plastic cracked by the front bolt. Fix was to make a hole in the plastic, remove the screw, and run a zip tie.
Tow hook is completely bent. Fix is to let it be; tow truck guy said that it still works fine as a tow point.
Headlight and sidemarker damaged. Fix is to replace both headlights and both sidemarkers for $60.
Fender is bent by the first bolt. You can't really tell from the outside but it cracked the headlight bracket. Fix was to straighten it.
Hood was bent slightly from the side. Fix was to push it down hard and straighten it.
Now the hard part
Both the headlight adjustment brackets on the driver side are cracked. It's the black piece that holds the headlight and side marker in place. Anybody have a part number for it? The closest junk yard is an hour and half away. And now... the worst
This B*tch actually bent my frame rail. It's kinked in the front. It also bent the apron that the headlight bracket bolts to. This is probably why they totaled the car. I'm thinking of either tying it to a tree and reversing or drilling/tapping new holes if I have the space. It's about an inch off right now and it will prevent the new headlight and side marker from lining up.
Both the headlight adjustment brackets on the driver side are cracked. It's the black piece that holds the headlight and side marker in place. Anybody have a part number for it? The closest junk yard is an hour and half away.
As for the bracket, park the car with the hand brake on, put a tow strap around it and around a tree or immobile pole, then use a big pipe and wind it up like a rubber band. It'll slowly pull it back out in a manner that's easy to control and watch.
Bracket and frame are reversed? And I just checked, the new lights do come with the brackets.
I think I'll try that tomorrow. Right now I just forced the headlight and side marker back in place. They're being held on with with the force of each other pushing together essentially. Fixing it is a job for another day (after I order my new ones).
Light output is probably as bad as OEM replacements from everyone else. Good light for a projector swap though, some Mini D2S 3.0 B stock projectors and Fastbright F3 ballasts with good bulbs would really light up your life.
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