Crash: My Yaris vs. Dodge Ram

[j8smith]

In the Blue corner, my 2006 LE+B 5dr with only 11 000 km on the clock.
In the Grey corner, a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab 4x4.(weighing close to 3x as much as the yaris).

The Story. The driver of the Dodge was lost. She pulled off onto a side street, made a U-turn, then came back out onto the main street without looking. Right into my path. I had just enough time to touch the brakes, then I hit square on her drivers front wheel, spinning her out of the way. The roads were partly snow covered, had they been dry It would have been like hitting at brick wall at 50km/h.

The result: the steering and a-arms on the dodge were fubar, as well as a caved in door and fender. My poor yaris wasn't so lucky. It dosen't look that bad in the pic but all front bodywork is toast. most of the plastic just shattered due to the -25C weather. The rad support is bent, all crush structures crushed, and both left and right frame members are tweaked to the left. And the airbags didn't even go off.

She admitted it was her fault, so everytimg is covered on my end, but I was Shocked when I got the estimate today. $5200 just in parts and materials, totaling $9200 including labour. And they don't want to right it off! I'll try to scan the estimate and post it, as it has a complete break down of all the parts prices.

Jay

[hasher22]

wow what a story, im glad to see ur ok hey.

I really hope the other chicka is insured to pay for ur car.....

[ECHOKnight2000]

Wow! That's pretty intense...sorry to hear about it. At least she wasn't a bitch about it and said it was your fault. I hope things work out for you. I would be pretty shocked as well. Glad you're okay, just don't underestimate what an accident can do to you in the long term, mild or severe, as far as your body, I'm not trying to scare you just be aware of that.

[KittenRD]

Geese. Women drivers!...just kidding I'm a woman driving. I'm glad you're okay, but it sucks about your baby. She looks so sad in the picture!

[spkrman]

wowthat sucks!

[H8SGAS]

Sorry about the crash, I feel for ya. I would suggest getting an additional assessment done, with the type of damage and it being so close to the value of the car I would not want it repaired. In my experience no matter how good the repair shop is the car is just never the same. Not only that but your resale value will plummet, many buyers will be immediately turned-off by the crash and worse the amount of damage since it’s over 1000 a basic carfax report will rat ya out

[tekmoe]

do whatever you can to get them to write it off. no car will ever be the same after an accident like that. take my word for it.

[nsmitchell]

I'm glad you were not hurt. Don't get screwed on the repairs. Here is the right way to handle the repairs if they don't total the car.

Let YOUR insurance company pay for your car to get fixed.

YOUR insurance company will also be more likely to write it off as totaled.

Pay yor insurance deductable and pay for the rental! Throw it on yours or a family members credit card or whatever. Your car gets fixed properly and you get reimbursed for all expenses.

When the other party's insurance works with the body shop, they cut corners like crazy. THEY are trying to save THEIR money. BUT When YOUR insurance company pays for the repairs, they are spending the other insurance company's money and price does not enter the picture. Your insurance company will then get the money for the repairs from her insurance company. Let the insurance companies duke it out over the money.

Always get your car fixed at the dealer as well. They will use ALL Toyota parts, because thats all they have.

I don't want to see anyone get screwed like I did, so I am passionate about this issue!

I hope this makes sense to all and helps people to avoid a crappy situation.

[spkrman]

good advice.

[H8SGAS]

nsmitchell-well said

[nsmitchell]

Thanks guys. I got so screwed when a drunk bitch hit my 2004 Tacoma when it was parked and she did $13K worth of damage.

I did not know to do this and boy o boy did I get screwed. My truck looked like a Frankenstein machine. The bed was crooked plus a laundry list of other shit they were just too lazy to fix. (Bruce's Super Body Shops in Richmond, VA SUCKS SO BAD I CAN'T EVEN PUT IT IN WORDS) They didn't even detail the damn thing. The manager was SOOO UNHELPFUL, he said things like "We can't fix that" when referring to my obviously crooked bed. (My mother-in-law even noticed my bed was crooked and she is like 65 or something!)! I had to threaten with a lawsuit just to get the minimum satisfaction. The inside cab had fuckin body shop dust all over it! When I complained to the bitch's insurance agent/damager appraiser I got nowhere fast. (Progressive Insurance sucks as well, BTW)
I was screwed because the insurance company alloted the absolute minimum to "fix" the truck from what she saw. So that kinda locks in the "job" you will get on your truck. It's like pushing an elehant uphill in a tornado trying to get your car/truck fixed properly under these circumstances! My 20/20 hindsight will hopefully help people.

Don't let this happen to you!

Sorry for ranting, but after 2 years I'm still pissed as hell!

[firefly1_0]

sorry to hear about that dude, as for the estimate, where did you go? get another opinion, its law in Alberta that you can have it fixed where ever you want, run up that quote as fas as you can get it and then hand it in and see what they say.

off topic, we need to put together an edmonton meet in the spring.

PM me.

[daq421]

The air bags did not deploy? Are you sure you've got them? Were they disabled? Because that looks like more than enough accident (in my untrained opinion) to set them off.

-Peter

[Katana]

Sorry to see that!

[hhcchen]

such a sorrow first post...

[mikeukrainetz]

I agree with pretty much everyone on this one whatever you can do to try and get it written off do it.... Have they stripped the car down to fully inspect? You say they quote 9200 now...

I banged up my car four years ago (not the yaris). Looked better in the front than your yaris and was originally quoted 2500, when I signed the papers to pick it up 9800... I finally had to pay to get rid of it, couldnt sell it, couldnt even give it away. Never ran right after the accident, went through tires and brakes 2-3 times a year.

DONT get it fixed... its been 4 years and im still fighting with ICBC to this day (no shitn, fighting with them on the phone 5 min ago).

[j8smith]

Thanks for all the advice everyone

nsmitchell, the insurance here works a little different, my insurance automatically pays for everything up front then gets reimbursed from her insurance afterwards so I don't even have to deal with her insurance. I can also choose any shop to do the work, and have as many apprasals done as I want. I'm going to ask for another estimate, as well as have the insurance appraiser go over it. Since she was at fault, my insurance dosen't seem too concerned with the cost, they gave me a chrysler 300 for the rental car and said I don't need to pay a deductable.

ECHOKnight2000, The insurance actually required me to go to what they called an Injury management clinic, basicly a physiotherpy clinic, to have injuries evaluated. I've already had two appointments this week, so I am trying keep on top of it. The only problems I've had are the typical sore chest, neck and back, as well as bruising to my knees from being rammed into the dash.

My agent was able to find out that the insurance red book value for my car is $13600, and the claims guy told me it would have to be around 10grand to be a write-off. So I will be pointing out averything possible to get them to write it off.There are several things missing on the estimate, such as the right airbag sensor and engine mount, so it will probably exceed 10K.
The only problem I can see is that I have zero depreciation insurance, meaning if it is written off, they have to pay me what I paid for the car, not the current value. So I don't know if that effects the decision to write it off or not.

I'll let every one know once I talk to the claims dude again.

Jay

[j8smith]

firefly1_0;

The estimate was done at Northern Collision, on 71st just south of whyte ave.

What are the odds that two people from the same city, both drive blazing blue yarii, and also own fireflys. Is yours a turbo as well?

jay