Another one has fallen.

[SAV912]

Well, Labor Day weekend involved a trip to the midwest for some exploration over the long weekend. Most of college football was playing cupcakes and I had vacation to burn. I've never been further west in the continental US than Nashville, so I wanted to see what all these cornfields and beer was about.

Oh, and I was sick and fucking tired of the 58 consecutive days of rain in the Metro Savannah area.

Anyway, on to the few pictures I got and then the meat of the story.

Attempt at artsy shot of the arch:


Somewhere down there is my peppercorn:


Wanted to go on the helicopter tour but the weather wasn't cooperating:


Watching Mother Nature continue to add to the Mississippi:



On the way back from Chicago (no pics), had made it all the way to Chattanooga and dealt with rain a majority of the trip. It was all of 68F out and very windy, foggy, and raining. Traffic had whoa'd up in front for what I presumed was an accident. I stopped in time, the woman behind me had better things to do. I heard her lock the tires, looked up to see if the screeching was coming from directly behind me, said "Shit." out loud and before my fiancee got an answer to her "WHAT?!", she hit.









Got a police report, told the officer what happened, and he got to work on collecting info. They responded to the initial call very quickly. I hadn't even gotten off the phone with my mother when they showed up so I didn't have a chance to get the other driver's info. My only exchange with her was:

Ditz: Ohhhh my gosh, like, are you okay?
Me: *dazed* Yeah, just soaked. I punched my drink out of the cupholder, so no, all of this isn't me having pee'd on myself.
Ditz: *nervous laugh* I'm so sorry, like, I looked up and, like, everyone was stopped!!
Me: You...looked up. *walk back to car*

Officer said she was 100% at fault. I continued on my way after getting the info for the report from the officer. He cited her, but I don't know what with.

This was the preliminary estimate when I got home on Tuesday.


And it will go up from that. The floor under the spare was kinked. I didn't think she had hit that hard. The bumper was creased but she didn't make it to the hatch. The hatch had to be kicked open from the inside to get my luggage out but after that, it opened fine but wouldn't shut right. The hatch itself doesn't look touched so I'm thinking the latch on the floor is bent, which means this relatively minor hit could be bordering on totalling my car.

Which I would be fucking pissed about.

Anyway, this is my rant. I guess I was on the list for the rash of motorists out there targeting Yaris drivers. Figured I would escape, but no such luck.

Oh, and my rental is a Mazda5 mini-minivan. Wonderful.

[CtrlAltDefeat]

sucky... but i've been in a few accidents in my yaris; one much worse than that, and they have yet to call her totaled... I'm sure it will be ok...

[fnkngrv]

very sorry to hear!

[jayeh]

that sucks!

[my2sense]

Sav, that sucks! It seems that our car can't take a hit too well. Was there any damage to the Honda? I can see one small hole from the photo but that's it. Hopefully the repairs won't take too long.

BTW, your post has inspired me to post my accident from last month. Think of it as sympathy posting...

[SAV912]

Originally Posted by my2sense

Sav, that sucks! It seems that our car can't take a hit too well. Was there any damage to the Honda? I can see one small hole from the photo but that's it. Hopefully the repairs won't take too long.

There is a tow hook under where that hole is on the Passport. She smacked me off-center and that bit actually punched the license plate dead center. Under the license plate was a hole in the bumper and she crushed the housing and wiring for the plate bulb. I actually got pulled over later on at night in Macon, GA by a state trooper who just wanted to 'make sure I was aware that I had no plate lights.'

Saw your thread and that's a bummer as well. I would've been livid if I had smacked the person in front of me and ruined my own retrofit headlights.

[Yaristeve]

Originally Posted by my2sense

Sav, that sucks! It seems that our car can't take a hit too well.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "take a hit too well". Cars are designed to absorb more energy, protecting the occupants rather than the sheetmetal. Being such a small car, I think it is meant to crumple up and absorb the hits. The flip side, of course, is that it will be totalled much more easily.

[Astroman]

My Yaris has undergone over $23k in body shop repairs so far in it's life. Guess what, they WON'T total it. (2 frontal crashes, one interior set on fire from fireworks, and a hit and run that messed up my front left tire, fender, and suspension pretty bad).

Still runs and drives awesome.

[SAV912]

Originally Posted by Astroman

My Yaris has undergone over $23k in body shop repairs so far in it's life. Guess what, they WON'T total it. (2 frontal crashes, one interior set on fire from fireworks, and a hit and run that messed up my front left tire, fender, and suspension pretty bad).

Still runs and drives awesome.

We got home just fine and it is perfectly drivable and legal aside from the single plate light. I'm sure if I combed through the estimate, things like blending the hatch to match the rear bumper can be eliminated to save on the cost.

Regardless, it's an '09 with 88K miles. Yeah it's 'loaded' so I guess it's worth more but it isn't an S. I've invested quite a bit in little things to make it my own so if it's declared a total (I highly doubt it but I started second guessing myself at the first glance of the $2500 estimate) then I better get a handsome payout. Wouldn't know what to do for a next car because I haven't thought about anything like that yet.

Maybe a Fiat 500 Abarth...mmm.

No, I want my Yaris. For now.

-C

[Hershey]

That stinks . Another black 3 door . Good thing she wasn't driving at a faster speed . Hope you're fine . Does seem like the SUVs are out to get the Yaris . Hope all goes smooth as silk . We're likely not to get the sedan repaired . Plan on keeping it until the end .

[tk1971]

Sorry to hear about your Yaris.

I agree that people are aiming for these cars (must be out of jealousy).

For $2400 in damages, I doubt your car will get totaled. Get it whole again and enjoy it some more.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by tk1971

Sorry to hear about your Yaris.

I agree that people are aiming for these cars (must be out of jealousy).

For $2400 in damages, I doubt your car will get totaled. Get it whole again and enjoy it some more.

At least he wasn't in Michigan. I was driving in Warren, MI in 2007 in my Yaris and, over a 2-3 day period I had several incidents that could only be explained as 'aiming for my Yaris'. A good friend of mine from Southern California spent his last 2 years of high school nearby at Rochester Adams High School in Rochester Hills, MI (where Madonna went to high school). He told me that not one person would dare park a car from a foreign manufacturer in the parking lot at school.

[Shroomster]

It could have been worse<<<<link

Glad you both are ok. Most likely the latch strike plate needs to be realigned, 'blue' had a hit like yours and the plate shifted, causing a clunk that took 3 months for us and our body shop to figure out....

[SAV912]

Originally Posted by Shroomster

It could have been worse<<<<link

Glad you both are ok. Most likely the latch strike plate needs to be realigned, 'blue' had a hit like yours and the plate shifted, causing a clunk that took 3 months for us and our body shop to figure out....

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that the hit Blue went thru in the link isn't the same hit that Blue had with the plate just 'shifting'. That is a whopper of a hit, and I'm glad you and your wife are okay.

GOOD NEWS: Mine will not be totalled. The body shop tacked in a new floor and it went on the frame machine for a bit. Hatch opens and shuts alright now. Went into paint yesterday, and I should have it back early next week (Monday or Tuesday).

Until then, I can't help but think that my rental car is always up to something. I just think it's ironic that my Yaris got in an accident on a vacation to Missouri, and then I get the rental 5 which has plates from...Missouri.


-C

[Hershey]

Glad that things are moving along for you . What's the gas mileage witth the 5 ?

[Shroomster]

Originally Posted by SAV912

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that the hit Blue went thru in the link isn't the same hit that Blue had with the plate just 'shifting'. That is a whopper of a hit, and I'm glad you and your wife are okay.

-C

Yeah, different hits; the plate shift was just under a year of ownership. The link hit totalled her. Glad to see that its fixable. Keep us updated.