I was in a small accident recently and my car is now damaged. I have only had this car for 3 weeks unfortunately, it is a 2011 Toyota Camry with roughly 69,000 miles on it. I was able to drive it home afterwards so i dont think too much damage was done. Im waiting for my insurance to get in contact with me but this is my first car and im just worried and anxious. Im still not sure if im gonna go to a independent body shop or a dealership b/c this is my first time and i just dont have much knowledge on this
I only have pictures of the outside damage and i would have to say the speed during the impact was roughly around 15-20mph maybe less, i was almost able to stop but the wet ground made me lose traction which is why the damage is this much. Air Bags were not deployed btw since the impact wasnt to harsh.
Could anyone maybe give me some feedback on the damage of my car ? How much do you think it will cost? Please & Thank You
While from afar nobody can give you an accurate estimate, my best guess is that you can expect to pay $3k-$4k for these repairs. If that figure surprises you, I can tell you that bodywork is almost always more expensive than people expect.
Among the things that you may not have fully considered are replacement of the impact-absorbing material that underlies the bumper, possible chassis damage, and damage to the radiator and A/C condenser. Add those possibilities to the more obvious external damage, and the bill can be…significant.
A picture taken from the driver’s side from the drivers’ door forward would give us more info about how badly the front was pushed back. But it looks significant.
This is a lot of damage. The hood is bent to a degree that tells me the front fenders are likely damaged too. The mounting brackets for the radiator and the crush zones are likely also damaged. I think you are looking at $8,000 to 10,000.
My wild guess is around $6,000. Please come back after you get the estimate and tell us who was closest.
You didn’t say how this accident happened, but I’ll make the assumption that you’re a fairly new driver and that you were simply too close to the car in front of you. If so, please keep in mind that unfortunately the majority of drivers tailgate. If you want to be a safe driver, you generally want to leave more room ahead of you than you’ll see demonstrated by the cars around you.
Wow, your first car and you’ve had it three weeks. It’s good thing you have collision insurance on it. Don’t you? Assuming that the accident was your fault, you can expect your rates to go up.
I know you drove it after the accident, but are you sure you didn’t poke a hole in the radiator? More engines have been ruined AFTER wrecks than during wrecks.
Your damage is fairly high up. A crumpled hood often looks far worse than it is. Hoods are reasonably cheap, especially in the aftermarket.
I think the others above have given good advice. Just do whatever your insurance company tells you. They will probably give you an estimate, and possibly a check made out to you and whomever holds the lien on your car, if any. Then it will be up to you to find a shop that can fix it for that figure. Sometimes shops will find concealed damage that the insurance adjuster will have to sign off on. Had the air bags popped, they would probably have “totaled” the car.
No idea without hands on but I’d say 3-4k minimum if you get a deal and that’s if nothing mechanical is damaged or some underlying chassis problems do not exist.
Cars often get the face treatment with the unknown being suspension components and how much energy was disippated into the structure itself and which may not even be visible to the naked and unaided eye.
When my youngest son wrecked his Camaro due to another careless driver his car did not look nearly as torn up as yours and it was declared a total as the subframe had buckled a bit along with the firewall and strut towers. The only way this was even determined was due to fine cracks that appeared in the paint and undercoat. Hopefully yours will work out.
Im waiting for my insurance to get in contact with me
Assuming you have the right insurance (i.e, not something like liability-only) you will pay whatever your deductible is. The insurance company will pay the rest up to your policy limit, which this wreck almost certainly does not exceed unless you really cheaped out when you bought the policy.
It is, however, possible that your premiums will go up for some time.
Thanks for the feedback. I really dont know much which is why i thought it wasnt too much damage but obviously im wrong. I hope it isnt totaled though. i do have insurance and if they can fix it i dont mind my insurnace going up i just want my car back. im waiting for the appraisal process to be finished to find out.
Since You Were Braking, The Front-End Of Your Car Was Lower Than When Not Braking. As MG McAnick Noted This Caused Most Of The Impact To Be High And “Peeled” The Hood Lights, Etcetera.
I’m thinking The bumper, frame rails, and other front-end parts were not damaged too much and that’s why the air-bags didn’t get involved. Hard to tell, but looks like the upper radiator support is bent, possibly damaging the radiator, AC Condenser, etcetera.
It’s possible that the damage does make it look worse than it really is, but that doesn’t mean it won’t run 3 to 4 thousand dollars to repair. Car repair is expensive.
I’m curious. Did you hit a higher vehicle or was that vehicle still nose-diving under braking, too? What did you hit?
I don’t know where you are, but in my state an insurance company can not mandate where you take your car to have it fixed. That is up to you. You might want to check that out if the company’s rep says anything along those lines. You can find a guy to fix it cheaply under a shade tree with parts from a salvage yard, or you can go to the dealer who will use factory new parts, probably plated with gold. You can even fix it yourself, and pocket the proceeds, if you have the time and talent. I’ve done that, starting when I was 18. (Of course you don’t have the know how at this point.)
Please let us know how you come out on this deal. We’re a curious lot.
Yeah that’s in the $3000 range. Hood bumper cover and maybe bumper parts, grill, etc. and looks like the fender is buckled, plus finishing so quite a few parts, hours, and materials.
Ideally, the cheapest way to fix this would be to find a front clip in the same color and hope that any underlying issues with the chassis and suspension do not exist.
The problem would be finding an undamaged clip in that color on a late model like this as most of them in the salvage yard usually involve similar front end strikes.
Another reason it’s hard to find late model parts in salvage yards is that it takes a pretty heavy hit to total a nearly new car.
I hit a deer with a 2002 Ford Escape about 2-1/2 years ago. It did $3500 worth of damage, according to the adjuster. The damage was A LOT less than that in the OP’s pix. Even though his damage was higher up, I’m guessing it’s more like $5000 than $3000. OTOH, I fixed that Escape with new aftermarket parts for a total cash outlay of about $600. I redid a 2007 Escape in January that was a “total”. I spent about $900 on that one, including a used driver’s airbag, and a quick trip to the frame stretcher. My wife is driving it now.
Why ? Because anything to reduce your chance of identity theft is a good thing. Plus giving clues to your location on an open web site can lead to facebook scams.