Head-on hit

Your personal habits are why you still have that bike and I bet it is still in good shape.


Body work is expensive. If your damage was around $2000, the damage isnā€™t so bad. Last February I was bumped by a car backing out of a parking place. The cost to repair the dent shown in the picture was about $1500.The damage was all cosmetic. Had.I been hit the same way in my first car, a 1947 Pontiac, there would have been no damage.
I will say that the insurance company of the person that hit me was very considerate. They insisted on fixing my van right away and said they would furnish a rental. I said that I needed my van that week as I had a concert to play and needed to transport my fellow musicians and their instruments. The insurance company rented a minivan for me and allowed me to choose the body shop. A Dodge Caravan was waiting for me at the body shop. When my van was repaired, I drove to the body shop, left the rental and drove away in my van. The insurance company even called to make sure everything was o.k. I said that my only complaint was that I was furnished with a.Dodge Caravan and had wanted a Duke Ellington Caravan. I was told by the insurance rep that the Duke Ellington Caravans were only rented to a Sophisticated Lady.(I like that tune from Ellingtonā€™s"Sophisticated Lady"). I did tell the rep that I really appreciated the prompt service and I hoped that my own company would treat someone whose car I damaged in an accident would treat the person as I was treated.

UPDATE: Got my buggy back late today. It looks like new!

In addition to most bumper components replaced except the grill pieces that were undamaged, the metal rod that locks the hood latch was replaced because it got slightly twisted. And they even straightened out the mangled license plate.

And they even buffed out the couple of small scuffs on the door guards from prior parking lot dings at no charge, and washed and waxed the whole car. And they vacuumed and wiped out the interior although there was only very minor stuff tracked in on the floor mats.

Also, they took apart the inside of the drivers door and window, found no problems, and reassembled it. But, very happily, that fixed the rattle and window function back to normal. So apparently it just had been jarred hard enough to have something a bit loose and/or out of kilter that only needed taking apart and putting back together.

Monday morning my regular mechanic shop will recheck the recent four wheel alignment for a minimal charge and, if needed, align it again. Insurance wonā€™t cover that. But I consider it minimal cost worth spending to make sure it is still aligned to save undue wear and tear on everything.

Now I wait to see if I ever get back my deductible. Hope so, but it was worth every dollar to get the car repaired immediately without driving it damaged and risking making anything unknown worse.

About as good a win-win result as it gets for having been hit head-on.

I am truly blessed.

Thanks everyone for all your responses, advice and moral support.

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Iā€™m glad to hear everything has gone so well so far :slight_smile:

Excellent news from the body shop it appears :slight_smile:

@Triedaq. Glad your vehicle had only minor damage and that you were treated well.

Your comment about earlier cars proved true years ago with my parents 1956 Olds. One day in the early '70s the brake master cylinder (there was only one master cylinder on the '56 car) gave out as Dad was braking for a red light. No brakes at almost 40 mph. Slammed the rear end of a new Caddy, knocking it clear through the intersection. Caved in the trunk of that Caddy. Guy got out, glanced at the damage, jumped back in and peeled rubber leaving before Dad could make sure I was okay and get out to trade info.

Only damage at all to our '56 Olds was a minor scratch/ding in the chrome bumper and slight bend in the front of the hood. That was pulled out back into place/shape without it even affecting the paint! Eighteen guage steel was stern stuff! :grinning:

I agree with db but also use Yelp and other online review sites to see what customers think of the body shop. Depending on where you live Yelp can be of great assistance.

One thing Iā€™ve noticed from buying used cars is that often body shops will repair the cosmetic damage, but they donā€™t replace mechanical components. So if your power steering system starts to leak fluid, or your A/C starts to leak freon when they sure never did before, you can guess that impact knocked systems just hard enough to let tiny leaks form between metal and rubber gaskets. But will a body shop check for a leaky power steering rack? Nope. Will they check your freon in your A/C? Nope. They will fix the outsides and anything clearly shattered on the inside of the engine, but they wonā€™t check carefully for new leaks.

What to do about this? I donā€™t know. But this is why we hate our cars getting into accidents even though insurance will fix them. We all know the car will often never be the same after a hard hit.

BTW, a Camry will keep running like a tank long after several accidents - I know, Iā€™ve test driven and owned some like that. Itā€™s just a matter of how much the diminished comfort and quietness of the ride bothers you. To some, they donā€™t notice at all.

What in the world are you talking about? Marnet has her car repaired that she bought new so end of discussion.

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I remember my 59 Pontiac had the one end of the rear bumper twisted about an inch or two. Previous owner(s) must have snagged someone or something. It always bothered me but try as I might I could never get that heavy duty bumper bent back in place. I even ran it up against a tree once to try and bend it back but no luck. Indestructible.

Now the bumper in my 59 VW Bug was a joke. Even when the two supports were not rusted away, the bumper was very thin. I backed into a light pole with it once and bent the thing into a U. A new one cost me $10.

Had the alignment checked this morning and it was slightly out on the toe in for the front end.

The insurance company normally wonā€™t cover an alignment unless there is damage to frame, or suspension, or the car left the road, none of which occurred. But since I have the paperwork from having an alignment with tire rotation only a few weeks prior to the accident I am going to try to get reimbursed for todayā€™s alignment. Worst case, they say no. But at least it is properly aligned to save wear and tear on tires and other components and a second set of eyes confirmed all repairs look excellent and nothing overlooked.

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QUESTION: Referencing the before and after alignment measurements on the printout posted in my previous comment, am I correct in thinking it shows that the force of the head-on impact which did greatest damage to the left side of the bumper essentially slightly skewed the toe adjustment of both front wheels to the right??? And that the alignment reset them to track straight again as reflected in the steer ahead value???

Marnet
ā€¦still reading, still learningā€¦

Marnet, it appears you are back on the road and with luck you may get your deductible back someday. All I can say is-Relax-worrying to much is not good for you.

@VOLVO_V70. Thank you.

Actually not worrying, as the car is well repaired.

What I am at this point is curious. Iā€™ve done some reading about the basics of alignment. And I am trying to apply what I think I basically understand to interpreting the results of the alignment readout.

Keep in mind that only weeks earlier the tires were rotated and a full four wheel alignment was done then. So although it is possible that driving since then caused misalignment I believe it far more likely the accident impact did.

So, merely curious at this point about applied physics, as it were. :grinning:

I am content about the car. Just a curious creature by nature.

When saving the before measurements there is no interest in setting the steering wheel straight ahead. Your before measurements show the toe to be within specs but both front wheel slightly to the left. It is likely the steering wheel is to the left and could be centered to make all readings within specs but if no adjustments are needed does the technician get paid?

The machine will later instruct the technician to set the steering wheel straight before the toe adjustment. It is unlikely any adjustments were made here, the toe setting is nearly the same.

@Nevada_545. Yes, an alignment was done. Please note the before and after values. Before values showed toe and steer ahead in the gray area with after adjustment values in the green.

Yes, I could have skipped checking alignment as the body shop found no damage to suspension or frame. But just as I wasnā€™t going to quibble over paying the deductible so the car got repaired immediately rather than driven damaged and potentially worsening unknown damage, I chose not to balk at the cost of checking the alignment and having it redone as needed.

The car is not quite three years old with only 25k miles. Since I plan, hope, and financially need to keep and drive it many more years, relatively minimal cost now to ensure all is back up to snuff to minimize undue wear and tear from getting hit seems prudent proactive caution to maximize future use longevity.

And trust me, the steering wheel is quite centered. Iā€™m extremely picky about that. :grinning:

But as I noted, I posted the alignment specs and my question purely out of curiosity at this point. The car is fixed. Iā€™m satisfied. Iā€™m not worried. Just insatiably curious.

Time to retire this topic thread. :sunglasses:

Thanks everyone for all the responses and advice. :slight_smile:

To borrow a quote" we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming." :red_car::blue_car::oncoming_automobile:

Marnet
ā€¦still reading, still learningā€¦

When my brother bought his '64 VW, he opted for the dealer-installed ā€œbumper stiffenersā€. These turned out to be crude curved hunks of steel that were apparently encrusted in rust even before they were installed. They were installed as a ā€œbackingā€ for the existing bumpers, butā€“unfortunatelyā€“they were visible when you saw the car up-close.

I donā€™t think that this ā€œaccessoryā€ cost more thanā€¦maybeā€¦$20, but they werenā€™t even worth that amount of money because they looked awful on a brand-new car, and they really didnā€™t stiffen the OEM bumpers to any significant extent. One tap of the front bumper by someone backing into a parking space still bent the bumper pretty badly.

You have to realize that this alignment measurements are not made by NASA tools. I bet you can drive out of one shop to another on the same day and their measurement might be a bit different.

@Marnet. I used to really fret over my car and also worried over everything else. When something went wrong with the car, I imagined the worst. The mechanic that took care of my car became a good friend. He gave me some really good advice one time. He said, ā€œTriedaq, you worry too much. Even if you had no worries, you would worry about having nothing to worry aboutā€. It was great advice and when I start to worry about something I remember his advice.

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@Triedaq. Good advice.:sunglasses:

No, no! No one can post anymore! marnet declared this thread closed! :nerd_face: