mattisbritish

Coming home from work a guy turned right and instead of getting into his lane, turned wide and ended up in mine. At the same time as me.

He plowed his red es300 2002 lexus into my front left fender, taking out the wheel in the process. I saw him in the last second and tried to veer around him but ran out of room and he pushed me into a 1/2 foot high curb on the right side, taking out my other wheel.

He bounced off me, and i rolled ahead a good few feet before the car stumbled to a stop. The transmission had disconnected or something, the engine was fine but no power was getting to the wheels. I turned off the car and sat there for a minute, trying to figure out what the hell just happend.

Since it wasnt a front collision, the air bags didnt deploy and on-star didnt turn on. I pressed the button and a lady responded, asking how they could help. I explained what had happened and they sent the police to file a report, as well as an ambulance incase anyone was hurt. A man came up to the window and asked if i was ok. I was a bit shaken and i couldnt move my two smallest fingers on my left hand, they were in a permanent half-clenched posistion. I said i thought i had hurt my elbow, and asked if he was ok. He explained that he wasnt the other drive, but was infact from the car behind me. He said that the other guy is fine, but since i hadnt gotten out of the car yet, he wanted to see if i was ok. He said that the other driver had ran a stop sign, took the corner way too fast and just plowed right into me.

I got up and out of the car with little difficulty. It was sitting in the right lane of a 2 lane street, so traffic wasnt impared. I couldnt move it anyway. The other driver came up to me (an older gentleman) and asked if i was ok. He was shaking a bit and said that he didnt even see me.

Eventually the police showed up and the first man gave a report. When the police finally got to talk to me they explained what had happend, and that i was not at fault at all. I thanked them for their help, got the report information and our cars were tow'ed. My parents were on site and picked me up and took me to the ER to get my elbow checked out. Turns out it was just bruised, and i could move my fingers again without any problems.

Its now a week later, and i finally heard back from the insurance company. I have geico and the other guy had AAA. I had decided to have geico take care of all the repair work, then bill AAA for it, which AAA agreed to. The total repair cost (at this point in time) is $8000.

Since my car now has a major collision on its record, i know that the resell value on it is severely reduced, so i went to autoloss.com and worked with them to file for diminished value. They took my case, and told me that they estimate $7000 in DV. For $300 they would write up an 8 page report, get it to AAA and do all the legal work involved. I agreed (having previously called AAA and verified that they will honor a DV request with the correct paperwork)

So now i am sitting here, waiting for my car to be repaired.

*stares at the boring rental ford fusion outside*

SkinnyAJ

Good to hear you are all in one piece as things can always be much worse! Bummer about the car, at least the guy that hit you had good insurance. Its always a bad day when you get hurt in an accident and the person that hooked you up doesn't have insurance or has a cheap policy with a no-name company. Never worked with a company like autoloss. Let us know how it turns out!

EVRose

Wow! Glad your ok. That could have been a lot worse for you. It really is sickening about the car but hopefully you get a good team working on it and she'll be almost good as new.

CyberBullet

Sorry to hear about your issue. Glad you are o.k.

davidtcpa

As long as you got away unscathed. I also would like to hear the results.

mattisbritish

Thanks everyone.

I'll let you know how the autoloss.com thing works. Its got some pretty good testimonials on their site.

Also, i'll let you know how the repair goes too. I saw the repair estimate, they have to replace both front wheels, a bunch of body parts, the wheel housing, the shocks.. yeah.

Fortunately, since i asked geico to do it and bill AAA, they are using OEM parts instead of refurbished parts, so im hoping that they will do a proper job.

jpee

Glad to hear your OK... but I'll bet you a dinner after the body shop takes the car apart there will be another $2000 damage AT LEAST!!!

I just got my car back .. I was on 684 (interstate) and a deer ran out from my right (I was in the extreme left lane) of a 3 lane highway...

The deer ran into my right front fender doing very little damage (broke the yellow side marker) but the impact pushed me to the left hitting the cement Jersey Barrier...

My car was drivable after the incident, the deer didn't do as well...

I had no damage to the running gear with the exception of curb rash to the left front wheel (polished aluminum)

I took it to one of the best body shops in Westchester NY and the initial estimate was for $7200.... the following day after they got the car apart they found another $2200 in damage ...total $9400 ..

They replaced the left front fender, left door, left rear 1/4 and a left headlight ($680 for the headlight) also the inner front fender, and damage to the front bumper...

I also have Geico (GREAT Company) my accident was classified as (comprehensive) meaning I was not at fault...and my rates wont be affected... whewwwww....

I just got it back last Fri.. and you'd never know it was hit...they the body shop matched the LMB paint to a "T" I cant even tell where it was blended to the original paint.

My point being just from what you say damage to both sides of the running gear (wheels & other steering, and suspension parts) I'm betting you will get an updated estimate. That should be no problem as it will be covered and Geico treated me great...

Good luck with the repairs....

franman69

To both OP and JP glad you are both ok... sucks being in an accident for sure!! JPee... let's get together and admire the cars!..

Vette5.5

I too am betting the damage is going to be more than first thought, from the way you decribed the accident. Shouldn't be a problem though, as the shop really needs to tear into things a bit more, get the adjuster out again, and should be approved by the insurance. When you think about it, a claim like this is really chump change to insurance, as no one got hurt. Your car will be fine, long as the shop knows what they're doing.

rz2mbc

I know it sucks.....but good that u r ok......& thats why we have insurance.

speedraider

f.........that really sux

MKenM

You just never know, glad to hear that you are OK, cars can always be replaced. Interested to see how you make out with the DV process.

peter pan

Glad you are ok

hawkgfr

glad you are ok...Car will be good as new..


Good luck.

boraxman

Wow, glad your OK, hoping you get satisfaction at the end.

AORoads

in my rental ford fusion (don't laugh; it ain't that bad), I just tonight rounded a tight corner from a major street. as I did, I slowed to a crawl. sure enough, a guy comes barreling through betw. two parked cars. had I not stopped easily from almost waiting, he would have hit me head on. had I been going normal speed, at his 25+ mph AND running the stop sign behind me, it would've been bad.

you are lucky, and smart enough to know about DV. good luck with it. drive that fusion carefully.

Knob Jockey

I feel your pain, glad you are alright.

I'm in the midst of a similarly-valued repair to the front end of my '06 and submitted info to autoloss.com.

I got an immediate reply from local reps and their site showed info and testimonials from my state. Including a successful outcome with the insurance company I'm dealing with.

So I'm surprised and guardedly optimistic about my very real DV claim.

lordofwar

that really sucks.i advise you to trade the car as soon as you get it back.

Walt White Coupe

You were smart to let your insurance take care of you. The others insurance would nickle and dime you to death. I had a similar situation with a woman running a red light and Geico was outstanding in how they handled the whole situation.

mattisbritish

Got some of the repair photos.