So, the other day I was driving in my 2005 Honda Civic and a woman in a 2013 Honda Fit is in the far left lane trying to turn at the T-intersection.

She cuts of the driver in the center lane who narrowly misses her. Suddenly she is in my lane. I had 20-30 feet of stopping distance and the passenger side rear door impacts my driver side headlight and her car spins120 degrees. she drives it onto a concrete island at the intersection and I move up about 5-10 feet alongside her. Two witnesses stopped and gave report to police that she had cut them both off moments before.

The car is now at a tow yard waiting for the insurance adjuster. I was wondering if this is fixable? The car has long been paid off.



The obvious damage is to the bumper and driver side headlamp assembly. Driver side front quarter panel is pushed into the wheel.

one corner if the hoode is dented a little.

Now airbags deployed in either car. No fluid leakage either.

I went to the yard to retrieve some personal affects and popped the hood. Engine compartment is intact. Hood latch is able to open and close properly.

I see no damage to the car underneath.

My car had to be towed. Initially hard to start, but they turned the steering wheel a few times and got it to start, but towed it since the driver side headlight was crushed and wuarter panel was rubbing against tires.

Pretty sure she will be at fault. Wondering if insurance will repair or scrap the car? Her car was drivable - passenger side cave in a bit.

 

depends on the book value of the car. looks can be deceiving, mounts mite need to be replaced like the radiator mounts. you will most likely also need the internal bumper replaced on top of everything else. they will also have to pay for a rental car for however long it takes to be fixed. so my guess is they are going to total the car.

 

Her insurance company just called me today. They are done investigating and they are admitting fault. they had origianlly said it could take them over a month to get the police report.

Not much they could do to avoid after I shelled out $10 for the police report when it was ready. I uploaded to their site last night. Police cited the women who was driving the other car with "Improper Lane change". That's just a $97 ticket!!!

My insurance already got it towed to the collision repair shop and all my waivers are allowing the shop to provide estimate and allow my insurance adjuster access to the car. I should be hearing from them soon.

I have two other cars, (street legal beaters that I play with) so rental car use is going to be limited.

 

if your car is worth less then then four grand im willing to bet its totaled. body shops these days are wicked expensive. you lucked out with the witnesses. i got hit a month ago from a hick running a stop sign and becausei had no witness it was my word against his so i got screwd for two grand in damage. that was just a rear quarter panel.

 

Got a call from the body shop. They starting with disassembly of the damaged area.

They are having trouble starting and think it has something to do with the hybrid electric system. Maybe a switching circuit got cut?

This shop has gotten great reviews, but I don't expect them to intimately know the Honda Civic Hydrid's electrical, mechanical and software systems.

 

Got a note from my adjuster last night - have not heard from the other party's insurance aside from their admission of fault.

My insurance prefaced with "You car MAY be a total loss" and "We need to look at any liens and if you could send us your original title to expedite your claim".

Current value they assessed at over four grand.

We just want the car fixed.

It's my wife's car and she's putting me in a hard spot as we can't afford a new car right now (she doesn't believe in financing) and she refuses to get a used car because she's afraid of getting one that had been in a flood - she doesn't trust Carfax reports either.

I'm trying to explain to her that we can get a pretty good car if we take the settlement and kick in a few thousand extra.

We're going to the Collision shop today to find out what it will actually cost to get the car on the road again.

I've done business with this shop before and they do great work - 7 years ago when I got rear-ended by a woman in a new BMW hit my 2000 Altima. I had made a sudden stop because a cop car had run a red light and she slammed into my rear.

The cop car stopped and he took our statements, then told us both, "The Altima made a legal stop at the red light and I observed the BMW which was driving too close hit it in the rear." I said, I'll buy that! We both had USAA insurance. Insurance got me a rental and I had my car back in under two weeks. Didn't pay a dime out of pocket.

So I'm confident the shop can fix the the physical ailments of the car, but when the mechic called friday and said he's trying to figure out the Hybrid electrical system, it makes me wonder. Can I have the car towed to the dealer and have them fix it for a reasonable cost? (Dealer? Reasonable? Yes, I know there is laughing somewhere)

 

OK. got the shop estimate.

Mechanic calls it a Total Loss and itemizes repair to $2959.00 with no prior evidence of damage. (My wife has been meticulous about dealer servicing and oil changes). Insurance says the value of the car is at $4500

So the repair cost is 67 percent the value of the car.

I looked up the Total Loss Threshold by law in the State of Virginia and it is 75 percent.

Can I argue that they should just fix it?
Can I get another insurance adjuster for an onsite inspection? My adjuster sent me the note from her office in Texas!

I think she came up with the Total loss assessment from the mechanic who did not know the value of the car.