Rear ended somebody on the freeway... Totaled?

[KygoRen]

Kind of a shitty way to introduce myself on the forums here but this whole thing is making me anxious as fuck.

My baby is a bit out of commission at the moment and I'm really worried about the outcome on this whole thing.

Didn't see the car in front of me stopping or see how fast they stopped, I tried to break but it was too little too late. I want to say I rear ended her about about 20-30 mph.

Pictures included. Transmission seemed fine afterward but I don't think the engine was starting, the highway patrol had to push me to the side of the freeway. Brakes also weren't working as well as they normally do.

Only been 2 days since the accident so I haven't heard much from the repair shop yet but I'm just hoping you guys can give me an idea of what I should be expecting here. Really don't want to have to say goodbye to my Vanessa

 

[Fk8 4343]

From what you have shown here, it might not be a total loss...

Except I can't see under the hood. The front bumper beam crushed the radiator. If it was pushed back far enough to crush the turbo then it is totaled.

 

[n9yty]

All the safety features keep us safe, but the vehicles themselves are a lot more "fragile" it seems, more easily totalled since there is so much packed in so densely and hard to repair after a crash. Wish you all the best, hope you have good insurance and GAP coverage if needed so you can get back in another ride soon.

 

[KygoRen]

From what you have shown here, it might not be a total loss...

Except I can't see under the hood. The front bumper beam crushed the radiator. If it was pushed back far enough to crush the turbo then it is totaled.

Yep I'm guessing at the very least a new radiator, front right quarter panel, whole front bumper, possibly hood. Not sure what to attribute to the engine not turning on and the brakes not working as well as they normally do, I've read online that some cars have "inertia switches" or something that will cut fuel to the engine in some cases so I'm hoping it's something as simple as that. Radiator doesn't look *too* fucked so I'm also hoping that's the worst of the internals but I'm not getting my hopes too high. Bought her for ~$24k and she's less than a year old, ~12,500 miles and California is a TLF state so cost of repairs + scrap would have to exceed like $20k I think for it to be considered totaled.

All the safety features keep us safe, but the vehicles themselves are a lot more "fragile" it seems, more easily totalled since there is so much packed in so densely and hard to repair after a crash. Wish you all the best, hope you have good insurance and GAP coverage if needed so you can get back in another ride soon.

Yep, designed to crumple to keep us safe. My girlfriend and I, and the lady I hit + her kids are all fine, no injuries at all so there's the upside to all of this. I don't believe I purchased GAP insurance unless my policy covers that and I just don't know about it. My USAA insurance has been taking really good care of me so far, payed for towing, rental car for 30 days while all this gets sorted out, and my deductible is only $500 so it's not a huge loss on my end, just definitely would rather not have to deal with any of this. I did buy a lot of rum and gin to keep me occupied/relatively stress-free for the next few weeks though so there's that :')

I'm going to the repair center tomorrow to sign the authorization forms for them to start working on it, I'll see if we can get the hood popped to get some pictures of the internals.

 

[unr1]

Sorry
Glad you're okay.

 

[tacthecat]

Doesn't look like airbags deployed, if so you were likely going less than 10 mph faster than the car you hit. (There's a deceleration sensor and an absolute speed cut-out in the airbag circuit.)
And some cars have a fuel-pump cut-off sensor that activates if a crash is detected.

 

[KygoRen]

Spoke to estimator that will be helping me at the collision center this morning, wasn't able to get any good pictures of the internals because the hood doesn't raise up past a few inches but she seemed pretty confident it's not going to be a total loss. From what I was able to see though it didn't look like anything vital was damaged or out of place. Obviously we'll know more when the techs are able to tear her down though.

Doesn't look like airbags deployed, if so you were likely going less than 10 mph faster than the car you hit. (There's a deceleration sensor and an absolute speed cut-out in the airbag circuit.)
And some cars have a fuel-pump cut-off sensor that activates if a crash is detected.

Yep airbags weren't deployed so there's also some good news. I did mention I thought I hit her at 20-30 mph but that's a very rough estimate since the cliche "it all happened so fast" is pretty true.

Estimator lady did say the AC was blasting hot air but that's because I left the AC on and the radiator is fucked/water or other fluids leaked out so there's nothing to cool the air with I'm guessing. I will keep updating as we go in case anyone else finds themselves in the same unfortunate situation and wants to look for more info here.

 

[tacthecat]

AC condenser is in front of radiator - likely toast, but a "minor" cost impact (What's another $500 on a $7k repair?)

 

[xcoreflyup]

From what I see from the pictures, Hood, fenders, headlights, bumper, AC are all toast. Definitely there is chance of inner damage as thats out the force is transmitted through out the structure of the car to people safe. I had a front end damage on my old car and the transmission support bar is bent. Good luck, I had 3 accident in my early 20. I can totally related.

 

[Sitio23]

I am glad you saved that H badge though!

 

[cruisencode]

I am glad you saved that H badge though!

LOL... That's the first thing I noticed in the pics.

 

[Almostfast]

I'd be more worried about the ambulance chasers getting to the person you hit. Sure they were fine at the time, but once the ambulance chasers get to em they suddenly have neck and back problems...

 

[KygoRen]

I am glad you saved that H badge though!

Lol hey if worse comes to worst I'm not letting that sit on the highway, I'm keeping it. First car, bought her for myself for a graduation present. At the very least gonna keep that piece of her if it's totaled.

I'd be more worried about the ambulance chasers getting to the person you hit. Sure they were fine at the time, but once the ambulance chasers get to em they suddenly have neck and back problems...

I'm hoping this doesn't happen but my insurance does cover up to I think $70k for the other person's injuries. I know those stack fast but I highly doubtful if they did go after anything that I'd end up paying out of pocket.

 

[CivicChina]

Lol hey if worse comes to worst I'm not letting that sit on the highway, I'm keeping it. First car, bought her for myself for a graduation present. At the very least gonna keep that piece of her if it's totaled.



I'm hoping this doesn't happen but my insurance does cover up to I think $70k for the other person's injuries. I know those stack fast but I highly doubtful if they did go after anything that I'd end up paying out of pocket.

only 70k???! that's scary. In Italy there is 6 million mandatory coverage for persons injuries and 1.2 million for damages to property.

 

[KygoRen]

Update: I called the collision center today and the lady assigned to my case said the estimate is ~$15k right now. She said there may be some parts that will be added if they haven't been found yet... So it's not looking great so far. It's a real bummer but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

On the plus side, my car had a bunch of factory upgrades so that should adjust the total value and if it is totaled, give a higher payout for the car. Just shitty in the end, I loved this car. Learning lesson though. Coulda been a lot worse too.

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