Well, my worst fear has happened...my wife got sideswiped yesterday IN OUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD. She was driving down our street, and this lady in a minivan doesnt even look and backed out of her driveway, Meghan swerved left to miss her and WHACK, nailed the right front bumper, wheel, fender, door, right rear door, right rear quarter panel, and rear wheel.

Meghan is fine, but her friend niki who was in the passenger seat at the time got her arm "crushed" between the door and her body...a jolt really, but a bad enough one to tear 2 ligaments and bruise her tendons.


the only pix i have are from the accident scene with my camera phone (samsung SGH T-309 haha) for now, i will take more when it stops raining...if it ever does.

and it seems i cant upload those pix from my cameraphone...so give me a minute and i will have em up...

 

Happy to hear your wife and her friend are alright,

some people are morons.. they dont look around when their about to reverse,change lanes, pull out of shopping centers


-Tommy

 

****ty man! I'm glad you & M are OK!
So much for the turbo on the escort!

 

Im assuming that she will be covering the costs for the repairs?

 

Yikes! Boy that's sad - sure glad Meg wasn't hurt, but I hope her friend recovers quickly. You wouldn't think a low-speed collision could do so much damage, but the other car's toughest area, the corner on a unibody, can really mangle a lot of flat sheetmetal. You're lucky that the airbags didn't fire - the damage to the interior might have been more than the exterior.

Thanks for the call yesterday Josh, and thanks for posting the pics. You guys are really lucky - and fortunately all seems to be well. If Meg wakes up a little stiff and sore this morning, she's entitled.

Be well!

 

^left side front bumper got knocked off the mounts...







the wheels have to be replaced as well...

R/R wheel


R/F wheel


and the door sill panel (rocker panel) is buckled...


see the waves in the metal?

Going nuts wont solve anything or get anything accomplished. I have an Insurance adjuster from USAA calling tomorrow to get the ball rolling. We decided to try to tackle this through the other parties insurance first, then if USAA gives me ANY issues, I will call Geico (mine and meghans insurance co), get my car fixed, pay my deductible and let the ins. co's battle it out. Meghan and her friend are ok. That was my biggest concern. This car did exactly what i bought it to do, Protected my wife and its other occupants from serious harm in the event of an accident, i cant think of a better way to spend $25,000.

 

Glad to hear Meghan's OK. That's the main thing.

Ordinarlily with this type of impact it probably wouldn't need a frame-rail machine to straighten any frame damage ( unibody vehicles tend to telegraph severe impacts through the structure and bend the frame ), but you say a bumper got ripped off its mount. That may have put a wrenching force on that end of the car and bent the unibody.
If it is still drivable, does it still track straight on a level road?

flip, if you're on the channel here, what do you think?

( flipside909, a CL Editor, is an insurance adjuster by trade ).

 

No it doesnt track straight at all, pulls left really bad, and the gap on the rear hatch on the right side is substantially bigger than the one on the left side.

 

The body shop thats doing the repair is using all new toyota parts and tinting the paint. there is $4,753 worth of damage according to their estimate.

Estimate #2 coming up today or tomorrow from a dealership.

An update on meghan, she was complaining monday that her back was hurting, i made her go to the military hospital here on post, and they diagnosed her with severe whiplash with possible complications. they are running more tests as we speak. what a nitemare.

 

sorry to hear bro, hopefully everything works out for the best

 

Estimate #2 is $4,016 anbd estimate #3 at the toyota dealer $6,723.

 

Glad to hear that she's okay.

 

Well guys, nearly 3 months later and the matrix is all fixed. All total, $5,237.54, not a penny out of pocket. and Quite honestly, i am IMPRESSED. The body shop that did it, did it so well you cant tell it was ever wrecked. Im a stickler for detail, i have looked this car over time and time again and it is literally a FLAWLESS Repair. Just wanted to let everyone now the update.

 

What he said. The car can b fixed dood, glad things were not worse.