ikankoi

OUCH!

TLW

man im sorry

doesnt look too too bad

what happened?

and are you alright ?

ikankoi

ok this is what happened: monday 7/12 630PM, I was driving westbound on washington blvd at culver city, triyng to make a left turn on a greenlight (no arrow), and i dont know what i was thinking, but i can swear I didnt see this car coming eastbound. well, all i can do was hitting the brake real hard and i hit the front driver side wheel of the other car. nobody was injured, thanks God, and I didnt feel any impact at all! it just felt like a light bump (like if you are parking and the wheel hit the parking bump)... must be the quality of Lexus... end of story, i need to repalce hood, grille, headlights, bumper and left fender, and my car is driveable, whil the other car, a 2002 dodge neon, i believe it is totalled the left front axle was messed real bad, it got like 45degree camber after the impact....

ok, heres another story: the other car, which consist of hispanic family: wifey was driving, hubby on passanger and none of them can speak english. police came up and we exchanged insurance info and got off after that, no ticket issued. couple days later, someone called me on behalf of them (who apprently speaks english well) asking for my resposiblity as thisd person told me that now that family is suffering without the car (need to go to doctor, drive thier kids to school etc). I feel bad about it but fell being harrased at the same time. I told this person that I never delcared that it was my fault, instead i said that the insurance comp will take care of it (afterall, thats waht we are paying them for., right?) so i gave them my agent ph and extension and the claim number. they havent called me back sinceafter, but still feel uncomfortable. i crosschecked with my agent and she said that is the right thing to do, but i dont know waht to say if they ever call me again. i stick with the fact that I am will ing collaborate, but not my fault until it has been proven otherwise. so guys, if any of you has similar experience , can you enlighten me of waht shoud I do or say??

joshoowa

iTrader: (1)

they're trying to bite at your wallet man...just leave it up to the insurance company...my sister was backing out of her friends driveway and the neighbor across teh street was doing the same, we really do not know who was backing out first but it ended up my sister's right back bumber clearly hit the other ppl's side rear door...my sis and the other ppl both agreed that no one was at fault but still exchanged info, well she gets a call from our insurance agent a couple of days later finding out that they want to sue her. we discussed with our agent what happened and how they both clearly said that no one was at fault...nothing ever happend

EDIT: i didnt mention but it was a neon as well and the frame got bent from the impact which i think is total b.s. or what a crappy built american car. my sis told me she wasnt even backing out fast but anywhoo our insurance didnt go up nor did we have to pay for anything...

lexusondubs

iTrader: (9)

that sux man my advice to you is let your agent handle it !!!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

sorry to hear what happened man, so it's close to sepulveda / sawtelle i suppose? that stinks man... but glad to hear that all parties are ok.

but yes, you are doing the right thing. i am sure you understand you are going to be eventually proven at fault, but that doesn't mean you have to care about what's going on with them. they can talk to your agent all they want that's their business. and yes that's what insurance is for. it's not like you are trying to run away from them or anything.

btw, make sure you get the car checked out to see if there is frame damage. i strongly believe there is

ikankoi

rominl, do you think so?? i already took it for insurance inspection but i have get the quote yet. it was in a bodyshop in bellfower, i know these guys for like 2 years and they are fair and good in waht they are doing. ill ask them to double check on the frame then. last time they said it was ok since the bumper material seems absorbed the impact pretty well...we will see then.. thanks for reminding tho...

and btw, it was at washington and some small street near the sony picture building... and i live close to venice and overland! ive read about statistic research that most car accident happents within 5 miles radius from the owners home...blah... i guess i should move? first accident record in 6 years driving history in US...

PHML

iTrader: (33)

Only rule of thumb to remember.....NEVER say "Im sorry"....or .... "I apologize". Thats an automatic admission of guilt/fault.

Pete

ikankoi

yea Pete, i didnt say sorry nor admint it was my mistake either... i was phone-interviewed by the insurance investigator regarding the accident, and all i said was what happened on the site wothout pointing finger (not even to myself )

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yup, although in most cases, when you know it's not your fault, you DO try to get the other party to say that it's their fault

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well of course i can't be 100%, but definitely put it on the rack / machine and check it out. last thing you want to see is that your car repaired cosmetically but it keeps on pulling slightly to one side when driving, which is usually caused by frame damage.

the damage in the front is a bit too much for me to tell right now. but from my MERE understanding of frame damage, you can try to do a few things. see, the hood, the hinges are towards the back of the hood, right by the door / winshield. unless those areas are damaged as well, the hood does not move (left and right wise). look at the gap on the pessenger side (seems like that side isn't really damaged) and see if the gap is same all the way. or try to see if the gap is still relatively same left and right. that's one hint for frame damage.

another thing you can do, which involve more work but also more accurate. from what you said, seems like no internals are damaged, including the radiator, the frame right beside the radiator, etc... if that's the case, open up your hood. take a string, and find a point around the hinge on the driver side (where you can mirror the same spot on the pessenger side) and hold it there (find someone). pull the other end of the string to the pessenger side headlight area and find somewhere (not the outside of the car, but somewhere inside the engine bay where you can again mirror on the driver side). mark down the lenght. now if there is NO frame damage, you measure the distance on the other diagonal and they should be exactly the same.

these are some method i learned a while ago. and of course, look at the gap right in front of the two front doors with the front fenders, and notice how the gaps are, should be pretty consistent left and right. sometimes you need to do more hw yourself than just trust the body shop. don't get me wrong, but sometimes you trust yourself the best right?

oh and so you live so damn close to my wife! she lives right around 10 and 405, on sawtelle. and yeah... talk about having accident close..... she was hit by a b8tch at costco in marina del ray (on washington as well, so ironic) something like 6 miles from home, and i was hit by my coworker at work, which is 3 miles away from home

sorry to hear about everything, but now just focus on getting it back to shape

NoS

Whoa! Hope everything turns out ok and your car gets back to normal

jtanoyo1

Aduh, parah banget, bo. Sorry to hear that, hope insurance will straighten it out for you...