wooferbear

Well I was rear-ended on the highway the other day. I was hit fairly hard on the right half of the rear bumper by someone that was following to close & too fast. The preliminary estimate is $8200.00 which I think it way low. Among other things, the right frame is visibally bent.

My baby is driveable (he's a '01 Black Silversport), but don't think it will ever drive the same. I'm also worried about long-term damage that won't show up initially.

Has anyone else unfortunately had any similiar experience? I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the other driver's insurance. I seriously doubt they will want to total it. She, however, will be getting a new car - it caught on fire because she forgot to turn it off after the accident and it overheated which caused the fire.

Other things that I think about is that the car is unique as far as being a limited edition. The current 'coach edition' isn't a silversport no matter how you trim it. It was barely a year old and did not have a single scratch or ding on it.

I also owe about $23,000 on it and see other used non '01 RX300 Silversports going for $32,000. For once in my life I was not top-heavy on a car loan. After repair, i'm not sure what the value would be yet.

Should I fight for a new replacement or get it fixed?

I know it will never be the same, but long-term, will it be ok mechanically and handle well physically?

Depressed in the SF Bay area.......

Nathan

ps - i'm ok - sore and tired - I think the construction of the RX300 had much to do with minimizing injury. It handled well all through the event (I was rammed out into the middle of a 6 lane highway in a arch and ended up facing the on-going traffic. I was hit by a second car on the side left bumper in the process which was a minor impact. I'm quite lucky to not have been hit by all the other cars as it was in the morning during heavy traffic. It could have been much, much worse.

LexRX

Glad to hear you're okay, and sorry to hear about your experience I would say that unless the frame damage is enough to total your RX out, it will be repaired, of course, by the woman's insurance company. If the frame is damaged, there is no way it'll be the same, I would push for a new car.

p1fcl01

I too was ram in the rear with my pregnent wife 2 3 yrs ago with my RX only 5000 miles. It was not as bad as yours only push up bumper in the rear. The dealer charged $2800 to fix it. I was also educated by the Dealer that you should always repair all body and chasis damages with Lexus, he said they back their work and if you have any problems later, they will fix it. Now, I am not sure if this is true because I had no further problems with the rear of my car. So, take this as a opinion.

Shonuff

make sure you get them to pay for the depreciation your lexus just took. insurance companies don't like to automatically add this in.....make sure you fight them on this one....you will get it. if not talk to a lawyer and go from there.

salimshah

Other than the medical, the insurance (yours or third party) is required to fix the problem and end up being:

a) repair it if the repair cost is below the Blue book value.
b) find a replacement up to the blue book value.
c) Pay replacement value (blue book).

Generally blue book values are $500-700 more than the resale value.

What lot of people overlook and the insurance people never let them on, is the reduced resale value after the repairs have been done. (Non cosmetic repair).

If you have the patience and energy and money: Check with a lawyer and go buy yourself a car you wanted. Let the insurance company pay for repairs but right after repair have it trucked to a 2nd hand car dealer and put it on sale. Declare all the damages/repair. When the car is sold, any value lost is then claimed from the insurance.

I would only reccomend this for expensive cars with more than cosmetic damage.

Salim

wooferbear

Thanks for the info guys - keep it comming!

Salim and Shonuff - do you know of a place to find out or how to determine what the depreciation is after accidents like rear-end collisions?

salimshah

Sorry, I cant help you there. No exerience in purchase of resold cars.

I would strongly suggest ... find out how extesive the damage is and the repair if it is more than replacement of panels and paint.


Salim

mickey513

You live in CA, it is not require that you tell the buyer the car was in a accident. Though it may be a lowlife thing to do but how many people acutally tell the buyer that their car been in a major accident. Get it?

RX300_ATL

Do they have Carmax (or what about Autonation) in your state? I took my last car there to see how much they offered for it, before I sold it on the private market. I got a print-out from them that listed the condition of the car, any prior damage they can see, etc. You could tell them you're considering selling it and see what they'll offer you. Of course their price they offer is going to be lower than what you could sell it for yourself, but might give you a general idea of the reduction in value your accident caused. Maybe you could tell them about the repairs, and also ask them what they would have offered had there been no accident. They probably run Carfax or something like that on it, so I doubt you'd be able to sneak the repairs past them.

StreetLexus

I work for Carmax as a Sales Consultant, great place to buy a Lexus by the way, (cheap plug )...

When our buyers look at a car they do check for Frame Damage.
It will cause your RX to depreciate faster, that is fact and not fiction. If they refuse to total the Vehicle and you are paying a monthly note, it could cause you to have negative equity when you try to sell or trade.

My advice is to stand your ground and either have them total the vehicle, or pay you for the depreciation that the accident caused.

Hope this helps.

wooferbear

Many thanks for all your replies.

I am going to require them to pay for the instant loss in value of the car post accident.

Also I have found out that the car can no longer get the 'Certified Lexus Pre-owned' status because of the accident.

I have to now figure out what the instant loss in value is (so far i've gotten a figure of 5,000 to 6,000 less post-accident) and what the intrinsic value of the Certified Lexus Pre-owned status is.

The actual physical damange will probably not result in a totalled vechicle....however after adding in the above, they may want to total it.

spinteews

Good luck man!! hope everything works out

salimshah

Or you might be offered a preowned RX with similar milage/condition before accident. ... dont be surprized.

Good luck

Salim

wooferbear

Here's an update....

My RX300 was totalled. Which is both good & bad. Didn't want to be on the market for a new car! But with $18,000 (and counting) dollars of damage I don't want it back.

So now i'm torn. I like the Graphite 2002 Coach Edition of the RX300, but don't like the color of the lighter wood trim. I don't really like the base model RX300 Black on Black with grey trim even though it has the darker wood trim.

I did test drive a limited edition of the GS300 today and liked it a lot. Graphite exterior with black leather and black walnut trim (pretty much black). Lots of nice things, but can't decide if I want a sedan.

I also test drove an Infiniti G35. I liked the handeling a lot. But really don't like the non-touch screen navigation system.

Also looked at the BMW 3 Series - but it also has the non-touch screen navigation system.

I did find out one thing in the process. There's been a lot of frustration with Lexus over the $500 Navigation DVD upgrade. Well, both BMW and Infiniti are CD based systems with about 7 CD to cover the US. BMW charges $150 per cd with the first one free. I think i'd much much rather pay 500 for one DVD for the entire US including Canada than 900 for a complete US set that does not include Canada!

Oh well...decisions decisions......and I really miss my Balck on Black Silversport

RX300_ATL

That sucks that you lost the Silversport, I'm guessing it was a one-time thing and you won't be able to get the brushed aluminum on a new RX again?

I'm just curious, would you say the insurance company gave you a decent reimbursement for the RX? Was it enough to pay for a brand new one, or how much depreciation did they factor in?