ross072566

Had to drive off the road to avoid being hit head on and the guy still hit me and ran. Insurance filed an uninsured motorist claim. They found the truck but no driver or tags. I think it's totaled. I do not want to drive this vehicle again after this.

kitlz

So sorry to hear, ross. I hope you're ok and were able to avoid the head on collision. Still, it hurts. Fingers crossed they can find the driver of the truck. Karma will catch up with them eventually. Please keep us posted on what insurance says. And get yourself checked out to be safe.

NateJG

Mindful of how I felt at a stone dent, I'm feeling for you.

So sorry.

'Saved your life, tho - great car.

vlad_a

Accidents happen. Insurance will take care of your car. Main thing, you reacted and avoided small overlap collision. Those are the worst.
Pat yourself on the back, you might have used one of nine lives on that one.
As for the other driver... he's now a law enforcement's problem, and they don't take hit and run lightly.

ross072566

Any suggestions on what to do if they want to fix it or use aftermarket parts?

lexusrus

Did any of the airbags pop?

vlad_a

Your insurance company will not use aftermarket parts, however, they may opt to use refurbs. I had that happen to me with Progressive.
Talk to the adjuster and the body shop to get all of details of the repair estimate.

ross072566

Yes, all the driver's side. Not the steering wheel though.

SkiMe

I think there is an age thing for replacing with OEM sheetmetal. If it's past a certain number of years (a few), I think the body shop has the choice to use aftermarket panels instead of OEM. I could be wrong.....just remembering a conversation many years ago with a body shop that replaced a fender on my 07 once. With that said, whatever they installed, fit perfect and I can't see any gap issues or quality issues....

lexusrus

It all depends on your specific policy as I found out a couple of years ago when I had an accidental with my CT200h.

My policy DID NOT have NEW OEM replacement rider which I was told I should have opted for when I signed on. It was like some minimum amount of $15 or so per month!!!

After some hard negotiations, I got the OK from the insurance company to use new OEM parts. The Lexus dealership body shop helped in the case also. All good now.

lexusrus

IDK how much these airbags cost, but it can get up there. When I called after my accident a couple of years ago, after the insurance company determined that no one was hurt, the next question was if any airbags deployed.

ross072566

Went over today and looked at it again. A few more pics. That rear driver side quarter is creased also. And that is the truck that hit us. The right front is where he hit a cement bridge after he hit us. He drove that truck a mile or so after he hit the bridge. How he did that I don't know.

Clutchless

Damage has to be over 75% of value typically to total a vehicle. Depending on your age and mileage you may or may not be close. It all looks very repairable to me. My father fell asleep on I95 in NC and tore up the entire driver side of his 2010 ES350 on a median strip guardrail to the tune of $15,000 (no airbag deployment) and they fixed it. This was 2 years ago and he had under 40,000 miles. Same color too!

The insurance investigators can track down the truck owner from the VIN. Removing the tags only slowed them down a bit.

I had a scare last year when I got a call that an SUV I sold 3 years earlier had been in an accident and the morons at G*** thought I still owned it because they only ran the VIN, not the plates and used data from 10 years earlier! After a little inquiry I learned their insured (who had been hit by my old SUV) had already been in contact with the current owner and their insurance company!

ross072566

Insurance called and said right now there's about $15,000 damage. They want me to pick a body shop to take it to and then they want it tore apart to see how much more damage there is to see if it's totaled or not. Would you take it to a Lexus certified body shop which is about 45 minutes away or just a local that supposedly does good work. I plan to trade it once it's fixed.

Yurka

i feel you on this one ross, my 2010RX has been in an accident last winter, hit and run, nobody saw who hit me, the car was parked. Insurance paid i think either 11 or 12k to the repair shop however they refused to pay for OEM parts so i had to go with aftermarket which unfortunately were not satisfactory. They matched the color very nice, it looked great on the outside, however on the inside not every synced together as it was supposed to, fair amount of rattling and squeaky noise coming from the area, Geico said since the car is older than 3 years they cant provide me with OEM parts in order to eliminate that, which was pain in the a**, idk about you but if theres a noise or somethng thats not supposed to be in a car it just drives me crazy. a little after i got swiped, same side, those aftermarket parts just cracked and i had to send the car back to the shop, dude fixed it for me free of charge,but the noise and rattling did not go anywhere. Try to insist on good parts and preferably be there when the estimator comes by, i couldnt be there and i regret not being there to talk to the guy and make sure i get what i need not the cheapest things, insurance for a luxury car is not cheap, so kind of wants to get back from them.