"Only with a Prius" repair costs

[erinishuman]

I was hit a few weeks ago - a stoplight turned green, but the car in front of me decided it still looked red and didn't move. So I waited, but the SUV behind me saw that green light and Whammo! hit me pretty hard.

I'm happy to say that my baby is back now and looks completely beautiful. But Wow, you do not want to get stuck with the cost of fixing one of these cars!

The body shop's original estimate was $4600; the total at the end of the day was over $6100.

Special "only with a Prius" charges included...

--> towing between the body shop and the Toyota dealership to disconnect the hybrid battery system; and then reconnect it after the body work was done (3 tows total) --> $180

--> Toyota's charges to disconnect and the reconnect the hybrid battery system --> $450

--> The Secret Compartment black plastic box which holds the spare tire materials --> $307 --> this was more than all the bumper pieces

--> The rear liftgate lock assembly (smart start); body shop told me a piece like this w/o smart start is usually about $25 --> $224

--> The start battery - (not the hybrid battery); this had to be replaced because after the accident, the rear tailgate wouldn't shut completely and hence the little light would not go off. This drained the battery dead - it is a small battery compared to a conventional car. --> $184

A "before" picture is below.

-Erin

[Gurmail]

I am happy yoyr car is now fixed. It was so sad to see a hurt Prius. My deepesr sympathies.

[GeoffM]

Wow, that sure doesn't look like $6,100 worth of damage - more like about $2,500.

Which reminds me... I was looking for a Prius three or four months ago and started watching eBay pretty regularly. One thing that surprised me were the ones for sale that appeared to have limited damage - in many cases repaired - but were being sold with salvage titles.

Wonder if this is an indication that damaged Priuses are going to be in the "totaled" category a lot sooner than a normal car, and instead of a repair option we're simply going to be handed a check?

Geoff

[DaveinOlyWA]

$184 for a "smaller than motorcycle" battery...

what a rip.

[TonyPSchaefer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(erinishuman\";p=\"45448)</div>

So I waited, but the SUV behind me saw that green light and Whammo! hit me pretty hard. . . The body shop's original estimate was $4600; the total at the end of the day was over $6100.[/b]

Wow, owning an SUV really is expensive.

[Tideland Prius]

Wow, owning an SUV really is expensive.

lol :mrgreen:

[lpleiss]

I guess that explains why my insurance rate has been creeping up every month for my Prius. The more of these type of bills that come in the more the insurance companies raise rates. Any one else notice their premium slowly getting higher? (And I haven't had an accident or repair required in years.)

Luta

[DaveinOlyWA]

my rates are too high to go up

[erinishuman]

Though I know I am in the serious minority here, we don't carry collision insurance on any of our cars. It's very expensive, and we figure that over many years, we will pay less in repair costs than the insurance would cost us. Over the past 15 years, we have paid less than $1000 in accident-related auto repairs. We are also fortunate enough that we would not go broke if we really screwed up and totalled our own car; that's a risk we can take.

Of course, we do not live in a "no-fault" insurance state. Therefore when we get hit by some other careless person, their insurance pays the bill.

(and we carry uninsured motorist insurance)

-Erin

[DaveinOlyWA]

i do the same thing

full coverage for me would be 2500/6 months