'05 Prius In Major Accident, Advice Sought

[CrazyGirrl]

Dear Prius Owners,

Sadly I was just in a major car accident last week at about my year anniversary of getting my beloved '05, Option #6, Silver Streak. I was driving home on a major street with five lanes across during primetime traffic and was in the right most lane. A car decided to cut across the major street using a small residential street and gunned it across all five lanes. An SUV was to my left so I didn't see it until it was right in front of me and it was too late. My front hit their right front panel and part of the passenger door. My front of my car crumpled and both front airbags went off. Luckily everyone was able to get out of their cars, but I was badly bruised and have a cut on my neck where the seatbelt was. I believe my Prius truly saved me! I am so lucky, but sore, and sad, and a bit overwhelmed about my car, and dealing with the insurance company, body shops etc.

So we are in the process of going through the whole after a major accident thing. My husband and I have never had to go through this. I was hoping those who have had to go through this might be able to offer advice. So far they claim it can be repaired. It has been towed to a Toyota dealership we specified. It is both Toyota and AAA certified so it is supposed to be reputable. We hope to get additional quotes from two other body shops. The insurance guess the overall cost will be around $10,000 after looking at it initially but not looking under it or seeing a teardown (where they take off the front damaged parts). I'm skeptical. Do you think it is really possible to return it to like new condition? How can we protect ourselves and make sure we get the best results?

Also in terms of medical stuff, does anyone know the pros/cons of filing directly through your car insurance versus using your medical insurance?

Any other advice about dealing with all the issues associated with a major accident are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best,
CrazyGirrl

[SirGreen]

They fixed my daughters 03 Cavelar
Was almost totel. looks and rides like new.
she got all new parts.

[Bob Allen]

My Prius was sideswiped in a midnight hit and run in front of my house while I slept. The car was seriously damaged and pushed up onto the curb. At first, I thought it was a total, but we took it to the best body shop in Seattle and they were able to restore (not "repair") the car to its original condition. I stopped in several times and watched them working on the car. One of the techs showed me how unibody cars can be disassembled just like they were assembled at the factory and the damaged parts removed.

In my research on body repair work, I found out that there are six or seven categories of repair, ranging from amateur in which the repairs are obvious and the parts used were not OEM spec, all the way to what could best be called "restoration to OEM standards", using only OEM parts. I'm insured by State Farm and the body shop is the top of their list of facilities. I was totally amazed at the restoration.

So....despair not. Do some research into body shops in your area if you don't already have one, and find out what level of repair they subscribe to. You can get independent references on them as well. Hopefully, your insurance company will work with you to restore your car not merely make it driveable. The guy from the body shop said that he's seen cars with 10-15k damage restored to OEM standards. I doubt that a Toyota engineer could tell that my car had been in an accident. Such repair standards are not cheap (my bill was over 8k), but they did a completely throrough job and their work is warranted for the life of the car. State Farm sent out an inspector after the repair to check to see that the body shop did wat State Farm expected.

I also got a statement both from State Farm and the body shop about these various levels of repair and State Farm's committment to provide the best repair available.
This is why I've never considered switching insurance companies even if they have lower rates.

The tech at the body shop was impressed with how the Prius absorbed the impact. He
showed me exactly where the impact occurred and how the body of car absorbed the impact without transferring the damage to other parts of the car on the opposite side from the impact. Because of the way the car absorbed the impact, the damage was confined to the left rear where the impact took place, and the panels could be removed without much difficulty. He said that if I had been sleeping in the car, I would have survived probably without injury other than possible hearing damage. ( we heard the impact from our bedroom but I didn't realize it was my car that had been hit until the next morning when I went outside.)

Bob

[CrazyGirrl]

Originally posted by Bob Allen@Mar 22 2006, 10:03 PM
My Prius was sideswiped in a midnight hit and run in front of my house while I slept. The car was seriously damaged and pushed up onto the curb.  At first, I thought it was a total, but we took it to the best body shop in Seattle and they were able to restore (not "repair") the car to its original condition...So....despair not...Do some research into body shops in your area if you don't already have one, and find out what level of repair they subscribe to.  You can get independent references on them as well.  Hopefully, your insurance company will work with you to restore your car not merely make it driveable...  Bob

[snapback]228915[/snapback]

Dear Bob,

Thanks so much for renewing my hope that it may be possible to "restore" my Prius. I hope
I have the same good fortune you did! Thank you for your sharing and insights!

[CrazyGirrl]

Originally posted by SirGreen@Mar 22 2006, 08:52 PM
They fixed my daughters 03 Cavelar
Was almost totel. looks and rides like new.
she got all new parts.

[snapback]228856[/snapback]

Dear SirGreen,

Thanks! I hope I get the same good luck your daughter did!

[hycamguy07]

Greetings~

I have an 04 tundra becides my prius, I let the wife drive the truck she backed into a pole!

I had to drive it for a week with the damaged bumper then one morning in rush hour traffic I had a guy in a S-10 pick up rear end me at 50 mph (i was stopped)
& at the time i didnt have health ins.

My ins company paid for everything regarding the ambulance ride and hospital visit. I had to pay for it up front Thank god for the platnum visa, and the ins reimbursed me and sued the other guys ins company..

My truck was towed to a local toyota dealer and they restored the truck to like new condition.. The other poster said it best "Restored Condition" with OEM parts..

[galaxee]

sorry about your accident

you won't have to worry about aftermarket parts... for the prius they really don't exist.

but parts may take longer to get, depending on what needs replacing.

if your dealer has a body shop, fantastic. i'd stick with them and insist the insurance pays for the dealer to fix it. there are a few "body shop screwed up my prius" stories around, many precautions need to be taken in order to do things properly. i think the dealership would be a good way to go since they have the prius certified guys on site for the body guys to ask. there's no separate prius body certification, and repair techs don't do body work (separate set of ASE cert's) but the collaboration factor would probably make it your best bet.

however, if someone claims to have extensive experience with prius collisions and references to back their work up, check them out too.

good luck!

[V8Cobrakid]

Sorry to hear about your recent accident. Just last week i had a similar accident. The impact wasn't as great. I hit the passenger rear tire. There was an SUV to my left but this was at a light. The woman ran the red light and pulled out in front of us. I hit her. I'm still waiting for repairs to start. Her insurance is being shady, so i'm using my insurance to get everything done. I've never been in an accident either.

Hope everything goes ok with your insurance and repairs.

[redbird]

FYI - In Ohio, insurers are required to repair with only OEM parts if the car has less than 35,000 miles - I would hope that California would have a similar law.

My Pathfinder was hit at about 32,000 - all the replacement parts were new, but they didn't replace everything that I thought needed replacing - I swear that my radiator was tilted back after the accident and never repaired. But that was probably how Prgoressive saved some bucks. I did have to get some followup work on the headlights - kept blinding everyone because they were projecting high.

At 70,000 still no problems when I sold it to a friend of mine (to get my Prius). He knew about the accident and loves the vehicle.

The goods news - it is only a car and will be repalced in 6-8 years anyhow - maybe sooner for a new Prius

[unruhly]

Originally posted by CrazyGirrl@Mar 22 2006, 10:39 PM
Any other advice about dealing with all the issues associated with a major accident are greatly appreciated.

First and foremost... Keep very detailed records of every phone call made or taken by anyone involved in the accident and the insurance adjuster.

It's natural for someone to greet you with "How are you?" and for you to respond with "OK." or "Fine." DON'T SAY IT. They will use that later against you.

As for insurance. You can use your medical insurance to pay the bills. Then you can request the full amount of the medical expense to paid by the Auto Insurance company. It's not double dipping, you paid for the coverage and are entitled to it.

Don't forget about lost time at work and what is normally coined as "Pain and Suffering." This is very hard to determine and is customarily paid at a percentage of your total claim. Say your damages and mediacl expenses are $10, 000.00. If you can document that your "normal way of life" was affected, then you can sometimes get as much as 4 times or $40,000.00 + the 10k of damages.

You wonder what "Normal way of life" is. An example... You usually run your kids to soccer practice each day and they had to quit the team due to lack of transportaion. Or, because you were sore and had a doctor's appt. you missed your brother's wedding. DOCUMENT IT ALL EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.

When it comes time for the Insurance company to settle, they will try to make you feel guilty for asking for money. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you need to help keep insurance costs down.

Prepare yourself by finding a lawyer and making them aware of the case.
Use them if you don't feel the insurance company is doing the right thing.

I pray that you will be fully whole sometime soon. Good Luck.