Huge Suckage...In An Accident With My PRius

the Prius is a street car NOT a Baja 1000 Pre Runner. forget the skid plates!

 

Actually, you'd be surprised what is on the roads, especially around Winnipeg in winter. A lot of the semi's pick up snow and ice especially after a blizzard, and the stuff falls off onto the highway.

In 1985 my Aunt was driving her brand new K car on the Perimeter when she nailed a couple of chunks of Semi Ice Sculpture at 100 km/h. The ice chunks took out her oil pan, transmission pan, and gas tank.

Fortunately AutoPac covered it.

On the gravel sideroad to my hobby farm, a few times I've come across large rocks left behind by the grader. Obviousely I carefully drove around them. With my old Ford F-150 I'd sail right over top of them without giving them a thought.

 

Last summer, HUMU was sideswiped at night by a hit and run driver and the damage was about 8k. You should take comfort from some things I learned from the body shop who did the restoration. The Prius is well engineered and put together in such a way that it can be disassembled and rebuilt. This is true for most unibody constructed cars, but my Prius sustained what looked like total damage. The body shop showed me how they removed the damaged sheet metal at the spot welds (where the pieces were attached at the factory) and re-inserted new parts.

The Prius is so new that there are no aftermarket (and possibly inferior) parts; everything that went into HUMU's repair was OEM.

There are about seven standards to which cars can be repaired, the highest being "to original condition", which means that the finished car will be indistinguishable from when it left the factory. In my case, this meant, actually, that my car was in better shape than it was before the accident, I got a new rear bumper, side panels, and four new tires and wheels.

The downside is that repairs are not cheap, but this probably applies across the board for all new cars. The body shop showed me how the car absorbed the impact and localized the damage. Had I been sleeping in the car, according to the mechanics, I probably would have escaped injury although the noise could have damaged my hearing.

It was traumatic seeing my car up on the sidewalk, but I feel safer in it now, knowing how well put together it is. I also feel good knowing that a good body shop can do amazing things.

Good luck,
Bob
p.s. keep us posted; major repair work stories are of interest to many of us.

 

I am so sorry for your troubles, but it made me feel a bit better. About two months ago I tangled with a deer doing 65 mph. Caught her head with the right front bumper, which swung her around so that she did a number on the front passenger door, then swung around again to do a number on the right rear door. My insurance cost is at $5,000 and the car is currently in the shop for a 13 day stay. Fortunately it was still driveable while I waited for the body shop that I use to have an opening and for the backordered parts to arrive. I have had my Prius since June and have 10,000 miles on it.

 

I agree a second opinion is needed unless you have a clear idea of what the heck $14000 of damage is.....I am so sorry..I could cry too!