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Ran over/into unavoidable road debris - need advice

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by LulzChicken, Dec 17, 2012.

?
  1. Yes

    7 vote(s)
    70.0%
  2. No

    2 vote(s)
    20.0%
  3. Try to fix it yourself

    1 vote(s)
    10.0%
  1. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    Hey guys - I'm just going to make this post as short and sweet as possible. I was on the highway going about 65mph with an 18 wheeler in front of me. The 18 wheeler didn't avoid the debris and ran right over it. I didn't have any time to move or swerve out of the way due to cars around me. So, I ran straight over it. The damage is obvious in the pictures below:

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    As you can see, there is some damage. Some clips are missing for the bumper where it got tore off on the side and there may be some other damage, but I haven't taken too much of a through look as of yet. Do you think this warrants an insurance claim? I'm going to talk to my insurance provider tomorrow and see what I can get done. I don't think there is any radiator damage, but I'll take a closer look when it's daylight. Thanks for any help and/or suggestions you guys can provide me with. I appreciate it! I never thought this would happen to me.
     
  2. BZzap!

    BZzap! Senior Member

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    Judging from your pictures, your front bumper should be replaced. The bumper to fender tabs look like they have be sheared off and there may be hidden damage behind the left center. I would take it to a body shop (that's what your insurance will tell you) and get an estimate. I'm sure that there is in excess of $1000 damage. That being said, I hope your deductible isn't too high on you comprehensive coverage.
     
  3. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    I think you're right with the bumper to fender tabs. I'll try to get some better pictures in the daylight, but I think you're right. I almost completed a claim on State Farm's website, but I decided to wait until I got some more input. I'm actually out of town right now so I may wait until I get back into my home town to do anything about it. It's still derivable as far as I know. I think my deductible is around $500, so I'll just see. Should I take it to my local Toyota dealer for a quote or a body shop independent from Toyota? I'm worried about them not restoring everything exactly as it was before the wreck if it's not a Toyota shop. Any further input from anyone would be greatly appreciated. I truly do take your input to heart. I never thought I'd have to deal with this. I take such great care of my car. Thanks guys!
     
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    That sucks. I ran over some debris on the freeway in my Camry SE a while ago, blew out my right front tire and bent the rim out of round. Never got the suspension alignment checked, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's out of alignment as well.

    I got 2 new tires and had the rim somewhat straightened, I can still see that the lip is out of round slightly. But I did it out of pocket.

    In your case, it's going to be much more to fix. Probably best to do it through insurance. Hopefully, they don't ask you a lot of questions like "how fast were you going? How close were you following?", and so on...

    From the marks on your front end, it looks like a semi shed a retread and you hit it pretty good. I've run over a few of those tire treads shed from 18 wheelers in the past as well. Pretty dangerous!
     
  5. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    I'm glad you manged to get the Camry fixed out without having to go through insurance. Sheesh, I guess it may be more to fix than I imagined at first sight. If they do ask me those types of questions, I will be completely honest. I was not following close, I was going the speed limit, but it was dark.

    Does anyone else have any suggestions? Insurance or fix it yourself? I guess the consensus is insurance for now, eh?

    Thanks guys!
     
  6. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    It may have been some retread, but I think it was something huge covered in a tarp. It was hard to tell, but the 18 wheeler in front of me plowed through it and I ended up hitting it and so did the car behind me. What a shame... Thanks for all of the input, the more the merrier! Thanks everyone. (y)
     
  7. xs650

    xs650 Senior Member

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    Looks like well over your $500 deductible unless you are very talented DIYer/improviser with a lot of time and tools on your hands. A lot of insurance companies will give you a lifetime guarantee on the repairs if you use a shop that they recommend. Just check Yelp and other sources to verify that the insurance companies shop is a good one before you commit to that. I have used Ameriprise insurance twice and both times their recommended shops had good reviews so I went with them with good results. YICMV (Your insurance company may vary)
     
  8. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    Thank you, xs650, for your input. I'm glad to hear that about the insurance. I really don't have too much experience with repairing vehicles and doing DIY work with cars. I guess I'll leave that to the experts. I'll be sure to look at the reviews for a particular shop before I do commit to one as you suggested I do. Thanks again for your input. It looks like I'll complete the claim and see where it goes from there. Thanks everyone. If anyone has any more input, feel free to chime in!:)
     
  9. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    I've added some more pictures to help determine if I'll need a claim or not. Can you guys look at those too? Thank you!
     
  10. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Still looks bad. Minimum, replace the front bumper cover, maybe the lower grill as well.
     
  11. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    Shoot, alright, I guess I will go to insurance after all. I'm just worried they won't get the paint color right or something like that. I pay very close attention to detail. I guess I'll do that.
     
  12. phoenixgreg

    phoenixgreg Senior member

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    What a shame...but at least you are OK. Yes, Blizzard White is very difficult to match and/or blend. As others have said, it looks bad enough for a claim. You might want to run your A/C to be sure there wasn't hidden damage to the condenser coils (looks like they were in the path). It should get ice-cold. If not, have a dealer look at it.
     
  13. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Here's why I would not necessarily file a claim:

    You're probably looking at $1500 worth of damage, and you have a $500 deductible.
    If you're not comfortable doing the work yourself, just see what a local shop will charge to repair the damage before you file the claim.
    Once you file a claim both you and your car have tainted records.
    You...for a few years, and your car for life.
    Some day you may want to sell the car and if you're smart you're going to sell it rather than trade it in.
    Selling a previously wrecked car is < than selling one with a clean history....just sayin.
    If you trade it in, they're going to check as well. If you KNOW you're gonna keep the car until the wheels fall off? Pay to get it fixed. Actually.....keeping a car like a Prius for lunar mileage is the smartest thing in the long run anyway. ;)

    This is going to basically be collision damage with you as the at-fault driver. If you're lucky?
    It ends here and you're golden for the rest of your life.
    However (comma!) if you have fire, flooding, theft, hail, pestilence, civil unrest in the next few years.....then you have TWO claims. Insurance companies start to look at raising your rates or cutting you lose when that happens and you might wind up paying a lot more than the $1,000 that this claim may have saved you.

    You're probably looking at a claim situation judging from the pix. I'm just saying that I personally would consider not filing unless the damage is several thousand dollars.

    Get more opinions and get multiple estimates for the repair work. Body shops KNOW they can make x$ off of this from an insurance company...probably down to the nearest $10 or so.
    If you tell them that this is coming out of YOUR pocket, they might find a way to do it for a lot less money.

    GOOD luck!
     
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  14. LulzChicken

    LulzChicken Prius Enthusiast

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    I'm glad that I'm alright. It could have been much worse. I'm pretty sure that the coils are okay, but I'll double check by trying the A/C. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll see what I can do with this info.

    Wow, you brought up some really good points! Thank you so much for your advice ETC. I don't have the time right now to comment on everything you typed, but I truly do appreciate it. You definitely made me think about this a bit more. Once I have some more free time to look at the car, and get back home, I'll figure something out. There's not too much I can do in the meantime though. You've been a great help along with everyone else who's posted.

    Thanks guys!
     
  15. Me Here

    Me Here Member

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    First figure out what your deductible is, generally the choices are $250/$500/$1000/$2000 to see if YOU think it's worth it. Personally I don't think you should file a claim. You would be way better off just paying for it out of pocket, especially if you have a deductible is any higher than $250.

    You will be found at fault for sure and I'm not quite sure how you weren't following too closely to not have time to stop (that's what the insurance agent will tell you considering you should be 1 car length behind a vehicle for every 10mph you're going.) It could be argued that the person behind you then could have hit you and so forth had you slammed on your brakes, but regardless you will be at fault and over the course of your driving record (at least for the next 5 to 7 years I think it is?) it will make your insurance go up. Even only at an extra $25 a month for the next 5 years it would be $1,500 and if they have to shell out $1,000+ dollars to fix your car, and their employees time I'm pretty certain they will want to do more than break even by raising it more than $25 a month. I've yet to meet an insurance agent/company that was in the business purely to help people and not make $.

    I recently had front bumper work done, including replacement of the front bumper (which had a body kit,) blizzard pearl color, and the grill (among brackets and more important stuff because of a collision) and I have all my receipts for parts and such. If you're interested I can scan through them in the morning and tell you how much each part was, paint price and hours. I'm gonna put a guess in though that you're looking at around 1,200 - 1,800 if it's merely cosmetic and nothing major. Keep in mind, it's a 2010 right? You may be able to find used parts and get them painted for less than buying a brand new ones.

    As for paint matching I've heard Chevy has the more difficult colors to match, the shop I used did a pretty okay job at matching. They will need to "blend" the paint it into your fenders and I think regardless of if you go through your insurance or not it MAY show up on a CarFax. But again I think that also depends on which body shop you use and what the laws are. I had fender work done on my Scion tC and it was under 2k and it never showed up on the CarFax. Things like body part replacement won't really make the value of the car drop, things like frame damage however will. To me it doesn't look like frame damage, merely parts.

    Local Toyota dealerships around here do not do paint and body work, I found that out after my accident because I trust the one I bought my Prius from and so badly wished they did. They did however know of a couple places near by that they had worked with. I say give them a call and see what they say, reputation is everything for a body shop and if you trust your Toyota dealer then you may trust their recommended body shop. Also check out reviews of different places and ask around.

    Make sure after it gets painted you check for any runs in the paint, that they painted your tow covers and that they put the bumper back on evenly (check the gaps.) Those are a few of the problems I had after I got my Prius back from the shop.

    Good luck!

    After inspecting the photos closer it does look like you'll need some new plastic in your wheel well, looks like it broke through where the screws hold. I think one of those photos is the plastic engine splash shield that is cracked (don't quote me on the part names, I'm not sure what either official names are.) Depending on if you want to go OEM for those parts or not, I'd guess those alone would be somewhere around $200-$400.

    One last thing, I found this thread that might be of use.

    Cost to Replace Bumper on 2010 Prius | PriusChat
     
  16. cosgrove

    cosgrove Junior Member

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    Three months ago on a trip to Texas my wife ran over a 6" high curb island in the middle of a gas station parking lot in our Gen III. I could see no external damage and the car seemed to drive OK so we continued on our trip. Back home, we got the alignment checked and the techs said they could not align it - the front suspension was too badly damaged to repair.

    We went to our insurance agent (State Farm), told him what happened, and he told us to go to a recommended body shop and get an estimate, which we did. The following is a list of parts they found needed replacing:

    Front cross member, LKQ Suspension cross member, LT Support brace, LT Suspension cross brace,
    Headlamp washer, O/H bumper assembly, Front seal, Bumper cover w/o fog lamp,
    Spoiler, Mount brace, LT front floor pan, Engine cover,
    Suspension frame kit (the most expensive part)

    We had the repairs done, and the total parts and labor came to $3086.38, of which State Farm paid all but our $100.00 deductible. The car looks and runs fine, but no different than before as far as I can tell.

    Just thought I'd add this to your data points.
     
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  17. Me Here

    Me Here Member

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    I once saw a lady run over something yellow in the middle of the road and 2 seconds later her car was on fire. Within 2 minutes it had nearly engulfed the cabin. and to make things worse it was in the middle of a bridge. It looked like a brand new car too, poor lady.
     
  18. DumbMike

    DumbMike Active Member

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    Increase in insurance is the part most people either don't consider or forget to consider. It's also the reason to go to traffic school when you get a ticket, to keep that "point" off of your record, as your insurance can increase.

    Mike
     
  19. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    I would pull the front bumper off yourself and evaluate what other damage is obvious, then make a decision.
     
  20. stevemcelroy

    stevemcelroy Active Member

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    OP - to me it does not look all that bad - essentially a few of the clips and screws that hold the bumper to the rest of the car as well as some scuffing that looks like rubber. I'd check under the car to see if there are any signs of damage, and assuming it looks OK I'd just try and put it all back together. It looks like you just need to clip or screw it all back and then a bit of elbow grease on the scuffs and I think it will be hard to tell for anyone but you.