Prius rear-ended on Interstate

Glad you and the car are doing well. Many years ago I was rear ended right around that section of highway while I was driving a Volvo wagon and it ended up being totaled. That is just a bad area for accidents. I am a therapist in the area. If you are having any back or neck issues send me a personal message and I can give you a recommendation for some good therapists who you could see.

 

Get a new vanity plate VLVOKLR and register for 3-yrs to save hybrid fees (if that works..not sure).

 

Bondo!?

 

Think of it as external dynamat.

 

Read through your repair estimate and see if the garage says they're replacing your doors. From the photo you took, it looks like they're using quite a lot of plastic dent filler ( the yellow stuff on your doors ).

 

Just doing my best to look out for you. Not sure I'm right.

 

Great idea, here you go...

 

Amazing, this is why Volvo has such a good reputation for safety. This isn't an example of how well a Prius did versus a Volvo. This is a representation of how well a Volvo performs in a crash. It took the brunt of the force and left the Prius slightly bruised.

This reminds me of when I was rear-ended in an Integra. The front and rear crumpled in from the initial impact and the secondary impact into the SUV in front of me. Car was totaled. Looked like a Scion iQ or Smart Fortwo. My dad kept saying how terrible it is that today's cars are so plastic and I was lucky to survive. No, I was lucky to be in a car engineered with crumple zones.

If I get rear ended again, I hope it's a Volvo and not another pickup truck.

 

Like everyone else just glad you are Ok. Hope the Volvo was not insured with State Farm. My granddaughter (whose car is in my wife's name) was rear ended and the woman who did it said she wanted to pay rather than use her insurance. (My granddaughter should have pushed the matter but she was injured and probably in shock sunce her daughter was also injured ) The one who hit her wouldn't return calls then wouldn't return calls so we had to wait a week for police report to learn State Farm was insurer That's when the nightmare started!!! The State Farm rep tried to force us to use one of their "preferred repair companies". When we declined every step was horrible. They dragged feet on paying for anything. The State Farm adjuster delayed going out to look at car. Then wouldn't approve new parts (for a 13 month old car). In spite of the fact that first their customer and then their adjuster caused all of the delays, SF never did pay for all days for replacement car rental. I looked into diminished value and the process required under FL laws was going to be too imposing. I wouldn't't want to wish State Farm off on anyone. (By the way the SF rep complained a number of times about number of days the car was in the holding yard after the wreck while we were waiting for the police report and also the charge for having my great granddaughter treated at the hospital.)

 

All that bondo really worries me! If it were me I'd want the doors replaced & a new rear quarter panel than all that bondo. No wonder ur est was really low.

All it will take is 1 door ding to crack the bondo

 

If you look at the leading edge of the door, you'll see that there is no actual dent that runs the length of the door. The bondo is likely covering up a small crease or even just gouges in the paint's finish. If the bondo is applied that thinly, it is unlikely that being doored lightly to moderately would crack the bondo. If anything, it might help the metal to resist a ding. But I digress.

Given the age of the car, unless it has high miles, I would demand new skin on the entire right side, including the quarter panel.

Unless there was enough of an impact that damaged the door structure itself, there is no need to replace the entire door...just the skin.

 

Yes I agree with the door skin & not the entire door......but I disagree about the bondo.......it will crack no matter how thin

Either way......don't settle for bondo. It's a cheap fix

 

Here in Northern California, State Farm is probably the best car insurer. I asked the guy who owns our local body shop, and he said that SF pays higher than all of the other insurers. In my experience, they pay out very well and very quickly. I realize that your experience in Florida is different, but that's about 2,500 miles away.

 

Replace the quarter? Why? By the time the spot welds are drilled, ground smooth and straightened and welded, and the seams welded it will have more filler in it than it does now. And it won't be original to the car. Changing a front fender is one thing, but re-skining a door or changing a Q panel is a harder repair to hide unless the body shop is anal to the nth degree. If you live in a salt air environment and plan to keep the car forever, the repaired body seam splice is often one of the first areas to "age".

Bill

 

First, with regard to you comment about not being the original car, I don't consider a car repaired with bondo to be the original car either.

When I first posted about replacing the quarter panel, it was after looking at in the garage at the seam locations on my car and assuming that the entire panel would be replaced. After doing a Google search, I see that the replacement panel does not extend to the seams and there would be welds, so it's six on one, half a dozen on the other with regard to the filler. I will say, however, that one of the first corrosion locations I typically see on a car is around the rear wheel well, so if it were my car, I would prefer to have the filler at the weld seams.

And of course it's harder to re-skin a door or replace a quarter panel than it is to slap on some bondo and grind it down. I don't think anyone was disputing that. What's in question is what is the best repair to maintain the integrity of the body.

 

Well at least they aren't using lead. Modern fillers are way more durable and outlast lead.

 

Agreed. I just used the term Bondo generically. But still, I would be hard pressed to want that stuff on my car.

 

I am actually serious about this...in VA we have a new $64/yr hybrid fee + $15/yr increase in registration fees, going into effect 1-July-2013.

But since WeSaySo has already registered his plates thru 2014 (from his nice photos) he missed the opportunity to register 3-yrs in advance (eg; I already registered thru 2017 to avoid the fees). What I don't really know yet, if WeSaySo changes his plates, whether or not that gives him another chance to register 3-yrs in advance. I will try to find out, because a lot of folks could do this to save money.

Of course we are trying to reverse the new hybrid fees, but I am told at least 2 years needed to do this.