Prime Bodywork repair after accident

The sensors seem to look fine. your prime doesn't look too happy but at least it didn't crack any glass right??? (Such as the curved glass)

 

bummer! doesn't look too bad though. i agree, the sensors look okay, and you should be able to charge.
all the best!

 

Actually you either need to drive it or have the dealer inspect AND TEST all electronic systems. There are parking system sensors impacted by this collision damage. But the is also the blind slide sensor/detector in the corner.

You should closely compare the gaps between the bumper cover and rear quarter panel. There are component under the bumper cover that keep it in place and receive connector clips. They could have easily been deformed or damaged but unseen. The gaps should be very tight and identical on each side of the car. You should be able to run your fingers over the panels that make up the seam and decern no obvious difference in height or smoothness. You should take multiple photos, both closeup and whole area now to compare them later after repairs are made. Make sure you take both sides of the car.

Finally, and this depends on your insurance carrier, you need to state you want new genuine Toyota parts, not aftermarket or refurbished one with proof. Insurer love buying second hand parts and not mentioning it because it reduces their cost.

 

People have no sense of responsibility. Wish we had the tech to track down the culprit.

 

Your damage looks very similar to what my Prime sustained. Our car had a broken tail light and scrapes.
I bought a replacement tail light assembly for ~ $200 and installed it. Very easy.

The part sticking out in your photo can probably just be popped back into place, although the screws/rivets may have been sheared off or the holes torn.

I'll eventually get around to having the scrapes dealt with and repainted. The fender is made of plastic or something similar. I'm lucky to have a local guy who does these types of cosmetic repairs and painting for about $125 a job. If you do not shop around the cosmetic part can easily be 5x the amount. I was very happy to come to an understanding with the other car owner and not have the accident reported to either insurance company (we figured it was a shared fault accident.) MUCH cheaper that way now and in the future, and MUCH less hassle.

 

If you are asking whether a car with two HOV stickers is legal, the answer is no.

I suggest calling the DMV for advice and options.

 

very similar damage to mine, except mine had a hit to the wheel. It ended up being close to $17K when all was said and done.

Replacing that bumper is non trivial... there are a tone of clips, spacers, etc. that can't be reused. I would NOT be surprised if the $3700 goes way up after they take everything off. Mine happened to start out as a $3600 estimate before ending at $17K. The insurance company actually told me that if it had started at $17K they would have totaled the car as the price for parts at that time was much higher than the cost of the car (this was back in Sept of last year). I think that initial estimate is just a scam to get the insurance company to pay for more work (if the car's totaled, the shop doesn't get nearly as much).

 

Ridiculous.
I'm thinking someone got charged $250 a clip

 

A few you pretty much have to destroy to remove, especially when time is money. But most can be reused, and I don't believe there's any obligation that forces you to replace them.

I've found bodyshops pretty cavalier too: they'll just leave some off, count on you to never notice. I've found bolts with the heads sheared off too (and just left like that), installed by rushed staff with electric wrenches I'd guess.

Still, just considering that we're talking about multi-grand repairs to bumpers, argh. Anyone remember when bumpers where, well: bumpers?

 

The bumper is a ~ $400 part unpainted

These tales of crazy costs via insurance for simple repairs are why I mostly self-insure car damage. I really want no part of this vicious circle of:

Uninformed consumers driving up costs;
Consumers demanding 120% repairs since 'someone else' is paying
Consumers scamming insurance companies;
Repair shops scamming insurance companies;
Insurance companies recouping costs via outrageous premiums and adversarial consumer relationships

 

There is no way that is a write off, lol.

 

I'm not implying that it's a write off. I'm only going by my personal experience. Certainly my car had different damage (it was not hit in the trunk, but directly on the right rear wheel just behind the hub. It required replacement of the right rear quarter panel which was a pita since they have to do it on the alignment rack in order to rip the old one off apparently.

it had, however, VERY similar damage to the bumper. If you total the costs for just doing the bumper repair that was around 8K of the total.

then you have to add in his hatch repair.

it also took a few extra days of repair time as they had to tow the car to a dealership to have the battery breaker removed, tow it back to the repair shop, and then, when it was complete, have it towed back to the dealer to have the breaker put back in, then towed back to the repair shop, then towed back to the dealership to have the sensors aligned, then towed back to the repair shop. The two places were owned by the same person, and only a mile away and the bill was almost $500 for towing services, and it delayed things by an additional week.

part of the problem is that the parts themselves are quite expensive (at least what Toyota charges).

and while each clip and of itself may not be much, there are enough of them (with all the sensors, and wiring harnesses) that getting them all on, off, etc. is fairly labor intensive.

looks in the picture like the rear backup light cover is cracked... don't expect that to be cheap either.

my original estimate had a page an a half of items to be fixed/repaired. the final tally was over 6 pages of items.


Interestingly enough, while the car was hit in the right rear tire, with enough force to bend the suspension components requiring replacement of just about the entire right rear suspension (I don't think anything wasn't replaced at the end), the one thing the insurance company didn't want to replace was the tire. Again... it was a direct hit into the sidewall. Took a bit of arguing but they finally replaced the tire as well (after talking to a manager and a bit of threatening should the tire fail and someone get hurt, etc.).

 

I backed the rear right corner into a phone pole, at very slow speed. Over $5K and over six weeks. The computer had to be replaced, and it had to be shipped (that right by boat!) to the US.

In the end, it was repaired well, and I haven't had any incidents since this.

 

they didn't show me an invoice from the dealership but there was a line item on the total invoice.

since both the repair shop and the dealership are owned by the same company I assume that it was done as they were billing the insurance company for all the work and the insurance company was warrantying it. The particular dealership is very large (massive inventory... but NO primes!). They're so big that playing silly buggers about a techs hour worth of billing to short change it isn't worth the potential liability.

that said, there's absolutely no way to ensure that any of the work was done correctly or completely. it took almost 2 months to complete the repairs (the quarter panel had to be taken off the assembly line and shipped to the US apparently). I also lived 700 miles away from the place doing the repairs at the time.

still... there WERE some f'ups. There was a persistent thumping from the hit wheel... apparently at the time they didn't think that the hub assembly needed replacing (which was stupid as it took all the force of the impact that was enough to bend all the other suspension pieces), so it had to go in for that. They also never cleaned the windshield after painting so there was a super fine speckling of paint over the window. Almost impossible to see except in bright sunlight and then it was impossible to see out of the window, so had to bring it back in for them to clean that off.

in any case, it seems that everything works as it should.