She's ruined!!!

Today as I was getting onto state highway 470, I slammed into the back of a truck that was stopped on the on-ramp. I didn't really see the truck because the on-ramp curves to the right. Anyway, the truck had a hitch on it as well as it's tail gate down. The hitch ripped through my front bumper just above the license plate and just a bit right of the passenger side headlight. I knew right away that I cracked the radiator because I could smell coolant. The hood is completely buckled and the passenger side front fender is damaged as well. I couldn't open the hood because the latch was jammed but I am assumming that along with the radiator, the radiator support is also damaged as well as the cooling fan assembly. The hitch hit too high on the bumper to set the airbags off (thank god!!!!). Along with all of that, the passenger side headlight is pretty messed up. As soon as I pulled over all of the coolant that was in the raditor had leaked. I had it towed to an Autonation Collision Center. So being a holiday weekend, they can't even touch my car until Tuesday.

I wouldn't mind so much that I wrecked my car, but my insurance doesn't cover any rental and my deductable is $500, which I don't have :shakehead

Anyway, wish me luck with everything I guess...

Thanks,

Jeremy

Jeremy,
That's a real bummer.......I do wish you luck with it.....let us know what the collision center says.

Where were you getting onto 470 from? What on ramp? I'm pretty familiar with the Denver area.....

Jim

Today as I was getting onto state highway 470, I slammed into the back of a truck that was stopped on the on-ramp. I didn't really see the truck because the on-ramp curves to the right. Anyway, the truck had a hitch on it as well as it's tail gate down. The hitch ripped through my front bumper just above the license plate and just a bit right of the passenger side headlight. I knew right away that I cracked the radiator because I could smell coolant. The hood is completely buckled and the passenger side front fender is damaged as well. I couldn't open the hood because the latch was jammed but I am assumming that along with the radiator, the radiator support is also damaged as well as the cooling fan assembly. The hitch hit too high on the bumper to set the airbags off (thank god!!!!). Along with all of that, the passenger side headlight is pretty messed up. As soon as I pulled over all of the coolant that was in the raditor had leaked. I had it towed to an Autonation Collision Center. So being a holiday weekend, they can't even touch my car until Tuesday.

I wouldn't mind so much that I wrecked my car, but my insurance doesn't cover any rental and my deductable is $500, which I don't have :shakehead

Anyway, wish me luck with everything I guess...

Thanks,

Jeremy

Sorry to hear that Jeremy......what a bummer! Important thing is you're OK. The front end damage is normally repairable but its funny how the hood buckles and the front end gives away. It appears to be designed that way. The only way to really assess the damage is when they remove the front bumper skin. That way you can see the extent of the radiator support damage and whether any of the sub-frame is damaged or bent. The body shop will probably have to put in on a laser type frame machine and make sure everything is true just to be safe.

Let us know how it turns out. Good Luck!

Hopefully no sub-frame damage :-(

Anyway, I was getting on to C-470 at Morrison Road in the Morrison/Littleton area.

I'm gonna head over to the Collision Center on Tuesday morning so I can sign the authorization stuff for them to start dismantling my car. I'll let you know how it turns out. Right now though, I'm a little pissed off because its sitting out in the rain in a lot, all tore to s***.

Jeremy

Hopefully no sub-frame damage :-(

Anyway, I was getting on to C-470 at Morrison Road in the Morrison/Littleton area.

I'm gonna head over to the Collision Center on Tuesday morning so I can sign the authorization stuff for them to start dismantling my car. I'll let you know how it turns out. Right now though, I'm a little pissed off because its sitting out in the rain in a lot, all tore to s***.

Jeremy

The cars repairable. The important thing is that you are OK and not hurt. The collision center will have it fixed up fine. Be sure to get more than one estimate, if possible and see if the shop will work something out on your deductible. Let us know how it turns out. Good luck!

Can you elaborate on what you mean by having the collision center "help out" with my deductable? How do I go about getting their help?

Jeremy

Can you elaborate on what you mean by having the collision center "help out" with my deductable? How do I go about getting their help?

Jeremy

The best thing to do is tell them like it is. For example: you're just a poor college kid with no money and need that car to get to school, etc. What can you do about my $500 deductible? Maybe they have payment or finance plans. I'm not sure about how things work up in Colorado but down here you have a choice on which collision center/body shop gets the job of course keeping in mind what the insurance company and/or claims adjuster will pay for the damage. Normally they have their own estimators and don't care what estimate the body shop comes up with.
The insurance companies are cheap and go with the lowest repair estimate.

If the collision/body shop can't work it out with you then its time to look for another one that will. Doesn't hurt to ask. Good luck!


http://www.photobucket.com/albums/y186/lizzywiz/alero2.jpg

bnaylor3400-I agree with they, they even might repair it cheeper because they may feel sorry for you.

bnaylor3400-I agree with they, they even might repair it cheeper because they may feel sorry for you.

Yeah Andrew....its better than nothing. I checked with a few body shops in our area and they offer discounts of $100 - $500 for students, seniors, and military.


http://www.photobucket.com/albums/y186/lizzywiz/alero3.jpg

Ohhhhh, good idea. Thanks guys, I'll call them tomorrow.

On another note, I went in today to meet with the Estimator Advisor and the Insurance Adjustor and we finally got a good look at the car. Before, I wasn't able to open the hood because of accident. They cut it off today, removed the front bumper cover and the push bar. All of that plus one of the fenders, the a/c condenser, radiator, support, cooling fans, and one of the fender skirts needs to be replaced :-( Ready for the grand total....$4000. Its acutally only $2400 worth of damage but the insurance has listed labor at another $1600. Ouch. He said without a doubt they would have declared it a total loss had the airbags gone off. Anyway, 14 days to fix...

Also one of the fenders (driver's side) that I didn't think was damaged ended up having a dent on the side, which I think came from towing it, because she was spotless until this happened. They're gonna fix that one too, though.

The adjustor said that my car did better than what he'd expected it to look like. He said, "she did her job well". Kinda funny...

Jeremy

Here she was before she was damaged...

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/154099Car_30K_miles_edited_-_compressed1.jpg

This picture was taken at about 31K miles and now she is at 49K miles, but didn't look any different until the accident.

Jeremy

Jeremy,

At least you know the extent of the damage. $4K....ouch! Let us know how it turns out.

Hey one thing you should look into is with the front bumper look into putting and aftermarket front bumper on instead of another stock bumper. GM stock bumpers are usually 800 dollars for the stock bumper and you can pick up stock ones for probably 400-500 dollars after shipping if not less. Might not be something you want to do i was thinking that it might be something you can look at

Meh...insurance is picking up the tab and I honestly don't think that that will make too much of a difference insurance premium-wise. Plus, I would rather have the stock bumper from GM.

Thanks for the tip though. I appreciate it.

Jeremy

Meh...insurance is picking up the tab and I honestly don't think that that will make too much of a difference insurance premium-wise. Plus, I would rather have the stock bumper from GM.

Thanks for the tip though. I appreciate it.

Jeremy

Did you take it to a GM dealership bodyshop or was it an independent shop. That would explain $4K if you're going with all genuine GM parts.
Either way, good luck!

I took it to an Autonation Collison Center, which IMHO is WAY better than any GM dealership. From the begining you are assigned an Estimator Advisor, two paint specialists, and two body specialists. The four specialists work only on your car until its done. My mom did as much damage in her car (pretty much the same accident too), but she took her car to a GM dealership. It took them a little over a month to get her car done, even with all of the parts in on time, and the paint work sucked.

Since the insurance is covering it, they have the option to choose which parts they want to get from GM and which ones they want to get from aftermarket sources. The only parts for my car that are coming aftermarket are the hood, the bumper cover, and the radiator. The hood and the bumper cover will be guaranteed for as long as I own the car and the radiator will have a 3yr/36K mile warranty.

Also, I talked to my advisor today and she said there was slight frame damage. It was pushed up a bit on the right side and down on the left side a little bit. She said it was an easy repair and its already been done. The tear-down has been done already and they are now only waiting on the fender and the hood to come in. She said they will have a better date of completion for me once all of the parts are in. I'm hoping that it will get done sooner than that 12 days *fingers crossed*

Jeremy

Had a similar experience last fall, except my incident was an "unscheduled venison harvest". My insurance company also used the aftermarket hood and bumper cover - can't tell the difference at all, actually it looked better after the accident than before (70,000 miles worth of stone chips on a black car are no longer). $2500 worth of damage, but I never found the deer (but can still remember the look on its face as it rolled over the hood) :)

Sad, actually.... :-)

Jeremy

There's nothing wrong with aftermarket body parts as long as they are CAPA certified. The last place I would take our Alero to if it ever needed collision repair is a GM dealer. The independent shops are superior - IMO.

I completely agree...all of the paint work that gets done is guaranteed for as long as I own the car....the GM dealers would only warrant it for 12 months. WTF is that?!?

Jeremy

Jeremy,

I'm glad to hear that everything's going good with the repair... :iceslolan and like bnaylor said, the car can be repaired, the most important thing is that you're ok.

I know exactly where the on-ramp is where you were.....right there by Bandimere Speedway.....gotten on and off there many times....even before C-470 was built...

Yeah...aparently I thought I was getting on the Speedway...lol

Jeremy

Went out to a few local salvage yards this weekend looking for parts for another car. I could not believe how many Aleros and Grand Ams were out there totalled out. Most had severe front end damage. The side impact ones looked terrible too. It appears that GM makes the front end to give away to protect the occupants and to maintain the 4 star crash rating. On the side impacts you can only imagine what happened.

You were fortunate you were not hurt and at least have damage that is repairable. Let us know how the final repairs go. Good luck!

I'll definately keep you posted.

Yeah, I've seen some cars for auction on Ebay (Alero's and GA's) that were hit from the side, and to be honest, it scares the hell out of me that some day I could possible be hit from the side. The side impact crash test ratings suck in this car too...

Jeremy

Jeremy,

I'm glad to hear that everything's going good with the repair... :iceslolan and like bnaylor said, the car can be repaired, the most important thing is that you're ok.

I know exactly where the on-ramp is where you were.....right there by Bandimere Speedway.....gotten on and off there many times....even before C-470 was built...


I should clarify this a bit.....it's hard to get on and off a highway that's not built yet...lol...where C-470 is now used to be called Soda Lakes Road and was the link between Hwy 285 and Morrison Road. It was just a two-lane highway, but used basically the same on-ramps that 470 uses now....the Soda Lakes are still there, but it's amazing how much everything else has changed!!

Keep us posted.....anxious to hear how it turns out!!

So I just got word that she won't be done until the 20th of June. I'm a little pissed....

Jeremy

Hopefully it's because they want it to be right the first time. Though I can understand your frustration. :mad: Hang in there, it'll be worth the wait....

We just moved into a new condo, and the guy that lives next door has a two door silver Alero...it makes me a wee bit jealous at a time like this...

Jeremy

She'll be done tomorrow!!!!

Jeremy

Welp, she's back in my hands! She was a champ and pulled through everything okay. Everything works perfect, except they didn't get the clear bra on it. The guy was supposed to be in the shop this morning and didn't show, so I made an appointment for them to come to my house and do it on Tuesday.

I just have the urge to do for a drive and never return :-)

Thanks guys, for all of the help and insight with my issue!

- Jeremy

Welp, she's back in my hands! She was a champ and pulled through everything okay. Everything works perfect, except they didn't get the clear bra on it. The guy was supposed to be in the shop this morning and didn't show, so I made an appointment for them to come to my house and do it on Tuesday.

I just have the urge to do for a drive and never return :-)

Thanks guys, for all of the help and insight with my issue!

- Jeremy

That's good news Jeremy. Now you can sleep peacefully.

It's great to hear everything worked out....go for a nice drive in the mountains....and be careful!!

:iceslolan

Congrat glad to here everything worked out for you in the end. Now you don't have to get jealous everytime you see you neighbors car