She's ruined!!!

[JTrujillo86]

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

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

Thanks,

Jeremy

[jr6078]

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

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by JTrujillo86

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

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!

[JTrujillo86]

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

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by JTrujillo86

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!

[JTrujillo86]

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

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by JTrujillo86

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!

[vamc]

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

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by vamc

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.

[JTrujillo86]

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

[JTrujillo86]

Here she was before she was damaged...



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

[BNaylor]

Jeremy,

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

[cficare68]

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

[JTrujillo86]

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

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by JTrujillo86

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!