Hit some ICE this morning

[buster]

A guy in front of me today slammed on the brakes in the middle of a yellow light. I slide on ice but rather then ram into the back of him, I slide up and over a snow bank. Car is fine other than a 4 x 5 inch gash in the right side bumper. I was #@$%! at first but after realizing that the bumper needed to be repainted anyway, I'm ok with it. My first estimate is $750 including labor. Is that too high? Getting another estimate tomorrow. Needs a whole new front bumper. I effen hate winter and snow!

 

[TimVipond]

Sounds high if it just needs paint. Reasonable if it needs some body repair or replacement.

We had snow flurries south of Houston today. I surprised the schools and businesses stayed open. They all panic when something like this happens.

 

[JustinH]

what kind of a car, shoot me a pm.

We sell auto salvage parts.

750 might be reasonable depending on the kind of car.

 

[4esorselrahc]

Man that's a real bummer...

 

[Ramblin Fever]

That's a whole LOT better then hitting the car in front of you - I've done that before, isn't fun. I'm sure you'll agree that it's MUCH less aggravation having to deal with your own car versus another owners car.

Glad you're ok!

 

[nyr197]

Jersey really did a great job w/ the roads these past few days huh?

Pathetic.

 

[Patman]

That sucks, I hate winter too! My wife rear ended someone yesterday morning on our slick roads here. She tailgates like crazy, so that doesn't help, but the guy in front of her slammed on his brakes for a yellow light, which is something nobody does around here (except him!) His car was fine, but her front bumper has a crack in it now. It's not all that noticeable though, so we might not even bother getting it fixed (especially since the insurance company is not going to be involved, so I don't want to pay $1000-1500 out of my own pocket, as that's certainly what it will cost for a new bumper plus paint up here)

 

[Bror Jace]

Every time you have a bumper cover or body panel repaired and repainted, the price starts at around $500 and just goes up from there depending, depending, depending ...

I could have rear-ended a Honda Odyssey this morning. I was approaching an intersection on very slick roads. I was going along just fine (but too fast for conditions) and there was this Odyssey sitting there at a light. The light turns green as I approach, I made a mental note that by the time I get there, she will be moving and at least 50-100 further ahead.

However, this idiot was just sitting there (day dreaming) and it was a full 10 seconds before she started to move and I had all I could do to slow down and keep from rear-ending her. I laid on the horn and made the appropriate inappropriate hand gesture and she continued on her merry way.

 

[Mr Nice]

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I effen hate winter and snow!

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You could always move to FL where there is no such thing as winter down here. I feel bad for the people that got 10 feet of snow in NY.

 

[nyr197]

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I effen hate winter and snow!

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You could always move to FL where there is no such thing as winter down here. I feel bad for the people that got 10 feet of snow in NY.

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I don't know what's worse: Dealing with the white stuff or dealing with the white-hairs.

 

[pastmaster]

Glad everyone was OK and not injured.

Depending on the car and if you are paying the bill, yourself, find a good recycler for parts like bumpers and trim. It makes a big difference in cost and in a week, your new parts are used anyway. A friend of mine who owned a collision garage, showed this to me and the money saved.

 

[Tosh]

Leave the scar as a reminder to drive more carefully. Besides, it's what bumpers are for anyway.

 

[Junior]

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Leave the scar as a reminder to drive more carefully. Besides, it's what bumpers are for anyway.

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I tend to have the opposite opinion. If someting is wrong with your car get it fixed or before you know it you are driving around in a piece of poop.

 

[bob_ninja]

When anyone tailgating has it coming. It is bad enough to do it in summer, but in winter it just won't work. You never know when you'll hit a patch of ice or snow. What is wrong with keeping a bit of distance from other cars?

Regarding yellow lights, sometimes you have to stop. For instance, cars from the opposite direction sitting in an intersection waiting to turn will go on yellow and cut you off.

 

[mrsilv04]

I can remember when bumpers could take an incident like this... WITHOUT damage.

When I was about 14, we had a Checker Cab (one of the old tanks), run a stop sign and broadside my Dad's Buick Electra 225. The cab had about $50 damage to the front bumper (it was bent a little). Dad's Buick was barely driveable...

Of course, this is an extreme example. At least some pickups still have "bumpers" - heavy chrome plated metal... instead of this plastic covered stuff today.

 

[rpn453]

I'm glad I learned the stupidity of tailgating, when I was 18, without even damaging the car ahead of me. I just had to get another plastic Chevette grill from the wrecker.

I love when the deep snow comes! Studded snow tires make it fun like a rally car. My girlfriend absolutely hated winter driving until I convinced her to get real tires. I'm sure that most of the convincing involved having her as a passenger in my car. Now she finds it amusing to watch people slide around, and enjoys the ticking of the studs.

 

[Warlord]

I hit a tree with the exact centre of my sunbird's front bumper. There was no bumper damage at all. I was shocked, all I had to replace was the licence plate bracket.

 

[Patman]

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I hit a tree with the exact centre of my sunbird's front bumper. There was no bumper damage at all. I was shocked, all I had to replace was the licence plate bracket.

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Those older Sunbirds were tanks! (I mean this in a good way) They had very strong frames, and could take quite a beating. My next door neighbor had a 1990 Sunbird with the 3.1 V6 and it had over 400,000km on it. He loved that thing, it got into a few minor accidents over the years and always came out virtually unscathed. He was very disappointed when the electrical system started going haywire and was too complicated to fix. He would've driven that car another 100 to 200,000km easily, the engine and trans were still perfect. He drove the wheels off that thing too, he was not easy on it! (and as a side note, he never needlessly idled that thing to warm it up, he just got in and drove it right away every morning)

 

[andyd]

Amachoors. I dont tailgate, and I dont tailgate even more when the roads are wet. I will stop for a yellow light. More'n once I ve lost the argument of light color with a cop. If I dont have perfect visibility entering an intersection, I stop and procede veeeery carefully until I can see. Even if I have the right of way. There is such a thing as being dead right.

 

[H2GURU]

buster,
Be thankful that SOME ICE DID NOT HIT YOU! We had a wicked storm up here in Boston, it was 12 degrees and raining. The upper atmosphere was warm, causing rain to fall and pass through existing snow and freezing underneath it. This mass slides off of the smooth roofs of trucks wizzing along and goes through the windshield. I saw over 50 blown out windshields as 300# of ice can be deadly. It is a law up year to clear your vehicle of ice and snow, but none seem to get it. Huge fine but hard to enforce after a major storm. The one side benefit is people leave a lot more following distance after watching a major chunk of ice fly up and settle back down to earth. Tailgating is very bad anyway.