My Beloved Prius is a Goner.

[montero1]

Got rearended by a woman "not paying attention". I was stopped, she nailed me @ 50mph, swerved a little right before impact. Her left front destroyed my right rear, knocked me over an eight inch curb and up onto the median. She was driving a Jeep Commander, the front end of it is gone. Her insurance has said it is totaled, waiting to see what my insurance says. Not even sure what to do now, maybe get another Gen II Prius. Mine had 109k on it and ran like the day it rolled out of the Dealer new. Tossed around the idea of selling the Z4 (Yikes) and getting a Fusion Hybrid. Sucks that I had my car so long, kept it like new inside and outside, and some hack comes along and destroys it. This was the third time that car was rear-ended with me just sitting at a standstill.....all three times it was a woman "not paying attention".

Smashed

 

[Chris B.]

Women really are terrible driver for the most part. My wife even agrees! She always points out the bad drivers and says "lok another [censored] women driver......LOL

Glad you are ok and good luck with the new car search.

 

[01rangerxl]

I bet there was a smart phone involved.

Sorry about your car. Hopefully her insurance doesn't try to mess around.

 

[mongo161]

Who knows if it is totaled?

I'm sure some quality body and paint shop would have it looking like new......as long as there is no structual damage or safety issues.....

 

[GearheadTool]

Originally Posted By: mongo161
Who knows if it is totaled?

I'm sure some quality body and paint shop would have it looking like new......as long as there is no structual damage or safety issues.....



+1

How bad does she look? Pics?

Interested to see how a Prius holds up in a crash test. The backseat is very big, especially for a car like that!

 

[Burt]

I had a woman come to a screeching halt inches from my bumper while rapidly talking on the phone before and after. I've been driving on the congested freeway for 15 years now. Don't know how I have escaped without a scratch.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Wow, if the impact really was at 50 mph, then I'm very impressed how little damage it has caused to your Prius, especially when hit by a larger vehicle.

Sorry to hear though. Glad you're ok.

 

[Boczech]

WOW !!! Glad to hear that you are ok....Time to move on and get another car. Three times is kinda scary and I would put some kind of protection shield up around me if you don't have one.
Sounds like she was not paying attention and goes to show you that there are way to drivers distracted.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I have a lot of collision experience as we have a body shop in the extended family and I am in there regularly. There is no way this collision occurred at 50 mph. Sorry, but it's just not happening.

But this is a sad fact of driving these days. Glad no one is hurt, the vehicle can always be repaired or replaced. Good luck.

One of our service vans was just rear ended a week ago. The person got out, looked at the damage and then turned around and hauled before my driver even knew what was going on! Their car was obliterated! The cops scarcely showed any concern at all.

 

[Oldwolf]

Oh man. Sorry your Prius was totaled. Glad you are ok though.

 

[kr_bitog]

That is pretty impressive for 50mph strike, it seems the back is quite strong. That should not be totaled, looks repairable except the battery may damage. Glad you are fine.

 

[chad8]

She hit you going about 10-15 mph.
$4000-6000 in rear damage. front is impossible to know.
depends who does the estimate.
totaled but fixable.
around here its a "rebuilt title" car.
car is totaled by insurance but bought by a body shop or some hack
2 weeks later its on craigslist as "rebuilt".
Look at our Detroit craigslist cars under Dearborn
Almost every car from that city is "rebuilt"
There is a ton of small shops doing this.

 

[JHZR2]

I had the same scenario when my first mb diesel got ruined. Girl, not paying attention, marginal insurance that couldn't make you whole. In the end I took her to court for stupidity and won.

It just plain sucks. It's horrible, because the opposing insurance will say that your car has 100k and is worth like 2500 and that is fair, yet to find another as good will cost you $6k. Get ready to fight. You need to eat up a lot of their man-hours on the legal team of their insurance, and the lady that hit you.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
I have a lot of collision experience as we have a body shop in the extended family and I am in there regularly. There is no way this collision occurred at 50 mph. Sorry, but it's just not happening.


Lots of body experience on my end as well and I agree 100%. Not to be offensive but NO WAY that is a 50MPH collision. Maybe 20-25 MPH tops. If that truly was the result of being rear ended by a Jeep going 50 MPH the US Army should buy a bunch of Prius' and replace the Abrahms tank with them.

Hard to tell from the angle of the photo but all body lines appear straight and the tire does not appear to be skewed. Doesn't look like a total from the picture BUT I have seen similar, mild appearing, exterior cosmetic damage on a corner like that where the frame took a bad hit and resulted in a total. Usually though you can see clues in a cockeyed tire or messed up body seams/lines.

 

[Donald]

Does not look that bad. Get it fixed.

 

[Cutehumor]

feel sorry for the OP. My love for cars has slid recently because it seems every car I get ends up being in an accident that's not my fault. even got basic econo cars and can't park in a garage or parking lot without getting the paint scratched from buggies or other idiots opening their car doors into my car.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Wow, if the impact really was at 50 mph, then I'm very impressed how little damage it has caused to your Prius, especially when hit by a larger vehicle.

Sorry to hear though. Glad you're ok.


My thoughts as well when I saw the pics, but it's hard to judge if it's fixable.

Stuff like this always sucks, especially if you take pride in the ownership and the car is clean and well maintained because you know you will never find another one like that in the used market.
I woul get ready for price negotiation, just in case the insurance writes it off. Try to get as much from them as possible.

 

[Falken]

Very bad day indeed. The Prius was the car I wanted to get, was a tough decision with the car I have now, a Honda Fit.

Had gas been the price it is now when I was buying my car, I would have gotten the Prius.

They always say men have more accidents than women, but look at who gets to do most of the driving. When I go out for groceries in the parking lots it is all men at the wheel and women talking the guy's ear off.

I saw a woman swerving on my way home from work a week ago, so I passed her. Her face was completely lit up from a cellphone screen she was staring down at.

Yes, texting while driving is bad news. It is even worse than drunk driving because the eyes completely leave the road.

 

[bigjl]

Impact was not 50mph when the cars came together.

More like 10/15 mph.

At 50mph the roof would have buckled and the boot lid glass would not be intact.

The o/s/r door gap is only closed slightly aswell.

In an RTC it is very common for the person to over estimate speed due to the fact they here a loud bang.

In all honesty unless there is damage at the front when it went over the kerb or underneath then this will be a relatively easy fix.

Especially when you consider that a Prius is made of very think metal compared to a normal car.

That looks like a small pull with a Dozer and perhaps weld in a new rear quarter, new bootlid and away you go.

Not a big repair for an Insurance company.

If the Insurance company want to write it off then I would be getting quotes from decent crash repair garages done now so you can get the car back as part of the settlement.

Not sure how a Jeep Commander could be written off when it only caused that damage to be honest, did she go on to hit something else.

I would have thought the Commander would have a seperate chassis making them very strong, or does it have a monocoque chassis like a car?

They are pretty rare in the UK.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Get it fixed, that's not that bad. Be sure they check the batteries.