Ouch! Got rear-ended on the drive home

[SirTanon]

I'm a careful driver, and always try to leave room, brake early, and stay aware of my surroundings, but unfortunately, you can't control other drivers.

Case in point, I was driving home from work today, on the 101 highway here in Phoenix, in the center lane. Traffic was off-and-on stop and go, and I had just come from an area where traffic was moving at about 45-50 to a slow-down. I braked carefully, and just as I had come to a stop, WHAM! hit from behind. The guy was in the left lane, decided he had to be in the center lane apparently, but did not leave enough room / anticipate the slow-down.

First, his car (a 1998 "rough" Accord)..

... and now for the back of my Fusion. I was really expecting some major damage..




Surprisingly, it was not as bad as I expected, although I'm still disappointed. I work so hard to take care of it, and this happens. Apparently, he hit his brakes hard once he realized he was about to hit me, and so I suspect the front end dipped down low enough that it wedged under the back of my Fusion. In fact, he hit me hard enough and low enough that his front bumper cover actually ended up lodged under my car, pinned on the muffler tips, etc.. I'll definitely need a new muffler, and I suspect, everything in back of the catalytic converter.




In case anyone is wondering, there does not appear to be any damage at all to the trunk, lights, or really anything above the bumper.

 

[Dylan1303]

Your lucky his car dipped like that. Crazy how you trunk is still there.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Minor damage, agreed, but you never know how extensive it is until it's inspected. I've seen late model cars totalled for less visible damage. Even if repairable, it will be surprisingly expensive if you see the final bill. Not much you can do about it, though. Hope everything works out OK.

 

[montero1]

It sucks I know, but at least you're OK. I had an '08 Prius that was totaled after 109k trouble free miles. I had been stopped for a good 45-60 seconds and she came over a hill and hit me at 45-50mph. Nowadays, a good body shop will make it so you can never tell it had been hit. Looks like the guy that hit you did himself a favor, that Accord was a heap anyway....hopefully he had insurance?

 

[SirTanon]

He did have insurance, although I can't say how good. No worries, I have full coverage, including uninsured and underinsured motorist. Claim is already filed and I'm supposed to hear from the body shop tomorrow.

 

[NothingNew]

With the amount of damage to his car I would expect you have more damage than just the bumper cover and exhaust. Hope you're ok.

 

[bbhero]

It will Buff out

Main thing.... You are ok and that all that really matters.

I hope your Fusion is able to get repaired in a good way.

 

[Nick1994]

Wow, that's really too bad!

Hopefully once they remove the rear bumper the damage isn't too bad underneath, I have a feeling it'll be worse than it appears.

I was very lightly rear-ended last year. $2,342 to fix because they had to replace the steel bumper underneath. Here's the link to that post if you want to see the pictures.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ub...ear#Post4385277

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
.......I was driving home from work today, on the 101 highway here in Phoenix, in the center lane. Traffic was off-and-on stop and go, and I had just come from an area where traffic was moving at about 45-50 to a slow-down. I braked carefully, and just as I had come to a stop, WHAM! hit from behind.


The north end of the 101 from 75th Avenue to the I-17 by John C. Lincoln Hospital, is the most dangerous stretch of freeway in Phoenix, and the most accident prone. Because of the exact reason you have just described. It's not just stop and go. That happens on every freeway during rush hour. But for some reason cars will come to a complete stop from speed and just sit there.

It's so bad I won't travel it any more during periods of high traffic. Other freeways like the I-10 will come to a gradual slowdown. Even to a crawl. But at least they continue to move. And the speed stays fairly low. So you're running 20 to 25 MPH, then gradually slow to a crawl, but keep moving.

But on that stretch of the 101, you will commonly see traffic go from 50+ MPH, to a complete stop. Any time you come to a dead stop on a freeway from those speeds, rear end accidents are inevitable. I'm sorry it had to happen to you. I can just imagine how that totally ruined your day.

 

[JHZR2]

Glad you’re ok. Yes it seems your car turned out ok, and it is a slap in the face when some idiot damages your stuff. Doubly so when you have to nickel and dime the insurance company to get the repair to your standards.

Id suspect they’ll put a used trunk lid and Chinese bumper cover that may or may not fit perfect onto your car. Unless you state otherwise.

 

[Delta]

Well it seems you're ok, so that's good! We went through with this several months back and I hope to not go through it again. We were dealing with an uninsured motorist though. Happened in March and we're still dealing with it...

 

[WyrTwister]

My wife was driving through the parking lot at a local grocery store . A lady pulled out and hit our little red Chevy Sonic in the right rear bumper and around to the right rear fender & wheel cover .

Luckily , the lady had insurance , state Farm .

My wire just got her car out of the body shop yesterday . It looks fine . The estimate ( State Farm paid the bill ) was around $ 2,500 ) .

Hope your car comes out to your satisfaction .

 

[SilverFusion2010]

Make sure they thoroughly inspect the exhaust up to the manifolds and the engine mounts, it looks like a good bit of the impact force dissipated there and your rear bumper mostly folded up the hood on the accord.

You don’t want a cracked manifold or leaky exhaust gaskets

 

[henni]

Do not forget that insurance will not make good on Diminished Value when it comes time to sell/trade the car.

That will have to be settled separately. No insurance company will voluntarily offer to pay for DV.

https://www.ican2000.com/dvfaqs.html

 

[Virtus_Probi]

If you have ANY back, hip, or leg pain, please see a medical professional immediately...even if it is some weeks or months down the road.

I was rear ended at speed many years ago in Dallas and my back was really sore for 2-3 days, but I just dropped it after that cleared up.
I started having hip pain maybe a month later and saw an orthopedist who was not very helpful...but, to be honest, I didn't mention the car accident as I thought there was no connection. He told me to try exercises that made my pain much worse and I never went back to him.
The issue lingered for a few more years and suddenly became intolerable...I saw an orthopedist a friend of mine had studied under and he figured out I had disc damage in my lumbar spine in about 5 minutes. I brought up the car accident and he was like, "Bingo!". The exercises the doctor in Dallas suggested made my discs bulge more and may have been some of the worst things I could do. Took several more years for the pain to stop after a couple of rounds of PT and an ER visit.

I think that some PT after a proper diagnosis in Dallas would have saved me about 10 years of difficulty ranging from discomfort to agony.

 

[StevieC]

This is why I have a trailer hitch with a mini bumper in the trailer hitch port when I'm not towing something, to minimize impacts like this and limit damage. I have never had an at fault accident but have had about 5 hits to me from other drivers.

The most recent totaled my Journey and almost killed me (seriously) when I got T-Boned by some idiot that ran a red and then tried to blame me while I was unconscious. Thank god for the front/rear dash cam setup I have. I'm in the process of suing this turd because I still have really bad whiplash and other symptoms from the accident.

Glad you are ok and it wasn't more serious.

 

[mrsilv04]

The fact that his suspension was crap, and went hard nose down when he finally got on the binders, likely saved your trunk lid.

You might be able to find a decent used bumper cover in that color, if you have problems with the insurance company.

 

[Gebo]

You do know you can pick whatever body shop you want? You don't have to go where his insurance tells you.

I'd go the "best" one in your area.

FYI

 

[MoneyJohn]

Originally Posted By: henni
Do not forget that insurance will not make good on Diminished Value when it comes time to sell/trade the car.

That will have to be settled separately. No insurance company will voluntarily offer to pay for DV.

https://www.ican2000.com/dvfaqs.html



Any idea how much does it cost to get this diminished value information? A lot of things on the site seem free, but there is no free lunch. Hence trying to figure out if its worth going through this.

 

[MCompact]

Glad you weren't hurt. My wife's old 5er was rear-ended by a moron in a Sunbird who was looking for a dropped cigarette. The idiot didn't have insurance, but I derived some pleasure from the fact that his car was totaled while my wife was able to drive her car home.