Fender bender with my wife's Explorer

[corncobs]

Seems to be the month of accident reports. :(

 

On my way back home after dropping of my wife at the airport I got rear ended at a traffic light! I had stopped but I couldn't see to the left due a truck in the left turn lane so I rolled slightly forward stopped again and bam getting hit from behind. My son who had fallen back asleep was obviously woken up but we are both fine.

 

Some qick damage assessment a little cursing and off to the parking lot for insurance info exchange.

 

The guy behind me hit the trailer hitch receiver (it's a big 2" one) so it seemed the Explorer was doing well jut some minor paint damage. On his car he had a about 6" hole in the front bumper.

 

Unfortunately it looks like they have to replace the hitch since it bend more then I thought because the welds are actually slightly cracked.

 

 

He said he would rather pay for it than involve insurance if it's only a few hundred bucks which I was fine with. I went to Gerber for a quick estimate and even if you can't see much it's almost 2k in repair. The hitch alone with new harness is almost 1k plus the lower bumper and repaint.

 

So far we never used the hitch but knowing that it's cracked I'm not comfortable pulling the rated weight anymore in case we need it or even selling it down the road.

 

Now for all the car experts replace of not replace the hitch?

[GrySql]

Very glad to hear you and your son are fine!

It does seem like a lot of accidents are happening lately, I've been missed by inches, some only because I took evasive action.

It's a jungle out there.

 

Replace the hitch.

Remember that insurance phrase "Diminution in Value"?

This depreciates the value of your car and you suffer 'lose of use' while it's being repaired.

 

When they remove the hitch, what if they find further damage? Will the guy who hit you pay for that?

Edited August 20, 2014 by GrySql

[acdii]

The reason the guy who hit you doesn't want insurance involved is they will want an accident report, which means a ticket will be issued to the guy who hit you, Automatic in this state.

[hybridbear]

Sorry about your accident, glad you & your son are okay.

 

I would be wary of someone wanting to pay out of pocket. What happens if additional damage is found? I wouldn't want to deal with that sticky situation.

[Sleddog]

Have you contacted him about the estimate? 2k may be more than he is willing to part with. I hope it doesn't cause him to dispute the facts of what happen, or that it happened at all.

 

Even if the other guy says he'll take care of it, it's good to get a police report. That way you are covered.

 

Perhaps you should call his insurance company, and yours, to report the accident.

 

I'm glad you guys are ok.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Sleddog

[acdii]

oh yeah I was rushed, sorry about the accident and that you 2 are OK.

[jeff_h]

I would be wary of someone wanting to pay out of pocket. What happens if additional damage is found? I wouldn't want to deal with that sticky situation.

 

Yep there is often additional damage once they take things apart... this first one was my wife's Edge (was 10 months old), she was sitting still in traffic and was rear ended by a drunk guy who earned his 4th DUI with this one... can you believe the below was $4,700-5,000? I don't remember the exact amount, was somewhere around there. The one thing I remember from the collision repair work order was that each of those reverse sensors in the rear bumper were just over $250 each.

 

Now how about this one -- Buick Rendezvous, also 10 months old and again she was sitting still in traffic -- the young gentleman with the suspended license was going about 45 when he realized that traffic in front of him was dead stopped, there was about 10-15 feet of skidmarks and BAM! This one ended up getting totalled and I looked up the VIN a couple years later and it had been issued a salvage title in Canada - so someone out there is OK with tracking down the road a little sideways...

 

So this past February when her Energi was 10 months old, we definitely had our fingers crossed for that month.

Edited August 20, 2014 by jeff_h

[corncobs]

Thanks guys I appreciate the thoughts.

 

I did call my insurance and they would take care of it in case there something fishy going on. She had nothing but good things to say about Geico and that they take care of claims rather quickly.

 

I also contacted the guy and send him a copy of the estimate. For him out of pocket would have been a few hundred but now I can't imagine him paying directly. Like I said before I would have been fine with that as long it's just the bumper cover to repaint but now it's a bit more.

 

@ Jeff your wife seems pretty unlucky with those kinda accidents.

[corncobs]

Seems to be going well. He just told me that he reported the incident to Geico and gave me claim number.

 

Still sucks to deal with this kinda stuff.

[Sleddog]

Good deal! I'm glad it's going forward, and I hope there are not any issues. I've had GEICO for 20+ years. They solve things quickly.

 

Jeff - I'm glad your wife is ok.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Sleddog

[hybridbear]

Seems to be going well. He just told me that he reported the incident to Geico and gave me claim number.

 

Still sucks to deal with this kinda stuff.

Glad he promptly reported the accident. I agree that it really sucks to have to deal with it. When we were rear-ended last week we lost a little over an hour on the side of the road after the accident swapping insurance info and getting the police report, then on Monday I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the insurance adjuster, 1.25 hours getting the estimate done by the insurance approved body shop, then another 1.25 hours bringing the car to the shop where we had the repair. Then throughout the week another about 1.25 hours were spent on the phone with insurance & the body shop. Then another 1.25 hours round trip to pick up the car from the body shop once it was done plus a half hour spent putting gas in the rental car & returning it to Enterprise.

 

All in total I estimate about 7 hours were wasted dealing with this incident!

[corncobs]

We got our Explorer back from the collision center after dropping it off Monday morning.

 

They did a very fine job fixing the cosmetic damages after the accident. The hitch receiver was not replaced instead we got an additional check of $500 for the hitch "scratches".

 

The shop checked the integrity of the receiver and determined its safe. Geico said they would pay for the replacement but we said no and got a check instead.

 

Total cost $1300 including the check.

 

I have to admit I'm really impressed how easy this whole thing was. Geico was really good to work with and I can recommend their "easy repair" program.

Edited September 18, 2014 by corncobs

[corncobs]

Sometimes I would really like to know what some people are doing or where their mind is when driving.

 

Believe it or not almost exactly 6 months after I was rear ended in the Explorer I got hit in my FFH at the exact same spot!

 

I went straight to the parking lot in order not to stop traffic since it was a much lighter impact than with the Explorer.

 

He followed me, we stopped he got out and apologized. We looked at my car and I could see anything. I still don't know where he actual hit me. I mean there is a fine layer of salt covering the back of the car and there is nothing.

 

He told me the same story as the other guy that he thought I was going... bla bla bla.

 

Since I was hit the first time I have been really careful not to roll forward in order to prevent such misinterpretation by the driver behind me. In this case I was still applying the brakes since there was a car coming.

 

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera recording at the time but I'm not even sure if it would have captured the impact noise.

 

I know I'm going to hate this right turn even more so than I already did before today.

[GrySql]

That is terrible. Glad that you didn't get whiplash or something.

Are you going to get it looked at, tell your insurance?

There may be unseen damage to the bumper struts or something.

[hybridbear]

That stinks!! I hope he gave you his insurance info so you can get your car repaired.

[acdii]

If the bottom part didn't pop off, then probably nothing is hurt. Mine was about $700 to repair total, the one part was replaced and didn't need painting. Everything underneath was fine. If you dont see any marks when its cleaned off, then nothing to worry about.

[TonyHzNV]

Wow, CC, sorry to hear that! Getting hit always sucks! At least you are OK and it sounds like the car was not damaged, at least not visibly. Hope all goes well for you with this incident.

[djminfll]

I have learned from years of watching The People's Court that if the accident was not your fault, you should ALWAYS wait at the scene of the accident and don't move your vehicles until the police have been called and arrive on the scene of the accident. If the other party insists on moving their vehicle, try not to let them move it until you have had a chance to take pictures from multiple angles and multiple distances from the car. Once the pictures are taken, if the other party insists on moving their vehicle, that's just better for your case. But once the vehicles have been moved, it is almost impossible to figure out whose fault it is.

And if it wasn't your fault, I don't care how much they beg not to call the police, do it anyway. It's amazing how fast that cute crying young lady changes her tune after you both leave the scene without a police report, and suddenly accuses you of cutting her off and causing the accident. Without a police report and/or photos of the accident, it's he said/she said when trying to resolve the claim.

[corncobs]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the thoughts.

 

I was just so pissed off that it happened again at the same spot simply unbelievable.

 

I'm with acdii since I couldn't even see where he made contact I didn't worry about it so I let him go ;)

 

Like I said I didn't even "disturb" the dirt. I just looked at it again with a flashlight and I cleaned it.

 

Maybe there is a small area where contact could have been made to the right of the left reflector. There seemed to a fine line in the dirt on the black plastic. Nothing to see with now being cleaned.

 

I guess I got really lucky with that one.