Oh No...Crunch...$$$

[StephenPT]

Turn back the clock a couple of decades - I'm driving a 1987 Isuzu Trooper - my girlfriend and her friend are in a late 90's Toyota Avalon. I'm following them back from a weekend at the beach. We're turning right onto a highway. I see them start to go, so I look to the left and see a car coming in the distance. If I'm not a slow poke I'll make it so I put it in first and give it some gas - CRASH. Girlfriend also saw the car coming and didn't want that car to get between us so she decided to stop and wait. Ughhh - 100% my fault for not looking and being fixated on looking left at the car coming in the distance.

We get out and survey the damage. Avalon has the trunk, tail lights and bumper smashed in (later that week it was totaled by insurance). As far as the Trooper? The license plate got bent a little bit....

No biggie, everyone was safe - no injuries other than my pride and the best part is she ended up marrying me anyway.

 

[Chad G 1979]

Talking about oopsies, October of 21, i was heading somewhere and my oldest boy forgot something so got out of the canyon and went back in the house. I didnt realize or think about it, but he didnt shut the door. I backed out of the garage and heard this awful crunching sound and took a second to dawn on me i need to stop. I darn near ripped the door right off the truck. Thankfully have a good body shop in town, and was only 2500 bucks to fix and repaint. I couldn't even shut the door on the truck so had to use straps to hold it closed to get to the body shop.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

Wow, sorry to hear that, and $6700 is crazy. Hard to tell from the picture but can't they fix anything or are just going to replace all the parts. Hard to tell from the picture but looks like the bumper and fender could be repaired. Hope that you can get it fixed in a timely manner,

Said new: bumper cover, headlight assembly, fog light assembly, right front fender.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

Update:

Finally got the repairs done.
Vehicle is back to normal now…body shop did amazing job on the paint.

Final bill was $7633…

No wonder car insurance continues to go up.

 

[Chad G 1979]

7600 dollars? Woah. Glad your ride is all back together for you though.

 

[Mean_Green]

Yep, my daughter backed into a tree and the bill was $5400. Just a few years ago, we coulda bought a used car with that money!

I did buy mine for that last month. $4K for the vehicle and $1,500 for delivery 2,000 miles away.

I won't buy a new vehicle. I refuse to pay those prices.

As I said on another thread, shops want $500 to replace the door hinge pins. No bump or paint work. Simply R&R the doors and seat the pins.

As far as some of the comments on insurance costs, it's a dog wagging the dog situation. Bumps shops won't/can't repair stuff any more because the insurance companies won't allow it. They insist on new replacement parts and often require OEM. And part of it is picky people. I want my faded clear coat patched. Paint shops won't do it. They insist on a full panel strip to bare metal. They say people won't accept less. I told them I'm not that picky. They said they have to for their 'reputation' for the people that are picky.

I paid $5K for mine and I'm not picky. The people that pay $75K are.