Did I Mention I Had An Automobile Accident?

[JDoors]

Minor (for me) fender bender. I was pulling out of a gas station, a semi-tractor/trailer stopped to let me out since traffic was backed up anyway. I started to pull out, looked for traffic, there was none, and proceeded to pull out to make a left turn.

WHAM.

Seems someone didn't want to wait for traffic to clear to make his left turn at the next light, so he went AROUND the semi by driving in the oncoming traffic lane. Didn't see him since the semi was blocking my view to the left -- which I didn't consider since there certainly wouldn't be any vehicles coming from THAT direction, right?

I didn't really even see him at all, I just heard the WHAM, felt the truck shake, and caught just a glimse of his truck after he passed by (he must have been in quite the hurry).

I pulled into a nearby lot and looked at my car, just a few scratches on the right-front corner of the bumper. Thank goodness! Nothing bad, right? He pulls into the lot and ... The entire side of his truck is smashed in! From the passenger door all the way to the back bumper. Holy ... How on Earth did it do THAT much damage when all I got was some scratches?

The officer clearly saw that he was guilty of improper lane useage, but since I was pulling into traffic and making a left turn he called it a wash and didn't cite either of us.

Later I noticed my right turn signal wasn't working right (flashing double-time) so I went out, bought a new bulb, popped the hood and ... Holy! Seems the entire front of my car is plastic so, yeah, from the outside it looked fine, but inside .... Whoa. Everything's smashed. It must have popped back out so it LOOKS fine from the outside, but sheesh, there are hundreds of broken pieces inside. That sorta explains all the damage to HIS truck, it was a more serious accident that it first appeared. I was able to remove the turn signal assembly without removing any screws, just popped it out, since the brackets were broken. Had to put a piece of clear tape over the lens to be sure it didn't pop out again unexpectedly.

So yaaaaaay! I get to deal with two insurance companies! Am I lucky, or what?

[hitest]

Good to hear you escaped serious injury, JDoors! I hope your dealings with the insurance companies proceed smoothly:-)

[blim]

Wow, JDoors! Even though I betcha now every muscle in your body hurts (car accidents DO that!) I'm just SO glad no one was seriously hurt.

Good luck with all the insurance red-tape...yuck! Especially with no tickets written.

Liz

[Bubba Bob]

Goodluck with the insurance claims! What was the other driver's response? Was it a no-passing zone?

Glad you're alright!

[irregularjoe]

Sorry to hear that.

Glad you're OK.

Joe

[TheTerrorist_75]

With those plastic fantastic front ends, depending on the vehicle, they may state it is totaled. Just a minor tap can cause a few thousand in damages.

[JDoors]

All I felt was a shake and heard the wham, since the side of his truck "rubbed" the corner of mine I wasn't jarred enough to get even a little bit hurt. I know if you get jarred badly it can mess up your muscles for a long time, nothin' like that happened though.

I kinda-sorta wish the other guy had been given a ticket for improper lane useage, it'd be easier dealing with the insurance companies. But since I was pulling out of a drive and turning left I'm glad no tickets were issued rather than tickets for both of us. Like I would need to deal with that too!

It was a no-passing zone in the sense that he crossed a double yellow line to drive around the semi and reach the left-turn lane at the next light. I'm thinkin' the other guy has some experience with accidents, he said nothing at all. Kept his mouth shut except to tell me his was a "company" truck so he had to call 'em. No, "are you all right," nothin'. Clammed right up. Hmm.

I do think it'll be expensive, hundreds of parts large and small. It's a '97 Explorer so ... we'll see. I'm guessin' it's worth (though I'll look it up) only a couple thousand (120+ thousand miles on it). One GOOD thing about being made of plastic is it all tears to heck and very little energy gets transferred to the driver (me). If it were an old-fashioned truck with metal bumpers attached directly to the frame I'd have felt the impact a LOT more.

Frankly, since the impact was to the front bumper, I'm surprised (and glad) the air bags didn't deploy. It was a side-ways movement so I see why, but I was under the impression ANY impact to the front bumper risked triggering the bags. Thank goodness they're smarter than that though. I've seen what happens when they deploy and it's not pretty (or cheap to fix).

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Edited August 23, 2008 by JDoors

[Pete_C]

Yeah the insurance companies have a fancy name for "hidden damage" like that.

We will see a lot more of this as gas prices cause manufacturers to use plastics more and more to lighten vehicles and increase mileage.

I wish they would just build some more nuclear plants, and then convert things to hydrogen .

[Honda_Boy]

I drive a Civic and believe it or not, there's not much plastic up front. Just the bumper cover, headlights and grille. Even my fog lights are made of glass and metal. My old Civic only the corner lights and bumper cover were plastic. Everything else was metal....... but thin metal. Luckily for me, the 96 and up Civics (my current one is a 96) have thicker, stronger chassis and can take a hit better than pre 96 models (yet my 96 hatch weighs about 400lbs less than my 95 coupe).

Glad you are OK and hope you get a decent insurance check. I got nothing for my coupe since all I had was Liability and Comprehensive and they said it was my fault since my car was the one that lost traction.

[JDoors]

Might as well keep ya updated: The "other guy's" insurance company said I'd have to have my insurance company deal with my claim. Let's see if Allstate lives up to their poor reputation.

What's DDD mean again?