So I was driving on the 91 West this afternoon in traffic. We're all flying along at 80 MPH, until we start to come up on the 5 interchange. My lane starts to slow pretty quickly, but I had plenty of room ahead of me. I come to a total stop with traffic, leaving about 1 1/2 or 2 car lengths between me and the guy ahead of me. I look up into my rear view and see this big SUV coming full speed, like she hadn't even considered braking yet. I take my eyes off my rear view because I don't even wanna see what I know is coming.
The impact was so bad, I actually felt myself come out of my seat and hit my head on the roof, then the front visor, then my head hit the headrest HARD. I was pushed, with my brakes locked, all the way into the truck ahead of me. The total impact managed to actually knock my stereo out of the dash, my ashtray onto the passenger floor, and turn my 80lb sub box upside-down. Her SUV lifted the rear of my car off the ground entirely, because the "Celica" logo left a mark on her hood... a good 12 inches higher than where it sits on our cars. I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, but came away with nothing more than a sore neck. Thankfully, my airbag didn't go off.
In short, the car looks BAD... probably worse than the pictures let on. The trunk floor seems to be crumpled... I can't tell for sure because the spare tire can't come out now. Besides all the rear damage, my TRD front is cracked, bent and about ready to fall off. My hood is also bent along the front bumper, and it looks like the front fenders might be bent too... hard to tell. My sub box had major damage, the subs themself no longer work... my capacitor was torn out and dented, my stereo came out of the dash half way... and I don't know how my amp held up.
I'm pretty sure that it'll be hard to get the car to be "totaled", but I'm going to try pulling a few strings at work if it's anywhere close. It'd be nice if I could just dump this wreck and get a 04 six speed... but we'll see. Tomorrow I'm going into work to file the claim, then off to get some estimates, then to the doctor if my neck still feels like this.
Last edited by RevMonster; Jul 15, 2004 4:39am.
I'm just a crosshair I'm just a shot away from you
I hate those stupid SUV and drivers. They don't realize that their big ass SUV cannot stop like cars in front of them. Always speed and terrorize other cars on the road.
But theres no way they are totaling that...its not even bad
I know they probably won't... but the front is nearly as bad as those rear pix. Plus, the trunk floor being buckled makes me worry there is actual damage to the frame.
Ah well... if they do just repair it, I'm going with a Carbon Fiber hood and different rear.
I'm just a crosshair I'm just a shot away from you
dammn that sucks. i know how it feels. this old guy ran a stop sign and hit me >_<. wasnt bad enough to be totalled. had to wait for couple months to get my car back. hope you can get it totaled. good luck
Hey glad you weren't hurt! I keep hearing this crap about women being better drivers than men. I'm not so damn sure about that! You put a soccer mom behind the wheel of a SUV add in a cell phone, TV and three kids and your just asking for her to mow down everything is sight.
now you can go post in isaac's thread about the suv being a threat
and i agree that women arent better drivers then men. my neighbor had a frend over. and me and my frend were fixing my lambo doors and the woman backed up into my frends car. i saw the whole thing happen. what she said when we talked to her was... "are you sure i hit it? i know i was close to it but then iono if i hit it or not"
I know how you feel bro - same thing happened to me in my last car. I was stopped at a red light and some girl hits me at like 40 mph... totalled my car and gave me a sore neck for awhile. Hopefully things work out for you. In my accident the trunk was folded in like an accordian with major frame damage, if yours is the same then it might be totalled.
- word of advice - don't mess around with the whiplash injury. See a physician regardless of how you feel. The signs and symptoms may be masked and more serious complications could result if left unseen...
Wow, it really looks like the Celi took the pounding.
I had a Suburban back into my front bumper at a good clip. My car was pushed back a foot. Then the woman driver drove off and never even noticed! Luckily it was just a scratch, those 12KM bumpers are pretty tough.
...yeah, I hope you are ok. If you were here in GA, I'd represent you all the damn way, especially because you are a fellow celica owner. I deal with accidents like this everyday of the week. My best advice as for the injuries would be to go and see a neurologist to make sure you didn't pinch a nerve, and then get to a chiropractor to help put everything back in place.
Also, as for an attorney, try to find one that works on contingency. What that means is that you give them the case, and they get all the information (medical bills, police reports, insurance policies), and let them deal with the insurance company. I deal with them everyday, and they know what they are doing. If they don;t make any money for you and get your bills paid, then they don't get paid. They take a percentage of the settlement (usually 33%). So you just let them deal with it, and get better, and once they settle they pay your medical bills, and take a third of what;s left for their trouble...its definitely the way to go. and if they are any good they will also have doctors that they can send you to
Duwd just drive the front against a pole or something.. then it will be totalled.. who cares you got damage already.. just make sure they total it then
That's total BS!!!! Man, hope you can jack lots of money from her.
I hate big ass SUVs and those old ass Volvo Wagons with Rubber Bumpers. I got hit once, from the back, and since I was only 19, that *sshole tried claiming that it was my fault. There was no dents on his bumper, it was freaking rubber!!!!
In the end, bastards got me, we each had to pay for our own cars, but mine was straight up jacked in the back. His was a minor scuff of MY paint on his rubber bumper. Nothing that some sanding won't do.
First off, why weren't you wearing your seatbelt? ALWAYS wear your seatbelt, you're lucky, and I'm glad to see you're safe- but come ON man. You weren't wearing your seatbelt on the freeway?
Secondoff, why would you want to get it totaled? I understand that you would like a new 04- but if the insurance company writes off your car, you'll only have 1/2 of what you could get from a private seller; you'd have to shell out a LOT of money out of the pocket to afford an 04.
Just get the correct amount of money to replace most of your parts- replace and not remold, and you'll be fine- better; you won't be shelling money out of your pocket.
You can easily get the money for a new car out of a total if you know how to do it and get a good deal on the new car.
Friends sister had gotten a good deal on a used wrangler 2002. She got hit and the car was totaled and the payoff was enough to get a brand new wrangler and still have 1500 left over.
If you go out of your way to get a car totaled, you really have only yourself to blame if the insurance company goes: Well, it had such and such many miles on it.. and gives you 75% of it's true value.
If you go out of your way to get a car totaled, you really have only yourself to blame if the insurance company goes: Well, it had such and such many miles on it.. and gives you 75% of it's true value.
Thanks everyone, for your concern. I feel better this morning... but I think I'll still take Sultan's advice and get checked out.
But yeah, you make a good point about the totaled aspect. My problem is that I'm worried what having a major accident on the car history report will do to the resale value... and I'm also concerned if they try to fix any sort of structural damage. My Miata was pieced together after a couple major accidents, and you could certainly tell while driving it.
If it really is just body pieces and mostly cosmetic, I'm thinking that I'll get it fixed and try to sell the car after...
Anyway, I'm off to take care of some of this stuff. Thanks again everyone... I didn't expect so much support.
I'm just a crosshair I'm just a shot away from you
damn, reading your story i thought your car would look like an accordian or something. i was picturing both ends all crumpled and shiz...
your back end is squashed in pretty badly, but not totaled. just get your whole car checked out...
you got hit by a SUV? don't you mean SAV? (Suburban Assault Vehicle) not only do they kill gas consumption, parking space, and mother nature, now they kill celicas...
Yeah, that's a major issue Rev. With this one accident, the resale value of the car has been lowered a lot- and even if there was only minor structural damage, it'll still FEEL different.
So, what was this girls deal? Why didn't she stop? How did she act when she hit you? was it a: WHY DID YOU STOP SO SUDDENLY I"M CALLING MY LAWYER THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! or a: omg, are you all right? I am so sorry, etc etc or something in between?
I recommend seeing if, in the ensuing lawsuit (please tell me you'll sue) you can add on the drop in the resale value of the car.
AMEN to that. Make sure they don't know that your seatbelt wasn't on...so they could say you were partly negligent for your "injuries". You should get at least 50 grand from this, in addition to a new car. If you go to the right body shop, they will give you the estimate you want. Dealerships tend to charge the most. Milk that motherf$#$#$.
And mileage is not an issue with the celica since we all know they last well over 200k mies. Have an attorney represent you on the car insurance end too and also have the same or another attorney represent you for the personal injury lawsuit.
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