2012 Prius w/SPORT Package SMASHED in Accident

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In October my BRAND new 2012 Toyota Prius w/ sport package (only 9,565 miles on it!) was stopped at a red light and then rear-ended by a texting teenager, she hit us going about 35mph which pushed us into the car in front of us causing 11K in damages. The list of repairs is 20 pages long, and to top it off when I went to pick it up today from the shop (6 weeks after the accident!) there were some quite noticeable flaws which they are now repairing.
I was able to drive it briefly and something doesn't feel or sound right with it. I plan on taking it to Toyota, but I'm curious if anyone else has had this extensive of repairs done to their Prius and if repaired what I should look closely at.

My repairs consisted of:
New back hatch
New rear bumper
Passenger side piece of frame replaced (behind rear tire)
Entire floor pan where the spare tire sits was cut out and replaced
Put on a frame machine and pulled out the rear from the trunk
New headlight
New front bumper
New passenger side fender
New hood
90% repainted (due to having to blend the paint)
All new ground effects body kit
Rear axle replaced
New front windshield

Got a more accurate total for the shop: $13,667

The photos don't look too terrible, but if you look closely you can see the back passenger door is butted up against the rear body panel because the frame is bent. Also once the trunk cover was removed I was able to see all the bent metal, the spare tire was wedged in due to it all and couldn't be inspected or removed until after the car was pulled.

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I just received the Prius back and not more than 30 seconds after I got it I bottomed out in the body shops parking lot. Why is it that all body shops have the most crappy and small parking lots with NO lighting?
I'm pretty sure they wanted me to pick it up after dark because I'd already been by two times to pick it up and found something wrong each time.
They were also generous to give me extra parts to take home with me...in my tire. A massive screw with a washer is lodged in my tire "must have been that darn construction." They said. In a matter of 90 minutes my front bumper now has a nice size scratch on the underside and a huge nail in the rear tire. Tomorrow I can go out and actually give it a full inspection without someone breathing down my neck. Can't wait to see what else I find.

 

Thankfully I'm entitled to diminished value! Though I seem to have a Target on me and get into an accident every other year. So in 2 years time it will only take a small accident to total it.

 

Yes. I made it clear before repairs were even started that I was going to file a diminished value claim. After speaking to an attorney, and a few diminished value claims experts the DV is anywhere from 5-6K.

 

Finding a good body shop is so hard to do. I'm originally from Oregon and in my town I had used 3 different ones at different times and always had some type of issue with the repairs. Probably because when I have something that is perfection and then it gets ruined, I want it back in that same state it was which is entirely impossible when there is THAT much damage done.
I'm now located in South Carolina, needless to say there is a body shop on every corner. The only trouble with finding another body shop is to make sure they aren't an extension of the one I've already used (they out source a lot of the repairs.) Also having to front that cash to get it on a frame machine is not cheap, they have to remove a lot of the body to get a correct measurement. Though you have the right idea, I'm just gonna have to find a more affordable way to go about it. On a side note, I can't even KBB the re-sale value yet of a 2012 Prius yet because no one is selling them private party. Except me, anyone want to buy a Prius?

 

You would be correct, but State Farm (the at fault parties insurance company and who I'm going through to avoid using my own insurance) has preferred body shops in the area and the one I picked happened to be in their little club. I've already made it clear to the body shop that the repairs as I saw them today were not acceptable. In repairing some things, they scratched and ruined my window tint, scratched the plastic outside of the drivers side window, some how got sealant glue (whatever that stuff is they use after they cut and paste metal parts) on my brake caliper, missed some spots while painting, lost my mudflap guards that were in the trunk (unopened and never used), and there were thousands of little black plastic specs on the ceiling that needed to be cleaned off. It was just crappy, I guess the crappier the repairs the more I get back in diminished value, and then I trade in the Prius with somewhat of a down payment. After speaking to a lawyer he said it's hard to be made whole again on property damage after an accident, the best way to be made whole is through the personal injury portion.

 

Trust me, since day 1 I've inquired and made it very clear that I do not want the Prius back. In South Carolina my understanding was that if the cost of repairs + diminished value + (I thought car rental) = more than 75% of the cars value it can be considered a total loss. Unfortunately we are a couple K shy of that 75% mark. I did talk to an attorney, and hope to hear back from another one tomorrow, but most of them deal primarily with the personal injury portion. The airbags did not deploy, after the accident I had to do a double take to see if they had deployed because I couldn't at the time figure out why my face was burning, but it was a seat belt rash on my face/neck. If they had deployed it would be in the total loss range. The truck that was in front of us was lifted, so when the Prius hit the rear bumper it was above and just to the left of the airbag sensor by about 2-3 inches.

 

She was cited for reckless or careless driving (I'm not sure if they are one in the same.) In South Carolina texting or talking on the phone isn't illegal. In Oregon you can't even be holding your phone, everything needs to be done via bluetooth.
We went to her court date to make sure they didn't decrease the value of the ticket as they often will do. She didn't show up and her ticket was close to $300.00. Of course she was driving a Jeep, her front bumper is part of her frame and after the accident she was able to drive off to the side of the road. I told my better half "we are getting a Jeep." Except not really. Maybe a Highlander. d:
Trade-In right now is around 20-22k which isn't TERRIBLE considering. I've been in this boat before with my Scion xB. They spent way too much money fixing it and then didn't want to pay me anything for DV. Then when I went to trade it in, they would only give me 6k for it when it should have been more like 10k. Thankfully I know what I'm doing this go round.
It's unfortunate for your son if he was the one who planted his car into the hillside, while insurance companies won't pay out what they should for DV, it does help to cover some of the loss, while the personal injury portion covers the rest. If you're from Georgia though you can claim DV to your own insurance company even when the accident is your fault. I'd suggest him trying to sell it Private Party, you're more likely to find someone who doesn't mind it's previous accident. I believe I read that some 20% of people would buy a car that has been in a previous accident, it's just a matter of finding that 20% and the sellers willingness to take somewhat of a loss. Goodluck to your son!

 

It feels weird to drive it again. I haven't tested out the acceleration yet (due to the fact that there is a massive screw in the tire that needs to be removed tomorrow) which means I haven't been able to make sure I'm still getting accurate MPG. (I read someone elses thread that after an accident it somehow affect their MPG.) I am interested to see what State Farm offers me for DV though because they are the makers of the 17c formula. I'll see if I can get around to showing you all photos of the repaired trunk pan, it looks much different than before.

 

I went directly through State Farm because it was pretty cut and dry as far as liability. I've been through this song and dance before and know the drill a bit better than I did 4 or 5 years ago when I was involved in another car accident. Only before it took Safeco over a month to accept liability for their insured party running a red light and causing the accident so I couldn't go directly through them.
The body shop is covering the further repairs I found, but making the glass company pay for them because they were careless in removing my windows which is why I ended up with scratched tint, cut seals and scratched paint. I've gotten all new glass except drivers and passenger side front and back windows because of cut seals.
So far since having the car back I've found 5 things wrong. If ever in an accident be sure to check the whole car because you never know what they had to remove to access the damage. Though my damage was the rear and passenger side front, they removed my small drivers side front glass and in doing so cut the seal on the outside, they forgot to paint and blend 1 of my toe covers on the front bumper, scratched my drivers side tail light in the process of taking it off, left off a strip of window seal on the windshield, and I can't believe I didn't notice this one right away but they forgot that I had a rear bumper plastic cover.
Tomorrow I'm gonna go out and take photos of how things are ill alined on some parts of the car because as most of us know, things are never quite the same after an accident. I'm holding on hiring someone to do a DV report because I want to first see what they offer me, my guess is going to be somewhere in the 2k range at which point I will negotiate with photos of some of the ill alined body parts and see if I can get more. I actually found an appraiser who works for some insurance companies and as long as their is no conflict of interest between the body shop I used and the insurance company (State Farm) I think he will be the most reputable. Otherwise I have a couple others choices. Anyone ever had to use DV claims expert or property appraiser?