Last night we were involved in a 3 car accident and our Prius was in the middle. We have damage on both the front and rear of the car, as well as the interior. A 3/4 ton GMC with camper and pulling a trailer with a '34 Ford on it rammed into the back of us at 25mph(per DPS) as we were stopped on the highway for roadway construction. He needs a new front bumper and no airbag deployment, either. He has a receiver hitch mounted to the front for his winch that was sitting on the trailer at the time of the accident. It took the blunt of the crash. There were 4 of us inside the car. No airbags deployed, both front seatbacks are bent/twisted inwards, the rear hidden compartment area is sticking up about 3", the hatch won't close/lock, there is a smell of battery acid inside of the car. The front & rear bumpers are toast, hood is bent, fog lights broken, as well as the grills upper & lower. The hatch has a dent on the left side and a large gap on the drivers side and is straight on the passenger side, the left rear door has zero gap and is hard to open/close. We really like out car and if it is totaled we will definitely buy another Prius. We have already found an '07 to replace ours. I hope that the '07 is as good as our '05. It does have every option that ours had plus the rear camera. Oh btw, the car in front of us took off once he saw the police coming to the scene. :mod:
Judging by the damage, I hope they do total it. If they don't, there have been some recent developments with insurance companies giving additional payments for "diminished value". Take the car to a dealer and ask them for an appraisal based on an undamaged car vs one with major damage that has been repaired - this is the diminished value of the car due to the accident. Make sure the insurance is going to ADD this diminished value to the repair costs before you agree to have the car repaired - they will probably just total it.
Make sure you get it written off. One of my taxi's had $13,000 damage and they fixed the car and I have regretted it ever since. Non stop electrical problems over the last 16 months. I was hit in the drivers side front quarter of the car. Two of my taxi's have been hit pretty hard and neither time did the air bags deploy. Wondering what it takes to get them to deploy. Glad they didn't but hope they do when I really need them to deploy.
I found an '07 with everything that my '05 had on it, plus rear camera and I can get it at the same dealership where I bought the '05 now with payments $10.00 less per month. We were upside down on the previous trade-in and since we got the Gap Insurance we will be totally paid for and not owe anything. We did not have the Prius for 5 months yet, but we like the car so much that we just have to get another one. Are there any improvements on the '07 from the '05, besides the reverse camera and a 2 year newer GPS map I was even scheduled to get new tires put on it today, too.
Picked up our loaner/rental car yesterday - Chrysler Town & Country and now my wife is already talking about trading my truck in on one. There are only 2 of us plus our Aussie, who loves it too. Low floor height makes it easy for her to jump in to vs. my 4x4 truck. So it looks like we will be looking for 2 newer vehicles a Prius and a minivan.
The 2007 display will have a higher resolution & the car will handle better in low traction situations.
Better rear seat headroom, better materials on the upper door panels and dash, slightly different seat material and patterns, lip on the front bumper, and that snazzy chrome grill.
