RIP 2007 Prius w/ 180k miles

Glad to hear that people were not hurt, but making blind turns in heavy traffic at 30 mph is a recipe for accidents.

 

Glad to read that everyone is OK, for now. But who knows what they will say later.

Wow, you actually got a police report. Only if its a massive accident in the LA area, will one get a police report. If you're on the freeway, CHP usu gives you one.

Yup, insurance will write the car off. 2007 w/ 180K miles, approx. $6,000 (generous) value from KBB for NewMexico. Each insurance company's threshold for write off varies. Some are greedy and will only write off when repair costs hit 50% (cost of repair/vehicle value). All insurance companies write a car off if there is water damage (ie flood); too much liability if a repaired water damage car's air bags doesn't deploy, resulting in injury/death. Usually when paint is involved, $1k minimum. There is only $2K left to acquire the replacement parts. Granted, contracted insurance body shops agree to a reduced rate, and have to use the cheapest parts first, you have too much stuff to restore, and won't stay under the 50% threshold.

Hopefully you were in the market for a new car anyway? If so, then this would be a blessing in disguise: no one got hurt, not at fault, walking away w/ down payment money.

 

Lesson learned -- that's good. I have made more than my fair share of dumb mistakes, but I try hard not to repeat them

The one accident I have been involved in was similar to yours. I was driving straight ahead in the right hand lane of two lanes. The adjacent lane was backed up, but a car coming in the opposite direction was given an opening and turned left into me. The only difference was that I noticed the gap opening so I slowed down, even though I could not see the turning car. Result was a small fender bender for both us.

Non-aggressive, defensive driving will keep you out of accidents. Much better than being 'not at fault.'

 

I'm trying to figure out how the damage to the Ranger is on the left hand side. If he was coming from the other direction and turning a (blind) left across two lanes of stopped traffic (in OPs direction), then surely op would have contacted on his right hand side?

It looks to me more like the Ranger was trying to turn left (onto the main road) from the side street, and with OP in the right most lane he should have be clearly visible?

Or am I looking at this wrong somehow?

 

^^ I wondered about the orientation, and promptly gave up
Perhaps the damage you see is from the CRV ?

 

Yep I also initially thought maybe it was from the impact with the CRV, but in the last photo you can see the right hand side of the Ranger is completely undamaged. So the left side damage must be from the impact with the OP.

 

Glad no one got hurt. Get a cheap dash camera. Video is great if it isn't your fault.

 

keep the car and part that sucker out. worth more in parts than whole.

 

Ok that makes sense now. The right rear wheel and axle (on the Ranger) must have taken most of the impact, and that area can't be seen in the photos.

Yeah, the most unlikely participant to have received an injury. Insurance scam anyone?

Anyway, given the police report, your insurance company will probably just pass that straight along to the Ranger driver's insurance company.

 

Dejavu. I was just looking up automobile dash cams last night!

This is a good read for things to know and look out for. Dashboard Camera Reviews

These two companies have 2 channel recording (front and rear). The big differentiator in my opinion is front camera size; Blackview wins. Most models from these companies are available on Amazon.

Blackview seems to have the best in my opinion.
Lukas isn't bad either.​

 

Go Pro Camera. Windshield mount. I rarely drive without it. I have a Hero 2 I bought on ebay whole kit for $150 including mount and camera and all accessories. Been about 2 years now and its been flawless. new hero's are out and much cheaper. But there's hundreds of them on eBay.

HD video. Wide angle lens. And there editing software is free and pretty easy. Plus its a great camera to have as its tiny.