My baby destroyed this morning

aww sorry to hear that... raleigh traffic isn't ever pretty.

how many miles do you have? if it's totaled you'll probably come out about even or better. blue book is very good at this point.

well good luck getting all this sorted out, hope you guys are doing ok as well.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your mishap. The most important thing is...you and your wife are OK! Thank your little but TOUGH Prius!

Vince.

 

Good grief...!! So sorry to see these photos. It might not be as catastrophic as it now appears. My Prius was hit in the middle of the night by a hit and run driver; the car was knocked up onto the sidewalk and the left rear quarter was caved in. I faced the same dilemma you are now facing, but everything did work out. I had the car towed to the best body shop in Seattle and they did a magnificent job. They also showed me how the Prius is put together and how body shops can literally dis assemble then reassemble the car using OEM parts. I stopped in several times during the three week process and I honestly believe that it would be virtually impossible to tell that the car had been involved in an accident, although I would not try to conceal that info from a prospective buyer.

Nonetheless, should I ever decide to sell my Prius, I would probably lose something on the sale price, depending on how much demand there would be for Prii at the time of a sale.

Thing to do, if the car is not declared a total, is find the best body shop you can. There are seven standards of repair, from just above amateur, to "indistinguishable from OEM new".

Oh, and one other thing I learned: the Prius is an excellent design. The body shop guys told me and showed me how the damage was confined to the area of impact because of how the body itself is built. These are sturdy cars.

Please keep us posted. Again, my condolences. The driver of the Land Rover probably feels pretty bad about what happened.....small consolation that the driver wasn't drunk, on a cell phone, or being reckless. Just driving a POS Land Rover.

My best,
Bob

 

I can only give you the benefit of my experience.

I had a car with only 5,000 miles on it when the same thing happened to me. The car was repaired, and I drove it for another 260,000 miles, that's right, 265,000 before I sold the car.

It's heartbreaking to see your baby in the street like that, but it doesn't at all mean the end.

 

suggestion: triangle auto body- awesome work and all toyota oem parts. they get their parts from toyota of durham, which is how we know they use oem parts.

their guys know their stuff.

taking the adjuster's suggestion may not be a good idea... he's trying to save his company some $$... DH has seen some SHODDY repair jobs around. just be careful, ok?

 

Sorry about your car, but glad you and your wife are doing OK. Guess there's a reason a try to avoid having to visit the Triangle. As others have said, do get checked by a doctor. Also don't let the insurance adjuster rush you into anything. I also learned the hard way that if a car is repaired but the damage is enough to have to be disclosed when resold to make sure that you get compensated for the extra depreciation due to the accident.

 

So sorry about your loss! It's a very nice car but, you're right, it is JUST a car. Good luck with everything.

 

Don't go see the Dr. right away. Whiplash may take a few days to appear. I was rearended on a Thursday. By Sunday I started to get sore. By Monday I was in agony.

And don't sign ANY papers releasing them from anything.

In addition to the blue book, check to see what used Prii are really going for in the real world. That's for negotiating if they total it.

 

Che

Darn! Sorry about your accident. Glad to hear that there were no serious injuries. If it isn't totaled, at least it was hit in the back so the drivetrain should be ok. I agree with the other posters. You may want to reconsider using the insurance company's recommended body shop for the repairs per below.

We were involved in an accident about a year ago in our Odyssey van that was not our fault. LOML is still having occasional back/neck pain that requires attention. The other party's insurance is Progressive and it has been a nightmare getting everything corrected. You may not want to use the suggested body shop unless you have some other referrals that it is good and that they will follow your requests and not the insurance company's. We were in the same position as you, not knowing anything of the body shops in the area, as we hadn't lived here very long. So we agreed to use one of their "preferred shops" which was a big mistake. The repair was over $7000 and was botched up a lot. I insisted it be fixed correctly and also insisted that it be done elseware. So, 3 months and $10,000 of insurance $$ later, it was "close" to the condition before the accident. I wish, and I'm sure the insurance company does now too, that they had totaled it and just wrote me a check.

There is also the issue of "diminished value"(DV) when you try to sell a vehicle after it has been in an accident with much damage. When you want to sell it the buyer will not pay as much, or may just walk away when they hear it was in an accident. If the accident was your fault (first party) and your insurance company is fixing it under your policy you may not be entitled to relief for "dimmished value", but if the other party was at fault then your claim as the third party is entilted to relief under tort law in most states. This is my opinion, and I am not a lawyer, but I have done research on it. Progressive has offered us some relief for the "DV" loss which I am considering now.

So here's hoping that tomorrow you all still feel ok, and that soon your Prius is re-born as good as new. (Or even NEW)

 

Glad no one was hurt. Ugly wreck. You lived out my fear everytime I drive through Greensboro and Raleigh. Good luck to you....

 

In the end another Prius that gave it's all for the Passengers. I am impressed on how the "modern" car designers build these cars to protect us!

 

Che, i feel your pain. my adjuster called me last week to say that they were probably totaling mine as well, hence the change in saying on my avatar. will take 6-8 weeks to get another one. will probably miss the 100% tax credit. (still get 50%) out of pocket expense probably be $3-4000 depending on the insurance settlement (estimated to be $21500)

 

Glad no one was hurt.

 

Darn it.

Suggest you make printouts specific to your year, options and odometer, from the Edmunds, Kelly Blue Book, and NADA car evaluator web sites. When you sit down at the money-table, come armed.

And wear one of those neck braces, even if you don't hurt. That's what they are for.

 

I'm sorry about the accident, glad to hear that you and your wife were able to walk away.

My first Prius was totalled after a similar rear-end accident. Based on the pictures, the damage from your accident appears to be worse.

In addition to seeing a doctor, I would urge you to seek information from your state's insurance office on how the value of a totalled car is to be determined and how any disupte is to be resolved.

 

I think your car is almost certain to be declared totaled. Mine was rear-ended last December when it was only 47 days old. I think mine had less damage than yours (judging from the photos) and it was declared totaled.

 

I'm starting to think we should start a forum for accident threads. There seem to be a lot of them recently. I'm glad that no one was hurt, of course. But at least there was some damage to the Land Rover. Good luck with your next step, whatever that may be.