Sorry to hear and glad everyone's ok! (the chiropractic treatment is to be on the safe side right? not because they're required?). $2,600 seems reasonable. ICBC totalled our Camry for an accident just as "minor"!
Patrick, I'm sorry that happened -- but glad that your family is fairly unhurt... Don't sign off on the insurance until they get a completely clear bill of health from the chiropractor, btw. Your Prius did what a Prius does well -- took the brunt of the incident, protecting your family. Job well done.
oh no !! Wow Patrick, (if it had 'em) did the curtain air bags deploy? I'm thinking no, by the size of the dents as I know how easy the sides can cave in. When we had an suv 5 years ago, a drunk drifted into the suv door, at walking speed. That's all it took. Glad to hear no people injuries.
yikes. glad everyone is ok. cars can be fixed easily enough. i would be careful of going straight away to a chiropractor- if it came down to a lawsuit i bet it could be argued the chiropractic manipulations caused some damage. (there is always that risk- we found a real nut of a chiro here who exacerbated DH's back problem. but that's another story.) annual cost of tuition/housing is about the same as the cost of a new prius!? that's a steal! here, we give em almost 2 well equipped 2010s each year for tuition alone.
I would claim for diminished value, even when fixed, a car with previous body repairs does take a value hit.
The treatment is required esp. for my wife who is experiencing headaches, back pain etc. The car has side and curtain airbags and they did not deploy. The sensor is located on the B-pillar which did not suffer any apparent damage. The doors can be opened & closed and it appeared to me that the door openings were not damaged by the accident. Yes, it took a long time for my wife to find her current chiropractor, which was necessitated by an accident four years ago where a high school student hit the back of our 2001 Prius with my wife driving and daughter also in the car ($4,300 damage to the Prius, considerable intangible damage to wife.) She has high confidence in this practitioner. My daughter is a student at Univ of California, Irvine and the resident tuition provides some break to state residents. Not having access to financial aid, we can't afford the $50K per year price of top private universities... Yes, I tried this with the 2001 when we had an attorney involved but he felt that was difficult to claim here in CA. So we focused on recovering medical expenses as well an allowance for pain & suffering, diminished quality of life etc.
I got mine back last week and things have been a rush since then. My repairs were completed within 9 business days and now my Prius looks better than the day I bought it. The door skin was replaced and all but the front bumper had some repairs on the left side of the car below the window ledge, plus the mirror. There was no filler used in the repair, the repairer won't use fillers. I hope your Prius looks as good as this when finished Patrick.
Patrick; when i first saw the thread, was fearing the worst. i am glad that no one was seriously hurt although getting checked out is definitely recommended as even minor side jolts can really tweak a back good. its good that the damage is limited to only a few panels. on my 2004, i had a truck turn left in front of me, i swerved to avoid hitting it head on, but the truck still clipped my car...unfortunately, it put a one inch crease all the way down the drivers side. so the damage looked very minor, but the car was totaled. i could not open the drivers door and had to crawl out of the passenger's side. but this happened in summer 2006 when demand for Pri's were high, so i ended up getting nearly $2000 more for the insurance settlement than my my "out the door" purchase price which allowed me to get an SPM for basically nothing but ½ the cost of sales tax.
What happened Pat ... I thought you'd have that touring spoiler on there by now. I quit looking a couple months ago, just assuming. .
PATRICK - wow............so sorry to hear that. Glad the family is ok. The car can be replaced/fixed. Take care brother.,,,,,,,,,,,,ru going to get a prius for a renter???
Patrick! So sorry to hear about the accident, the injuries to your wife and daughter, and the harm to your Prius! I can hardly believe your cost. I was hit just about 10 weeks ago by a hit-and-run driver. The damage didn't look like much (I had the black circle from the tire, like yours), but it went to $1,800, and I had to pay the deductible because of the fact the guy just zoomed away.
Went to visit the Prius at the body shop this afternoon to see what is happening. Both driver's side doors and the fixed windows on the driver's side front and rear had been removed. Some of the paint on the rear door sill had been sanded off, maybe the finish had been scratched there. The replacement driver's door is from a salvage vehicle. I suppose this is OK, in an effort to keep costs down. Looks like the car is on track to be finished by Friday next week. I did not get a rental vehicle; need to put some miles on the Mustang GT convertible. Wife and daughter still undergoing chiropractor treatment, outlook seems positive. Thanks to all for your concern and expressions of support. The other driver's insurance co accepted responsibility for the accident yesterday, so that is another bit of good news.
I don't think you should have to accept a salvage door though. There's sure to be wear and tear. Why not demand new OEM parts?
Yes, that thought had occurred to me as well. I understand that the interior parts of my original door (i.e., window and motor mechanism, lock assembly, etc.) will be transplanted into the steel shell of the salvage door unless damaged from the accident impact. I decided to wait & see how the repair job turns out. If the power window mechanism works as before and there isn't more wind noise at freeway speeds, then I will be satisfied. Also as a Prius owner I thought I should support the concept of recycling as long as this does not adversely impact the quality of the repair...
My repairer said he fitted a new door skin because if he quoted a new door which costs about $1000 he would have been told by the insurance company to use a second hand door. I'm surprised your repairer didn't fit a new door skin.
Hi Pat, The left rear door will have a new door skin fitted. The left front door had sufficient damage so that the entire sheet steel assembly had to be replaced. When you open that door and look at the edge where the door lock resides, you can see that the metal was crumpled... Hence, the use of a salvage door for the left front.
