Glad your OK! Of course accidents are nothing new ~ let the insurance companies battle it out and get on with enjoying life.
Correct, my typo, the doors do not open and close correctly. Other driver cited for failure to yield. Their insurance company is having it towed to Toyota dealer for an evaluation. They sound like they want to repair it at this time. My insurance company is dragging their feet already.
Which is exactly why I suggested you contact an Attorney! The Insurance companies are only looking out for THEMSELVES!!! They will cheap you to death unless you have backup!! You were not at fault, you deserve to be treated better.... Its amazing what a call from an Attorney can accomplish!!! Good Luck!!
Fixing the car could work out quite well. Have any of you worked in the body shop in recent years? The good ones have amazing technology, including laser alignment equipment and high tech paint booths. They don't just try to straighten panels. They drill out the spot welds, remove the bad panels and re-weld. The are has lots of cosmetic damage, but the main structures appear straight. The windshield is not broken, nor are the door windows. The bumper is in close to it's original position as is the front wheel and tire. The front door may be pushed back some and it could be preventing the rear door from opening. It might be a total, but it might be highly fixable. However, it will not be cheap to do a good job. A high repair does not always mean a poor outcome. In fact it may increase your odds of a good one. I have been pleased and amazed with some of the body work that's been done on my cars and my family's cars. But I don't go to discount shops either. Thanks, Dan
I would be dead 10 years now if not for the airbags in my '99 Accord. same thing guy turned in front of me I took the ditch hit a telephone pole at about 20MPH wish I would have had the knee airbags,I bent the lower dash with mine!! OUCHHH! I hope I never need them. Start shopping for a new car. Good luck Scott
The body work may be able to be done OK, but if there's electrical damage as in broken wires in harnesses or bad connections from the crash, I'd have less faith that that would turn out all right. Prius has so much front end electrical stuff that I'd insist on a total out and a new car if at all possible. I sure wouldn't like to try to solve an intermittent problem caused by crash damage later on. Push for a new car.
Intermittent electronics can be a problem, but usually not. Wiring harness are plug and play. Electrical problems from an accident are usually all or nothing. It should not go out of the body shop door unless everything works. It should still have it's full Toyata warranty. Maybe it would be wise to get the full 100,000 warranty after such an accident. All I'm saying is that it might be a total and it might be a highly successful repair. Successful repairs happen every day. This one does not look that bad to me, but I'm only judging by the pictures.
I agree with you, chances of a successful repair are good, depending on how much damage really exists and who does the work. My only point was that electrically, the Prius isn't an ordinary car, and an excellent shop for body repairs might not be too good with Hybrid electrical systems. I still would be pushing for a new car if the repair cost is anywhere near replacement cost, since the accident wasn't his fault and its up to the other insurance company to make him whole again.
I personally wouldn't want it back as a 'repair' because then it's part of the car's history and will show up on any carfax report if the OP tries to sell it in the future. Even if a bodyshop does a bang-up job <pun intended>, the car will still be one that went through a collision.
Life is not fair. I'm sorry the accident occurred. However, insurance does not promise to undo the accident, nor "make a person whole', nor restore a car's resale value. Insurance only promises to fix a vehicle or give the owner pre-accident market value. Additionally, the longer the car is kept and functions well, the less difference the accident makes. After 200,000 there may no difference at all. I'd suggest keeping the lawyer's out of this issue unless the owner has a very poor insurance company or insurance agent. Frequently, adding lawyers to the mix only raises to cost to everyone and only benefits the lawyers. Best of luck, Dan
By the way, I just want to say to the OP that my comment was purely a joke (not at you or anyone on this topic, just in general). I am definitely glad you are okay. I am a fan of airbag myself, my wife survived a nasty one with a tree on the driver's side door. She happened to be driving the first production car that had side airbag as standard equipment. Imageshack - dscn2200n.jpg
general rule of thumb is if the airbagsdeploy and there is significant body damage they always total the car.
A long time ago, I was in an accident like that (except no air bags). A couple of days later I was really sore, especially my back and neck. I also had a constant ringing in my ears for a couple of weeks. Good Luck!!! Keith
Nope, I don't think this is true. It's all about the math and the math is different for every accident. The cost of the repair versus the value of the car. If the repair cost exceeds the value of the car by some magic percentage (sometimes 80%), then it's a total. A 2010 Prius is a very valuable car, so it might be fixed even with air bag deployments. Now, if my 2005 were in the same accident, I confident the math would indicate a total (grim thought. I love my car). Thanks, Dan
wow, glad to hear you're ok. I didn't realise that knee airbag is so large! Glad to hear it works very well. Thanks for the pics! I noticed that in the first picture, the hazard lights are on. I was wondering (because you were travelling above 70km/h) if that was the emergency braking function (the one that turns on the hazards if you brake hard from a speed higher than 70km/h... you were travelling at 80km/h). If so, this might be our first confirmation of this feature on North American models.
Car is replaceable but not you. Glad you are okay to tell the story. Any plan to buy another Prius? May be a different colour? You may get it cheaper this time around.
I don't think that is the case, I have gone from 100+ to 40 four times, at no point did the hazard appear.
I definately know how you feel, I crashed my 07 touring a few months after I bought it too. Toyotas know how to protect their occupants, Hope youre still doing alright!
