HUMU hit and run

Re: HUMU hit and run update

Hi everyone:
An update on the worst accident I've never been in for those of you wondering about how much damage your Prius can sustain and what happens when the jerks of the world converge on your car
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I'm touched and thankful for everyone's concern and support. I told one of my coworkers that we are more like a club of show-dog owners rather than a car club. I can't imagine that other owners of the vanilla WonderBread Chevy I am renting, meet regularly to talk about their cars!

I went to the body shop to see HUMU's repair. It was quite informative. One concern I had, which has been echoed in this chatline by others of you, is that the car will be somehow defective after the repair. While a prospective future buyer may want a serious discount in the price, there is nothing below factory specs in the car after the repair is complete. The service guy walked me through the car and showed me the spot welds where individual panels are fastened together, and where they will remove the damaged quarter panel. They have precise measuring equipment to align whatever metal they replace.

As for "all four wheels" being damaged....this isn't quite as bad as I made it sound. The cheap plastic rims were damaged, and the left rear tire was damaged, but the wheel assemblies are intact, although they will likely replace both rear wheels as a precaution. The right front wheel wasn't touched. Happily enough, that wheel has the only plastic rim I haven't scraped up parking.

I asked him about "bent frames". He said that there are virtually no cars now being built on frames; almost all cars are unibody. If it were necessary to total cars for damage like that sustained by HUMU, the cost of vehicles would skyrocket and there would be no repair facilities. It's been argued that the whole auto body repair industry is a racket of sorts (probably some truth in that, but so are car dealerships, etc, etc), but I still favor restoring a vehicle if it can be done properly, rather than being responsible for adding yet another new car to the overcrowded environment.

He added that he has seen far worse damage to cars than I sustained, and that those cars are whole and fine. If I come away from this with anything, it will be an appreciation of how well designed and built the Prius is. The damage to my car was contained and absorbed at the source of impact, which is how it should be. Had the damage been transferred to other parts of the car, then it would likely be a total.

Next week, I hope to go out with my camera and get some photos of the repair process.
Again, thanks for your affection and support.
Bob

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RobertO\";p=\"101935)</div>

Sad story, Bob, but I feel somewhat encouraged by your account. HUMU is nowhere near that badly damaged. I think most of the damage will prove to be psychological as I struggle with the feelings of having been violated by an irresponsible creep.
Even if I located the guy and got the police involved again, what would it accomplish? The police would likely issue the guy a citation and a fine; my insurance company would go after him for the money they shelled out......and the guy would be loose on the street, pissed off, ready to "get me" for the hideous crime of holding him responsible for his actions, and knowing where I live and what my car looks like.
My car looks like the US after five years of Bush.
Thanks for your concern. Hope to see you again in your Driftwood Prius.
Bob