While stopping at the end of a freeway exit to let cross traffic pass, WHAM! Hit by a pickup truck with a big metal grill attached to the front. I'm OK. I was alone. Occupant of pickup OK too. Seems to me like the Prius safety features worked--a lot of the impact absorbed by the rear of the car, glass shattered properly, seat belt held. I guess it wasn't that hard, since the airbags didn't go off. Only a few pieces of glass made it up to the rear seat area. The insurance adjuster will be here tomorrow morning. Don't know if it will be totaled or not. While it doesn't look as bad as it might, based on a couple of prior repairs of smaller incidents, I wonder.
To upload the pics, click on "Upload a File" button to the lower right of your post. You could also "edit" your first post and then upload it from there. Might have to choose More Options to get to the upload a file button. Sorry to hear about the crash, it is good YOU are okay though. Metal can be replaced, life cannot... EDIT/UPDATE: After looking at the pic you uploaded, it makes me wonder what the sides look like. I can see the lower tail end is pushed down, but can't see the doors to see about out of alignment there. Hatch will have to be replaced, as well as lower back end. Left hand combination light will also have to be replaced. It won't be cheap, but probably not totaled unless there is hidden damage or damage to sides also. Surprised to see the spoiler survived. It all depends on the adjuster really. He/she might deem it to be a total loss depending on current value and amount of damage. Something tells me the whole thing might be twisted a little bit now since it hit more on the left side than square down the back end, but I am not a adjuster... nor am I a body shop repairman...
Glad you're ok! Welcome to the club. Same scenario for me about 6 months ago. There are a lot of drivers out there the suffer from H.I.A..
Doesn't look totaled to me. I'm glad you're OK, but beware that some soft tissue injuries take a bit of time to manifest themselves. It's an insurance company thing now. Use a good body shop (don't let their insurance company pick which one you use!) and inquire about diminished value. It's not going to be much on a 6 year old car, but it's something to be compensated for without having to buy a neck brace and hire some bottom-feeding attorney. Be very firm about this, since your car will never again have an accident-free pedigree. If they get the hatch sorted out and you're not knocked out of alignment (insist on a 4-wheel alignment when they're done!) then it looks like a relatively minor accident-------until you go to sell the car that is. Good Luck!
Sorry to hear & glad you're OK. It could be a good idea to go to a doctor, if nothing more than to register your concern in case something comes up in future. Regarding airbags, they're less likely to go off on a straight rear-ended accident. Front airbags are primarily for front crashes, side for side crashes. Sometimes, the sensors will still trigger (eg a severe front impact will often trigger the side airbags). This video (very high impact) illustrates the side bags triggering with the front crash, but with the side impact (about 1:20) only triggered that one side, as did the later pole impact. I had a quite low speed rear-ending incident 5 yrs ago, with the only obvious damage being a scratch both sides of the rear bumper and 2 dimples from what looks like bolts behind the bumper. I took it to a panel shop who suggested I look underneath - the reinforcement bar was severely deformed - what looked minor, cost (from memory) about $1600 to repair.
Probably not totaled, but I can't see if the frame is bent or if there is any damage to the moving parts or the traction battery area. Plus, after seeing what a rear-side scrape (which was my fault) cost a year or two ago (3,000+), I'm not so sure it is less than 3x that accident--and Blue book has the car in the $8-9 K range, given the mileage (90K).
looks like you personally met a prius-basher. no wonder there was no damage to your bumper. there was probably no damage to his car either. trucks with mismatched bumpers should be made illegal.
You may have some say in whether the car is repaired or totaled. If it's repaired, they should fully fix it and write you a check for diminished value. But if you were thinking of a new car, now might be a great time.
On diminished value--anyone have experience with how much an accident like this might diminish resale value? Or a link to a source that looks at such stuff? Thanks again
You could always ask your car insurance agent... Since this damage is getting paid for by the other driver's insurance I'd think it would be about 20 to 25% of the car's value. Just a guess.
