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Unfortunately I was in an accident yesterday and insurance will be coming by to look at the car soon. I am very worried that they are going to total it. Does the damage seem repairable?

In the front most of the damage I see is to the bumper, plastic panels that lead air into the radiator, the bottom mount/support for the radiator, and the radiator itself. The crash bar is a bit pushed up/back on the driver's side. The metal structure behind the crash bar that goes around the radiator still seems okay.

No damage was done to the passenger side. The driver's side front fender will need to be replaced and there is a scratch on the driver's door. The air bags were not deployed and the hood, trunk, and both doors still open/close just fine. All four wheels still seem straight.

The rear is what has me worried. The rear bumper, my HKS exhaust, driver's side taillight, and driver's side rear quarter panel are smashed. Sure, I can just bolt on a new bumper and exhaust, but the quarter panel can't be replaced easily, which is why I'm worried it will be totaled... https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8a9f062795.jpg
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Total

I guess I should start looking for a new car :(

Damn that sucks bro :( kinda looks like a BRZ on need for speed when you hit too many cars. Hard to tell without thorough inspection, but it does look totaled unfortunately. Hope you’re okay though good luck

What about it makes you think it's totaled? The accident really wasn't as bad as the car makes it look. I was the only person injured, and all I got was a bruise on my neck/shoulder from the seatbelt. Cars nowadays seem to just disintegrate at the slightest impact...

The total loss threshold for Maryland is 75% of the ACV (Actual Cash Value) determined by your insurance company.
From the pics (including hidden damage) of your car, IMO, it's going to be totalled.
Here's a good article from Edmunds on total loss: https://www.edmunds.com/auto-insuran...otal-loss.html

I gotta go with totaled on this one. And I'm usually optimistic about these.

What about the car makes you think it's going to be totaled? I'm assuming the damage to the unibody? No glass was broken, no airbags went off, all doors, the hood, and the trunk still seem straight.

To me the front looks easily repairable: new driver's side fender, bumper, radiator, a few plastic bits, and it's all set. In the rear they'd probably have to cut that section out and weld in a new one. I was rear ended about 10 years ago and the car had similar damage, but they still didn't total it and were able to repair it. That car was worth less than my FR-S.

I guess if it is totalled, then keep an eye out in the classifieds for aftermarket parts I'm going to try to salvage. I still have all stock parts in the garage, so hopefully I can get my header/over pipe, various interior bits, etc back and resell them for a little extra cash to put towards another car...

I've seen 86's with HALF of this damage be deemed totaled

I have no doubt your insurance company will total it (i'll eat my hat)

Thanks for the evaluations. The adjuster should be out within the next 48 hours and I guess we'll see what the official ruling is...

They're designed to crumble to absorb crash energy and save the people inside... watch crash test videos of cars from the 70's vs modern ones.


As for the damage, the rear 1/4 panel is one piece that includes the outer a pillar and goes all the way forward to the fender on the bottom. That alone is a really expensive repair to remove the old panel and put the new one on. Add in all the other damaged panels, and what the cars are actually worth, and it doesn't take much to write it off.


Having one damaged fender replaced, with blending to adjacent panels, is about $1600 Canadian. The bare fender alone is like $450 Canadian for the unpainted panel. That's a single bolt on panel with zero other damage.

You need a fender, front bumper, rear bumper, trunk, tail light, the whole 1/4 panel, lower rad support, maybe a subframe, etc, then basically painting the whole car.

If you want to take any parts off the car after it's been towed away you'll have to buy it back from the insurance company after they write it off.

Totaled, the rear fender is a structural element.

UGH! Yes, it can be fixed, but, I doubt the insurance company will opt to fix it - :(


humfrz

I am aware of why they do it. I feel like it's a double edged sword: sure it saves your life, but you lose a car you're sentimentally attached to in the process :(

I know. I assumed the adjuster isn't coming with a tow truck so I'd have a few hours to put a couple small items back to stock. I thought about what I was planning to do and it sounded highly illegal, so I'm going to put it back to stock before it's appraised instead.

Well if that's the case, then they're going to buy me another one.

Either the front or the back and you would be fine. Probably $5-6k on the back, $4-7k on the front (depends on other damage I can't see). Together, you are looking at $10k-ish at a decent shop. That's pretty damn close to what I think the limit is on a 2015 depending on miles, but the first impression is going to be totalled. People tend to stick with their first impression.

It's totaled, the lower left front core support is impacted, that's a difficult repair in itself. Plus the rear quarter...I've bought plenty of insurance auction totaled twins with less damage...not saying it couldn't be fixed and fixed properly. Most of the times insurance doesn't want to fix them.

They will total it on the estimate and let you arrange for a tow at your place.

I went through this with Geico and I arranged the estimate for a few days in advance. I recommend you postpone your estimate and take off all the parts you want before they come. Once they make an estimate/total it the car is expected to be as it was looked at. Unless you want to try and work it out with the adjuster.

I was able to swap out wheels, brakes, and almost entire suspension before my adjuster came. And the wheels I put were badly bent with bald tires and I put the spare as one of the wheels. This was not a twin, but just telling you my experience. Also I was rear ended and there was not really any possibility of me being at fault, I'm not sure your situation.

Don't get attached to cars, use, abuse, replace.

Or

Cruise around, have fun, get to work, sell it for another one.

I managed to save a good 80% of my aftermarket parts yesterday. I can't salvage my suspension and various interior/exterior pieces l because I can't find the stock parts anywhere in my garage, or they got ruined in the accident. I guess it's better to get some than none...

I find it impossible not to get attached to my cars. I spend shit tons of money on them, they provide me with lots of fun and enjoyment, help me pick up chicks, get me where I need to go, etc, so when they're dead it's like losing a member of the family.

The thing that makes this so devastating is I've only had the car for about 18 months. For at least half of that time I couldn't even drive it for medical reasons. I get bored with cars after 3-4 years, but with my FR-S I was just getting started...

You have totally avoided telling us what happened

No one asked. They're building new houses along a windy road in my area and as a result the road is covered in dirt/sand/gravel from the trucks and other construction equipment. One of the entrances to their construction site is right at the entrance to a sharp turn. While entering this turn the rear lost traction and stepped out. I was able to catch it and it seemed like we were going to be alright.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but after straightening the car out the rear stepped out even worse on the opposite side. I tried to correct it, but the rear had too much momentum and the car began to spin. First the front hit the embankment, then as the car continued spinning the driver's side rear hit the embankment. After doing a full 360 we rolled into a ditch.

I wasn't sure what to do since the only property damaged was my own, no one was injured, and we weren't blocking the road. Luckily my friend was kind enough to let me use his AAA to request a tow truck. After waiting about an hour and a half the truck still hadn't arrived, so I called AAA for an update. They said the truck would be at least another hour and a half to 2 hours, so they signed us up for an unattended tow and said it was okay to leave.

About an hour later the cops found the car and showed up at my house. They said after an accident you're required to call the cops no matter what and threatened to arrest me for leaving the scene of an accident. Calling the police was probably the last thing on my mind at the time and everyone I've spoken to had no idea you're required to call the police. I told them what AAA said and luckily they were reasonable enough to only write me a warning. I still have to go to court over the whole ordeal since technically I committed a crime, but the cop is confident that I'll get off.

So you stepped on the gas after the car straightened back out?

If so, i suspect adrenaline and the pendulum effect were your undoing. In your mind, the car had straightened back out, but with the adrenaline pumping, it had only been fractions of a second, and the car hadn't actually settled, you just felt the rear regain traction, so reapplying the gas allowed the rear to go the other way.

I'm not entirely sure. It all happened so fast, but it's very likely that I tried to accelerate again after losing traction the first time. This was my first rear wheel drive car and I'd been driving it for less than a year, so I wasn't a master at it yet.

Maybe for my next car I'll get an Evo. That way I have an excuse to hate my friend with a WRX and I'll have AWD.

I don't like the evo based purely on how mitsu handled the aging of the platform...

I know almost nothing about the Evo. How did they handle it? Discontinue it? I don't actually plan to buy one, I was being sarcastic. Hopefully I can find another good deal on an FR-S so I can reuse the $2,000+ worth of parts I removed yesterday.

The last new model evo was introduced in 2007, and marketed nearly unchanged until 2016 when it was discontinued. Basically what they did with the eclipse, except over a longer time period.

After that story it should be clear that our gov't just needs to make money off of us so badly that if they could, they would make a pooping tax/fine and get some cash from us for taking a dump.
Your car was damaged, nobody else's property was damaged and yet they still want you to call them so they can come out, waste your time and theirs to hand out some tickets. Pathetic.

I also don't see in the law where it specifies you are required to call them in your particular situation: https://law.justia.com/codes/marylan...tle-20/20-107/
If there was another driver or property damage to deal with then it would make sense but it sounds like they just want to catch an impaired driver fleeing the scene.

If they start pushing and you actually do get cited in court and/or fined then call an attorney and give them hell right back:
https://www.marylandinjurylawyer.net...accidents.html
To me, it sounds like the road wasn't safe due to the construction(a sign up doesn't let the construction company off the hook for their negligence of debris on the road) and if somebody is looking
to make your life even more difficult on top of having the car wrecked maybe you need to act accordingly by giving it right back.

The more I think about it and get mad for you, maybe just call an attorney no matter what and soon to get their opinion of the situation.

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Unfortunately I don't have the space to store the car long enough for a full part out, but I will be parting out the aftermarket parts I removed (unless I reuse them on another FR-S/BRZ/86).

Should you choose to sell the aftermarket parts (not sure if you’re aware) you could try the MD Subaru Trader page on Facebook. Or even the FRS/BRZ/GT86 Marketplace to help expedite the possible sales

Final update: as expected, insurance totaled the car :( I'm going get a quote directly from the body shop to see what it would really cost to fix. I'll probably spring for it if it's not too expensive. I absolutely hate starting over fresh with a new/different car and would like to avoid that at all costs.

Keep your eye on the classifieds. I'll probably have my stuff up for sale within the next week...

you would need to buy the car back for that to happen. with the damage to the rear quarter panel, i'm doubtful that the shop might be willing to accept the liability of working on it. if they do agree to do it, i don't doubt that they're going to give you a repair cost exceeding $15k once they factor in labor. insurance rates and private pay rates might be slightly different, but not substantially.

cars are changing where steel is no longer steel, so parts that used to be capable of being welded together can no longer be consistently welded by body shops. it can still be done, but it needs to be done by someone with a full understanding of the metalurgy, and most body shops don't staff people like that.

here's an example from mercedes for their 2012 s-class on the different metal types that go into a single vehicle structure

http://135jik1bbhst1159ri1ax2pj.wpen...UHSS_Steel.png

You don't have to answer this if it's too personal, what did your insurance company give you for your car as the ACV (Actual Cash Value)?

Just got back from a factory tour in Alabama, 43 types of metal on the 2020 GLE :confused0068:

Why bother buying it back? It’s legitimately totaled. That’s not a scratch on the bumper and 3 flat tires. Cost to buy the car, try to fix it, buy a second car for the duration, and you’ll always have a salvage title junk car.

Take they money and move on. Buy the same car again, these cars aren’t exactly hard to find.

The insurance agent I spoke to said the ACV was a little over $15,000, which was higher than I was expecting.

I'm having trouble finding another one in my price range. I got an amazing deal on this car and most others for the same price have 2-3 times more miles, are totally molested, etc. The top 2 reasons I really want to keep this specific car are it still has the suspension I spent lots of money on and I ran some wires for my RexSpeed heated mirrors that were a total pain in the ass and I really don't want to do it again on another car.

talk to the insurance adjuster about getting the suspension off of it. as long as you have the originals, they can literally be in the trunk. as long as all the parts are there for the car, they don't care.

The original suspension parts were thrown into the scrap metal pile at the local landfill several months ago, so there's no hope in getting my aftermarket suspension off the car. If I still had the original parts then I definitely would've rescued my suspension when I removed other aftermarket parts from the car last week.

Life lesson about car mods. Never toss the originals!

This! Always hold them back.