Opinions on damage

[Luke]

So...

9/28, Monday morning, on my way to work, 4:40 am, traveling on the interstate, doing 65mph. There was a car around 50' in front of me, it had just got on the interstate, I was looking at their taillights when I noticed something in my peripheral, about 20' in front of me, right at the rumble strip, a black bear running onto the road.

From doing the math later, I doubt that I hit my brakes, so I hit it full on at 65. Based on what I can remember and seeing the car, it appears the head probably hit right around the center of the bumper and the body around the headlight. I know it didn't go over the car, either got knocked back around the side or I ran over it with the front passenger's side tire.

Luckily, there was a sheriff's deputy maybe 2 minutes behind me, he saw the bear, then saw my car, so he stopped. He went and checked (without a gun I'm not checking on an injured bear). It was already dead. There was some fur stuck in bumper where it had cracked, I now have it as a souvenir.

It caused my driver's side airbag to deploy and the pictures can explain the rest.















What I'm curious about is unseen or potential damage. I know these aren't the greatest shots and no one can know for sure without taking all the front end off. The thing is, the body shop guys seemed for sure it was an easy fix.



I talked with him the day after around 4:30pm and he hadn't looked at it yet. At 6:30pm he called and said he had his estimate of 8.6k in damages. That just seemed quick and he also hadn't taken anything at all off the car, just looked at it from the outside. Said a big part of the cost was in the airbag.


He called me again yesterday and said he still hadn't taken anything off the car yet. I asked if he expected anything else and he said no, but if he did find anything, he would ask the insurance for a supplement. He also said he had began ordering parts. I feel like he wants to get started on it ASAP (though I haven't approved any repairs and as far as I know the insurance hasn't either), without doing a thorough teardown to find an accurate number, then collect more money as more issues are found.



What concerns me is how the fender has pushed up towards the A pillar and that the passenger door will not open more than a couple of inches, despite not seeing it hitting on anything. It's possible the body of the bear impacted the fender and caused the dent, but I could not see any damage at all on the door (which I would assume would happen if the body hit the fender that hard right where it meets the door). To me, it appears that the impact to the front of the fender has warped the entire fender, possibly something behind it.


So, anyone have any ideas on what to look for as far as potential damage? Had something similar happen or taken the front end of a GT86 all the way down to know more about what's under the skin?

[go_a_way1]

That looks bad Im glad your okay but that is gona cost your insurance alot!

[fumanchu1]

Totaled!!!

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by fumanchu1

Totaled!!!

LOL someone says this in every one of these threads haha!

[humfrz]

Oh, my, too bad your car took such a nasty hit .....

I'm glad you are OK ..... good job of maintaining control of the car .....

Can they fix it ...... yes; will they (insurance company) fix it .....

Please let us know what the insurance company decides.


humfrz

[fumanchu1]

Yay I got to be the first one to say it even if I can't see the pics at work lol.

But from experience with Mooses, deers and Black bears over here, definitely look for frame damage, these big furry things damage cars severely most of the time.

Also if you are not confident with the body shop(I would also be weary of a guy saying haven't looked at it and having a complete detailed estimate less than two hours later) shop around nothing preventing you from getting a second opinion, also since insurance is going to cover it(your rates are gonna go up whether or not the repairs are expensive, or maybe your rates won't not familiar with the insurance policies for those things) I would try to bring it to the top bodyshop in my region (You're not paying the bill after all).

What that does is it gives you reassurance that you will get an estimate taking all damages into account, that the job should be done nicely and maybe (big maybe) the difference in cost for the estimate (good shop's estimate should be higher since they will put more labor time) may sway your insurance company to classify your car as totaled and give you a new one (if est. goes from 8.5k to 13-14k they might replace the car since they would lose money with the adjusted reduced value of your accidented vehicle). Worth a shot I think.

[fumanchu1]

Originally Posted by go_a_way1

LOL someone says this in every one of these threads haha!

I know I never get to be that guy so I wanted to put it on there quick before someone beat me to it. I did provide some substantial argument to the OP after though

[Luke]

Originally Posted by go_a_way1

That looks bad Im glad your okay but that is gona cost your insurance alot!

Originally Posted by humfrz

Oh, my, too bad your car took such a nasty hit .....

I'm glad you are OK ..... good job of maintaining control of the car .....

Can they fix it ...... yes; will they (insurance company) fix it .....

Please let us know what the insurance company decides.


humfrz

Originally Posted by fumanchu1

Yay I got to be the first one to say it even if I can't see the pics at work lol.

But from experience with Mooses, deers and Black bears over here, definitely look for frame damage, these big furry things damage cars severely most of the time.

Also if you are not confident with the body shop(I would also be weary of a guy saying haven't looked at it and having a complete detailed estimate less than two hours later) shop around nothing preventing you from getting a second opinion, also since insurance is going to cover it(your rates are gonna go up whether or not the repairs are expensive, or maybe your rates won't not familiar with the insurance policies for those things) I would try to bring it to the top bodyshop in my region (You're not paying the bill after all).

What that does is it gives you reassurance that you will get an estimate taking all damages into account, that the job should be done nicely and maybe (big maybe) the difference in cost for the estimate (good shop's estimate should be higher since they will put more labor time) may sway your insurance company to classify your car as totaled and give you a new one (if est. goes from 8.5k to 13-14k they might replace the car since they would lose money with the adjusted reduced value of your accidented vehicle). Worth a shot I think.

Thanks, the only thing that happened to me was a bit of tightness in my shoulders/neck. Seemed to only be from tension/nerves.

The car did great, tracked very straight, even though I couldn't see for a little bit (dust/smoke from airbag). Never had one go off, so didn't exactly know what had happened (I saw it deploy and remember thinking, this thing is really small, haha). I don't know if the airbag even touched me though.

Actually just got a call from the claims adjuster in the middle of typing this response. He hasn't seen the car or got anything from the bodyshop yet, so he is going to call them to find out a bit more about it and get a better time frame on when they'll have more information.

I do know that it is filed under comprehensive coverage, so the deductible is lower than collision (on my policy at least). I'm not sure if that causes a rate increase or not, I need to read more on the state law in TN. I did find that in the event is determined a total loss, in addition to determined value, insurance is required to pay the sales tax based on that value as well, Tennessee 9-1-89C.

*edit* I had requested another copy of the full auto policy last week, it arrived along with a statement of my coverage. Today I just got a policy renewal notice in the mail, weird thing is, my premium went down on everything, lol.

[fumanchu1]

Sweet at this point i hope for you to get a replacement vs a repaired salvage

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[Turbo95eg6]

Sometimes I just can't bear looking at these damage threads.

[BirdTRD]

I feel your pain! I hit a deer a while back, although it didn't look nearly as bad as yours and it was still $6,000 in damage! Hood, fender, bumper, headlight and misc. stuff, but the airbag did not deploy on mine. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...postcount=8355


Good luck with it and I hope you find a great body shop! Glad you're OK. Cars are less painful to fix!

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Turbo95eg6

Sometimes I just can't bear looking at these damage threads.

No pun intended.

[Pickleahoy]

There's bearly a scratch on the paint... HONK HONK!!

Wish you took a picture of the bear

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Pickleahoy

There's bearly a scratch on the paint... HONK HONK!!

Wish you took a picture of the bear

I thought about it, however, it was still really dark and all I had was a cell phone without a flash.

Also, I'm an animal lover. I didn't really feel too bad about it since it was an accident and I haven't been able to think of anything I could have done differently to prevent, but I thought it might have made me feel worse.