Well after a couple of years of seeing some Maxima's go down due to other ignorant drivers, I finally get to join the club. Literally, sitting 10 cars back at a red light with a F150 right behind me. He said he looked down to get his phone out of his pocket and his foot hit the gas. BAM. Ill know a little more on the degree of damage after a body shop has a chance to get the bumper and trunk off I guess.

 

Hopefully the body n frame isn't bent. That stuff is NOT cheap to fix.

 

At least he was honest enough to admit his fault was due to his phone fiddling....hope all goes well for you. Keep us posted!

 

Doesn't look too bad but damn that hurts. Hope it works out for you and the car gets fixed.

 

yeah hopefully the body isnt bent... wat

 

fix her up. dont look too bad to me

 

looks clean man, you better fix dat ride holmes

 

Don't worry it will be back on the road in no time, it just sucks because I just bought those new tails and they got cracked from the impact. I'll keep you posted on the progress

 

Like the read quarter panel, I got quoted 1000 for one side to be pulled into shape.

 

I went to reapair shop that has done very good work for my parents before and they quoted me $3400. It look like the rear beam on the trunk got pushed in so that needs to be cut away and a new one welded in, so everything can get in alignment. He also said that it put a red flag on his computer when he calculated it because it is over the value of the car. I guess I have to wait for the other guy at faults adjuster to come out and assess. I don't want this thing to get totalled out because of this.

 

if it does get totaled take the money buy the car back from the insurance comp and find someone to do the work for whats left of the money

 

Even if it gets totaled out you should get a check and get to keep the car so it might be a win win situation.

 

Slavage Title = no fun, but it is looking like an alternative at this point.

 

unfortunatley, if its that bad it might be better off getting another max.i mean, unless its spotless its gonna be alot of money to fix and it aint gonna be cheap because the damage is something you want done right for safety reasons. if they let you keep the car, and you find a shop to do it for cheaper than that, you might make out. but, having had accidents similar to this i would say that estimate is right in the ball park. good luck>>>>

 

once again... HAVE FRAME FIXED AT SHOP. FIX BODY PARTS YOURSELF. SAVE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS. WOW.

 

Make sure you can open the rear doors. I have the same exact issue and right rear door does not open or close well. Lift the carpet in the trunk an you could tell if things are bent.

 

Honestly, these cars are just throw away vehicles. Even the smallest of accidents will cost more to fix than the car is worth. If you can do the work yourself for cheap it might be worth keeping. Otherwise just take your check and go shopping for a new car.

 

Hm $3400 is a lot man. You can have the shop fix the frame damage, then go to the junkyard and grab a trunk/bumper, swap it yourself and have it painted. Should come out to less than $2K for that.

 

if he knows how to do it that is. i dont know how to take the bumper off. or the trunk and its still cold out too which makes it even more of a pain in the a$$. who's to say how much damage there is and if hes lucky enough to find parts cheap enough that are'nt rusted or bent too. i def say fix if he knows where to find parts and he can work it out with ins. co..

 

look around see if you have a certi fit i got in a similar accident after all parts i was sitting back $35 dollars on a new primered black bumper had to get it painted didnt cause any frame damage but a little time and shes all back as new

 

If he doesn't he can either look through some sort of manual of figure it out, both the trunk and rear bumper are extremely easy to replace on your own even in the cold. To put the trunk you'll need someone to help you though. Even if there's no junkyard, Certifit makes great aftermarket parts at a good price!

 

Few quick things - Even if it is totaled and you keep it, it won't be salvaged, it's too old of a car to be given a salvage title. Secondly - Same thing happened to my first maxima and trust me, fixing the trunk and getting it to sit flush again with the rear quarters is a PAIN IN THE ***!! I ended up cutting the entire back end off and welding on another back end from a different maxima.

 

Judging from the photo you posted it may not be as bad as you think. Only
a qualified body shop can tell you for sure but I can tell you from first hand
experience that these Maximas are pretty solid cars. I own a 1996 Maxima that was struck by a dairy truck in 2008. The truck hit the left front quarter panel of my car. It looked pretty bad but the car still ran and was ultimately repaired and you can't even tell where the damage was. The
car still looks and runs well, so stay positive. My guess is that your Maxima
may be down but it is not out. Let me know how things go once you get
the car into a body shop.

 

we have front fenders, rear quarter panels

 

Just a little update, The adjuster came by and valued the damage just under the total loss magic number by $5 dollars. (with some persuasion) They are going to cut me a check for $2495, and because I have a spare truck he said that they will pay a little extra for the money they are saving for not having to give me a rental car. It will be in the shop soon and be coming out better than pre-wreck. So far so good.

 

^^^ good work man. $3500 sounds alot. Especially considering how the parts only cost 600 bucks tops. But ehhh thats a body shop for ya

 

Well, not better than before...you can't un-frame damage a car.

 

After alot of run around with his insurance company, they are not going to reimburse me and money they saved by me not getting a rental car. Came up with 2 options: (1) They call it a total loss and give me $5 more dollars to make up the difference they originally paid me to get it fixed. (2) I come out of pocket $800 to get it fixed. I decided to let the repair shop keep working on it and just pay out of my pocket. Seems crazy because I was the one that got hit while sitting at a red light.

 

hunh???? i would tell them to get bent. tell em you got a lawyer and are considering a law suit. no way i would take that $hit.....

 

Technically, I believe, they are only liable to pay for the damage up to the value of the car. Which they value at $2600. Any above that and they deem it a total loss. This car is worth a lot more than that to me, but not to many others considering age of the car. I guess I could take $2600 and walk away, but I couldnt put myself in anything as nice as my car for that much money.

 

yo man, when my first 4th gen was totaled insurance only valued the car at like 2400. I told them i wanted 3k. I got 3k.

They only giving you 2495 cuz thats what you agreed to initially. Yo man, ALWAYS negotiate with insurance. U dont have to take their first offer. They tryin to low ball you. But if you total loss it, they gonna make u pay them to get it back.

 

I got some information together with Kelly blue book and some maxima's with the same year and comparable mileage and all the signs point to around $3500. I called them back this morning and heckled for another hour and they put a check in the mail for another $780. This makes up the difference and it will get fixed with no out of pocket. Lesson learned with dealing with other insurance companies is that its all about negotiation.

 

Lol hell yeah man!

Always negotiate with those f*ckers. Especially if found not-at-fault.

Good work man. Post pics when the max all clean.

 

good job had a similar situation when my max got hit by a woman in a minivan unfortunately the ones that really made out in the end are the body shop since my car still pulls to the right and i didn't get a couple of things that were agreed to by the insurance company it seems it's almost like you have to negotiate with the insurance company and then with the body shop make sure the check is made out and mailed to you and not the body shop otherwise you will have given them your advantage.

 

insurance company's are in buisness "not" to pay you money. i've argued with every a$$hole ins. co. and got more mojo every time. ( austin powers edit )

 

I'M BACK! I picked up the Maxima yesterday and I think it came out really well. I knew it wouldn't be perfect because of the frame damage, but it came out pretty close. And the paint... Immaculate!

 

hell yeah. That's about as close as you could ask for. No one would notice unless you point it out to them, and as long as it doesn't leak.. Looks like you got your insurance moneys worth on that one. Good body shop.