Those familar with Columbus, OH can relate to location.

Long story short: (occurred approx. 1:00 pm today)

Traveling WEST on I-270 about 1 mile from Sawmill Rd. exit in far left lane at approx 50 MPH due to road conditions (icy/snow). '01 Lexus IS in far right lane loses control, fishtails about 3 times across three lanes back and forth. I slow down, then immediately on my way to slamming on the brakes as the IS is now traveling EAST ACROSS the highway going directly towards the center cement median and in front of me.

My right front t-bones his right rear passenger side and full forces into his rear wheel.

Blessed that my children were not with me, I was wearing my seatbelt and was not injured, the other driver was not injured and my car is still driveable.

I was not cited (of course), and after the officer took my information he let me go. Not sure about the other driver, but the rear right tire was at a 45 degree angle so he needed it towed on a flat bed.

Ok, on to the pics...



and my ghetto fab JDM mod until his insurance can fix it...

...duct tape, cardboard, packing tape, and some tie tabs.

 

Glad it didn't turn out worse. Let's hope the other guy actually has a valid policy! Here's your opportunity to get a nice freshly painted front end!

 

Damn man good to hear you are ok, despite the damage on the car. Funny how the IS loses control. Not really a fan of Toyota/Lexus. Hope everything works out for you.

 

glad to hear youre ok.. zip ties FTW!!! super jdm man

in all seriousness it doesnt even look that bad

 

glad you're alright, coulda been a lot worse!

 

Looks like a custom fabricated brake-cooling vent to me.

 

This reminds me on how I put back together my r/c truck bodies after a crash. I use the same technique, drill holes on either side of the damage and zip tie together. glad it wasn't any worse.

 

My wife drives an '06 IS250. I seriously doubt that one had a working traction control system. Her's is a 2wd model. I took it onto a wet skidpad and tried my best to make it loose control: it wouldn't. I can't get it to slip at all even on solid ice.

I guess the old one's don't have the fancy controls that the newer model IS does.

 

dang man, sorry to hear that......

 

He was trying to throttle out of the fishtail from what I could tell. Rear wheels were spinning like crazy.

As for damage, this is what I can tell so far:
1. Headlight
2. Foglight
3. bumper cover
4. bumper insulator
5. bumper reinforcement
6. bumper stay (connects #5 to frame)
7. hood corner dented in
8. passenger fender bent (but repairable)

 

We are talking about snow and ice here going close to interstate speeds, not some parking lot.

 

I know and I've driver her car on ice covered roads many a time (on summer tires no less!). I'm telling you that the stability control system on the newer IS's is amazing and does not slip. I was shocked at how well it works actually. All I was commenting on was the fact that the older IS's must not have a system that is nearly as up to par as the newer one's. (that and a little e-ballin'... )

...to be fair I was quite annoyed with how well it works. It's no fun!


That said my old 5.5 gen didn't have traction control at all but I found a good set of all seasons would do OK on it. I usually rolled on Pilot Sport A/S's. In fact that's all I put on my cars until recently. I've since found that Continental Extreme Contact DWS's are actually better and cost half as much. Worthwhile to consider for anyone looking at all season tires.

 

Probably $1,500 or so. I had something similar happen to my 5.5 gen. Going back to above post: my wife's won't fishtail no matter how much I try to turn off the traction control.

You got his insurance info right?


In my accident the conversation went something like this:

Me: (gets out of car, looks at front of car, see's damage, walks over to other driver) Are you OK?
him: Yeah.
Me: (no hesitation) Do you have insurance?

lulz.


Look at the bright side: all those rock chips that have been annoying you will get fixed now.

 

I was thinking more like $3K... if you factor in paint and labor, fender and hood. Heck, isn't an OEM headlamp housing an arm & leg all by itself?

As long as the damage is cosmetic, and there's the other party's insurance involved, you might come out better in the end, albeit shaken up and frustrated during repairs.

Good luck, OP.

 

That's what I was thinking as well. Hell, when somebody backed into my car at 3 mph while it was parked last month it was $1K just to get that fixed. I heard the guy say at the time he thought it was only going to be a "three or four hundred" in damages. I knew right then he was going to be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Lots of people underestimate body repair costs. With the exception of very minor scrapes and scratches, there's very few times that you're going to get an estimate for anything less than four digits at a body shop.

 

Yup and was just informed by my agent that his insurance lapsed Oct 2010. So at this point he has not verified insurance with me or the State Hwy Patrol. They are sending a verification letter to him to attempt to get his new policy if one exists.

If none exists, I'll have my attorney unfortunately do the the whole legal thing...

...YAY to the holidays!

Only reason is because I have a $500 deductible that I would like reimbursed if it comes to that.

 

Don't get it fixed until you have it in writing that he's going to pay for it. I made that mistake once: other guy had insurance. I worked with my insurance. Got it fixed, other guy's insurance denied the claim.

I'm still angry.

 

MAd JDM

 

My insurance adjuster estimate came to $2531.91 (covers $2031.91 + $500 deductible) - all items I assumed needed replaced in list above was pretty accurate.

 

Kinda hard to do when he doesnt have insurance, but I understand...


...we shall see.

 

Just try your best to cover yourself.

 

See post #2. Hopefully you do have uninsured motorists coverage? File the claim under your insurance and have your insurance company go after him.

 

Absolutely covered. My insurance company already drafted a legal verification of insurance letter to the other driver and already signed off on the repairs as 'no fault' to me. I just need to decide when and where to get it fixed...

 

OUCH

 

Looks better then before lol