Well, I started work this past Monday, I love my new job...lots of stuff to learn though, very intense training program. Well, everything was good there, but on the way home that day the shiit hit the fan.

I was driving in the right lane with no cars in front of me and one car directly to my left. There was not much of a shoulder and a concrete wall on my right. About 6 lengths up in the center lane (one to my left) was a semi that was a car hauler. It had a bunch of POS vehicles in it, mostly trucks. Well, next thing I know a bedliner flies out of one of the shiitboxes on the top and the wind catches it and it hangs in the air for what seemed like hours. I couldn't go to my left or right and I didn't want to risk trying to speed under it and go past it because I couldn't tell how fast it was going to fall (and I didn't think a bedliner would make a good hat ). So I nailed the brakes and the guy on my left did the same. It fell right in front of me and I hit it at about 40 MPH. It did some serious damage to my car! About $2,375 according to the estimate I got from the bodyshop where it will be getting fixed.

So anyway, I keep driving to try to get the driver of the truck to pull over. He keeps looking at me like I'm crazy and just keeps going. I get on the horn and call OHP and they send a guy in route. About 10 miles down the road the truck driver finally pulls over. The HiPo still hasn't gotten there. The driver doesn't speak English. Period. The truck was from Brownsville, TX, not far from the Mexico border. Luckily the passenger spoke a little bit. So I told him not to go anywhere that a Highway Patrolman would be here shortly to work the accident. The guy says, "That's ok, we'll work something out."

I reply, "Work something out my ****! He's writing up a report and I'm filing a claim with your insurance buddy! What, do you think this is Mexico and if you flash $100 in my face that I'll take it and let this blow over?!?! This is a BRAND NEW CAR!"

So OHP got there and wrote it up as an "Incident" since it isn't considered a collision. I got the guys insurance company but I've never heard of it. "Republic Western" is the name. Their adjuster is coming to look at it on Monday. If they try to give me a dime less than the estimate I have I'll go apeshiit.

It cracked the grill, scratched the driver side headlamp assembly bad, tore up the front bumper and the black plastic thing underneath it, the hood is slightly buckled but I can't seem to see where (you can tell it is though), and scratched the front right fender. And my Nissan emblem on the front grill was a casualty of war too. I'll try to post some pics later.

So now I'm driving around a car with a paper tag and a damaged front end. Makes me look like a crack head that took my insurance money and instead of fixing my car with it, I went and spent it on something else.

To boot, my dad backed into my '98 Cobra about 10 days before this happened so it's in the shop right now getting fixed! IT'll be ready about the middle of next week so I'll drive it while the Max is getting worked on. Two cars wrecked in a span of 10 days...What are the chances?!?

-Johnny V.

 

That completely sucks. I hate when other drivers (especially truck drivers) are clueless, irresponsible idiots. But in the scheme of things, $2,375 isn't that bad of a cliam. Doesn't matter, I'd be piiised if my car got so much as a door ding.

 

sorry man, that really sucks.

Glad you're okay though

 

Join the ranks of 2K2 drivers who are tearing up their cars. Mine is a little under four months old and last week I was in an accident with almost $7000.00 in damage. It sucks, but its a fact of life that things like this happen.

BTW, make sure you factor in the extra depreciation value that has occurred to your car since you'll have to check that box at the trade in dealer that says you've had paint work. Get your adjustor there too and SPECIFY ALL BRAND NEW NISSAN PARTS!!!! I cant stress that enough. If not, you'll get some of those lovely 'quality aftermarket parts'.

 

...Have I got a story for you. I bought a brand new Super Black (with black interior) 2002 Nissan Maxima SE auto in Houston, TX on Feb. 16th. I drove it
3.5 hours home to Arlington, TX, the same day, and by the time I got home I was in love with this car. It is so damn smooth.

I have it home less than 5 minutes and I haven't even got my lovely wife (we are newlyweds) downstairs to look at it, and we hear a crash in the parking
lot. And my alarm. Some dumb 21-year-old b*i*t*c*h runs into it in the parking lot of my apartment complex, ripping the entire rear bumper assembly
off the damn car. Then she takes off. Hit and Run. Cops come out 2 hours later, my wife and I in total shock. Neighbors walking around outside at 11:30 pm
like a tornado just hit, just confused. Wife can't stop crying, because she knew how much the car meant to me, I had been planning the purchase for
almost a year. Shattered left taillamp, structural metal on the ground, bumper styrofoam all over, bumper in pieces, the works. Good news is, the next
morning I found her car in the complex. and the cops came back out and identified it as the culprit vehicle. So she is getting criminal charges, but the
repairs went on my uninsured motorist policy because she had no damn insurance!

Luckily, the body shop did a great job (after two weeks and $4500 worth of repairs) and it looks brand new again. But I am more paranoid than ever. And it
sucks. I had ulcers for two straight weeks with this crap.

 

She probably did the right thing by driving off. If she had stopped she probably would be dead right now and you would be sitting in jail facing manslaughter charges.

 

Sorry guys to hear of these misfortunes, i hope the outcome will be a good one. I hope your Maximas come out loooking as good as new.

 

Look, I'll bet that thing did more than $2375 in diminished value. If you had to sell it right after you get it fixed, you would get way less than typical blue book because it had been in an accident. State Farm in Georgia just got successfully sued for not giving diminished value on cars . Dont sell yourself short. Get what what it takes to fix it, and get diminished valued now that it is worth WAY less... even completly fixed... then a comparable unwrecked 2k2. You should go to the dealer that you purchased from and ask them how much less they would pay on trade in now that it has been wrecked/restored. Get them to give it to you in writing, and make sure that you extract that along with the damage amount. Good luck.

 

If the hood is damaged but you don't think the adjuster will see it or write it up for enough, do a little more damage to it before he gets there to estimate the claim. Seems dishonest, but if you're sure the hood is f**ked then you want to make sure it'll be replaced.

BTW, I had a very close call on the third day I had my 2K2. A friend and I were going about 45 on a 4-lane road and out of nowhere some kid in a 1st-gen Eclipse came screeching across the road in front of me from a road to my left. Don't know WTF the kid was thinking because it was perfectly obvious his road ended where it did. The Maxima's brakes performed perfectly as usual, without ABS even kicking in, and we both stopped at about the same time, with my front bumper about 6 feet from his passenger door.

 

This wasn't an 'accident'. Somebody screwed up. And if the damage doesn't exceed 25% of the vehicle value you are not required to disclose anything happend whne you sell the vehicle in the state of NC. In Georgia I don't think you have to disclose it at all. Check your local laws and find out what your rights are.

 

Well technically you can total your car, have it repaired, and it won't be on your vehicle report if you don't report it to your insurance.... However, if you report something to insurance, it will always show up; plus not telling the future buyer is just dishonest and wrong......

I've also got a little hit and run story. Except in mine, the two guys weren't having the time to stick around so they just took off on foot.... So there I am in the rain with 2 totalled cars in the middle of an intersection by myself at rush hour.... What a night, I just thought they were going to the gas station to call the police.....

 

Yeah, gotta be careful on "diminished value" and make damn sure that you're compensated for it. Dammit, I found a really good article all about this once back when my Accord V6 was in limbo but I never bookmarked it. Just search "Automotive Diminished Value" and stuff like that on the Internet and you'll probably come across it. Fortunately I never had to deal with that crap b/c they ended up totalling on my Accord.

dude, this story makes me want to everytime I read it.

 

Call it what you will. I'm saying the guy may be entitled to more than the insurance company is offering. On a brand spanking new car, diminished value can be a very significant amount. When you smash an old car and get it fixed, it doesnt affect value that much. On a brand new car.... hit and run or accident or disclosing or not... diminished value is a much larger chunk of money. I am saying that in his state, he might be entitled to more than just the cost to fix. It is worth checking out.

Further: Even if you dont disclose an accident to a potential buyer, that doesnt mean that it will be impossible to tell that the car has been in an accident. If/when a buyer discovers this, (s)he will offer you *less*. (diminished value)

 

This is why I was soooo happy when I bought my house WITH a 2 car garage. No more apartment complex morons banging into my cars. (Though on occassion I get paranoid that these same morons are stalking me, waiting for an opportunity to bangup my new Max.)
No flame intended but many of these morons were of the South Asian variety where driving is a COMPLETE novelty. (So tired of getting tattooed by model Camrys, Corollas and Siennas. ) I swear, getting a license nowadays only requires an 'X' on the signature line. Damn liberals!!!

 

I'd be so ****ed for the both of you......whoever crashes into my car get's an azn *** wooping......i don't like the car after it is crashed cause it is never the same........our camry had been in several accidents, and that car felt like it would fall apart after.....good thing you guys got good autobody shop.....i'd be like punchin the truck drivers out and stuff......

 

If anything good came out of my story it was this: although the bill was large, it was completely covered by insurance since it was uninsured motorist incident, it was a rear end collision that didn't even knock my car out of alignment, (I had the body shop do a full work-up on that) so it didn't affect how it drives, and the body shop was a certified Nissan body shop that was directly affiliated with a dealership next door so of course they used only all-original Nissan parts... So the car really is looking and driving as good as new, months later... But even typing the story still gets me all fired up... It was the same damn day I bought it for crying out loud!