clee130

Well... all the money that I've been saving up to buy more mods for my car is now gonna go for repairs.

Was exiting off the highway at Atlantic Blvd in Richmond Hill, right by the hospital. For anyone who knows which exit I'm talking about knows that there is pretty much no off ramp, it cuts pretty sharply from the highway onto the road.

So a brand spanking new BMW gets off. Not even license plates yet. There is a car in front of him so he decides to move to the middle lane. he can't so he slams on the brakes. A Toyota Sienna minivan behind him slams on his brakes also. I didn't see any of this because I had my head turned backwards to check traffic. Luckily I had my foot on the brakes. I slammed into the Toyota and I **** my pants. Well, not really... my heart just pretty much explodes cause this is my first accident in 2 years.

We all get out and check for damage. Nothing major... or so it seems. My right clear lens all popped out and the part that screws in on the turn signal has broken off. No biggie, just swap my stock orange ones back in. Lots of more scratches and a huge dent in my license plate. No biggie, was thinking about doing some light repainting anyways and who cares about the license plate.

But since I've been driving less than 3 years and it being my first accident in a while, I was sorta shell shocked. Everyone took my info down. Me being the youngest one and with the "cheapest" and oldest car. I write down the telephone number of the guy in the Toyota and his plates, but didn't get any info from the guy in the BMW.

The guy in the BMW says there was no damage but he's gonna get it checked out. If there was no undercarriage damage, he's not going to report it. It's a brand new leased car. The guy in the Toyota says he's not going to do anything unless the guy in the BMW reports it. No damage in front or in back of the Toyota.

I drive away still in shock. I turn and stop three blocks away. I pop out my clears and look inside. Funny... that metal piece looks bent. I drive to work about three more blocks away and try to pop the hood.

Uh-oh. It's extremely hard to open. Lucky I had skinny fingers to reach in to pull the latch. Oh f**k! It seems I slammed into the Toyota's towing thingie. My frame is bent just to the right of the license plate. It pushed everything back a bit. And it's not a little bent, it looks like a kneecap bent the other way. The metal piece behind the frame is now touching the radiator.

I'm screwed. I didn't get much info, I'm strapped for cash, I don't have full insurance, just liabiality (it's all that I can afford), and I can't have something reported on me or else my insurance is going to go up and that's something I can't afford.

So... anyone know a good body shop in the Queens/Long Island area? Anything I can do now besides wait for the other shoe to drop? The guy in the Toyota was pretty cool. The guy in the BMW looked shady. He says he wasn't going to report anything, but me and the guy in the Toyota thinks he will.

I'll take pictures of the damage and post it up later tonight so you all can see.

yongjun

man i'm glad to hear that you are ok.
damages can be fixed, and i'm sure that everyting will work out.
Good luck man.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

look at it this way...the car is still ok. radiator is not leaking. AC lines are still in tact. it's only some bent metal. it's not really visiable right? don't worry just fix it when you think you have enough $. if your handy you can pull out the bumper and start bending back away from the radiator.
good luck
Dan

ZuMBLe

iTrader: (1)

Do you only have bent body damage? Like bent fenders? Or do you have real frame damage? If its real frame damage. You're gonna have to go to a shop with a frame bending machine. I had it done to my car when I got rear ended.

Call up information and ask for Foster Brothers off Linden Place. They do body work. That place was listed as an authorized place by my insurance company and they did a pretty good job fixing up my car. They have a frame machine. Been around for a long time.

ZuM

clee130

Which is why at the accident site I didn't open the hood. When I got to my workplace, I was looking at the car and one of my co-workers came out as asked what was wrong. I said I got into an accident and he said, "Really? Where?"

It looks like real frame damage. There is no outside body damage except for chipped paint.

But nothing is leaking, I just checked it.

And I totally forgot to mention that no one was hurt, which is the most important thing. No one was hurt except for my poor baby Maxima. *sob* *sob* *sob*

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

is the hood lined up?
any panels out of alignment?
Dan

clee130

Nope, damage is all under the hood. No panels out of alignment.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

ok good..no serious frame damage. you'll be ok. not a major piece...(lower radiator support?) i think u can wait to get it fix.
Dan

ZuMBLe

iTrader: (1)

When you get the time. Look for crinkles in your body. Like light folds that may indicate how bad the frame damage is. For my car.. I didnt think I had fram damage till I saw a slight crinkle in the metel behind my small back window. When I saw that I knew something was very wrong. Then I looked at my gas cover.. And it was no longer aligned either. There will be subtle things. Like make sure the spaces between your front doors and your fenders are the right amount.. Stuff like that.. Look under the car. You're alive. The max still runs. Its only going to take some money. I felt really bad when my car got hit. Like it will never be the same again. Nah.. Its fine.. =)

ZuM

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

as everyone else has said, noone was hurt, and the only thing that happened was you bent up your car a little..
I was in an accident a couple years ago that really made me stop and realize stuff like that..
I fell asleep at the wheel and parked my car in a ditch. 1 mo in the shop and $4000 in repairs later, I had a "fixed" car with a slightly bent frame.. no permanent damage, but I still think about it every time I get in the car at night.
I still sometimes have problems with getting drowsy at the wheel, and in that case I pull over and either take a nap or run around for a minute and wake myself up..

I got really lucky in my wreck that I was the only one involved and the only problem was a bent up car. I drove off the left side of the road at approx 60mph.. had there been someone in the oncoming lane, I could have killed an entire family (or more) and myself included..

your accident was nothing compared to what could have happened. I'll stop rambling on , but just be glad noone was hurt.

back to your situation.. it sounds like you were in the back of the line and you rear-ended the van.. soooo, it's 100% your fault if they try to turn it in.. then again, the only witnesses are you, the minivan guy, and the BMW guy. if the minivan guy doesn't report anything, you may have a chance of getting away from paying for the bimmer too.. but don't count on it.

to fix the car, it sounds like there wasn't much major damage.. yeah there's some undercarriage damage, but th body panels line up.. all you'll really need to do is get that frame piece under your bumper fixed, and maybe repaitn the bumper..
try not to mess with insurance at all, because as was said, your ins will go up.. if you've got liability only, they'll fix the other cars and you're hung out to dry (with broken Max) and your insirance will go up.. not much fun, eh?

If you can afford it, try to upgrade your insurance to comprehensive sooner or later. if noone reports this accident, you should be okay. take a defensive driving course and it'll drop your insurance 5-15% (they're required by law to drop it if you take the course voluntarily).. that'll help offset the cost of compreansive..
now that you've got comprehensive, next time something like this happens, you'll still be out $500, but you'll get your car fixed too.

good luck, and next time don't follow so close!!

NickStam

iTrader: (3)

You should always take every precaution when you get into an accident. Taking down info does not take that long. You can also get the police to come and make a report without your insurance finding out. That way you have proof of the accident in case you do decide to take the insurance route. But isn't New York no fault? I'm not sure about that. If it's no fault your screwed anyways, but since you crashed into the minivan it would still be your fault. As long as no one was hurt!

krell

A buddy and I got hit a few years back during a rainstorm here in Austin. Luckily he had the presence of mind to DEMAND that all the parties wait till the cops showed up. That can take a while on a rainy Friday night...

Anyways, minor damage to his car, but the dumbass #@%#$^ who rearended us was both intoxicated AND on drugs. She couldn't even find the button for her emergency flashers. She went downtown, and we were on standby to testify at her trial if needed. She had one of the those Corrola GTS's with pop up headlights. The lights were crumpled under and I could smell the radiator fluid leaking, so she got what she deserved there, and a year in jail supposedly. (Repeat offender)

In Texas you have to have inusrance by law. Not that it stops the hordes of uninsured motorists.

clee130

Yeah, New York is no-fault.

And I didn't take down info cause I guess I was just pretty shocked and quite honestly, scared. This being my (thankfully) only second accident and the first in two years.

I was just so unsure of what to do after my head jerked foward and all my change flew out of the little pocket next to the e-brake.

ereet

Sounds like an annoying little accident, as long as nobody was hurt though, it's not a big deal. I know the position your in, having had to drive around for a month and a half with a 4" deep, 8" wide dent in my rear passenger side door because some girl decided backing up when I was finished reversing. Just keep at it, and tell yourself you'll get it fixed when you've got the cash, your maxima will forgive you =)

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

FYI if the cop takes a report your insurance company WILL know it.
Dan

brubenstein

I've been driving in NY for almost 30 years, and I don't know what "No Fault" really means. What I can tell you is that for property damage, if you have collision, either your carrier, or the other driver's carrier will pay. This is minus the deductable. If the other driver was at fault your company will try to collect the deductable from them. If you hit someone in the rear you're SOL.
It sounds like you didn't even have time to hit the brakes. This was probably a good thing. When you do, the nose of the car goes down, your bumper goes under the bumper of the vehicle you're hitting, and you do much more damage to your car. If the position of the steering wheel isn't any different going in a straight line, then you didn't do any major damage.

Slickismax

iTrader: (4)

Most frame shops will pull simple things like that for around $100. When my friend rear-ended a truck, basically the same thing happened. He bent a frame rail and took it to a body shop. They charged him $100 and he went on his way. Don't try to straighten it yourself. If you pull it in the wrong direction, you could cause your fenders to pull in towards your hood! Just take it to a reputable body shop and tell them that you just want the frame straightened on that one piece.

clee130

No fault pretty much means that it doesn't matter who hit who, everybody involved in the accident is at fault.

Hopefully the owner of the Bimmer won't report it and I'll be okay. Of course, it has to be me with the most damage. I'm posting up pics now so you all can see.

clee130

I uploaded the pictures of my bent frame.

You can check them out here:

http://www.crosswinds.net/photo/mymax.html

And one more thing. After driving home, my hood doesn't close all the way now. It latches, and will stay down for a couple of minutes, and then it will pop up a little. You can see it in the pictures.