Crashed my Versa! :`(

[xu_chen]

I ran my car into a parked car. It was inside my apartment complex and the road was a constant leftward curve. It was around midnight, light rain and compounded by my unfamiliarity with manual transmission, I ran my front right into this car parked on the side of the road... Very low speeds but the whole front right corner caved in, fender bender bumper lights and all that, had to be towed. The other car just got some nasty scratches. Had this been my '88 Tercel I wouldn't even get a scratch.Did help me notice some problems with the car tho. The front beams (sides of the windshield) is too thick, probably to accomodate the head curtain airbags. Because the road of curvy, it perfectly blocks my view of the road ahead, so I had to pay extra attention to oncoming traffic and consequently had to pay less attention to cars parked on my right.The little triangle thing seemed pretty pointless until this point... it completely shattered during crash so I'm guessing it may be some sort of force absorbant so the windshield doesn't shatter in a crash.Anyways, pretty shaken up now... They had to tow the car, the body shop called and told me they use only Nissan parts. Dunno how fast that'll be tho, to get parts for the Versa.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

Thick pillars are something I'd like to see disappear fast. I've driven/owned several cars with pillars so thick that they really do impede your view dangerously. I'd rather have no airbags and be able to see than be half blind and need the airbags.

[proxim2020]

I have the thick pillars on my truck, but it's not for safety. I think it's more appearance, trying to beef up the interior. They get in the way sometimes, but after driving 4 years of only driving my truck, you learn how to look around them. When I test drove the V, they didn't bother me because I was used to them.

Anyway, sorry to hear about the crash but I'm glad to hear that you're ok. Hopefully your V only sustained minor damage and you won't be without an V for too long. If you can, get some pics for us.

[CFRage]

With any luck the dealership your body shop deals with will have some Versa stuff in stock. I work in parts at a body shop here in Richmond and it takes us forever to get parts for '06s and '07s due to Nissans' HORRIBLE national back order. For what its worth though, sorry for the mess and good luck

[Ever Victorious]

With any luck the dealership your body shop deals with will have some Versa stuff in stock. I work in parts at a body shop here in Richmond and it takes us forever to get parts for '06s and '07s due to Nissans' HORRIBLE national back order. For what its worth though, sorry for the mess and good luck

Why would a body shop stock parts? They're not going to know what's broken ahead of time...

My V has been out 1.5 months so far... 2 weeks of that was just waiting for the dumb insurance company to say "ok, you can order parts now". 4 weeks of that was actually getting the parts. It's too new, noone will have parts for it. be prepared for the long haul.

[CFRage]

Why would a body shop stock parts? They're not going to know what's broken ahead of time...

My V has been out 1.5 months so far... 2 weeks of that was just waiting for the dumb insurance company to say "ok, you can order parts now". 4 weeks of that was actually getting the parts. It's too new, noone will have parts for it. be prepared for the long haul.

Re-read my post there I said "With any luck *the dealership* your bodyshop deals with..." meaning the Nissan dealership where the bodyshop is going to get the parts from. I know very well that body shops don't just stock parts at random. Also, I said with any luck due to the fact that it sounds like alot of his parts are common replace crash parts. I know the Nissan dealership we (the bodyshop I work for) deals with stocks parts such as fenders, headlights, facias, rebars, etc, as much as they can. Anyway, good luck xu_chen.

[xu_chen]

Filed my insurance claim. Apparently the body shop my car got towed to (the police called a tow truck for me) is not one of Allstate's "preferred" shops. They only got one "preferred" shop in my area and I heard it's sh*t. Allstate told me that they will have to send an adjuster to this shop and approve the parts order and repairs. They said the adjuster will be there before Thanksgiving, and he'll probably grant it on the spot since the repairs don't sound too extensive.Anyone here had experience with Allstate? This is my first accident ever. Since I've been with them for 6 years with a perfect record, my agent says my premium is probably not going to increase... does this mean EVER or will they kick it up during my next renewal 5 months from now? How are they with approving repairs?And anyone else here had the experience Ever Victorious had? I sure hope my car won't be in the shop for any more than 2-3 weeks. (Body shop guy said 2 weeks) Apparently I was never signed up for the $30 a year rental car coverage with my insurance company so now I have to borrow my parents RAV4...

[240Ghost]

Sorry to hear that man. Do you have any pics?

[xu_chen]

I'll get pics this weekend when I pay a visit to the body shop.Ever Victorious, what is the "diminished value" thing you were talking about? How does that work and am I eligible for it?Also, anyone know if body shops check for mechanical damages? Will they repair them too? Will my insurance cover them? I sure hope there are none.

[Althalus]

Filed my insurance claim. Apparently the body shop my car got towed to (the police called a tow truck for me) is not one of Allstate's "preferred" shops. They only got one "preferred" shop in my area and I heard it's sh*t. Allstate told me that they will have to send an adjuster to this shop and approve the parts order and repairs. They said the adjuster will be there before Thanksgiving, and he'll probably grant it on the spot since the repairs don't sound too extensive.Anyone here had experience with Allstate? This is my first accident ever. Since I've been with them for 6 years with a perfect record, my agent says my premium is probably not going to increase... does this mean EVER or will they kick it up during my next renewal 5 months from now? How are they with approving repairs?And anyone else here had the experience Ever Victorious had? I sure hope my car won't be in the shop for any more than 2-3 weeks. (Body shop guy said 2 weeks) Apparently I was never signed up for the $30 a year rental car coverage with my insurance company so now I have to borrow my parents RAV4...

I've got allstate and they're pretty good to me, my parents have had their insurence with them for years, so when I got my own, the gave me my parents home owners discount too.

[Ever Victorious]

I'll get pics this weekend when I pay a visit to the body shop.Ever Victorious, what is the "diminished value" thing you were talking about? How does that work and am I eligible for it?Also, anyone know if body shops check for mechanical damages? Will they repair them too? Will my insurance cover them? I sure hope there are none.

Your car will probably take 2-3 weeks from when the adjuster approves the repairs, since that's about how long it took to get the bulk of my parts once they were ordered. You are lucky in that you probably damaged only easily replaceable parts... my quarter panels were damaged, so they have to cut and weld, which takes a lot of man-hours (current delay).

Any GOOD shop will check for mechanical damage... when my wife's Tucson was in a wreck, they replaced lots of mechanical parts (including the radiator and all the belts except the timing belt). However, you have to watch it yourself... I have a friend who just got his Matrix out of the shop, and they were supposed to check out damage to the underbody and completely missed in their work that it "is leaking oil like a sieve and sounds like a tractor"... so they missed something there.

A diminished value claim is a claim that you submit to the insurance company of someone who has hit you, and it is supposed to force their insurance to pay you the difference between what your car would have been worth before the accident and what it actually is worth after the repairs. You have to check the laws in your area (try reading http://www.mycarlostvalue.com on the subject, but if my reading was correct, you can only submit it if you were the party that was hit, not the party at fault... so I don't think you can submit one given your circumstances. Electech could (though his damages were so minor he probably wouldn't get anything).. I definitely will, since my damage was major and I can guarantee you that will drop the car's value like a stone.

[proxim2020]

This is my first accident ever. Since I've been with them for 6 years with a perfect record, my agent says my premium is probably not going to increase... does this mean EVER or will they kick it up during my next renewal 5 months from now?

They probably mean that this accident won't cause your premium to go up forever. My parents had Allstate for a while and they were pretty good with forgiving accidents. My mom tapped a few cars when parking. But then again, those were very minor accidents. I don't think you'll get slammed when you come up for renewal, but you may see a slight increase. If they do hit you hard, look into leaving. I seriously doubt they would hit you too hard. Allstate is more customer service oriented now than they used to be a few years back.

[Ever Victorious]

It also depends on how driving systems and insurance are set up in your state. In some states, having "points" on your license is a bad thing, it means you've got tickets or accidents. In my state, there are no "points" on your license, but your insurance... and they're good thing, they're safe driving points.

When my wife rear-ended a Frontier last year, she had 7 safe driving points. She lost 5 in the accident, and gained 1 back in March of this year, so she currently has 3. Our rates did not go up at all because she had enough safe driving points to "absorb" the accident (the same idea as Allstate's accident forgiveness).