I rear-ended a huge SUV $7,205.00 - REPAIRED

[Larz]

Tuesday last I was at a stop light behind an old model Toyota Land Cruiser. I had just left Whole Foods and stocked up on my fav bottled tea. The light went to green, we started off and all of a sudden the SUV stopped DEAD. Unfortunately, I did not. Apparently a car ran the red light, crossing our lane and, of course, kept going. When we mashed our brakes, the Land Cruiser's rear went upward, and my front went downward - not a good combo it turns out. His rear bumper was at about mid height of my front end, hitting my grille area instead of my actual bumper area. The Toyota suffered some scratches on the bumper but literally NO damage to the body or bumper parts. My car was not quite so fortunate. I have two major tears / breaks in my bumper, broken passenger headlamp, heavily scratched driver headlamp, broken grille and trim pieces, and my hood is misaligned so that it could not be opened, but it didn't buckle. No damage at all to the side fenders and no buckling anywhere.
The driver was a nice guy about my age and we had a lovely chat while sat in my car drinking my tea and waiting nearly an hour for the Po-Po to show up and take a report.
I called Geico - they sent me to their all-in-one claim shop, had a rental car delivered to the shop for me, and they sent me on my way.
All repairs are guaranteed for as long as I own the vehicle with no deductible for future work if needed.
Today I got the 'butchers bill' for the repairs:

Front bumper cover: $539
Bumper brackets / seals: $64.20
Lower air deflector: $631
Bumper grille assembly: $146
LKQ grille w/o sport package: $439
Lt headlamp assemblt: $1629
Rt headlamp assembly: $1629
Lt headlamp rubber seal: $18.50
Rt headlamp rubber seal: $18.50
Lt headlamp bracket: $54
Rt headlamp bracket: $54
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Parts total: $5,222.20

Then comes labor:
Algn hood: 1 hour @ 42 /hour: $42
Body labor: 3.5 hours @ 48 / hour: $168
Paint labor: 3 hours @ 42 / hour: $126
Paint supplies: $93.60
Add for pearl coat: $150
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total paint / body: $579.60

And we cannot forget bloody taxes: $347.94

Drum roll please ....................................... $6,147.54

I have the $500 deductible ...
Geico pays the balance ... who I expect will come round to bite my hind parts when my insurance policy renews.

[airmanhoward]

Glad you are alive to have a story to tell. Hopefully you will have your baby back soon.

[Ilya]

That sucks

[EdBwoy]

The driver was a nice guy about my age and we had a lovely chat while sat in my car drinking my tea and waiting nearly an hour ...

Very gentlemanly of you both.

Very glad noone was hurt in your case. And thanks for the breakdown, might you have pictures of how $6k worth of damage looks like?

[Costee]

Ouch! That sure hurts. Glad the incident went without injury or rancour. Hope you'll get your M back nicer. (My people say: When the king's palace is razed by a fire incident, it's a clarion call for a better residence.)

[steve_c]

Good luck,

What is book value on the car? How close is the estimate to it?

BTW, what brand ice tea?

[cruzad3r]

man Infiniti and you don't mix

glad you're ok...

[kmiles]

Larz - I hope you're ok - it seems like you were healing a long time with the accident in which your M35 was totaled. My wife's Lexus had a small accident in which the bumper was scratched and the fender had a small dent that had to be pounded out and repaired. It cost $2400 and took 8 days to repair. I then had to take it back due to a poor fit between the fender and the bumper and a paint drip. The final accepted work was good, but not great. Her car is a pearlized white, which is a hard color to work with.

[pedsemdoc]

Glad everyone was okay and you were only dealing with material things.

The labor costs seem reasonable.

It's the d*mn headlights that are a lion's share of the cost....$1629 a piece!!!!!

Really?, I know they are HIDs but in comparison to some of the most contemporary headlights out there now: no LEDs, switchback turn signals have to be added as an aftermarket option, the projector lens could be nicer, etc.

Horror pics might shock us - lol

[WillV]

Glad you're ok, mate. Do you have any pictures?

[Larz]

Good luck,

What is book value on the car? How close is the estimate to it?

BTW, what brand ice tea?

According to the Geico rep, the value of my a 2009 M35 is between $11,000 and $14,000 depending on all the variables.
Mine has the rear seat theater with reclining temp controlled seats, and all the packages minus sport and all wheel drive. I also have the rear spoiler and upgraded 19 inch Infiniti wheels. She says that repairs cannot exceed 75% of the car's value and told me based on it's appearance and condition, she reckons it is worth about $13,000 max on a dealer's lot and Geico would probably pay about $11,000 if it were a total loss..

I wanted to snap a few pictures but we have had monsoon type rain for 3-4 days down here. Unless you stand right in front of the car, all you notice is the broken headlamp on the passenger side. Only is you look closely, can you see the two tears in the white bumper, the crack in the grille, and the space between the fendres and hood is larger on the passenger side. There are no dents, no crumpling, just scrapes mainly.

As for the tea, I usually make my own sun tea, but if I buy pre-made tea it's Gold Peak - made by Coca-Cola and I buy the diet tea in large plastic bottles at my local Publix on the 17th St causeway. It has no after taste and actually does taste like your own home made tea.

As for being cordial, the other driver suffered no injury and his huge Land Cruiser needs merely a touch-up and re-paint on the rear bumper. He is actually a great guy and he rand me to get the date of my next rugby match so he and his girl can come watch, LOL. He has connections to some major pop stars and his company makes Tshirts, hats, jackets, etc to be sold at their concerts. I may have made a new mate!

[WillV]

LOL, new mate from the worst possible way to meet! Still, glad you are both ok and that he was nice

[Larz]

Glad you're ok, mate. Do you have any pictures?

As I said earlier, the torrential rain made it impossible for me to get pics before I turned the car in. However, my Geico rep called yesterday with an update on the progress (and to confirm the body shop will re-install my custom bulbs instead of the OEM crap that comes with the parts).
I mentioned that I was disappointed the weather didn't allow me to get any pics of the damage and he sent me the file of pictures the body shop did before it went in for repairs. Apparently they take pics of the entire car inside and outside to document any existing damage on the car not part of the accident to avoid owners trying to scam them for damages not caused at the shop. He sent me about 12 pics, but most of them were general pics of the sides, rear, and interior. Only three pics of the actual damage were included, and they really aren't that great.
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You can see why I was shocked at the cost of repair. The car really didn't look like it would be so costly. If you see it from even a small distance, you would not notice the damage - just the bumper tears and scratches.

[WillV]

So are they going to reinstall your Philips LED Daylight 8 strips as well? Also, was your dashcam on when you hit him?

[Larz]

I was shocked today with two bits of news. I had left a message for the shop owner, Mario to call me. When he called back, I told him I had forgotten that I have DRLs installed and I asked what would happen now that they have been instructed to replace ALL parts of the bumper even if they aren't damaged. He told me he already noticed that and his techs will re-install the DRLs the same way I had done it. They will actually trim the rubber parts of the new bumper and use 3M automobile tape exactly as I did. He even said they got an extra hour of labor added to the claim to "reinstall existing after market bumper parts".

The second shock is this: They found a small crack in the radiator support. Those of us who have actually seen this support while cleaning in the area will remember it's really just a big hunk of plastic-like material that supports the radiator and the dual fans. Mario says it is functioning just fine, but when they showed it to the Geico clams adjuster, she added a new support to the parts list because she deemed it a possible safety issue.
Now for the actual shock: This hunk of what Inifniti calls "plastic polymer" radiator support costs .........
drum roll (and eye roll) .......... $900 !!!!!
That and some other miscellaneous parts / supplies + added labor hours, has the bill up to a total of: $7,205.00

Getting closer to that magic % where they begin to question if the car is a total loss, but Mario says no need to worry as he is confident there will be no more surprises. However, with the added part orders my car will not likely be back to me until middle of next week.
I am still gobsmacked at how damage that looks so minor and happened at such a low speed, can cost so bloody much! Mario says its what they call "front-end syndrome" and he has seen many cars driven (yes - still drive-able) to the shop with front end damage at 20-30 mph that costs enough to make the car a total loss for insurance. If you consider all this cost for my damages, and then add on damaged suspension, steering, radiator, hood replacement, fender repair, etc my car would probably be a total loss as well.

[EdBwoy]

^^
And that is one of the reasons I usually avoid "minor fender bender, only needed a front bumper and headlight" type deals. And it is just as I suspected, after stripping down an 06 M45 to bare metal and then some, I saw a lot of non-metal parts that could be considered sacrificial components. These would be the impact absorbing bits, some outside of the crumple zone.

I know it's quite easy to total a car these days, but it's a quality of life thing. Your car might be made of all steel but in an impact, something has to absorb the energy...m most times the rubbery & fluffy creatures secured in the seats.

Thanks for sharing Larz.

[Larz]

I finally got my car back this morning! I have to say that I was completely and utterly shocked at just how brilliant this turned out! My car is a 2009, NEVER garaged since new, and exposed to the South Florida sun and heat, covered salt and sand that gets blown down my street from the ocean on a daily basis. Still, the peeps at Carolina Auto Body were able to match the paint 99% perfect! Even the fit anf finish of the new bumper and parts is spot- on. They even re-installed my after market Phillips DRLs brilliantly! If you look cloisely by the fogs, you will see them neatly nestled inside the little black trim pieces just like before. Here are a couple of quick pics with my HTC:
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[Ilya]

Looks good!

[szh]

Good stuff!

Z