Low-speed collision in GS450h - over $6,000 in damage!
09-18-07, 07:32 PM
#1
Lexus Test Driver
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Low-speed collision in GS450h - over $6,000 in damage!
(I'll apologize in advance for not taking any pictures of my smashed up car. Just didn't think about it before dropping it off at the body shop)
The funny part of the story first: a couple of weeks ago my car was hit head on by a pick up truck. The guy turned into oncoming lane where I was slowing down to make a stop. I did stop, but the pick up truck didn't. There was a slight bump resulting in $900 worth of damage to the front bumper. The funny part is that two hours after I got this estimate completed, I made a dumb mistake merging into left lane from the right lane a city street, and ended up rear-ending a Hyundai Sonata!
I would guess that the speed at the time of impact was about 7 mph. The damage to the right rear corner of the Sonata's bumper was fairly minor. But my car looked like it ran into a wall at 30 mph! I'm not exaggerating. It was simply ludicrous to see the minor damage on the Sonata, and my GS450h's smashed up front:
* The bumper cracked in a few places, especially around the lamps. The sides of the bumper stick out away from the car body several inches;
* The grill is smashed in;
* The hood is bent and popped up about 2-3 inches;
* There are wires (probably mostly from the parking sensors) hanging all over the front end;
* Some sort of plastic under tray is hanging below the front end almost to the ground;
* I can only open the driver door a few inches because, I guess, the front quarter panel got pushed into the door.
The initial estimate to repair the damage came to $6,400! And the shop is betting that they will find a lot more damage once they take the front end apart tomorrow. Now I understand why this car was $300 more to insure per year than my 2004 Acura TL.
The silver lining to this story is that I'm leasing this car. So, once it is properly repaired, it will be the leasing company that takes the depreciation hit due to the accident, not me. Another good thing is that I was considering raising my deductible from $500 to $1,000 last month, and decided against it.
The funny part of the story first: a couple of weeks ago my car was hit head on by a pick up truck. The guy turned into oncoming lane where I was slowing down to make a stop. I did stop, but the pick up truck didn't. There was a slight bump resulting in $900 worth of damage to the front bumper. The funny part is that two hours after I got this estimate completed, I made a dumb mistake merging into left lane from the right lane a city street, and ended up rear-ending a Hyundai Sonata!
I would guess that the speed at the time of impact was about 7 mph. The damage to the right rear corner of the Sonata's bumper was fairly minor. But my car looked like it ran into a wall at 30 mph! I'm not exaggerating. It was simply ludicrous to see the minor damage on the Sonata, and my GS450h's smashed up front:
* The bumper cracked in a few places, especially around the lamps. The sides of the bumper stick out away from the car body several inches;
* The grill is smashed in;
* The hood is bent and popped up about 2-3 inches;
* There are wires (probably mostly from the parking sensors) hanging all over the front end;
* Some sort of plastic under tray is hanging below the front end almost to the ground;
* I can only open the driver door a few inches because, I guess, the front quarter panel got pushed into the door.
The initial estimate to repair the damage came to $6,400! And the shop is betting that they will find a lot more damage once they take the front end apart tomorrow. Now I understand why this car was $300 more to insure per year than my 2004 Acura TL.
The silver lining to this story is that I'm leasing this car. So, once it is properly repaired, it will be the leasing company that takes the depreciation hit due to the accident, not me. Another good thing is that I was considering raising my deductible from $500 to $1,000 last month, and decided against it.
09-18-07, 08:38 PM
#2
I'm very sorry to hear that, hopefully they will be no structural damages to the car and the insurance will pick up the bill without *****ing!
Maybe the extend of the damage on your car is due to a double hit on the front, first a relatively small hit that cause minor damage, but did compromise the structure of the front bumper and on top of that, another small hit, this time the front bumper can't play his part, so the rest of the car (hood, quarter panel...) got damaged.
Maybe it's time to upgrade to a Seibon carbon fiber hood and some front bumper body kit !
Maybe the extend of the damage on your car is due to a double hit on the front, first a relatively small hit that cause minor damage, but did compromise the structure of the front bumper and on top of that, another small hit, this time the front bumper can't play his part, so the rest of the car (hood, quarter panel...) got damaged.
Maybe it's time to upgrade to a Seibon carbon fiber hood and some front bumper body kit !
09-18-07, 09:07 PM
#3
Lexus Connoisseur
Do you have any pics of the damage?
Unfortunately Lexus parts are very expensive...especially when it comes to parts like the headlamps and even parking sensors, per piece!
Unfortunately Lexus parts are very expensive...especially when it comes to parts like the headlamps and even parking sensors, per piece!
09-18-07, 09:18 PM
#4
Lexus Test Driver
Before I switched to Progressive insurance, I had AllState (NJ). They (AllState) had to look up crumple zone spec for the car and raised my insurance. I was confused since usually extra safety feature suppose to discount your premium. They told me its good for the driver but not for the insurance since even a small collision will rank up a huge repair bill 
09-18-07, 10:02 PM
#5
Maybe the extend of the damage on your car is due to a double hit on the front, first a relatively small hit that cause minor damage, but did compromise the structure of the front bumper and on top of that, another small hit, this time the front bumper can't play his part, so the rest of the car (hood, quarter panel...) got damaged.
Secondly, since you hit the right rear CORNER of the Sonata and that the same amount of force is acting on both cars, there would be significantly higher pressure from the smaller surface area of the Sonata pressing against your Lexus and therefore, more damage to it. Imagine running at the same speed into a wall vs. into a pole, it'd hurt a lot more if you were to hit the pole.
Anyways, it's great that the accident is minor, $500 deductible instead of $1000, and it's a lease
09-19-07, 07:29 AM
#6
Pole Position
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[QUOTE=Modeler;The initial estimate to repair the damage came to $6,400! And the shop is betting that they will find a lot more damage once they take the front end apart tomorrow.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, this is most likely true. What I thought was just bumper damage on my ES involved the a/c sytem and a bunch of other stuff.
Unfortunately, this is most likely true. What I thought was just bumper damage on my ES involved the a/c sytem and a bunch of other stuff.
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