o8yb

We have a 2004 RX330 with performance package only 7000 miles and less than a year old. Here is the story:

My wife was driving home yesterday. She stopped at a four way stop intersection which was only a block from home. There was a late model Cadillac STS on the left most lane (the left turn pocket) traveling the same direction as our RX. My wife checked all direction and it was clear (no car in any direction) and she slowly moved forward. The driver (an old lady about 50+ years old) from the Cadillac STS decided to turn right instead of left, and the old lady assumed my wife saw her. Her car cut in front our RX sideway. Bang, our RX got big dent on the left front. The Cadillac got a big dent on the rear passenger door. Luckily both cars' drivers were unhurt. They both got out of the cars and exchange insurance information and according to my wife, the other driver was a nice and professional looking lady and she admitted it was her fault. (Hope she keep thinking that way. Sometime people change mind. Instead admitted the mistake, they accuse the victim.)

I don't think both cars were moving faster than 15mph but the damage to our RX is really bad. Not because of the speed but the angle of the impact. I will try to post more pictures later.



The front quarter panel is scratched, front on the left bumper was smashed. Bumper built in fog light became a corner light - instead of aim to the front it is pointing to the left. Headlight washer was destroyed. The hood popup and shift to the right. Both adaptive HID headlights moved to right and aim high (due to the way how to they attach to the front bumper). Underbody tray on left front is smashed. The right quarter panel was push to right (again due to the way how they were attached to the front bumper).

I don't think a RX330 is collision friendly. This little fender bender incident may cause two, three thousand dollars or more to fix.

I am worry, after the accident and the repair, if the adaptive headlights will still work right, and if the air suspension will work as before. Even they fixed and repaint the car, the color will not match.

The car is drivable in the day, but not at night due to the headlights are not aim correctly and I don't want to further damage the adaptive headlight system.

In CA, for auto accident costs more than $750, we have to file an accident report to DMV and record the car was involved in an accident (I believe it is the state law), and it will drop our car’s resell value. It may show up the carfax report as well.

We may have potential denial of warrantee repair from Lexus. Friend of mine, got a new Camry couple years ago, according to him, the car’s alignment was off since day one. He had the dealer adjusted the alignment many times and problem still exist. After he got into a fender bender, the dealer no longer willing to work on the problem and said the alignment problem is now caused by the accident and original warrantee will not covered.

Now I have some insurance questions:

We don’t have any auto accident in the last 10 years, and this is my wife's first auto accident in her 12 years driving history. We are not quite sure what to do next. We contacted our insurance company, AAA. Based on our story. The adjustor said we can file the claim to Farmer (insurance company of the other car) or AAA. If we file claim thru AAA, we have to pay our $1000 deductable but we can start to get a rental car (a cheap compact rental car like Focus). If we file the claim to Farmers, we have to wait, but Farmers usually has better rental car policy (like a rental car similar to your car). If I file with AAA, will it dang our record and when can we expect to get our deductable back. If file to Farmers, how long do we need to wait before we can get a rental car or start to work on the repair. Basically which way is better? Our AAA or Farmers? Or it doesn’t matter.

Next question: Can I ask Lexus dealer to fix our car and ask insurance to pay for it?

Last question: We are not asking for extra money or anything, we just want to have our car like there is not accident before. Can I request the insurance company to pay extra to cover the extra depreciation due to this accident? Or better yet buy us a new RX (we pay for the our car’s original depreciation before the accident). If our RX is three or five years old, I don’t even bother this. Since our car so new and has less than a year old and only has 7000 miles, it really upset me to drive a $40000+ car and felt it only worth $25000 and it may have problem down the road.

Am I asking too much? If that is not the way how insurance company work, I can live with it. After all, it was an accident and I already glad my wife is all right. But if it is possible and reasonable to ask the insurance to pay for our loss, I would like to do so.

Can anyone help?

Sam

04 RX330 Silver AWD Performance package

rxdriver

First off, sorry to hear about the accident. It's a shame to have something like this happen period, but especially when the car is fairly new.

About the resale value / Carfax report - As long as the repair is done right and in a professional manner, it shouldn't have a huge impact on the resale value of the car. Sure, you know it's been damaged and isn't perfect, but as long as the repair doesn't detract from either the appearance of the car or the proper mechanical operation of the car, it shouldn't be a big deal. You can certainly demand that the work is done at a reputable place and with original Lexus (Toyota) parts.

About which insurance company to use - Fortunately, I've never had a major accident like this. I've had only minor ones ($1000 or less), and I've used both approaches. Most recently, I used my own insurance company. As you said, I had to pay the deductible up front, and I got it back in about 8 weeks after everything was settled. My insurance company handled everything - all I had to do was let them inspect it, and then take it to a body shop that agreed with their estimate and have it fixed. They took care of chasing the other insurance company and pushing paperwork. One advantage to using your own insurance company is that you will start getting help immediately. If there's any room for debate about who's at fault, then the other insurance company will stall until that's settled.

About having a Lexus dealer fix it - I couldn't find a Lexus dealer in my area that did body work, so that was not an option for me. Instead, the dealer referred me to a body shop that they recommend, and the referral was good. The fact that there was a relationship between the dealer and the body shop (albeit informal) may be helpful if you got into a future debate about whether something should be covered by warranty or not.

About the insurance company covering "extra depreciation" - They're not obligated to cover potential losses - only actual monetary losses. If you could prove you were in the process of selling the car, and then after the car was repaired you could prove the market value dropped because of the accident (and not time, market conditions, or other factors), then you might have a case. I also know that in the event of a severe accident that requires them to declare the car a total loss, they'll pay out the actual retail market value of the car, regardless of whether or not that solves the entire problem. I know someone who financed a new car for 5 years and it got totaled a month later. The actual value didn't cover the payoff on the loan, because of how fast a new car depreciates even without an accident. He was stuck coming up with some more money to get rid of the loan.

Chances are that the repair shop will do their job and the insurance companies will handle the cost of the repair. The worst part is that bad feeling you get when something like this happens, and you know your car will never again be exactly the new car you bought.

Good luck with the repairs.

o8yb

More pictures
The other car


Left Front Closeup


Left Front HID and Quarter panel. Look at the gap between the right quarter panel and the hood.


Right HID


Right HID and Hood. All mess up.

o8yb

Rxdriver,

You are right. Most likely everything will be fine. As time goes by, I am sure our bad feeling will be gone.

We just want to have the car fixed ASAP, so using our insurance company should be the best choice for us for now.

Just hope the other driver/insurance adjuster don't accuse us (you know sometime there are some bad apples)

Thanks

HarrierAWD

Glad that your wife is OK.

I couldn't help but.... since the Cadillac was at the 4-way stop *first*, your wife should wait 'til the Cad cleared the intersection before proceeding. (Yes, I know both the Cad and Lexus were from the same direction.) Once the insurance companies investigated the accident, they may actually find the case to the old lady's favor.

Please don't be offended. It's just how the traffic law goes.

o8yb

Thanks for the info. it is always good to know more about traffic laws.

According to my wife, both cars travelling east bound stopped at the 3 lanes 4 way stop intersection at about the same time. My wife was in the right most lane, the lady was on the leftmost lane (left turn only lane) and no car was in the center lane.

The lady was in a big hurry to go home and she went forword and suddenly change to right. (She lives 150 miles from the scene of accident. Freeway entrance is 2 miles on her right). Most likely she found out she was going to the wrong direction and change to right and forget to shoulder check. Our RX barely moved, may less than 3/4 car length from the stop sign and she was there.

The good news is the lady admitted that was her fault. Both Framers and AAA currently processed the case as the lady's fault at this point.

Now our RX is in the shop and the shop said it will take about 3 or 4 weeks to fix the damage. Why it take so long? Insurance only offer us a Ford Focus as the rental during this repair peroid.

We have to live with Focus for about a month before we can have our car back. I told my wife that we should pay extra money to get a bigger rental car because we are planning go L.A. during 4th of July. Compare with our RX ,a Focus is not big enough and it doesn't feel safe enough for an out of town trip.


Sam

HarrierAWD

Hello Sam,

Was it 4-way stop sign or traffic light? Suppose the intersection had traffic lights and assume both your wife and that old lady had green light, your wife had the right-of-way and it was indeed the old lady's fault.

I know the feeling about accident rentals. My friend's SUV got rear-ended and he only got a Chevy Cavalier for rental. Sure pissed him off. It took the shop 3 weeks to replace and paint the rear bumper.

Have a great trip anyway.

HarrierAWD (vacationing in China - no cars necessary)

ryca9799

What was the estimate that you got for fixing the damage, if you don't mind me asking?

o8yb

It is a 4 way stop sign.

Found the aerial photo of the intersection from my city's website. A little MS paints. Here you are. There are only two cars in the accident. ignore those cars in the photo.

Gotta love the GIS stuff. . It will be nicer if the city has a real time Sat. video.(Like the movie Enemy of the State.)

o8yb

Don't know yet. The shop is still tearing down the front end. There are tons of sensors and the shop has to check all of them.

HarrierAWD

That's some huge intersection to be regulated just by stop signs. Your town must be low on cash.

Anyway, hope your RX get fixed soon so you two can enjoy the 4th of July in style. I sprained my left foot in Beijing, so all I can do are surfing the web and watching TV right now.

chatrathi

o8yb:
CA law says that if you are in a Left-Turn only lane, then you CANNOT move back to ANY lane. You MUST complete the left turn.

So if the STS is in a left-turn only lane, then there is NO way she should have been making a right. Argue this point (which is 100% legal) and you are in the clear!!

Good luck.

-chatrathi

chatrathi

o8yb:
CA law says that if you are in a Left-Turn only lane, then you CANNOT move back to ANY lane. You MUST complete the left turn.

So if the STS is in a left-turn only lane, then there is NO way she should have been making a right. Argue this point (which is 100% legal) and you are in the clear!!

Good luck.

-chatrathi

o8yb

Finally we got the qoute. $3788. Wow a little fender bender cost $3788. I can buy a used Civic for less than that. Hope the shop do a good job and in three weeks we can have beloved RX back.

Sam