I've joined the unfortunate club

BigRedTitan · 01-09-2005, 10:45 PM

The unthinkable happened today. I wrecked my Titan.

The damage isn't too bad, but...

I was in a lane that yields to the other driver, but he cut over a solid white line right in front of me to get into Petco. I'm thinking that this will end up being his fault, as he "crossed the line" to a lane that he's not supposed to. Have to let the insurance guys figure it out.

As far as damage, it bent the left part of the bumper, creamed the body color cover, bent the fender and scratched the headlight lens. Now the bumper hits the tire if I hit bumps too fast/hard.

BTW, he was driving a '94 Nissan Sentra. I hit him probably going 10-15 mph. One thing I will say...if I hadn't seen him when I hit him, I wouldn't have known it happened. I didn't feel a thing when the impact occurred.

Oh well, the insurance fun starts first thing tomorrow morning.

Wish me luck!!!

stick · 01-09-2005, 10:50 PM

i like the bottom picture better!!! sorry dude...that bites!

DryHeat · 01-09-2005, 11:42 PM

Well at least nobody was injured. Your truck will be good as new in no time.

NorCal 4x4 · 01-10-2005, 01:14 AM

If you undo the two nuts that holds the bumper to the brace that is attached to the frame, you can pull the bumper away from your tire a little more.

Instead of having my Titan sit at the body shop while all the parts came in, I was able to drive mine over the Thanksgiving Holiday and not worry about tire damage.

titanrookie · 01-10-2005, 04:09 AM

i feel for you, i just had my titan fixed up about three weeks ago. i did just about the same damage you have done. i damaged the left front bumper. i dented and scratched the left front panel and scratced the headlight. i will tell you exactly how much it cost me to fix. the headlight is about 375 dollars to replace. expensive suckers. the left front bumper is a cheap part. that only costs 48 dollars. however they will charge you labor to put it on and paint of course. the left front fender will be take about 400 to 500 dollars to fix and repaint. i paid cash to fix mine because i didn't want to take a hit on my insurance. don't worry though, it will be good as new once you fix it. good luck and don't worry about it. titanrookie

BigRedTitan · 01-10-2005, 07:27 PM

Thanks guys!!

I have filed a claim with the other guys insurance company. He feels that, even though he crossed a solid white stripe into my lane, that it should be considered my fault.

So the fun begins. I'm going to let it ride out for a bit before I pay a $500 deductible, if need be. My agent says that they (State Farm)will back me if need be. Hopefully it won't come to that. The other guy has UNITRIN insurance, never heard of them.

As far as removing the part of the bumper, I have to wait til the insurance company gets pix of it. I will then do this so that I can drive it. I too plan to hold on to it til they get the parts.

And for the fender, it is only bent. There is no creasing and no cracked paint. I'm hoping that the body shop will be able to "massage" it back into shape, so I can keep my factory paint.

Well, I'll keep you posted.

Clint · 01-10-2005, 07:39 PM

Last accident I had like that, I signed the ticket against him, went to court and won. Then I called his insurance company and told them if I won in court then their driver was wrong 100%. They pissed and moaned then paid for all of it.

Clint

TXTitan05 · 01-10-2005, 07:48 PM

If you end up going under your insurance company (State Farm), use the Service First program. It is painless. All you have to do is take it directly to the shop. They write the estimate and repair it. You can find Service First shops on the StateFarm.com website under "repair facility locator"

TXTitan05 · 01-10-2005, 07:53 PM

Here is a link for Service First as mentioned above

http://www.statefarm.com/apps/rflocator/rfsearch.asp

Good Luck!

BigRedTitan · 01-10-2005, 08:18 PM

Thanks TXTitan05. I'll definitely keep this in mind.

I do hope that you know of this only by knowledge, and not experience.

Titan Power · 01-10-2005, 11:43 PM

Check to see if that line he crossed was considered a "painted median" or something like that. A painted median is part of the roadway that vehicles are not supposed to enter or cross. A good example is the enterance to a left turn lane, you aren't supposed to line up past the lane, over the line at the enterance. By law, it is treated the same as a concrete divider. If someone were to drive over a concrete divider and hit you, it would be pretty easy to say they are at fault. A painted median is the same thing. Maybe check with the city as to what that line is considered.

Sorry about your truck.

Jason K.

caltitan · 01-10-2005, 11:54 PM

Write down exactly what happened and every time someone from the insurance calls to hear your side of the story, refer to what you have written down that way you tell them the same thing over and over and your story never changes. Include the date and time when the accident occurred as well as the weather conditions. They may call and say they want to record a statement from you, again, having everything written down insures you will not miss any important details. Hope this helps. I got hit in December and am hoping to get my Titan back in a couple of days. I am tired of driving around an F-150 rental.

rcflier_97 · 01-11-2005, 02:58 PM

I only hope that the police wrote an accident report and you get a copy of it. Last year I had a stupid kid hit my Tahoe. Police showed up, kid admitted fault to "not seeing me" (He was driving a Ranger - couldn't see a White Tahoe?) I talked to the cop, wife was my witness, then I ask the cop if I needed to sign anything - he says no and that I could pick up the report the next week. A week later no report - He never wrote the report, I talked to his desk Sgt - then we talked to the cop - he didn't remember the accident. Needless to say, I ended up having to pay $500 after my insurance repaired the car (kid's insurance refused to pay without the accident report) and my insurance company didn't think that the $1500 repair was worth a court fight. I even talked to a couple of lawyers that are friends of mine - they said that without the report, I woould have a hard time winning even if I sued the kid- it wouldn't be worth the $500 I paid out of pocket.

Sorry for the long statement - I'm still ticked off after a year.

bestatchess · 01-11-2005, 03:39 PM

I used this to pick a shop and had good results and a lifetime guarantee on the repair:

http://performancealliance.dupont.com/shop_locator.asp

homer · 01-11-2005, 04:36 PM

BigRed, sorry to have to welcome you to the club.

It does suck, hopefully all will end well. The girl that hit me had State Farm and they were very quick to accept liability. It helped that the cop wrote up a report that left little doubt about who was at fault. Mine's been in the shop since just before Christmas and I don't know when I'll be getting it back, the estimate is at the $7K +/- level. Meanwhile I'm driving around in a F150 rental like caltitan. Hang in there and try not to dwell on it, what's done is done.