As I was driving along the interstate in Columbia, SC on a rainy morning the cars in front of me started slamming on the brakes. The car in front of me swerved and I stopped in time behind a van. Then all of a sudden this toyota car ran right in the back of me slamming me into the back of the van infront of me. The girl acted like her neck was hurt and went to the hospital. Turns out she is an illegal alien without a driver's license and insurance. And the owner of the car had already been deported. My State Farm insurance is going to file the claim as uninsured, but has to do an investigation first.

I don't think they are going to call it totaled, but I just hate that this is going to make my car depreciate like crazy even if they fix it. I have not quite had this car for a year yet and has less than 25xxx miles on it. I don't know if the insurance will help me out with some money because of the "depreciation" factor. The body shop has to wait until the insurance gives the ok as an uninsured claim and I'm planning to go to the court date to make sure no one changes their story.

Anyone have any experience/advice with this kind of situation. Do I need to ask the body shop anything?

 

Glad youre ok, and it looks like it held up really well. If you ever planned on adding body mods I would probably see about doing that now.

 

Ouch...sad to see those pics.

Are you OK?

 

Man bro really sorry to see that. Hopefully everything works out for you, get yourself checked out asap

 

wow you got hit hard...

i was involved in a similiar accident like yourself- i hate people driving with no ins.

out of my 4 car pile up the front and rear people had no ins- the 2 middle cars did (me being one of them) so they filed it as uninsured motorist and i got screwed on the deal.

Ins company will try to go after the other party but if they got deported kiss that good bye- so your deductible is gone and if you were to get hurt - you don't get a nice compensation check like if you were dealing with some other persons insurance.

nothing worse than getting hit with an illegal- only bright side is your ok. goodluck

 

Wow that is horrible!

 

As crumpled as that is it's hard to believe they wouldn't total that one.

 

First I would liek to say its good you are in good health after a wrack like that.

The car looks like a total loss. That is a huge amount of body damage.

2 fenders, hood, headlights, grill, front bumper, rear bumper, exhaust, tail lights, 2 quarter panels, suspension, bumper foam front and rear, trunk lid, maybe a rear tire or two and who knows what else.

 

I agree with this. That looks really bad. In my opinion, that'd be total. I'd be getting a brand new car.

 

Glad you are OK! That is hard to look at... poor sterling gray.

 

Thanks for all the replies, I am ok. The body shop hasn't done a quote yet but he said it looked all superficial, but wouldn't know until he started taking it apart. I love this car, but kind of wish the would call it totaled. I'll keep everyone updated when the insurance get's back to me and the body shop starts their estimate.

 

Glad your o.k. Hope you have a good body shop around. Mine was in the body shop for 2 months

 

I've been through that twice - both of my Mazdas were totaled thanks to another driver's idiocy. Glad you're alright.

I'm a little surprised none of your airbags went off, which is too bad in your situation. I'm going to guess you'll be right on the edge of being totaled and if the airbags had gone off, that additional cost would have taken care of the thought of fixing it.

I wish I knew more how insurance companies handle the uninsured motorist thing - I think there's a part of some coverage that covers that, but I'm not sure.

 

his airbags probably didnt deploy because the front bumper looks pretty good. the grill and hood took the hit. I also dont think they deploy from a rear collision.

i would have taken a bat to my bumper to deploy them lol

hope for a total loss- youll make out better

 

Sorry to see this. Cars can be fixed or replaced, not people so glad your ok.

 

Wow .. that sucks. My 2006 got whacked my an illegal with no insurance back in 2007. Had to use uninsured motorist as well. $11K in Damage. Damage needs to be 75% of value to total it .. That is defiinitely below $20K in Damage so I don't see it getting totalled .. especially if airbags did not deploy. I managed a complete SHelby Swap when mine got whacked with not extra cost out of my pocket.

 

Not going to bull**** you, probably not totalled.

 

Be thankful you're ok, and that the car is something that can be repaired or replaced.

Terrible to see pictures like that, hope the best in the replacement/repair and that its straightforward in getting all the repairs completed.

 

I feel your pain. I just went through this about six weeks ago. Your situation is a little different- you're dealing with an uninsured- Ironic though because I was hit by a Toyota as well. My car did not have nearly the damage yours does, and it was totaled. My frame was bent- that was the deciding factor. You'll probably lose your deductible, but make certain that the insurance company knows about, and credits you for any upgrades you have on the car. When the insurance company totaled my car, I actually got back more then I paid for the car initially because of all the upgrades. Exhaust, wheels, CAI- anything and everything youve had done. Make sure you stay in touch with your Customer rep, throughout the whole process- and it is a process.... It's a huge pain in the ***, it sucks, and the best thing you can do is try to make sure you get treated right. Glad you werent badly hurt. I cried for three days straight over the car (I'm a girl I'm allowed to do that) but finally realized that I was darned lucky to be walking around. I didnt feel right til I got another car though. Best of luck to you. Let us know what happens.

 

This was not even close to being totalled out with side air bag deployment, suspension, tire and wheel. No frame damage at all though.