adamgt Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 So yeah just as I was getting all excited about my satellite radio install that I just completed, and my Passport hardwire job that I was quite proud of, I was pulling out of a space in the mall parking lot last night while changing said satellite radio station at the same time. The lot was pretty much empty, so I had turned the wheel hard right to make a U-turn to head towards the exit. The light poles in this parking lot have a square concrete base that is probably 2 feet tall, then a narrow metal lightpole that extends upwards from that. The base of the lightpole was entirely below the height of the window, so I didnt see it right away. The pole part of the lightpole was neatly obstructed by my vision by the A-pillar. As I accelerated and turned right, I plowed my own car into the concrete base of the pole, at the leading edge of the front passengers side door. I was travelling at a speed somewhere between 5 and 10 miles per hour, and wasnt 100% focused on driving, so the car only car to a stop after the block has wreaked its destuction all the way to the trailing edge of the rear door. Both doors are badly caved in and scraped, the rocker panel trim piece fell off, and the actual structural rocker panel itself is fairly crushed at the point of impact. At the least, I am looking at two new doors, a new rocker panel, and some serious structural unibody work. At best the car will be totalled. Has anybody else had any experience with accident damage on these cars? I have no clue whether this will be repairable or not. I do have a list of some very good body shops in the area (that we would contract out $85k Range Rovers to for custom paint, etc) and will be getting estimates this coming week. Regardless, I am pissed... but not livid. It's only a car, and it's only a Subaru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief_Wiggum Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 Sorry to hear about the damage I just had a little accident. A woman in a small SUV pulled out right in front of me. "I just didn't see you!" DOH. Anyway, it's in the shop right now. Most reputable shops and dealerships will be able to fix it. Parts are available. The only thing that concerns me is the paint matching. From what I understand nobody uses "factory" paint. They use computerized matching to match colors, but 5-10 years down the road it's probably not going to match anymore. It doesn't sound like you had any unibody damage, so they should be able to just remove and replace the damaged parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamgt Posted November 19, 2005 Author Share Posted November 19, 2005 The rocker panel/sill piece is caved in. Think of where the chrome "Subaru" engraved trim pieces are inside the door jamb. That is, from everything my past auto experience has told me, a structural piece. We will see what the body shops say about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivNLegacy Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 probably won't total, so don't get your hopes up for that....if the rocker/uniside is damaged like you say, it may need to be replaced..that's going to def be the worst of it.....also, with two doors replaced, they will most likely end up blending the fender and quarter panel along with the outer roof rail, so that whole side of the car might end up with new paint....most def might reach near a $8-10K repair depending on what you need....good luck, let us know both your prelim estimates and final repair cost....sorry for your loss... If you can read this, you're following too close. Click Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 doh, poles aren't like traffic cones.. it's not going to be totalled at all. It' about $3000 tops worth to fix from what you are mentioning..... I went of the track at VIR with my WRX and spent about $1500 on the rear quarter panel to be fixed, I hit the end of the guardrail by spinning and losing control of the car at over 100 mph.. it looked like this (thank goodness VIR has plenty of run-off for the car to slow down to 55mph before impact, oh yea, wet grass kinda helps with the spin in the grass too): http://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/27877/pic155.jpghttp://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/27877/pic156.jpg The insurance company/body shop will replace your doors, pull the frame out some, hammer it, replace the mechanisms for the windows, maybe new windows, pull out/bondo the metal, and repaint the side of the car.. so it's going to be around $3000 to $5000 range, but nowhere near to totalling the car.. you would need to exceed 3/4ths of the value of the car to be considered total (the old insurance law/rule was 50% of the value of the car, some states may still have this rule) Mental note: dont drive fast in a parking lot unless you are autocrossing? Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Sorry to hear it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest *Jedimaster* Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 S when do driving lessons start? doh, poles aren't like traffic cones.. it's not going to be totalled at all. It' about $3000 tops worth to fix from what you are mentioning..... I went of the track at VIR with my WRX and spent about $1500 on the rear quarter panel to be fixed, I hit the end of the guardrail by spinning and losing control of the car at over 100 mph.. it looked like this (thank goodness VIR has plenty of run-off): http://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/27877/pic155.jpghttp://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/27877/pic156.jpg The insurance company/body shop will replace your doors, mechanisms for the windows, maybe new windows, pull out/bondo the metal, and repaint the side of the car.. so it's going to be around $3000 to $5000 range, but nowhere near to totalling the car.. you would need to exceed 3/4ths of the value of the car to be considered total (the old insurance law/rule was 50% of the value of the car, some states may still have this rule) Mental note: dont drive fast in a parking lot unless you are autocrossing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 S when do driving lessons start? better off learning from mistakes.. "dont lift" Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieWan Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Sheesh, that sucks. I was just complaining yesterday cause I accidently put a small scratch in my Legacy. I'll take the scratch over what happened to you any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forestir Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Condolensces. I'm glad you have good perspective on the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brady Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 sorry to hear about it, but... " It's only a car, and it's only a Subaru." Yup ... Only a car, and definitely only a Subaru. How many people have the delusion that we're driving some kind of exotic or special car. Hell, it's even cheaper than a lot of it's competition. Other cars I would pit against the LGT: Acura TL, Infiniti G35, Audi A4 (maybe even A6 in some cases), Lexus IS. In general, which has the most cachet? It's just a Subaru. I certainly didn't buy this car to impress anyone. It's not like I'm like "yeah, I drive a Subaru" expecting girls to drop their panties. You might as well tell people you drive a Volvo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamgt Posted November 20, 2005 Author Share Posted November 20, 2005 Ding ding ding... The elitist thing isn't my business, thats one of the reasons why I bought this car. Yeah its a nice car and I love it, but I'm not going to trick myself into thinking I mangled an irreplaceable thoroughbred racecar. I'll try to take some pics today to satisfy your need for carnage this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brady Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 There was a great thread over on Nasioc OT with a delusional Subaru owner. For a laugh: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=869958 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brady Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 I don't know if it was "any" car ... but we're certainly a long way from the class of car where this would be a great tragedy. Rare and hard to fix would be a good qualifier. If this was a 22B: Tragedy Original Porsche 356: Tragedy Ferrari 250 GTO: Tragedy Duesenberg: Tragedy You get the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamgt Posted November 20, 2005 Author Share Posted November 20, 2005 Yes but it is also no more of a tragedy than it it were a Camry, to use a popular comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brady Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 D'oh ... we're on the same page, I just neglected to put in the qualifiers: M-B S500: Not Tragedy BMW 745Li: Not Tragedy New M3: Not Tragedy That should clear matters up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappy Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 any pics? Sorry to hear about the pole. I saw a lady drive straight into one of the poles in a supermarket parking lot. Atleast it wasnt a pedestrian or another car... Totally off topic, but where did you install the radar? Im looking to do the same thing this week.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanger Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 that doens't look too bad hearing you impacted at 55mph ○ ○ ○ Instagram: itshangertime :spin: ○ ○ ○ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MassiveAttack Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Why fix it? That tape job looks slick. doh, poles aren't like traffic cones.. it's not going to be totalled at all. It' about $3000 tops worth to fix from what you are mentioning..... I went of the track at VIR with my WRX and spent about $1500 on the rear quarter panel to be fixed, I hit the end of the guardrail by spinning and losing control of the car at over 100 mph.. it looked like this (thank goodness VIR has plenty of run-off for the car to slow down to 55mph before impact, oh yea, wet grass kinda helps with the spin in the grass too): http://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/27877/pic155.jpghttp://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/27877/pic156.jpg The insurance company/body shop will replace your doors, pull the frame out some, hammer it, replace the mechanisms for the windows, maybe new windows, pull out/bondo the metal, and repaint the side of the car.. so it's going to be around $3000 to $5000 range, but nowhere near to totalling the car.. you would need to exceed 3/4ths of the value of the car to be considered total (the old insurance law/rule was 50% of the value of the car, some states may still have this rule) Mental note: dont drive fast in a parking lot unless you are autocrossing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 bumper was hanging off on my way drive from VIR two years ago.. and it would suck if I had to fix any rust issues later... Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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