Accident Saturday night..what to do

What should I do now?

  • Fix current LS with a 06 bumper and grille

    Votes: 23 71.9%

  • Fix back to original and sell, to buy an 06

    Votes: 4 12.5%

  • Fix back to original and sell, to buy a different car

    Votes: 3 9.4%

  • Fix back to original and look for an suv so next time I'll kill the bastard.

    Votes: 2 6.3%
  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
B

BrklynExpress

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A minivan driver ran a red light (admitted to fault on police report) and I smashed into his passenger side front wheel. Hood, bumper, and fenders have to be replaced with some work in the engine bay. Airbags did not go off. I know that an accident takes about 30 days to appear on carfax reports and the value of the car drops, so I am considering fixing it and selling it and buying a different car, or another LS, or just fixing it. It is a 2005 norsea blue ultimate.
 
Why not keep it? Did you not like it enough to keep it after new front end basically?
 
Last option on the poll to sell the fixed LS and buy an suv so next time ill kill the guy was a joke. just making it clear.
 
You make it sound like your intention might be to try and sell the car without the potential buyer knowing that it was in a wreck. Just because you can do a thing, does not always mean that you should.
Would you really not mind if someone did this to you? Sold you a car that had been in a wreck but hid that fact from you?
Is the difference in the money you would get enough that a couple of years from now you still wouldn't feel bad about doing this?

Soapbox done...
 
I thought about it and you are right. If there is frame damage, I would never do this. However, even with a fender bender the value of the car drops drastically. After I bought my Lincoln I found out a small part of the rear bumper was resprayed. I honestly didn't care.

I am leaning towards putting an 06 front on it, respraying the rear bumper (has scratches from someone rolling a refrigerator out of a house), painting the gray part of the lower molding all around to the body color.

Two of my tires are going bad, and the chromies are flaking on the inside part of the spokes. So I will slap on Goodyear eagle f1's all around with new rims. (ideas please)

I also want that Mina exhaust and a tune.

Any input?
 
pictures

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Get the insurance $, find a decent shop and pocket the difference. Use the cash for upgrades. A decent shop should be able to do a fine job and save you some cash of the insurance quote. Someone here should have a recommendation in your area. There also seems to be a bunch of Cars on this site being parted out.

Good luck.
 
it only shows on carfax if you let the insurance company fix it, tell his company to cut you a check, fix it yourself and keep the left over, and it will never show up as being crashed. thats not that bad of a crash, if the bags deployed i'd say take a check for a new car and let the insurance take it away, but thats not a bad fix .
 
On my old car, some guy had rear-ended me and caused some little damage, however @ the time i did not care about my car that much, it was an 88' off roading SUV and had its share of dings and scratches.

I decided to get quotyes for insurance on it because I knew he didn't want it on his records and didn't want his rates to go up.

So I went around and got the quotes to repair and insurance required @ least two. I got 3 and picked the two highest.

It turns out after sending him the information and quotes all documented for the insurance - he sends a letter back asking if it would be alright to not file with insurance and just make out a check.

I respond with yes that will be fine if it is a cashier's check. So a few days later I got a decent sized check in the mail in which none of it went towards the damage.


Sh!tty position to be in and such, it was my first real accident so I didn't really know what to do, so we did the whole 'police report + insurance claim' thing... Now looking back I would have just had him write me a check on the spot, woulda saved him money as I had no idea how much the "repairs" were actually going to cost.


Man that was along post, sorry. But yea see if you can work out something not in view of the insurance company.
 
I vote leave it how it is with that unique wheel print
 
someone backed into my door and dented/scratched it (clearly 100% his fault). i was going to just ask for a check but decided the whole incident was a major pain in the ass and that this guy should pay for driving like a moron so i just filed the claim. he didn't say sorry or anything so it made my decision easy. i sit back and collect a check while my insurance goes after his (so my insurance actually earns the money i pay them each month!) and i don't have to worry about whether the check is good or not. i fixed the car to acceptable condition and just pocketed all the money. from what i gather, the incident won't show on a carfax? not that i'm worried- its an '02 with 100K. i'm driving it until the wheels fall off. still looks good though.

just be sure to get a quote from somewhere if you decide to have mercy on the other guy. don't be affraid to ask for more than the quote as you are doing him a favor- he will likely pay a couple thousand by the time insurance is done with him. still get all his information so you can make a claim if his check doesn't go through (or in case he files a claim saying you left the scene).

edit: that wheel mark is classic!
 
The car is at a reliable shop. i have decided on the first option. I will have my rear bumper resprayed to remove the scratches, and while they are at it, they will spray over the gray trim on the bottom. All dings will be removed, and the bottom gray side skirts will be painted body color as well. I will put on a 06 front. After that is said and done, I will shoot for a Mina exhaust, and a custom tune. I will also apply clear paint guard plastic over the lower body panels and front and rear bumper. I am also in the process of thinking about wheels and tires (need new tires anyway for the front)
 
For an extra point, can anyone guess the make model and year of the other vehicle just from the wheel mark?
 
Was it a Buick Rendevouz?

EDIT: Dunno if that counts as a minivan, lol. Its kinda a crossover of SUV/Van
 
fix and keep, I basically tboned at guy in a silverado(he flew into the parking lot as I started to come out) and he drove over the front of the LS pretty much, looked horrid. Had it back a month later better than when I got it, I liked it more lol. I doubt it won't be any different when its fixed unless some lame shop does the work.
 
+1 on fixing it. No suspension damage, just cosmetic. keep it.
 
chrysler town and country. 2004 or so.

Does anyone know the difference between the standard 03-05 bumper and the 06? Is it just that the gray area is painted on the 06? What about the side skirts?
 
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