After 3 years I finally got my first dent...

[AtomSmasher]

...do you think I can pop it back out?



So I'm driving down to my parents house today and its raining off and on, but for the most part not that hard, and I'm about 2 miles from the off-ramp to their house which is at the bottom of a hill.  I change lanes from the fast lane to the middle lane going around 55-60 miles an hour (which is 5-10 miles under the speed limit) and there are no cars for roughly 1/2 mile ahead of me, but I notice they are braking, so I begin to brake to make sure I have plenty of time to stop only to find my brakes were not working.  I don't know if I was hydroplaning or there was oil on the road or what, all I know is that my brakes were useless and I wasn't slowing down.  With cars on both sides of me I knew there was no chance of escaping an accident, so I decided to try and shoot the gap between the car in the fast lane and the car in the middle lane, only to find there wasn't enough room between them, so ended up hitting the car in the middle lane pretty hard and just bumping into the car in the fast lane.  Apparently I wasn't the only one who's brakes wouldn't work because there was a total of 7 cars involved in the pile up, and I was the last one to get into it.  Out of those 7 cars, it was actually 3 completely seperate accidents with 3 or 4 cars losing control.

The good news is that even with 7 cars involved, and the horrible shape my car is in, no one was injured.  I don't even have any bruises.  The claims adjuster is going to call me on Mon and will most likely tell me my car is totalled (the unibody is messed up, so I can't imagine its not totalled), which I guess means its time to go car shopping.

The crazy thing is the car I hit seemed to take very little damage.  It looks like he'll need a new bumper and thats about it.

[shmokes]

Yep . . . you gotta love crumple zones.  Your car is totaled, but as you said, you came out without a bruise.  Glad you're okay. 

[Joystick Jerk]

Yeah, you can probably buff a lot of that out.

[FrizzleFried]

...awe man!  Totalled?  Sheeeeeeiiiiiit... gimme some duct tape, some bondo and a case of beer and I'll have `er fixed up in no time!

[tommy]

Aw man, you ruined a nice muscle car. You bastard. 

[danny_galaga]

you had to go and wreck one of the few aussie cars in the US, dincha? 

glad you're ok though.

[TOK]

Sad to see a Goat get wrecked, but glad you're OK... That looks like a close call on being totaled. Hopefully it is, because I sure wouldn't want it back. The cost of cars has pushed the damage way out there as far as considering them a write-off.
People are going to be scrambling for that engine if it is totalled. 

There is good news if you can hold out a little while... The G8 is coming! 

[Cakemeister]

Did your car have antilock brakes?

I thought all you had to do in a situation like that with antilock brakes is just slam the brake pedal and the car did the rest.

Glad you're okay.

[Xam]

Sad to see a Goat get wrecked, but glad you're OK... That looks like a close call on being totaled. Hopefully it is, because I sure wouldn't want it back. The cost of cars has pushed the damage way out there as far as considering them a write-off.
People are going to be scrambling for that engine if it is totalled. 

There is good news if you can hold out a little while... The G8 is coming! 

Yes save the engine if it is totaled...those run about 5-6 grand...someone will buy it for mucho dinero.

Sorry about your accident, a buddy of mine has an 04 Goat...pretty nice machine.

[patrickl]

That Mercedes hardly has a scratch on it     Although I guess underneath there will be a lot of damage.

[DrewKaree]

Yep . . . you gotta love crumple zones.  Your car is totaled, but as you said, you came out without a bruise.

Shmokes, whatever you do, don't show that asshammer THIS thread.  If you blow that pic up to eleventyX, you can clearly see that's not a nosecone

[Ed_McCarron]

Shmokes, whatever you do, don't show that asshammer THIS thread.  If you blow that pic up to eleventyX, you can clearly see that's not a nosecone

Are you insinuating that the government was behind this accident?

[AtomSmasher]

Did your car have antilock brakes?

I thought all you had to do in a situation like that with antilock brakes is just slam the brake pedal and the car did the rest.

Glad you're okay.

Yup, the car has 4 wheel antilock brakes, which is why I think there was oil on the road or something.  When it happened I thought that my brakes were shot because when I stepped on the brakes, it felt like nothing happened.  Then I heard the same thing happened to a couple other cars the only thing I could think of is there was ice or oil on the road, and it wasn't cold enough for ice.

[pointdablame]

Poor goat 

Glad you are ok though.  Any ideas what you'll be looking to buy next?

[AtomSmasher]

While I would love to get another GTO, work has just been too slow lately, so I'm pretty broke.  I'll most likely get something a little more economical, top of my list at the moment is probably a used Pontiac G6.

[mccoy178]

Hey, are you going to update your footer?

[Xam]

While I would love to get another GTO, work has just been too slow lately, so I'm pretty broke.  I'll most likely get something a little more economical, top of my list at the moment is probably a used Pontiac G6.

Where are you located at Atom?

G6 is proving to be a good solid car...just avoid one with the panaroramic sunroof...lots of problems with those.
Have you considered a Grand Prix GXP? Not a Goat, but much more power than a G6.

Xam

[pointdablame]

Hey, are you going to update your footer?

hmm....


Sorry... it's probably way too early to laugh about this for you.  I know I'd be devastated if my car got totaled (as lame as that may sound)

[DrumAnBass]

"No worries! My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools..."

-Jeff Spicoli

Glad you didn't get hurt...!

[FrizzleFried]

Hey, are you going to update your footer?

hmm....


Sorry... it's probably way too early to laugh about this for you.  I know I'd be devastated if my car got totaled (as lame as that may sound)

That is sooooooooo wrong.

...funny as all hell...

...but sooooo wrong!

[AtomSmasher]

Hey, are you going to update your footer?

hmm....


Sorry... it's probably way too early to laugh about this for you.  I know I'd be devastated if my car got totaled (as lame as that may sound)

LOL, that is messed up, but hilarious.  I'm upset that a car that I loved is gone, but it was just a car and is replaceable, so I have a pretty good sense of humor about this whole thing.

Where are you located at Atom?

G6 is proving to be a good solid car...just avoid one with the panaroramic sunroof...lots of problems with those.
Have you considered a Grand Prix GXP? Not a Goat, but much more power than a G6.

Xam

I'm in southern California, and thanks for the tip about the panoramic sunroof.  I have considered the grand prix, but I'm trying to get something semi practical to save a little bit of money on gas while work is so slow.  I figure the G6 has a pretty good ratio of power/fuel economy, so I shouldn't be cursing the car for being so slow or cursing the car for draining my wallet.  A quick check online and a used G6 with around 15k miles is selling for around $15,000, and since it still has another 15k miles under warranty, I shouldn't have to worry too much about getting a lemon.

[jbox]

Shmokes, whatever you do, don't show that asshammer THIS thread.  If you blow that pic up to eleventyX, you can clearly see that's not a nosecone

Are you insinuating that the government was behind this accident?

I thought that tow-truck guy looked familiar... 

[boykster]

I bet the damage on that Merc is several thousand dollars worth....damage I did to my Lexus SUV last halloween ended up being nearly $5k after everything was said and done and it didn't look as bad as that Merc does.

Sorry to hear 'bout your car...its tough to lose a loved one....when I was 18 I wrecked my dad's beloved RX-7....wasn't a super valuable car, but it was his baby and had just gotten it a new paint job.....

[vorghagen]

There is good news if you can hold out a little while... The G8 is coming! 

These car threads always confuse me. You'll be talking about a 2008 Pontiac G8, I'll look at the picture and think, but that's a 2007 Holden Commodore VE, just with a different front.
And AtomSmasher's original...... that's a Holden Monaro.
I'm sure danny can back me up here.

[TOK]

You're correct, the GTO and G8 are both Holdens with cosmetic and tuning mods for the US market.
I'm amazed the Ute hasn't come across as the El Camino.

[ChadTower]

Yes save the engine if it is totaled...those run about 5-6 grand...someone will buy it for mucho dinero.

He can't... if the insurance company totals it out they take the car.  It belongs to them at that point.

[mpm32]

I don't know, I've seen what Butch can do with bondo.  He might be able to fix that little dent. 

[shmokes]

I'm pretty sure you can usually buy back a totaled car, generally at a fraction of what it's worth.  The worst accident I was ever in involved my friend's car being totaled.  He got $8500 for the car from the insurance company, bought the totaled car back for $2000 and had it good as new for under $2000.  Of course the resell value is shot, but the car only needed a new dashboard, windshield and some minor body work.

In any case, I think buying back the totaled car is generally an option.

[AtomSmasher]

I believe your right about buying the car back and once the guy tells me its totalled I'll ask him how much to buy it back.  The engine and transmission alone would probably pay for the car.

Also, I've heard people have had to argue with the adjuster over the actual value of the car, should I be arguing to get the private party resale value or do they generally only give the trade-in value?  (both values from kelly blue book)

[ChadTower]

Usually you'll get something in between but much closer to private party value.

[HaRuMaN]

When our 99 Honda civic was totaled this year, we got very close to the private party value.

[boykster]

Usually you'll get something in between but much closer to private party value.

It can also depend on your policy and what state you live in.  On my new car, it is covered with a "stated value" policy (that we adjust twice yearly) to offset that it was a custom factory ordered car, our other car is covered at trade-in value (cheaper).

[ChadTower]

Heh.   I used to have a restored white convertible that had a book value of about 3 McNuggets.  I had to have it appraised by two licensed appraisers to get the insurance company to cover it to appraised market value.

[HaRuMaN]

Heh.   I used to have a restored white convertible that had a book value of about 3 McNuggets.  I had to have it appraised by two licensed appraisers to get the insurance company to cover it to appraised market value.

Only 3 McNuggets?   

[ChadTower]

Yep... maybe 2.5 nuggets.  1982 Ford EXP with 90k miles.  It had been fully restored and the roof removed for a custom convertible frame... nice little car but had no standard market value whatsoever.  I tried looking it up in the blue book but next to its entry was a picture of someone pointing and laughing at me.

[Ed_McCarron]

next to its entry was a picture of someone pointing and laughing at me.

This happen often?

[AtomSmasher]

Looks like it'll be a few more days before I find out if its totalled.  Apparently no one at my insurance company looks at the car, they just wait for the repair shop to give their estimate.

[HaRuMaN]

Looks like it'll be a few more days before I find out if its totalled.  Apparently no one at my insurance company looks at the car, they just wait for the repair shop to give their estimate.

That sounds kind of dodgy...

[ChadTower]

This happen often?

Only other time was at this website called adultfriendfinder.com.

Still not sure how that happened.

[Xam]

Cali is a little out of my range, was gonna help you get a good deal on one (we just got a red goat in if interested )

One of our techs got a G6 when they first came out. He has never complained about power, though it is no match for the GTO. Only complaint he has is that damned sunroof.

Checked the pricing on the GTO motors today...the LS1 in the 04 list for over 7 grand, the 05, 06 LS2 goes for around 4,500...may not be worth the buyback afterall.

Xam