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t-boned by a taxi


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My poor LGT took a hit last night. A taxi was driving WAY too fast for the slick roads, changed lanes, lost control, spun across 3 lanes in to the median and then bounced back and got me.

 

I saw the whole thing happening and couldn't do a thing about it. When he came off the median he headed at me in a diagonal direction, a perfect intercept course, pretty much pinning me against the jersey barrier on the right with nowhere to go.

 

He hit me hard in the left front wheel, rolled the front of my door under and then bounced off me... Cosmetically only my fender, wheel and door look damaged. The car pulls pretty hard to the right though and there are huge chunks of aluminum just gone from my wheel.

 

I'm concerned about subframe damage given the hard hit to the front wheel. If we didn't have several inches of snow I'd crawl under and look. Bummer...

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I really hate cabbies. There's a red light ahead and I'm trying to parallel park my work van in manhattan. Some cabbie tried to squeeze past me as I'm maneuvering and my tire caught his bumper. He got out screaming, told him happy fu**ing new year (early january) and sent him on his way. And he wanted to call the cops!
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Yeah, this guy made the claim that someone cut him off so he had to swerve.... umm, no....

 

Just jacked it up, a quick visual with all the snow looks like the control arm and mounts are straight yet. The camber is WAY off though, huge amount of negative camber on that front wheel, I think the first point of contact was his bumper hitting the top of my front wheel. I can't see why camber is so far off, but it's too snowy to get a great look.

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Just did some more messing, the front of my door isn't gone like I thought, it was rolled under... I pulled that out with a prybar so I can open the door now...

 

Door, wheel, fender, paint and whatever is causing the negative camber and pulling hard to the right... I'm hoping around $2k is all, but isn't the limit for recording damage on the VIN something like $500?

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New camber like that: look at the shock/coilover to see if it is bent. Hope it is just an alignment and some body work.

 

I'd suggest you stop prying on things with a crowbar until the inspection takes place.

 

Hope all is well, ASAP!

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I don't think it's too terrible... I wonder about driving it with the front tire sitting like that though...

 

Here's the negative camber...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/20130221_113254.jpg

 

Here's the side damage, it doesn't look that bad...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/20130221_113302.jpg

 

Here's the wheel with chunks of aluminum missing...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/20130221_113307.jpg

 

A comparison of the hood line from each side...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/hoodcomparison.jpg

 

A comparison of the door line...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/doorcomparison.jpg

 

I suck at taking pictures, you'd see a bigger fender line disparity if I took the pic straight on...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/bumpercomparison.jpg

 

A little paint chip on the rear door...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/20130221_124554.jpg

 

Inside the driver's door, paint cracked on unibody...

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/dil222/20130221_113337.jpg

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Damn Scott! So sorry to see this thread! I highly doubt that is going to under $2k. Body/paint repairs are so expensive these days, you can rack up $1000s with the smallest hits.

 

You'd think Denver would have better snow drivers being that we are in freakin colorado and it snows alot. But, nope! Dumbasses still over all the place.

 

Keep us posted! Got a good body shop in mind yet?

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I know huh? One estimate was around $4500. The taxi company is paying 100%, but still...

 

I'm thinking Abra Auto Body. They did a phenomenal job on a car I had a while back...

 

That sounds about right. One of the biggest factors in repair costs is the number of panels damaged, and that basically got an entire side.

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Does anyone know how aftermarket parts are handled?

 

My control arm is more than likely messed up. I’ve replaced both lower and upper control arm bushings with poly ones. I’ve also replaced the swaybar bushings with poly ones and upgraded the endlinks when one broke.

 

I mentioned them to the body shop and said if a new control arm comes with the bushings that I want the aftermarket ones pressed back in. He told me the bushings are usually trashed if the control arm is wrecked and their objective is to return the car to a “like new” status…. He said they would check them out and try to re-use them if they are ok.

 

I’m not confident that is going to happen even if they are ok and I don’t know what the law is if they happen to be messed up. Is the law to return the car to pre-accident condition or like new condition? My car is so mildly modded, I can’t imagine the stress if I had done a lot of expensive suspension work.

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Technically, it is your car, and you don't even have to get it fixed.

 

You can take their estimate in check form, and get it fixed wherever and with whatever parts you want....or not fix anything at all if you choose and pocket the cash.

 

You are the body shop's customer, not the insurance company or the taxi company. Make sure you get what you want or go somewhere else.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the car back, all seemed good and it seemed like they did a great job...

 

Backing out of my driveway, turning to the right, it sometimes clunks really bad.... kind of like something is binding and then popping past... It doesn't do it all the time, and sometimes is much worse than others. I have heard it once or twice going forward over a bump, it's not all the time.

 

The initial hit to my car was on the wheel and it bent the strut. Logically I also think it may have damaged the knuckle on the half shaft, I can't think of what else it would be to make a binding clunk like that?

 

Backing out of the driveway it goes down a small incline and the wheel is turning, so the half shaft would have to extend the full travel? Does my analysis make sense or what do you think it could possibly be?

 

I dread trying to get them to follow up on this, especially when it's not all the time...

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If it helps the description, the binding/clunking noise isn't anything like end link clunk. It's more of a sound like you ran over a sizeable rock and is felt in the steering wheel. I can't make it do it everytime and the car has to be moving, it won't do it sitting in the driveway just turning the wheel.
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