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There was an accident in the intersection while i was waiting to turn left. A brand new MBZ S550 got a glacing blow from the other car then hit the front end on my car pushing the front end about 20 inches to the left. Spun my car around and up onto the curb. He must have been going around 30mph before he hit me.

do you guys think this is a total or not? Why me

I'm ok a little bruised by the hit or the airbag...

Well the Legacy did its job and kept you safe. I can't say for sure if thats totalled. Depends if the engine, radiator, or the frame was damaged.

I'm so sorry. This must be an awful feeling.

Sucks I just put in a gauge pack last month!!! Both doors opened fine...I have only 12k miles on the car!! The S550 had less damage...it even called for help when its airbags went off. Not a great feeling to see a huge Mercedes headed right towards you going around 30mph. I'm glad he didn't hit me in the door.

The front frame look pretty bent.

wonder if this accident happened because of the rain.

people in california magically forget how to drive when it rains.

Your grille, headlights and wheels all look fine. I can tell you that a new bumper painted will cost close to $300, I'd imagine a new hood painted might be around $400. Airbags are expensive.

Wow, the parts alone will cost that much. A new bumper cover is well over $300, and the paint/clearcoat is what really adds up. Just with the hood, bumpers, and fenders alone your looking at a good 2k or so. I recently hit a deer, and with just the fender, door, and headlight the estimate with 3k. However, unless you have significant frame/motor damage that won't be a total. You have to hit a certain percentage of damage to get a total, usually over 80% of the value. So if your car is worth 20k, you'd have to have damage in excess of 16k...which I seriously doubt. It sucks that that happened because now you'll have to live with the fact that a wonderful Subie was damaged and repaired...If I were you I'd start thinking my back/neck hurt, haha.

They usually won't total the car unless the repair is over 75% of the value of the vehicle.

Reinforcing your concern to the tow truck driver in a tangible way can be helpful.

Sucks I just put in a gauge pack last month!!! Both doors opened fine...I have only 12k miles on the car!! The S550 had less damage...it even called for help when its airbags went off. Not a great feeling to see a huge Mercedes headed right towards you going around 30mph. I'm glad he didn't hit me in the door.

 

The front frame look pretty bent.

Bent frame, thats not good. And yeah I agree with you, big Mercedes coming at you does sound scary. Thats why I'm not keen that a vehicle like that starts with a 5.5L and then you have the people with the G Wagon goin Im gonna be surrounded by steel and plow into you. Freaky.

Wow, the parts alone will cost that much. A new bumper cover is well over $300, and the paint/clearcoat is what really adds up. Just with the hood, bumpers, and fenders alone your looking at a good 2k or so. I recently hit a deer, and with just the fender, door, and headlight the estimate with 3k.

Seems awfully high. My bumper was $200 + $100 to paint it. I realize its of a different generation, but its made out of the same stuff and isn't too different. Whats really ridiculous are American cars. Bumper for a Dodge Stratus: $600! Why? And then you have electronics. I was gonna cost me $150 for a new foglight. So I spent $120 instead on JDM ones.

Replacing a bumper on my wife's 01 Outback cost about $1200. Replacing one fender on my 05 LGT is going to cost $728. The charges will add up.

If all the plastic front end is just snapped off the frame and the frame is undamaged (or only slightly damaged) then it can be fixed relatively easily. I'd look very carefully at frame damage.

Bear in mind that the front of the unibody is designed to collapse in a predicatable and controlled manner in a frontal imact - if this happened then the front part of the frame is toast because once the crumple zones have done their job there's no way of predicting how it will crumple in a future accident. (think of bending a piece of cardboard - once it's bent once it leaves a weak spot) Likely they will have to cut and replace that whole front secction from the a-pillar forward - if that's even permissable on this type of car...

Your car is new enough that it would take a lot of money to total it - but bear in mind they may wind up having to pull the engine/trans etc to correct the damage to the frame around the engine bay.

Glad to hear you are ok. Did the person who hit the mercedes stop? Will his insurance liability limits cover the damage?

fucck the car man.

Glad to hear you are OK.

I don't know about whether or not your leggy is totaled but that sucks and I hope everyone is okay. To answer your question "Why me?" well...... California drivers......

hilarious coming from a texan. the worst drivers i have ever witnessed are in texas. i watched a guy high-center his crown victoria trying to turn left OVER a median. traffic backed up on the freeway in houston? no problem, just drive your v6 mustang over the grass and dirt and hop the curb on to the feeder road. dallas isnt much better. people in california at least try to be efficient. just moved to boston and people here are generally oblivious and worse in the rain than california.

to the OP...bummer about the car but good excuse to upgrade

Wow, the parts alone will cost that much. A new bumper cover is well over $300, and the paint/clearcoat is what really adds up. Just with the hood, bumpers, and fenders alone your looking at a good 2k or so. I recently hit a deer, and with just the fender, door, and headlight the estimate with 3k. However, unless you have significant frame/motor damage that won't be a total.

Yup. I also had a front end accident a couple of months ago. You have to remember besides the bumper they will also replace all the pieces behind it. IIRC, to fix front bumper alone was $500-600 after painting and everything. Your headlights would need to be replace too if the tabs are broken. The headlights are $300 each. The hood is $400 + paining. Unless the engine or frame is damaged the car won't be totaled.

BTW, I decided to spend the extra money on the JDM Spec B bumper + grill. After everything is said and done it was about $2000 shipped by sea from japanparts. It might be a little cheaper shipping for you since you are in Cali.

Yup. I also had a front end accident a couple of months ago. You have to remember besides the bumper they will also replace all the pieces behind it.

Ah, touche. When I did mine I just used the tabs and brackets that were already there. My accident was minor enough.

It actually started pouring rain after the accident... It was totally dry when it happened. All the cars involved in the accident were not driveable. Everyone had insurance from good companies...and the best thing is I was at a stop out of traffic when it happened so i am not at fault in any way.

The pics aren't that great....the body guy said the frame rails on the front of the car are toast and the engine trans would need to come out to weld in new rails....so it's not going to be cheap. The seat belt tensioner went off along with the airbag as well. He said easily over 10k worth of damage. We tried to crank the car at the shop and the engine wouldn't turn at all.

The pics aren't that great....the body guy said the frame rails on the front of the car are toast and the engine trans would need to come out to weld in new rails....so it's not going to be cheap. He said easily over 10k worth of damage.

Sorry to say, but if they have to weld in new rails I would rather they total the car...

It actually started pouring rain after the accident... It was totally dry when it happened. All the cars involved in the accident were not driveable. Everyone had insurance from good companies...and the best thing is I was at a stop out of traffic when it happened so i am not at fault in any way.

 

The pics aren't that great....the body guy said the frame rails on the front of the car are toast and the engine trans would need to come out to weld in new rails....so it's not going to be cheap. The seat belt tensioner went off along with the airbag as well. He said easily over 10k worth of damage. We tried to crank the car at the shop and the engine wouldn't turn at all.

That doesn't sound promising. I am sorry this happened man. I know its a bummer. My last LGT sedan was totaled due to internal damage in addition to the bumper/hook/grill. I wish you the best of luck.

But on the bright side, if it is totaled, you get your choice of a new car.

a: You're alive and in one piece

b: Pray it gets totaled

c: New Car in your future...