For those wondering, her she is and here's the story, Sad day, extremely upset Options

[Fastbird]

I was heading to work this morning, happy as a pig in mud due to some potential extremely wonderful news I found out late last night. Just putzing along minding my own business, not even speeding. Heading down the four lane road towards work, coming up on a traffic light in about a quarter mile. Lady in a light blue Hyundai Sonata that I'm about to pass in a couple of seconds (moving at slighty under the speed limit she was) decided to move in front of me apparently to go around another car. Irritating, but happens every day. About 150 feet from the traffic light when she was fully in front of me and I'd only released the gas to keep from running into her. Then the light goes yellow and she SLAMS on her brakes, nevermind she could have coasted through and made it. I do a VERY quick situational check to the right, see the car that's still in front of her not slowing down, and make a semi-panic braking move to the right. In the split second I made that decision, the right lane decided to slam on his brakes too, and I was left with NO options. I tried to make the seam between the two cars but there wasn't room and I hit a 98 Toyota Camry right on the corner of the drivers side rear bumper. Hindsight, if I had cranked the wheel fully right I may have been able to escape all together, but that's always a 20/20 scenario. Anyway, the Camry is out a bumper, put a fist sized hole in it. My baby (and my wife's moreso) however, is feeling it. And the worst part, I thought I was still carrying collision, which I am not. Preliminary estimate is for about $3500 BEFORE panels.

The aftermath:











There's also paint damage to the door, passenger a-pillar, and drivers fender where the hood is rubbing. The radiator support is fubar and the under fender support it's welded to on the passenger side needs pulling and repair. All components in the engine bay are OK, car runs and drives fine, just isn't "legal" due ot lack of lighting. The DCW SSIII splitter end mount cracked, but I can repair that myself fortunately. I'm also fortunate enough in that I have a re-enlistment bonus coming at the end of December, and our tax return after that will more than cover the repairs. Problem is we need it fixed asap, and with the economy being in the tubes I have my reservations on my bank (USAA) giving me a secured or unsecured loan for the repairs.

I myself am fine as was the other passenger, and the airbags did NOT deploy. My shoulders and neck are a little stiff, and my ego is severely bruised, but other than that I'm fine. Today is going to be spent debating, pricing, and sulking. My wife already mentioned doing a couple of upgrades we'd been talking about, being a Vis Invader hood, shaved markets, shaved door handles, all of which this is the time to do. So.......hopefully in a few weeks if things go right she'll be back and better than ever.

There is a parts WTB thread in the for sale section, we're looking for a hood, fender, and facelift bumper.

[DEATH]

Damn - so sorry to see that man.

[Rusty]

yeah looks like you just need bumber fender lights and the hood as well.
no damage to the frame or anything?

stink mate, but glad to hear your alright

[BonzaiCelica]

ahh no way man so sorry to hear that happen to you? People just don't know how to drive now adays. and even the best of drivers cant escape accidents sometimes. But hopefully you get everything back to the way it is. Sucks so much to see your celica destroyed like that. Godd luck

[Fastbird]

Yah, I'm WAY upset seeing that car like that. My Vette is my personal baby but I think that the Celica is my favorite out of all our cars.

So who's the people to get projectors from now? Is it still Champion Toyota in Houston or did they quit doing that? THink I'll be able to get JUST the passenger side lights?

[Fastbird]

Good news is that it looks like I can order JUST the passenger side projector and high beam from Champion for about $400. I was most worried about not being able to replace those.

[RickJamesBish]

So this is your daily and the Vette is the toy?

[RickJamesBish]

And actually, get some 5th gen mirrors if you're gonna be doing a makeover.

[lagos]

Thats almost identical to the accident I had in my car.
Do as much of the work as possible yourself if you can and just take the car in to pull the rad support (if its needed) and for paint. My estimate was around 4k and I managed to repair everything for less then 2k including a brand new hood, bumper, headlight, rad support pulling and paint.

This post has been edited by lagos: Nov 26, 2008 - 12:50 PM

[Fastbird]

Thats almost identical to the accident I had in my car.
Do as much of the work as possible yourself if you can and just take the car in to pull the rad support (if its needed) and for paint. My estimate was around 4k and I managed to repair everything for less then 2k including a brand new hood, bumper, headlight, rad support pulling and paint.

That's what I'm thinking initially, but it's only $600 more to have them do the reassembly. The shop is going to let me source the panels and just do the labor/pulling and paint work. This shop isn't the cheapest but does outstanding paint work which is why I chose them.

I do have one possible out, I have a co-worker that does his own paint/body work. I may talk to him about doing the paint, could probably escape for a lot less money and he does phenomenal work. That would of course put a stop to shaving the markers/handles at the time though.......possibly.

The support from this forum is amazing. I've gotten a few pm's for body parts already and am just waiting on pics to come in to see if they'll meet standards.

Anyone have part numbers for OEM facelift bumper, fender, and hood????

[GriffGirl]

Tin_Foil has a carbon fiber VIS hood IIRC for sale right now, and I also think it was a pretty decent price. It's *fairly* local to me, so if you want a second set of eyes to check it out for you if you're seriously interested, let me know and I'll be happy to help however I can.

[manphibian]

That is sad

[Fastbird]

Tin_Foil has a carbon fiber VIS hood IIRC for sale right now, and I also think it was a pretty decent price. It's *fairly* local to me, so if you want a second set of eyes to check it out for you if you're seriously interested, let me know and I'll be happy to help however I can.

Let me find the thread and I'll let you know. THanks for the offer!

[GriffGirl]

Sure, just PM me if you need any help

[bseaman_5]

This is so depressing!! I'm really sorry that this happened to you.. Very upsetting...

[presure2]

ouch, that sucks man, but art is right, you can save a ton doing alot of that work yourself.

good luck man, hope it all works out for ya.

[Fastbird]

ouch, that sucks man, but art is right, you can save a ton doing alot of that work yourself.

good luck man, hope it all works out for ya.

Yup. About $2500 of the work though is paint work. Top notch paint work though.


Thanks for the support everyone! This is a huge reason why I love this community so much.

[RUNNIN-LOW]

it hurts my heart to see that much dmg!!!and the headlight wow i cant breath!!!!damn man sorry about it..

[Fastbird]

Well, a day later and I think I'm more upset about it than yesterday. I haven't even been in the garage to start surveying the damage under a microscope. My wife is very upset and said she won't be looking at it. I'm getting some feelers on everything but the facelift bumper so far, and have found on line Toyota spots where I can order all the parts if need be, but they're just more than I'd like to spend. Still, $230 for the bumper and $210 for the fender ain't bad. Hood is like $360 but that's what I'm getting the most interest from here on.

[lagos]

ouch, that sucks man, but art is right, you can save a ton doing alot of that work yourself.

good luck man, hope it all works out for ya.

Yup. About $2500 of the work though is paint work. Top notch paint work though.


Thanks for the support everyone! This is a huge reason why I love this community so much.

2,500$ to paint a hood and bumper?
I paid about 500bucks to have mine done.
For that much money, you could get the entire car repainted at a higher end shop.