Rear end collision in 2015 Fit
 

Hi guys, new to the forum. I have been driving a 2015 Fit LX for the past few years and it has grown on me a lot. I upgraded from a Nissan Versa. I pretty much found the Fit superior in every single way. Anyway, 2 days ago my car was rear ended at a stop light intersection by a large full sized SUV. I was hit extremely hard, I actually crossed the entire intersection and luckily there was no on coming traffic.

The damage: Rear bumper, rear hatch, rear tail lights, rear underskirt, left suspension is depressed lower than the right (don't know if this is normal) and the left side passenger door plastic coverings for the frame have popped out of place (possibly indicating structural damage).

The other parties insurance company wants me to snap a photo and they would cut a check for the estimated damage. I don't see how they could get a full picture of the damage from a photo alone. I was just wondering if anybody else has had similar rear end damage? and if so what was the bill? Honda Fit parts/salvage seem to be kinda hard to find on the open market.

Sounds like an totaled to me because I was rear ended with small damages but it cost other insurance $1495 to repair my car.

Other insurance should cover the cost or if it is totaled, it should cover the value of car before damages.

Why not take the car in to an actual body shop and get a written estimate from the experts.

accident101.. if the damage is significant get a police report, insurance and driver's license info (or pictures) of the offending party, contact info..

then give it to your insurance agent and talk to your claim center and LET THEM handle the claim. you'll take the car to a bodyshop or claims center OF YOUR CHOICE. your insurance adjuster will create the estimate and send off to the other party's insurance. kick off the repair, you'll get a check in the mail for your deductible reimbursement.

get the car back, then immediately trade it in before it shows up on carfax for max value, buy new car. :D GL!

Thanks for the replies! In my state the ratio for being considered totaled is 80% total value. Using KBB as a rough estimate it was considered to be at least $12,000. Would the cost of repairs really exceed $9600? Unless there is frame related damage I wouldn't think the damages could run that much, but of course I am no expert.

honestly its hard to tell. have your adjuster evaluate your car for the estimate as milage, local labor rates, etc all come into play.

ive had one car where an adjuster gave one estimate, my bodyshop started work and found even more problems under the panels and ended up totalling the car. estimate is just that.. an estimate.

so let the pro's do the judging.

Don't listen to this kind advice.

Or be an honest person and do not try to fraud the next buyer.
That will make for a better world to live in.

These cars have no "frame", they are unibody construction, so any metal besides the doors and the rear gate that you damaged, is the body damage, which weakens it and is next to impossible to straight to the original tolerances. This car will never be restored to the original. I would personally consider getting rid of it unless you get to keep significant amount of money to offset these issues psychologically...

They insurance company, not the state, determines when a vehicle is totaled. They look at the cost to repair plus other expenses like towing and storage. Then they also look at what the damaged vehicle will bring at auction. Crunch those numbers together and then find out whether it is a total.

They also have to pay you for the state sales tax on a total loss. If they ask are you going to buy a replacement car, the answer is always "yes". That tells them that they have to add in the sales tax to the payout.

Fits bring a fairly good price at auction because there are several shops in several states that cater to rebuilding totaled FITs. I personally know of 4 of them in S Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, and Kansas. Three of them speak Spanish and one Russian. All of them have at least one English speaker to answer the phone and sell off the cars after they are rebuilt.

I tell you all of this because it will surprise you how quickly an insurance company will total a car. I suspect, without seeing it, that yours is totaled. I personally would let my company handle the claim and go after the responsible company to get their money back. In one case I had the responsible company (Allstate) low ball the estimate and try to get me to settle with me. I refused and took it to my company who fixed it and a couple of month later sent me a check for my deductible. I asked the adjuster / claims agent at the time how he would get the money back from Allstate after the low ball estimate. He said "simple. I put this on my desk and the next time Allstate has a claim against us, I deduct the amount of this claim and send them the difference with the paper for both together. "

If it is not totaled, make sure the rear alignment toe, camber, and ride height is correct. Frequently the real axle (it is not really an axle) gets bent and it is not adjustable. People do not realize there is a problem until many miles later when they start tearing up or wearing out rear tires. So if you keep the car, check the rear alignment BEFORE accepting it back as repaired.

haha. :D that was a joke, but ive done it multiple times. its not fraud by any means. point being, take carfax with a grain of salt as the system can take a while to update. just because you got hit doesnt mean you are mandated to keep the car. be smart, take opportunties when it comes and run with it. thats wat losers fail to do. be a winner.

..afterall, as how i see it, buying used cars is buying someone else's problem. gotta pay to play.

I would think that cars being written off because they were seriously rear ended would be particularly in demand at the subsequent auctions because the front end with the valuable engine, transmission, etc would still be in perfect condition.

You are being too generous in your assessments to the obvious fault of the careless person who hit your car. I would fight hard to have the car totaled or sold as is after receiving fair compensation for both physical and medical damages. A repaired car is never the same even if it looked repaired and even if you are compensated in the repair along with diminished value.

Have you called and reported the claim to your insurance company? Stop dealing with their company and deal with yours, unless you only have liability and then you do have to deal with their insurance. If it's drive-able, I would get it to a collision repair place and have them provide an estimate.

Was there a police report? Was vehicle towed? Do you have pictures you can post of the damage?

From what we've seen here, it's probably totaled. Does not take very much.

As everyone said above...call your insurance company and follow their steps for handling this. Do NOT do this by yourself and end up getting screwed with a shoddy repair job using inferior parts/supplies that are arranged by the other persons insurance.

Seems the OP has left the building. I hope he chimes back in to tell us how this turned out. Lots of good advice given in this tread.

Ken- Buying a used car can save one many thousands of dollars. The first owner pays for much of the depreciation in value. But one must do their due diligence. Not everyone will spend the time to do that & it can bite em in the arse. Also remember this > how to tell if a car salesman is lying > His lips are moving.

ash i don’t deny that at all and i’m sure there are many benefits. that is why there is a huge market for used cars.. and no market for used toilet paper.. i don’t think.

regardless whether you have collision and comp or not, dealing with your insurance when it is not your fault may result in a ding against you, and maybe a future premium to your insurance cost. I would keep my insurance out of this one when you know it is the other party's fault.

The only thing I would say is this...

"The other parties insurance company wants me to snap a photo and they would cut a check for the estimated damage."

Given the sound of how bad that accident seems to of been? NO way I agree to this. This damage has to be correctly and fully evaluated.

This accident was NOT your fault, the other party is undeniably fully responsible, you want full and complete restoration and compensation.

Let's put it this way....
My 2010 Honda was rear ended, and suffered very, very, very minor damage. The license plate frame was barely cracked, and there literally was the slight indentation in the paint of the bumper of the offending vehicles license plate.

But when I took it for estimates, most of the estimators said they could only give me a general estimate, and that full evaluation could only really happen once they removed the bumper and actually took a look behind it. In a collision like that there can be a lot of hidden damage you can't see...such as frame damage etc...

Although luckily in my case, the damage was so slight it ONLY was the bumper-and some of the foam behind it- still removing and repainting and repair was nearly a $1000 operation.

So I'd proceed with great caution and realizing the other guys insurance does NOT have your interest at heart.

Really the first step is assessing as clearly as possible what the damage IS...and what the cost for repair would be...or whether the vehicle is totaled.

But one thing I would NOT agree to do, is accept a check for compensation, sent by the other guys insurance, based on a photo sent based estimate.

Do you have your insurance company involved? They have some interest in making sure you recover as much as possible, as you are paying them to insure the same vehicle.

See Other Posts:
I was involved in a somewhat similar situation. Although the damage was very, very, minimal.
I reported the accident to my Insurance, and dealt through them. One of the first questions I asked was if I did so, would it affect my premiums?
They said No. If the accident was 100% the other parties fault, and their insurance was covering everything, then it wouldn't affect my rates with them.

And since I was paying them to insure that vehicle...they had some motivation to make sure I was happy with the recovery and repairs, as I'm paying THEM to insure that same vehicle. If they are covering a 12000 vehicle, then they want to make sure it's a vehicle worth at least 12000 after repairs.

The offending parties insurance has no such motivation. They want to pay off and release from liability as cheaply and quickly as possible.

I would in this case recommend getting your insurance company involved.
I would also say, my rates did NOT increase.

It is NOT a charge against you if you use your insurance company and the other party is a at fault. Rear end collisions are always the fault of the party in back unless there are some really rare circumstances.

When I was a kid I had some woman run into the back of me in the company parking lot. I stopped and talked to her and exchanged names, etc. I had no damage so I went on to work. I did report the accident to our plant protection (police) since it happened on company property.

A few weeks later she had me arrested for leaving the scene of an accident. I spent 2 hours in jail and they let me out without having to post bond after finding out from me what it was all about. She had a friend that was a captain in the city police who handled it for her. I was arrested in a different city on a warrant issued by the city where the plant was located. At court I asked the woman if at the time of the accident I had supplied my name, drivers license, and plate numbers to her. She said yes. At that point the judge stopped the case and said. "Lady, he identified himself at the time and gave you all of the information necessary. That is obvious because you knew who to have arrested. He also filed an accident report with the controlling police agency. You were in the rear and hit him so you are at fault. Case dismissed."

He then turned to me and said "you have enough here for a civil case against her should you care to pursue it." I didn't.

Point is the person in the rear is almost always at fault and in the end will pay for your damages no matter who initially paid to fix your car.

This is not a chargable accident.

wat kind of shitty insurance do you have? my various cars in the past have been hit multiple times and each time i let my insurance handle it. ive never had my premium increase, my agent confirmed there would be no negative impact to me, and ive paid absolutely nothing besides my wife and i's inconvenience. :nod:

another reason why i dont save my cars after collisions and just trade in right away.

It's kind of amazing and scary also,- how good body shops can be at repair.
My Dad was recently in a pretty bad wreck--nobody was hurt--but the entire front drivers side of his vehicle was very badly damaged. Bent axle, damaged tires, body panels, etc, etc....

I was really surprised when the vehicle was NOT totaled. But they did not total it.
My dad had all the work done, and visually you wouldn't know anything had happened. I'm sure some of us, or professional estimators, could look and tell. But I looked as closely as I could at the areas damaged, and I could see nothing to give away that it had been in an accident.
I would fear that you would have problems in the future, and like you be very tempted to trade in, and simply move on.
My dad is retired, so he doesn't really drive that much anymore, anyway. So as long as the vehicle looks OK...and is driving OK..I don't think he cares. He plans to keep it.
The accident wasn't his fault so he is seeking diminished value.
But he doesn't plan on trading it in.

Thought I'd drop in and offer my two cents.

3 weeks after trading my 2015 Fit for a 2018 Crosstrek, I was rear ended on the interstate. I was at a dead stop in traffic and a 1990 Dodge Ram slammed into me at about 45.

The driver of the Ram drove off, driving down the middle grass median to get around traffic to get away.

Cops eventually found him. No insurance, no licence, no valid registration.

So of course my insurance had to pick up the tab.

My beautiful new 3 week old Crosstrek with less than 1000 miles had $5000 worth of damage. New liftgate, new bumper cover, new bumper structure, new exhaust, new rear parking sensors, new rear camera, and paint (luckily since it was so new there wasn't much paint needed to color match). It really wasn't that much work but it added up.

But anyway, these damages add up very quickly. Its quite possible that a Fit would be totaled and if you have a choice, you should probably push for that.

If you have full coverage, you should absolutely be working only with YOUR insurance company. You are their customer, not the other guys insurance company. The other insurance company has only one motivation in mind: get away with paying as little as possible. Your insurance company will work to make sure the proper resolution is achieved and will recollect from the other company. It will cost you nothing to go through your insurance company except you may have to cough up your deductible at first which should be reimbursed to you from the other insurance company.

Let your insurance company do the fighting for you. Its what you pay them for.

Good luck.

The final bill to fix this from Caliber was $9,207.34.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...1b283fff15.jpgMy fit after being rear-ended.This was thanks to a guy in an F-150 who had a tire blowout while tailgating me on the 10 freeway.

I was very surprised that my insurer didn't total it. It is a 2015 EX manual with 82k miles on the clock, and worth around $7.5k according to the KBB website, when I looked shortly after the accident. Glad to have it back, though: it has been fully serviced throughout its life, and I'd spent $750 on a new set of tires (expensive Michelin ones, given the high mileage I do) a week before the accident. If they had totaled it, I doubt if I'd have been able to find a used manual Fit in that good condition for $7.5k.

On the subject of insurance companies, if you are the not-at-fault party, beware of the other party's insurers trying to pressure you into giving them a statement, which they will then try to compare with the one you gave your own insurer to find discrepancies and thereby wriggle out of liability. My insurer warned me about this, and advised me to refer the other party's insurer to them for a copy of my statement, and NOT to give one to them directly. She was right: the other insurer phoned me several times a day for a week, and once, when I declined to give them a statement, told me that "You do know that the penalties for insurance fraud can be very severe ... you can do jail time, you know that, right?". In the end, I told them that if I received one more communication from them, I'd be making a complaint about them to the CA insurance commissioner, and hung up. That worked - the calls stopped.