I'm sorry, I went through my subscribed threads and no title grabs me. I do remember someone talking about the European driving license and how it is much MUCH harder to pass the test(s). And that US drivers don't know how to drive very well.

It might have been in a thread where it drifted into that topic. If I remember later I'll come back and look for it again.

Usually the time I remember things is right around the time I get comfortable in bed, almost asleep, and THEN I remember. Grrrrr.

 

i must admit that was the first thing came to my mind as well.

to the OP, my condolences. i didnt look at the pics, but hopefully the damage is enough to total it. get a new one.

 

Saw the photo...pretty bad hit but it's interesting to see the side mirror's still unscathed.

If it were up to me, your car wouldn't make total-wreck status. Of course there's only one photo and it really isn't enough to make a judgement call with, but from what I can see it doesn't look like there was any misalignment to the chassis itself. Repair the doors and sills and replace the windows and it should be fine again.

Like TaffetaWhite says, the car did a good job of protecting you.

 

I think that people in general aren't taking driving seriously enough.... I learned to drive in a defensive manner riding up to thirty thousand miles a year on motorcycles .... I had a jerk in a Civic tail gate me for miles on a two lane Texas highway coming up scary close to my bumper numerous times while talking on his cell phone. I pulled over on the shoulder so he could go around me and he stayed on my bumper and drove on the shoulder too.... I down shifted, kicked in the boost and made a lot of distance between us and a minute or two later he was on me again still talking on his phone.....When I drive I don't do things that distract me and focus on driving and avoiding those that have their minds somewhere else..... I am an old man that will stop driving voluntarily when I lose the ability to maintain focus and am unable to spot hazardous drivers and situations. Everyone on the road has the potential to kill you if you allow a situation to occur where they can and most situations are avoidable..... Sitting at a signal light or stop sign and getting smashed is something that happens way to often.

 

Wherever that thread is where we talked about driving...

I mentioned there, and will mention again here, that it would be ideal for everyone to learn several things about driving.

One is to be required to ride a motorcycle. The other is to at least ride in a semi-truck for a day or two. And listen to what the driver says. Especially if it's something like gravel trucks who make many runs per day, in and out of traffic.

You learn real quick how vulnerable you are on a motorcycle. And if you absorb that lesson, you can become more aware of motorcycles as well as being protective of them.

Listening for them. Letting lane sharing occur (just because *I* am stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, no need for my motorcycle road friends to sit behind me). And being extra cautious when behind one, giving them plenty of room, just in case they go down.

Yes, I've gone down several times. Gravel happens. Slick roads. Dumb drivers.

The gravel trucks. You can FEEL the weight of the gravel behind you. You can feel the engine pulling that weight. AND you can feel that weight behind you pushing as you're braking or going down hill.

Maybe a car can stop plenty quick...but not that gravel truck. Ain't no way of stopping tons of material and truck and trailers just because some idiot cuts in front of the truck. The truck would go right over any vehicle, Fit or Escalade or Hummer.

And for some reason, people just don't want let vehicles merge. What's up with that? It becomes a nightmare in a gravel truck with double trailers.

You don't even have to ride in a gravel truck for that experience. Consider a school bus (if school wasn't too long ago) or a regular bus/public transit. There's the bus, trying to get a bunch of people to their destination, making many stops, and car drivers don't want to let the bus in.

I let the bus in. I let the gravel truck or moving van or any other big truck into my lane, by clearing space and flashing my lights. You have NO idea how much that is appreciated.

Even if not too many people do it, it seems to be enough to help get people and cargo to where they need to go. Anyone can help anyone else get to their destination with calm, careful, courteous driving.

 

I hate old drivers. I totalled my S2000 when a 64 year old tourist cut me off in his 4 runner.

 

For anyone over 60 the state DMV's should mandate a yearly examination of eyesight, reaction times and overall attentiveness. It's really bad on Sunday mornings when I'm trying to go to work and trying not to be hit by some bluehair who can't see over the wheel.

 

Sorry about the accident.

You shouldn't have any problem insurance wise. I was rear-ended earlier this year (hence my new Fit ). I suggest going through your own insurance to repair or replace your car (whichever the case is). Since you're not at fault, your insurance rate won't go up and your deductible should be refunded back to you. Your insurance will recoup it from the other drivers' insurances. Let them tally the numbers and deal with the headache.

I think it's better to get you car totaled. Your car is practically brand new. There's a chance that the body shop might not 100% fix everything (ex: a dash rattle that wasn't there before). Geico totaled my civic (the one that was rear ended this yr) because it costs more to repair it than to give me the replacement value.

Geico valued my car by checking how much other comparable cars were sold in my area. So in essence, they gave me enough money to go out and buy a similar car. Similar as in same make/model/mileage/options/etc.

I took their check, went to the Honda dealer, added more money, then got my Fit. You'll probably spend a bit more out of pocket if you car is totaled since cars depreciate in value alot once it's off the dealer lot. On the other hand, since there are not a lot of barely used Fits for sale, the insurance might as well go with the dealer OTD price.

Good luck.

 

If you get it repaired, be sure to get extra money for the loss in value of your Fit. With carfax any potential buyer will deduct thousands for it having been in an accident, especially one where the airbags deployed. In GA it's mandatory that settlements include loss of value, not just repair.

That said it might pay you to spend a few hundred and consult a lawyer. If it were my car I'd want it replaced and not fixed.

 

It definitely was....I think it was about another member whose car was wrecked by someone making a "pittsburgh left" right in front of him.

 

"Certain" people should be off the road, but statistics show that for both men and women, drivers aged 16 to 19 years of age have the highest average annual crash and traffic violation rates of any age group. How many people on this forum are willing to turn in their keys?

That said, I agree that older drivers should be required to take annual or semi-annual vision and driving skills tests in order to retain their driving privileges. The easiest way to do this would be to issue licenses for 2 years to drivers past a cutoff age -- say 72. Personally, I'm much more concerned about the idiot of any age who is gabbing/texting on a cellphone while attempting to drive.

 

Hope your Fit gets fixed or replaced quickly, the important thing is you were not injured!

 

I like the way that the Japanese use window tags to describe the age and experience of the person driving a particular car.... If older drivers are such a problem, why is it that my insurance provider doesn't cover drivers under the age of thirty on my policy and I pay a fraction of what a thirty year old or younger does for the same coverage?..... gbmurder13, I learned to drive over fifty years ago and have never totalled anything.... I will be 60 in five months and my last vehicular accident occurred thirty two years ago when I was rear ended by a car load of teenage girls while stopped behind a school bus and I don't hate anyone but people that have poor driving skills do tend to make me pretty damned angry regardless of how old they are..... If you are stopped in a car you aren't in motion, and therefore not driving.... The opening post is about a guy whose car was damaged while sitting still and caused by a person with poor reasoning abilities and driving skills and his age isn't relevant.... The guy was probably a crappy driver when he was twenty five.

 

Get a lawyer to work everything out for you. Because of the circumstances there should be no upfront fee and you should get a new car too.

A friend of mine was tboned turning left and got a check for the total value of the car, free chiropractic sessions for several months, and another check for $1800.

 

I have to agree with this. People should be judged as individuals and individuals alone. Any younger idiot could have done the same thing. You wouldn't be talking about taking women off the road if it were a woman who hit you, would you? That said, I think after 60 years old you should need a driver's test every 2 years. :]

 

wow, sorry to hear about your accident. that totally sucks.

i too agree that at some age drivers need to be checked for sight/attentiveness/reaction times. kinda not fair to compare this way, but it is similar to driving while impaired or under the influence because they are not making correct judgements.

i would like to say that noone is trying to cause an accident. it would not be fair to people like us who drive safely and have a clean record to be struck for no reason. my car's been struck several times while i wasn't even in the car. hahaha.

 

Your insurance company most likely has a web site, and on that site a section about what to do in case of an accident, often in the form of a check list. PRINT IT and put it in your glove compartment, or in the secret underseat compartment of the left rear passenger seat. Regardless of who (if anyone) is at fault, the scene of an accident is no time to be trying to figure out what to do next.

 

Way to go, Selden! It's not a secret anymore.

 

Don't tell the non-Fit owners. If only the underseat compartment were a smidge bigger, it would be a great storage space for a netbook.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to let my insurance handle everything as recommended and also try and have my $500 deductible refunded to me by the other guy's insurance. I'm also going to demand as much as possible for a new car which of course will hopefully be another Fit!

btw, this is actually my 2nd bad experience with an older driver where I was stopped and out of the way yet still ended up being involved in the accident. I was in a four lane road *one turning left, two going straight, one turning right) stopped at a red light in the right lane. Out of the blue and for some strange reason while we are all stopped waiting for the light to turn, an old man in the lane next to me steps on his gas and slams into the car in front of him. In a panic, he starts to reverse while there are cars behind him! The car behind him beeps so the old man starts turning and reversing right into me and scraping the whole side of my truck. Just like yesterday's accident, I was a sitting duck and could do nothing with a car in front of me and a car behind me all stopped at a red light. I jump out of the car and yell at the guy asking him "what the hell are you doing?!" and no response. He just kept looking ahead with his car still reversing slowly. I then stuck my hand in his car, threw it in to park and took his keys. The cops show up and he's still unresponsive, almost as if he was in a trance, so they end up taking him away in an ambulance. Yes this is a true story and yes I seem to have bad luck with these sorts of accidents. I swear you couldn't make stuff like this up.

Luckily for me, I ended up getting close to $1,000 from his insurance and had my buddy's workshop fix it up for half of that. Maybe just maybe yesterday's accident could actually turn out to be a good thing in the end. That's what I keep trying to tell myself anyway...