All in all the cost to repair it was in excess of $18,000 from a third party shop that didn’t do a great job on the finish. That was only $5k less than the Kelly Bluebook value for my car at that point in time.
In short, it costs a lot to repair crash damage. That’s something people probably don’t think about too deeply if they have comprehensive coverage and pay just their deductible.
...and I suspect the car will never be "right" again.
In my case I did have a couple trim pieces that didn’t completely match.
My uncle who knew a lot about cars gave me some advice. He said check how much an alternators costs before you buy a car. VWs seemed to be cheap to people but the parts were astoundingly expensive. But me as a teenage ignored all that. Kind of like people now buying Tesla for the looks, technology but pay dearly for any body damage.
If I showed you a photo of the damage you would believe me even less...
(The morning I got the car back, someone drove into the front and caused another $12K of almost identical damage. That was a great day)
It's unsurprising when you think about it: America is full of larger trucks which have to meet o on the laxest of regulations to minimize pedestrian damage in case of a collision. Where before the contact zone might be on the knees, many a modern truck will hit a pedestrian in the chest. Add to that how America sets up situations very unsafe street crossings, often 8 lanes wide without a median, and increased pedestrian deaths are unsurprising.
Note that this is a matter of most security freatures: Good crumple zones don't lead to tall trucks with large hoods. The only one that adds risk is the curtain airbags that have lead to wider A pillars, and with that somewhat lower visibility. But we could make cars safe and also safer for pedestrians: Just not by driving heavier, taller vehicles that look like 18 wheelers and have frontal dead zones that could hide multiple Miatas.
> Add to that how America sets up situations very unsafe street crossings, often 8 lanes wide without a median
I don't think I've ever crossed an 8 line highway on foot (US native). I definitely wouldn't call it "often". Maybe in a place like LA or Houston? I do cross 4 lanes pretty frequently, though.
Arterial roads, such as those lined with big box stores and shopping plazas, are commonly 3 lanes in each direction at 40mph speed limits (which means cars are driven at 45mph+), plus turning lanes.
Your best case scenario is the crossing being ~56ft, but 70ft+ crossings are normal for busy intersections. Which are ones you would also want to walk across.
Even a two lane in each direction road will commonly have a turning lane or two, making the intersection a 5 to 6 lane wide crossing.
It also threw me off when walking as I could see I'd have to go a couple of blocks but every road crossing took a few minutes. Invariably I'd have to wait at least one light cycle, perhaps 2 if I was crossing both angles. And those light cycles were long.
The worst part was that it was rare to see much vehicular traffic at all except during some key times. What a waste of space.
I had to walk down one of these roads in Denver, let me see if I can find it.
W Alameda Avenue. 7+ lane for a lot of its length. Super sad walk.
[1]:https://twitter.com/remouherek/status/1716012670262931946
This is why it’s important that we fix street design to lower speed limits, reduce conflicts at intersections, and improve safety of road users outside of cars.
I'd think a properly designed crumple zone would only crumple at a "fatality" speed and not at fender-bender speeds. I remember asking a friend why you almost never see Lexus in China - and they said they notoriously crumpled at the slightest collision (there are a lot of very low speed fender benders on city streets there). Other Japanese brands seemed to not have this reputation
New car buyers also have insurance so they rarely care much about collision repair costs. The fact fender benders don’t total the car is just about the only metric car buyers care about.
You can buy a new car with that amount.
This is the Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) for that Rivian that got the famously large bill. They go through what all would need to be removed to replace the panel. It seems extensive.
“They took the R1T to a certified Rivian body shop who said the entire rear quarter panel, as well as some tailgate internals, needed replacing. The total cost of replacing an entire body panel and some tailgate bits was reportedly just over $14,000.” https://www.thedrive.com/news/rivian-r1t-fender-bender-turns...