Although my ride is not that "Pimped", I still enjoyed it.

As of today I not only have no points on my driving record, but also have had a clean record for two years, giving me the tremendous privilege of joining my insurance company's "safe driver" category, with the commensurate discount on my premium. I been a good boy.

I thought I'd blown it when I hit a deer when heading out to Moab on Thursday night. (Totally unavoidable, I was driving the speed limit and the dozen or so deer were all the way across both lanes...I shot for the gap)

After driving the rest of the way to meet my buddy and heading out to Moab, the next day I found out that the damage is covered under comprehensive and I wouldn't even have a deductible. Whew!

Now the freaky part: After sustaining what I thought to be minor damage, the adjuster called me today to tell me that my Camry is a total and they won't repair it! WTF! Apparently the repair estimate is too close to the value of the car. Look at this and tell me if it looks like a total loss:







Other than the headlight/turn signal being out, the passenger door and hood not opening, it's driveable. I'm amazed at what constitutes a "total" these days. Geez, I didn't even get to do anything fun like flip the car or nuthin!

I think they have bizarre rules. I know someone who got their Sonata T-boned with like 3000km on it... the insurance ended up spending like $14,000 in repairs on a $17,000 car but wouldn't just write it off.

Man i am not sure i think he might be on some wicked drugs when he did the estimate cause i have seen worst damage done to the lady i live with car by hitting a deer and she has a PT Cruiser and she was able to get hers fixed, she took out the grill,radiator,hood,whole right side fender and right tire.

I think he is full of BS on this, cause from what i can see you only need a right fender and light assembly the hood should be able to be pounded and fixed and painted.

Did you have any kid of vibration in the front end after you hit the deer, that could be a good sign of a bent frame or rim.

WTF! That car is not a TOTAL???? They just don't want to pay for the repairs

A little more detail:

Just from what can be seen from the outside of the car, the corner of the windshield is cracked, the subframe where the headlight mounts is punched in, but there's no shimmy or shake. I didn't run over the deer, just a glancing blow after slowing down from 60MPH, probably around 25MPH at time of impact. I might've been able to stop quicker if I hadn't just switched to studded snow tires the week previous. Pavement was dry at the time.

The adjuster didn't even pop the hood. As you can see in the third pic, the tuft of fur is still stuck in the corner of the hood. The hood won't open as the fender is overlapping it a tiny bit.

From what I was told, the damage is in the $4100 range, but due to the possibility of "unforeseen damages" once the shop pulls the fenders and hood, it approaches the 70% damage limit for repair, and is therefore a total.

They offered me two choices: Take private party value ($6500) or take $4200 after adjusted salvage value and keep the car, repairing it and taking the risk of "unforeseen damages" myself. I may or may not be able to get it repaired for less, but the kicker is that if I do, they will never allow it to be insured under full coverage again. Given that, I'm looking at taking the $6500 and just thinking of it as I sold the car at a fair price....before it was damaged.

I loved driving you Camry, but things change, we all move on.....NEXT!

I was out in Colorado this last weekend doing some bike riding minding my own business when I could of sworn I was hit by something and the next thing i remembered was waking up in a hotel room bathtub full of ice and a chunk of hair was missing from my head.

Sure you hit a deer?

That bites Wordbiker. I am still trying to decide if I will let them total my hooptie and give me 2k or so or take the salvage title and $1600. In your case, I would take the money and get something new.

E

Quote: Originally Posted by PHLAK I was out in Colorado this last weekend doing some bike riding minding my own business when I could of sworn I was hit by something and the next thing i remembered was waking up in a hotel room bathtub full of ice and a chunk of hair was missing from my head. Sure you hit a deer?

Naw, it wasn't you or I'd have stolen your kidneys. Your liver has gotta be worthless by now.

Quote: Originally Posted by Wordbiker Naw, it wasn't you or I'd have stolen your kidneys. Your liver has gotta be worthless by now.

I had to give up drinking and I gave my liver to a much needed patient named Rich . Damn you know me to well!

Oh yeah and I bought a new board for this year!!

A hole in a gas tank on the ford focus 2002 constituted as totaled when my riends full coverage estimated it.

What caused it too was a air gun launched a socket in the garage, and their insurance nor his full coverage auto insurance wouldn't cover it cause it was "totaled"

i dunno though, i rolled a car 5 times and it was totaled, but i dunno if was worh it, i would have rather hit some deer.


Good luck with a new car, camry's are #1 in america for some time (Consumer pick at least.)

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d Good luck with a new car, camry's are #1 in america for some time (Consumer pick at least.)

arent they also near the top, for the "most" stolen cars?


i would take the money and run.

so now is the magic question, how much are you gonna be raped for in your new insurance premiums?

Quote: Originally Posted by THRiLL KiLL so now is the magic question, how much are you gonna be raped for in your new insurance premiums?

From what the local office told me...they won't go up at all. As a matter of fact, since I got my "safe driver" discount, I'll save about $660/year

The accident was covered under comprehensive and doesn't affect my record. Even better is the fact that with Winter coming I'll likely be driving my 4WD truck more anyway. It's only 6 miles to work, so going from 36MPG to 20MPG (I do love my T-100) shouldn't kill me. If we don't replace the car right away (third car for us, so no rush) then we can wait for a deal and even get a refund on insurance already paid.

I also needed an excuse to ride my bike more. Really, I'm not upset about how things are turning out at all.

I bought a car that looked worse than that once.

u can always take it to a used car dealership and see what they'd give u as a trade in. Could be more.

your solution = Take money - Buy 74 or older full size chevy, ford , dodge 4x4 at a cost of around $2000 - go to the nearest steel fab shop - have a 300lb+ front bumper made of 4x6 1/2thick structural steel - go hunt down the deer that killed yer camery and this time DO NOT SLOW DOWN

Quote: Originally Posted by HigHTecHReDNecK your solution = Take money - Buy 74 or older full size chevy, ford , dodge 4x4 at a cost of around $2000 - go to the nearest steel fab shop - have a 300lb+ front bumper made of 4x6 1/2thick structural steel - go hunt down the deer that killed yer camery and this time DO NOT SLOW DOWN

How'd I know you'd say something like that?

No, I bought the Camry for economy and the great ride. As long as the insurance company keeps buying the wrecks for full price, why pay more for gas?

If I really wanted to save, I could:

Buy studded snow tires for my bike

Buy warm Winter gear

Ride the bus if it's really bad

Save on health insurance as I'll be in great shape

thats crazy dude, ive seen camrys come to my job alot more smacked up than that.... that should realistically cost around $1400 to fix. parts for that car are cheap. those fenders i can get for around $60 and the hood for $180. they are totaly jerking you dude i feel for you.

Buy it back from the insurance company

As long as they don't ask for the title and fill in the section totaled

You can pick up brand new fender for under 75 and a hood for 150 or a little more

there's a company called crash and rust that sells after market Japanese parts dirt cheap

they even carry head lights


My buddy paid 450 for a hood fender headlight corner marker light for a 93 maxima 3 months ago


Edit..... Also check ebay for parts im sure there are plenty of sellers that carry the cheap after market parts on there


he paid his insurance company 250 for the car when they declared it totaled

Did your airbag go off

he was lucky his didn't

Most insurance companies wont want to pay for the tow truck and storage fee's for a yard

Meh, the Camry is long gone...probably fixed and sold again by the insurance company.

They gave me full market value for it, so we could always buy another one just like it, but for now we're just sitting on the money and collecting interest. After the holidays we may look for another or just trade in my wife's Scooby Forester for something newer.

As harsh as the weather's been so far I've had to drive my 4X4 truck anyway. I'm thinking about dumping some of the money into it for new tires...and maybe a nice bumper to prevent something like what happened to the Camry from happening. I stopped by my buddy's offroad equipment shop this week and his partner suggested this one from ARB:



It's on a Tacoma, not a T-100 but they make one for my truck too and it'd look similar. Of course, the only issue is the price. The ARB is in the $1000-1200 range, and then I'd have to get it powdercoated. I'd like to find something similar yet simpler (and cheaper!). Don't need the pushbars or winch setup, just the basic bumper/brushguard combo.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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I bought quite abit of stuff from these guys here for my truck you can check out there line of grills and bumpers.

Here is another place you can also check out A TO Z Truck

I need a year/make/model

you can start here though

Lift Kits, Tires, Wheels, Winches, Performance Parts, and Off Road Accessories from 4 Wheel Parts

Just FYI , its most likely gonna be cheaper to have one made rather than buy a costom built one from most any place for your truck. the only rigs that have a good selection of off road bumpers are jeeps and those city park puddle jumpin chevy's **you know the fancy boy trucks** and even those bumpers are exspencive!!

I'm tellin' ya 4x6 steel beam cut to fit your front end ........ DONE !!! you can add spikes if you want so you keep the next deer you hit on the bumper