Fender Bender
 

I've never owned a truly "new" car until we bought our 05 HCH last april. I was a little paranoid the first couple of weeks we had it, thinking that someone was going to slam into us. Well, unfortunately, it happend to my wife.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image530.html

The damage isn't too bad, about $990 to replace the back bumper, and the left tailight that has a hole in it.

This was a low impact collision. My wife was backing out with "2 monster suv's on each side of me", she said. As she slowly pulled out, unbeknown to her, a 75 year old woman was driving behind her, saw my wife pulling out, and in her own words later said, "Oh I wasn't sure if I could get by you or not. I didn't know whether to stop or keep going. Guess I didn't make it! I am so sorry."

How about trying this, STOP!!! :angry: STOP!!! :angry: STOP!!! :angry: Ack, I couldn't believe it when my wife told me that's what happened. Well, old people get flustered, and my wife was technically at fault. (There goes our insurance rates.) And the most important thing, no one was hurt.

Anyway, it will have a happy ending next week when it gets put back together, and I will have totally gotten over the "new" car syndrome.

Anyone else wreck their hybrid yet? :omg: Hope not.

Re: Fender Bender
 

doesnt look too bad. atleast no real horrible body damage. yeah i'd b real pissed too.

Had 4
 

I have had four - the other guy alway got the blame. :embarass::

1. Sleepy neighbor pulls out in front of me on my street as I "pulse & glide" to 30. (defensive driving could have avoided it)
2. At the mall during sundown, country driver pulls into the boulvard median without checking traffic. (should have been going slower)
3. At dawn, senior citizen does not stop in time on the freeway. (probably could not have avoided this)
4. Driver rear-ends me stopped at an intersection. (only way to have avoided this one was to have stayed at home in bed. :D )

I could have avoided the first two for sure. Fortunately no chassis damage was done and my Insight checked out fine on it's 90,000 mile service warranty maintence.

Having a small silver car seemed to be a factor, as it is harder to catch (does not excuse my agressive driving in #1 & #2).

Re: Fender Bender
 

Had a kid in an old Audi hit me from behind as I was STOPPED for traffic. They replaced the bumper. Everything is ok.Kevin

Re: Fender Bender
 

You will like this story, as this is typical of what you get here in Miami.

My daughter had her car (HCH) only 3 days when a jerk, with no insurance or license hits her from behind while she was waiting to make a left turn. Guy gets out and cusses her out, get vvery biligerent and scares her. She calls the cops, then calls me. Cops get there and the passenger (a woman) claims she was driving. Cops check the tag on her car (the person that hit my daughter), tags do not match the car, has no proof of insurance etc. Cops write them every ticket in the book. Court date is set.

Daughter goes to court, woman driver is there along with another person my daughter has never seen, along with the cops that handled the tickets. Judge asks my daughter if she can identifiy the driver of the other vehicle. My daughter replies that she cannot lie in a court of law and that no, she cannot identify the driver of the other vehicle. Judge hears some additional testimony then lets into the driver of the other car, remands the case to criminal court, and tells this woman that she hopes she goes to jail!!!

I will let y'all know what happens next.

At least I hope that justice gets served here, because of idiots like this that we pay outragous insurnace rates down here. The insurance for my 2005 HCH (1 month old last saturday) is only $14/year less than what I was paying on my 97 Corvette!

Mike V.

Re: Fender Bender
 

Wow! I don't feel so bad Mike. Hope all works out for you. I had a daughter hit from behind, fortunately driver of her car saw it coming and blasted through a red light before the impact. Could have been much worse if they hadn't moved.

Re: Fender Bender
 

It sucks but you're thought was right about nobody being hurt. These are only material things and can be replaced.

Re: Fender Bender
 

2 for me.
1) A ditz driving home on school break rear ends me (I'm stopped).
2) I ran into one of nature's chicanes (a white tailed deer that are prevalent in NJ)

Neither impacted the insurance rate. Hitting a live deer is considered an "act of god". Now if the deer was already dead, and I had hit it, that would have been my fault. Go figure.

Re: Fender Bender
 

I think the logic here is since the deer is alive and jumps in front of your car, it would be an "act of god". With a dead deer in the road and you hit it, then you were not driving safely or defensively, hence not an act of god. God already killed the deer.

Now I would argue on the second part that if you are driving around a blind corner and you hit a dead deer that you did not have time to see (this assumes you are at the speed limit) then you should not be penalized, but that would be a tough argument depending on what your insurance company rules are.

Mike V.

Re: Fender Bender
 

Sorry man! No fun! At least you've already got plans in the works to clean it up.

Not-so-prepared I keyed my own back driver's side door today putting an amp and guitar in the seats. So much for driving with load, or at least loading serious load. GD humongous keychain; HCH key - love that - scraped across the exterior as I set the hardware down inside. Nice little 4 inch gash, oh well.

Re: Fender Bender
 

Well, I don't mean to turn this into a game of "can you top this?", but ...

I too had a daughter get hit from behind. On her first driving lesson.

- it took her quite a while to get back behind the wheel
- it nearly made the driving instructor quit his driving lesson business

Some doofus not paying attention (what else?) rammed her as she slowed down for a car turning right.

Re: Fender Bender
 

You win Chuck, can't top that one! ;) Hope she was ok physically. A rearender can really mess up your neck.

I had to confess to my wife after she told me about her bumper bender, that if our car was going to be in an accident, I hoped it would result in the car being "totaled" so we could move up to an 06. :shade: But I suppose that requires someone to get hurt pretty bad. Don't want that.

Re: Fender Bender
 

When the insurance rep I spoke with old me it was an "act of god", I was tempted to say "which one? Odin? Zeus?", but I wisely bit my tongue. Maybe they need to change the phrase to an "act of intelligent design", or an "act of a very cruel and vengeful god". ok, i'll stop.:D

Even though I was upset about the car (it can be fixed), I was actually more upset about killing the deer (it can't be).

Re: Fender Bender
 

When I was first driving, I hydroplaned off of I-95 in very light rain. i had the car going very slowly by the time it came to a rest, unfortunately, it found the only retention pond for miles to rest in. not a dent on the car anywhere, no injuries whatsoever (15mph impact) but it was totalled due to water damage. I didn't drive in the rain again for three years, and still find a place to stop and eat during our florida afternoon thunderstorms

Re: Fender Bender
 

Wow Karen! :omg: I might have to take a vacation down in Florida. I might get to move up to an 06 yet. ;)

Re: Fender Bender
 

I'm in the same boat... I've been looking for an excuse to pick up an '06. Be careful what you wish for, right?

I got rear-ended this past Thursday. I was stopped, waiting for a light, and the next thing I knew, I was wondering why I was hitting the car in front of me. I don't think the guy who hit me even slowed down!

I'm ok... just incredibly sore and bruised. My poor, sweet HCH is trashed, though. Both ends smashed in. I feel kind of cheated because the air bags didn't go off... but I've been told that I didn't miss much.
I guess the lesson here is crumple zones are our friends! ;)

Re: Fender Bender
 

First accident in my Hybrid (bought end of 03) was just a couple of months ago. I was driving on the freeway and there was WHEEL bouncing down the road (not just tire, the entire wheel, with hubcap and everything!) I couldn't avoid it! It hit my right front bumper and tore a small hole in it. Shook me up pretty good, but luckily did no more than that. I never saw a car missing a wheel or anything that it could have come from. It went on to cause a more serious accident behind me (I heard the reports and saw the CHP).

It cost about $700 to fix; insurance covered everything above my deductable ($500) and said it was not my fault because the thing was moving. If it had not been moving, I would have been at fault. I did get it fixed, and everything looks great again. The repair shop even glued my HOV sticker back on so I didn't have to order a replacement sticker.

I still get scared thinking about what that thing could have done to my car and to me! Everything from smashing the headlight to smashing through my windshield! Not that I was a bad driver before :angel: , but I am much more cautious now when people in front of me slow for no apparent reason.

--A

Re: Fender Bender
 

This happened to me, too! I was in my first Honda Civic... Generation 1 !!! (1976). I was headed down the 57 freeway (So Cal) just after sunset with a big van about 3 car lengths ahead of me and one lane over to the right. Next thing I know, I see a shower of bright sparks and a disk growing from the center of the sparks. Seems the van wheel fell off, the sparks were from the brake drum and the disk was the wheel getting closer and closer to me! The wheel bounced just in front of my car, then it skipped completely over and bounced behind me.

It never touched me, but I often wonder what would have happened if I had been 1/4 second ahead or behind my actual position. Scary stuff, and it stays with you for years (at least 25; this happened in 1981!).

Re: Fender Bender
 

I was stopped at a stop light in my '04 HCH when a Ford F-250 rear ended me. Car got pretty messed up (I never even had an ache, thank you crumple zone) but was only $7,000 so they did not total it...darn hybrids hold their value.

Since it was not my fault I fought for diminished value and was able to buy an '06 without raising my payment and without extending my loan (traded mine in and the ins $ went to down payment).

I also got to cancel my extended warranty that I paid $1,600 for that did not even cover my hybrid batteries (lying finance guy at the dealer) and got a pro-rated refund that will more than cover my new HondaCare warranty (almost $300 over the new warranty).

I guess I really made out and should call the guy and thank him for not paying attention.

Re: Fender Bender
 

Wow, same thing happened to me! (I avoided the rim though) It was dusk and I was living in Guam when a truck in front of the truck in front of me lost a rim. I saw teh low rider truck in front of me bounce over the rim and then swerve into the jungle then the taillights dissapeared into the brush. I swerved around the rim then pulled over to see if everyone one was OK. They just hopped out of the truck and made their way out of the jungle and said they were OK. I then asked if they needed help like getting towed out (I had a 4WD Suzuki Sidekick). They said, "No" in such a calm manner it made us think that sort of thing happened everyday.

Re: Fender Bender
 

If it helps any, I just got my first ding in a parking lot. Probably some SUV owner saw my license plate... :angry:

I suspect its an SUV or truck owner because the ding was so high up. :(

Re: Fender Bender
 

Yes I have scuffed my front bumper on my camry. I went to Bumper Doc in San Diego and they fixed it perfect! They also do paintless dent repair and auto body repairs. Great people I highly recomend. ;) http://bumperdoc.com/

Re: Fender Bender
 

On an accident like that, I just take the money, replace the tail light, and pocket the rest

Re: Fender Bender
 

I got you ALL beat. Back in November, my wife and I were leaving karate practice; me and two kids in the HCHII, my wife and two kids in the Ody. It had snowed a few days earlier, but most of the roads were pretty good. We're leaving the parking lot down a steep hill to the street and I start sliding (parking lot is on the north side of the lot) even though I had approached the hill at a very slow speed. Didn't matter. I was sliding slow enough that the Anti-Lock was no longer working. As I look to my left, I see nothing but cars coming. Luckily, I stopped at the bottom, just shy of the right turn lane.

Just as I was about to tell my son that that was close, I look in my side mirror just in time to see the Ody sliding towards me. WHAM!!! Ody rode up over the bumper and smashed into the trunk and left quarter panel. Luckily, she pushed me into the turn lane and the cars coming down saw it coming (she, too, was sliding slowly) so they moved over. Ody's bumper was unclipped and the center grill was loose. We went around the block into the dojo to assess the damage. Ody...not too bad. Civic...not too good.

At home, I removed the bumper of the Ody and reattached it. No metal damage. Grill popped back in place and, thanks to the front mask, no paint damage was apparent. I told my wife we were lucky that the Ody wouldn't have to go in for repairs...

The Civic was another story. $5500 later, the Civic is as good as new. Luckily, since she rode up over the bumper, there was no frame damage.

Now, HERE's the kicker...a couple weeks later (I still don't have the Civic back), I get a text message from my wife that basically said "CRAP!!!" She was in a parking lot and hit a wooden pole at the end of the island and put a scrape and two dents on the right side of the Ody. I told her she just wasn't happy with the Ody not having damage. ;) Seven months later...Civic looks great...Ody still has the dent.

Re: Fender Bender
 

I think we have a winner :)

Re: Fender Bender
 

Might have that one beat... Our third car is a 1986 Isuzu Impulse which is in showroom condition. I keep it under a cover in the garage. For the past ten years, I've only put about 4,000 miles on it.

About two years ago, while completely stopped, someone rear-ended me. The other driver's insurance covered that one, and it was as good as new.

A few weeks ago, my son accidentally tipped over a baseball pitching machine and it put a dent in the left rear quarterpanel. $400 later, repaired... good as new. Here's the kicker... On the way home from the body shop, my wife gets rear ended while stopped at a light!!!

The car has been hit three times within maybe 2,000 miles of driving... all while completely stationary. Luckily, the last hit caused no damage whatsoever.

Car is fun to drive, but my wife suggested we change the personalized plate to read
"HIT ME"
;)

http://www.geocities.com/jshein/impulse.jpg

Re: Fender Bender
 

Oh man Jeff, I think it's "jinxed". I would sell it and start over. ;)

Re: Fender Bender
 

In 2003, my HCH was less than a week old. When a coyote tries to run across the highway in front of me, doing 60 mph. He almost made it, did $1600 damage to the front end. Insurance company covered it under comprehensive, so I wasn't charged for an accident and had no effect on my insurance rates.

Re: Fender Bender
 

Got sideswiped twice in a parking lot, on scuffed the front passenger side, the other put tire transfer and a deep scratch in the fuel filler area. My aife got caught in a hailstorm, and a big 'ol Chevy truck driven by a UAW guy from MI missed his exit on the toll road, cut across the stone median at 60+ mph and covered my not-quite-new HCH II with paint and windshield chips from large stones. Some people...

Re: Fender Bender
 

Ugh! I just got THE CALL...

Wife backed into a phantom post. It was painted green. She says the plastic of the bumber is split. Body shop says the part painted and installed is around $630 new $570 refurbed.

Thanks for all your horror stories... I feel a teensy bit better...

Also, int rying to decide whether to fix this or not (my deduc is $500, so it will likely be all out of pocket) has anyone considered the Environmental cost of the repair? It seems like such a waste to replace and paint the entire rear bumper cover for one gash.

Isn't there some sort of eco-band-aide? :)

Re: Fender Bender
 

Visibility on these things for anything low is terrible. It seems like new is the way to go. Maybe shop it around a bit more if it's out of pocket.