My Chevy got wreckeed

Burrito · June 26, 2005

I got broadsided yesterday by a guy who ran a red light. He was driving a '95 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel and he hit me dead on my driver's side tire area. Obvious damage on the vehicle is both front quarter panels, the hood, the grille, front bumper, the whole wheel assembly was bent, I glanced under the truck and saw a tie rod that was bent bad. My fan hits the plastic shroud because the plastic at the front of the engine compartment popped out of place and is now offset. I really hope it is all fixable and they don't total the truck. It's worth about $17,000 and there certainly doesn't appear to be even close to that much damage on it. Does anybody have a similar experience where your vehicle was totaled when you didn't think it would be or was totaled for an odd reason?

Edited in:

Here are some pics. The last one is of the outer tie rod that was bent like a coat hanger.

99-2door · June 27, 2005

If he hit you right in the side on the tire, you most likely have frame damage around the front suspension.

If that is the case, you want the truck to be totalled. If it is fixed it will never drive right again.

mmmikkke · June 27, 2005

My '86 K20 C6P got t-boned right into the right front tire by a Buick back in 1989. The guy ran a stop sign at 40 mph (4-way stop). I had the misfortune of having a mexican standoff with the car to my left, we both started to go, then both stopped again, then I decided to gas it to get out of his way. So my eyes were on *him*, not realizing the the car coming from the right was in la-la land and didn't even try to stop. So I was at 3/4 throttle, moving at about 15 mph, when I hear about 1 second of horn and then suddenly I'm sitting on the passenger side (bench seat) and I'm about 15 feet displaced sideways from my original line of travel.

The guy's air bag deployed and all he had was a cut knuckle. He got a ticket for running the stop sign.

But my poor truck, got *fixed*. Right front fender replaced, hood, grille, misc hardware all replaced. Frame had to be put on a frame rack and straightened.

I got the truck back about 2 weeks later and it drove fine, I was amazed. But about a week later I started to notice that it'd drive straight for a while, and then the steering wheel "center" would change all of the sudden, and it still drove fine, but the steering wheel was crooked. Turned out to be one of the joints in the SFA was bent and would swivel on its bent shaft to either of two positions.

Took it to the best frame shop in the area about 2 weeks after that, and had them rebuild the front end. THEY were the ones who discovered the problem with the bent shaft in the front axle. Cost me $500 but I called the insurance company and they split it with me. (I reasoned that a lot of what got replaced was just worn and not damaged in the accident.)

The reason I told you this is that if it's not obvious damage, they won't find it. It'll be up to you to find it after you get it back.

edit: Oh, by the way, sorry to hear that your GM truck got mopar paint on it. I hope it's ok after it gets fixed.

curly · June 30, 2005

Hate it for you !! I just went through this mess with my 1500 and I am still waiting for a settlement from the insurance company. Good luck getting the truck fixed (or totalled). Tell them to hurry up while GM still has Employee Discount Pricing .

Burrito · June 30, 2005

It's not totaled! The repair cost is $5700. I should get the truck back in 3 weeks or so. The only parts in steering and suspension that need to be replaced are the 2 left tie rods. Hopefully nothing unobvious was damaged. We'll see how she drives in a few weeks.

99-2door · June 30, 2005

Looks like the boot on your axle is busted.

Engineer · June 30, 2005

I got side swiped in my wife's Blazer 2 years ago this very week.

It too was a Dodge truck that ran a stop sign. When he hit me, I had swerved completely off the road onto another side road.

Up to that point the Blaze was perfect. Nary a scratch. When I took it to the body shop to get it fixed, I told them I wanted it to be perfect or better. I was not disappointed. You cannot tell my wife's Blaze was ever wrecked.

Oh, did I mention the good for nothing redneck piece of human fecal matter didn't have insurance? So no rental car while Blaze was in the shop.

I was out $500.00 for my deductible, plus we were in Texas, and had to drive back to MO, the first week of July with out any A/C

I also had to pay for the A/C repair because the insurance company said the wreck couldn't have caused the A/C to quit working.

Burrito- make sure your body shop is a good one, and every thing should get fixed. With laser aligning, like they used on my Blaze, every thing should be back to normal.

I hope your experience is better than mine was, but I don't see anything good coming from a wreck.

Burrito · June 30, 2005

Looks like the boot on your axle is busted.

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Actually I put too much grease in the upper ball joint and it squirted out and fell on the boot. Thanks for looking out for me though

Burrito · July 5, 2005

Well it's been a little over a week since my trucks been wrecked and I already miss the thing like crazy. The rental truck I have is a Nissan Titan, and it's not really even a truck. The thing only has 14,000 miles on it and it seems it's having problems already. The time the starter turns until the engine cranks is very inconsistent, sometimes real quick, sometimes several seconds. One time there was a funny noise when the engine fired up and black smoke came out the tail pipe. The A/C acts kinda wierd. There is really bad brake shudder. That steering wheel wiggles back and forth like crazy whenever braking. I guess the rotors are weak on these trucks. I definitley would not buy a Titan. It is fast though. I will give it that credit. But speed will only end your life sooner. It'll probably be 3 weeks before the good ol' chevy will be back in my driveway. A long 3 weeks.

Polak · July 5, 2005

Well it's been a little over a week since my trucks been wrecked and I already miss the thing like crazy. The rental truck I have is a Nissan Titan, and it's not really even a truck. The thing only has 14,000 miles on it and it seems it's having problems already. The time the starter turns until the engine cranks is very inconsistent, sometimes real quick, sometimes several seconds. One time there was a funny noise when the engine fired up and black smoke came out the tail pipe. The A/C acts kinda wierd. There is really bad brake shudder. That steering wheel wiggles back and forth like crazy whenever braking. I guess the rotors are weak on these trucks. I definitley would not buy a Titan. It is fast though. I will give it that credit. But speed will only end your life sooner. It'll probably be 3 weeks before the good ol' chevy will be back in my driveway. A long 3 weeks.

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Nothing Parties Like A Rental!!!

Burrito · July 14, 2005

I got my truck back today. It looks better than before it was in a wreck. No more dings on my hood and a messed up bowtie. I hope the shop did a quality job replacing suspension and steering parts. I'll find out as the miles turn over. So far though it drives great. Any suggestions on what I should do to make sure the front end is how it should be? Maybe get it up to 100 mph, or kick in in 4wd in the mud to make sure all is good?

silverado3500 · July 15, 2005

The biggest thing I would suggest is making sure that the alignment is correct. Time and tire wear will tell the truth about this. Watch for any pulling to the left or right. Probably wouldn't hurt to engage the 4x4 and drive it around in the dirt a little. No need for all out mud or anything.

Hope this helps