Got In An Accident :(

[akiraxtc]

So i was driving along a main street getting ready to stop for a traffic light. Suddenly a truck just goes out of a restaurant parking lot trying to cross the street going opposite my lane. I brake hard and honk at the truck. Apparently he is too focused on the lane that he going to get into and not noticing my lane and me in front of him. So he rammed me on my passenger side fender.

So we traded insurance info and the police came later... too late actually... 1 hour after the accident so the guy left the scene (apparently he is getting a hit & run ticket for that). At least his insurance company assumed liability and there's no denying by police report that he failed to yield. Now my car is in a body shop and it won't be done until May 21st. Estimated about $3400 to replace my fender, fix my door, replace my bumper and blend the paint.

Just hope the body work would be good enough so that i won't even notice the repainted panels... it just make me sick to think i'll have discoloration between the panels.

Do you know how much these car depreciates after such fender bender? Oh and the accident happens exactly 1 year after i bought this car! :cries:

I've been keeping this baby in pristine condition all these while... now this *BLEEP* happens.

In case you're wondering, my car is a 97 ES300, bought last year $11k/76k miles.

[Senna4ever]

I feel your pain....I got sideswiped last week. $1800 damage. It's so frustrating when one keeps his/her car spotless and accident free and then some fool comes along and ruins it. My first accident in 7 years...at least I didn't cause it...

[chadmg7]

That looks just like what happened to me last year, in a different car. I was behind a semi truck on a side road and got into the right hand turn lane. He apparently did not see me and he was in the middle lane (which is SUPPOSED to go straight) and he turned right and the back of his semi hit the front left of my car... looked A LOT like the picture you attached! I was so pi$$ed. Ended up being $4000 in damage. It was considered a "no fault" accident, so we each had to pay for it ourselves. My insurance paid for it all, but I had to pay the $500 deductible. And because it was "no fault," my insurance did not go up. Thank God for that!

So if you are ever near a semi at a traffic light or stop sign, the State of Minnesota says that you are not supposed to be within 50 FEET of the truck... yeah, that's really realistic.... hmm, let me just stop 50 FEET back and hold up traffic... how stupid

[akiraxtc]

Woohoo got my car back from the repair shop. Original estimate was 5/21.. they're 8 days early :)

Looks like they did an excellent job on my car, my roommate couln't even see which part is being repaired or not. If any of you in need of a good body shop in Atlanta area, now i can recommend World Toyota collision (recommended by Henessy Lexus actually) at Peachtree Ind. Blvd.

Since they replaced my right headlight now one of my headlights are brand spnkin' new and the other one is rather fogged.... how can i clean it up? :)

I guess this weekend i'll be cleaning my engine bay since there seems to be a lot of powdery stuff covering my engine probably from painting and their body shop's environment.

[steviej]

do a search on "clearing corners", this will tell you how to get the headlight off and open it up to clean it out.

A good plastic polish is Mequiar's Mirror Glaze system.

steviej