My first accident - Is it totaled?

[ethicaldesign]

I am 18 and purchased my car in July on my 18th birthday when I flew from PA to North Carolina to buy it because I was fascinated with its magnificent shape, features, and of course MPG. It is a 2005 Honda Insight CVT. Well, yesterday I was taking my girlfriend to work in the morning and a lady pulled right out in front of me. (Not my fault and I was going the speed limit). She was in an SUV and expected to just cut across both lanes and make a turn. She didn't realize their was oncoming traffic, so her jolt across the road did not work. She stopped right in front of me. I immediately started beeping and swirving to the right to avoid oncoming traffic and this lady. My front left bumper and fendor scraped her back side-rear. She had very minor damage, just a dent. I hit a fence trying to avoid this lady. So both sides of my fendor are damaged. I am so hurt because I worked so hard to get this car. Convincing my parents I was responsible and able to fly and get it. Judging by the photos and the availability of parts, is my car totaled? It looks worse live. =/

[Eli]

So sorry to hear. You picked an amazing first(?) car. Regardless of what happens, I hope you don't give up on Insight ownership! I wish I had an Insight when I was 18.

It really doesn't look that bad, but the devil is in the details. That door gash worries me. I wouldn't doubt it would be totalled if it was a 2000 or 2001. Since it's a 2005, I bet it will not be totalled. How many miles?

Even if it is totalled, buy it back and use some of the money to get the major things fixed - new hood, door, quarter panel, headlight and mirror(?) and you'll be good to go, I think.

[Dakine]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I had a very similar experience when I acquired my Insight (coincidently on July 15 2011). I flew to Sacramento, CA from Phoenix and was departing from Barstow around 4:30am. As I merged on to the freeway, a semi truck was in the fast lane and as I built up speed an animal, which I presume to be a coyote, appeared in the headlights on the right shoulder. I couldn't merge left and before I knew it the animal hit the front passenger side resulting in damage similar but not quite as extensive as what your vehicle sustained.

The insurance company (Ameriprise) was a little skeptical about the timing of the claim but once I provided all of the supporting documents they quickly paid the claim which amounted to $2,750. The shop was able to repair the bumper, the fender needed to be replaced along with several supporting parts. The good news was they were able to fix it and it sustained no mechanical damage. Your estimate will likely come in higher.

I would get three estimates from good shops and express my concern about the insurance company perhaps totaling the vehicle. Many shops can work wonders. Good luck on the fix and keep us posted.

Insight 7/11 Accident

[AbCaRed00]

That's a drag about the accident. Glad there were no serious physical injuries and hope all goes well with the car. Echos on good first choice: many will have this car as their lasting choice. The part of the vehicle under the A-pillar where it had hit, is one of the structurally strongest parts of most road vehicles; with Insight's aluminum body design, likely it's much stronger. If the hit door opens and re-closes straight that's a good sign; best luck.

[kennysmith]

I think I remember your story about the purchase. I was very happy for you. Sure sorry this has happened.

Do I understand that the other side is damaged, too? I don't know if it is totaled, but I would not be surprised. As you probably know, totaled just means it costs more to repair than it would to replace it. People worry about the safety of a rebuilt totaled car, but really the word does not reflect the amount of damage, just the amount of value of the damage vs the value of the car.

If it gets declared a total loss it will probably get sold at auction to a wrecking yard. I doubt there would be much profit in selling it to a rebuilder so it would be parted out & scrapped. We are running out of these cars, so I encourage you to buy it back from the insurance company and then fix it yourself or sell it to one of us and lets get it back on the road. Once you agree on the value the insurance co is paying you, ask how much to buy it back. There is another post from the last couple days where someone was told he could buy his car back for $580. Don't let it go to scrap for $580. Good Luck! I'll buy it (though I don't know where you are). PM me if it gets to that point and you need a buyer, but really many of us would love to have it.

[Wade.Moeller]

Since you are only 18, there are a couple important bits of information to know.

#1. You don't have to take the first offer. The job of the insurance adjuster is to spend as little money as possible. They will type your car's VIN and mileage into a database that will spit out an estimated value. If you look up your car on Edmunds, Kelly Blue Book, and NADA Guides, their first offer will usually be near the lower of those 3. Get on eBay and Craigslist and look for cars as close to your's as possible. Those prices will be higher then the pricing guides.

#2. They won't have taken into account any modifications or extra equipment. Get prices for anything already on the car and find the receipts for anything you have added. Anything older then 6 months and they will apply depreciation.

#3. If their obvious that the other driver is at fault, deal with their insurance directly. This allows you to be mean in negotiations since once you cash their check, you'll never have to talk to them again. If you have collision/comprehensive and file a claim with your agent, They'll do the negotiating to reclaim the money that they are paying out. Until they get the check, you'll have to put up the deductible yourself if you are repairing.

#4. If your car is rare and they total it, look to buy it back from them. It should be a fraction of what they are paying you. You car will get a salvage title and that could scare someone off when you go to sell it later and it will terminate any responsibility Honda has via a warranty. It only means that the cost to repair is more then the cost to replace. It won't take a lot of damage to total a car with a low value, but if you were to say smash a Corvette pulling out of the dealership, it will take much much more damage.

[ethicaldesign]

My adjuster said that at this moment it seems like she is at fault for the claim. He is still waiting for the police report. I hope they can fix it. It has a cruise control modification. By the wa, this part is irrelevant but a few weeks ago i was merging onto a highway. I was acellerating at a fast rate when i activated cruise control. All of a sudden my petal got stuck down and i could not turn of cruose control. I was driving for 15 minutes dodging,swirving, and beeping on the highway with my pedal to the floor. I had no clue what was going on! I literally thought i was going to die. I called my dad crying, he told me to turn my key off and i did so. It worked. I slowed down. I checked my throttle cable. It was tied into cruise control throtttle. Freak accident. Lol i am lucky to be alive. Anyways, my honda insight has 108,000 miles on it. I will buy back if i can and try to repair it.

[Eli]

Oh man, I'm glad that ended the way it did! Scary. Another thing you could have done is put it in neutral, and then shut the engine off when you came safely to a stop on the shoulder.

So.. what did you have her up to, 100?

Pushing on the brakes SHOULD disengage the cruise control. May want to look and see if it was installed properly.

[ethicaldesign]

Originally Posted by Eli

Oh man, I'm glad that ended the way it did! Scary. Another thing you could have done is put it in neutral, and then shut the engine off when you came safely to a stop on the shoulder.

So.. what did you have her up to, 100?

Pushing on the brakes SHOULD disengage the cruise control. May want to look and see if it was installed properly.

It normally does disengage, and on the computer it did. However, the actual curise control throttle cable was pulled down at the same time my regular throttle was pulled down. This "kink" from when I immediately let off the regular throttle cable, tied into the cruise control cable. Therotically, it can happen in any car with perfect timing. It was the perfect storm. I was going 90.
I have full coverage on the vehicle, so either way I am covered. I just hope it is not deemed totaled because of the amount of loss. I have only ever seen three Honda Insights in PA. (And in my life) lol

[AbCaRed00]

re: cruise control malfunction
If your's a Rostra here's what my Rostra actuator setup at the throttle looks like for reference. No problems with this setup thusfar; the cable actuator is self adjusting and the cable mount's solid.
For a time Rostra didn't have a throttle kit specific to the Insight and some guys made their own attachment to the throttle and others may have adapted variously from all the parts that came with the universal kit.
There are dip switch adjustments that can be made at the back of the Rostra cruise control unit to adjust how hard the cruise 'hits', ie. cable pulls back.
The cruise control 'gain' or sensitivity can be adjusted via the dip switches to maintain better economy by reducing TPS changes as much as possible at the expense of oscillating around the desired road speed. The unit ships in 'medium' which gives a bit of a tug; the 'extra low' worked best for me in lessening TPS fluctuation and staying in lean burn as much as could be realized.