[Sparky5501]

I'm bummed out. My Insight suffered an awful black eye Sunday morning. It had just rained here in Seattle for the first time in over 60 days. So, as you can imagine the roads were very, very slick.

Well, just my luck, I hit a slick spot on a Highway off ramp and my Insight kissed the guardrail. Luckly no one including myself was injured. This was a low speed accident but wow is it expensive. $4000 + US dollars for repairs.

The hood is slightly bent, right headlight is scraped up, front bumper is black and blue, inner frame rail is tweeked, and misc brackets are buckled. The Insight still drives and runs great though.

The insurance adjuster will look at it tomorrow. Hopefully the body shop estimate I recieved will jive with what the adjuster calculates.

I'll update when I get furthur into the process of having it repaired.

Sad Insight owner...

 

[Delta Flyer]

If it was me, living in Texas with State Farm insurance my rates would go up about 15% for three years. Defensive driving is a 10% discount. If you are due for defensive driving, this could take some of the sting out of it.

Not a lot of places are certified to work on aluminum bodies. Be glad you are living in Seattle, and not Spokane. I'm all but certain a Honda or Acura dealer is certified to work on Insights.

Good Luck on the repairs - I've been there.

 

[amplifiedmouse]

 

[RickM]

What are your insurance rates? Mine are around 800 for full coverage per year.

 

[amplifiedmouse]

wow, mines 725 for full coverage for 6 months.


i love been a 'young driver'



replace love with dislike.

 

[Guest]

I'm paying £375 a year!!!!! :lol:

 

[Willie Williford]

first accident

Full coverage, including uninsured motorist from WAWANESA in Calif. is a staggering $203.00 per year. (thats less than my registration). Willie*

 

[Sparky5501]

Re: first accident

QUICK UPDATE:

My estimate from the insurance company was about $1000 less than the shop. But, Met-Life can only quote damage they can physically see and did not take into account having the 144Volt battery pack disconnected and mechanical labor. So, this is to be expected. When unseen damage is found the bodyshop calls the Met-life adjuster out to add it to the estimate. It's kind of a slow process but I guess it prevents false claims and price gouging.

My deductible is $300 and I recieved a $100 rebate from Met-life for not having any claims for two years (sweet). So, I'm only out of pocket $200 and under $300 for rental car. I highly recommend having rental car coverage!!! I kinda lucked out there with Budget with a discount for being a AAA member, other wise it would be around $500 for the two week rental.

Right now my Insight is at the body shop being worked on. I think I'll go look at it all taken apart.

Ugh! I don't want to drive a rental anymore. Horrible gas milage.

More later...

 

[Sparky5501]

UPDATE #2

I got to check out my Insight with the front torn down. The whole car is on the measurement rack. The Damage isn't very extensive. The front frame is swung to the left by one inch, so it will be easy to bring back to square. The bumper reinforcement took the brunt of the collision.

The general manager went over what will be replaced. Looks like the entire front assembly comes from the factory as one piece so all they have to do is tig weld a few small spots and bolt on the entire front bumper/frame assembly. This will make trueing the frame a breeze (I hope).

While the shop has the Insight I asked them to not attach the hood emblem. I think that will give the front a nice clean look. Also, I'm looking into getting new tires and wheels for the Insight. Might as well while it's getting all this work done.

I should be getting a call to pick up the insight Tuesday or wednesday.

More later...

 

[Sparky5501]

UPDATE 3:

Whew! I'm pushing three weeks now for my Insight to get repaired. It would have been done in one but the insurance company wants to verify all of the new damage the colision center finds. What a PITA! Well I guess I can't complain too much cos my premiums are low.

I should have the Insight back by tomorrow morning. I gotta hand it to my collision center. The insurance company sent them a remanufactured bumper and it ended up being crap and not conforming to the standards of the body shop. So, I'm getting all new factory parts on my car. Yea!!

Three weeks in a rental is murder. I've already spent over $60 bucks in gas. With the Insight I'd only be at about $25 bucks.

About the accident:
Turns out slick roads combined with bald tires were the two factors for the car to loose adheasion to the road. I have vowed not to replace the tires with Potenza RE92's. I'm still deciding which tire to swith to.

More to come...

 

[Sparky5501]

UPDATE #4:

Yippeee, It's DONE!

Well, I have my Insight back from the collision center. I have to say they did a wonderful job. The Paint match is pretty much dead on. THe alignment went well and the car drives like normal. I did notice more engine noise than normal so I'll have the dealership look at it when i go in for an oil change. The collision center also had another insight they were working on for a rear bumper repair so they used the front end as reference for my Insight and vise-versa. They said it was a great help having two of the same car in the shop for the repairs. The repair diagrams only tell so much, so having the real deal at your disposal to campare sure made it easier for them. I will have to add one engine data label they missed in the estimate, luckly it only costs $3 dollars. (no big deal)

The approx grand total for all of the collision repairs is just under $5500 dollars. I still need to reapply the graphics I had on the sides of the car and come up with a new licence plate holder (I don't like the stock one).

Also, I'm going to go with a different treatment for the front nose. No emblem with the Insight logo on the driverside of the hood by the headlight. The logo will be the same size as the logo on the rear hatch glass. I have to get it custom made. Right now there's no trim on the front of the car so it look a little bare. It's a super clean look but, It's just not right yet.

Side note: My rental cost for the three weeks comes out to $420 dollars. i guess I learned my lesson on not taking rental car coverage when I started my policy. It's going on my policy ASAP so I don't ever have to use it which I hope will be the case. I am also very glad to get rid of the automatic. Three weeks of driving an auto made my manual driving skills a little rusty.

Time to get new tires to replace the old wornout stockers.

Later...

 

[Sparky5501]

Update #5

So, after driving the Insight on my normal commute for the past couple of day that slight engine noise I was hearing has gone away. i'm guessing everything in the front end had to settle into place. It was a really strange noise coming from the steering column or dash pod (sounded like a speedo cable binding in the casing if you've had an old 60's car). But it isn't noticeable now.

The inside of the car still smells like new paint. The smell is going away, but does it ever stink. If you've smelled fresh auto paint you'll know what I'm talking about. Ick... :?

I'm soooo happy to have my Insight drivable again.

Does anyone have comments or questions about my experience???
I'd be glad to elaborate.

Thanks for reading...

 

[Guest]

I'm glad I read this...not because of your accident :-(, but because it's almost rainy season here, and my tires need to be rotated badly! I'll learn from your lesson. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Sparky5501]

I'll learn from your lesson. Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad my experience could help you out. Yes, get your tires rotated. If the dealership recommends to get them replaced then do so at the soonest possible moment you can.

Once the RE92's wear out their outer tread they become unstable on wet pavement.

I ended up buying Potenza RE950 High performance all season tires. You don't need to go that aggresive. But I would recommend The Potenza RE950, Potenza RE910, and the Michelin Harmony. There are others that have been recommended on the list but these had the best treadwear and performance I could find for wet weather out of an all season.

Hope this helps.