Front end accident. Repair follow up with alignment tabs and more.

Yeah... Bummer.
Hit a guy who was pulled off to the side of the road whom was lost, went to pass him, then at the last second he starts a left hand u turn right as I'm passing him WITH NO SIGNAL!! On a single lane road with no shoulders, just dirt berm on the right, desert to the left. And I was the one who got ticketed! BULLSHIT! It was totally all his fault. I took a ton of pics and will be fighting this. And will probably win. Cop even admitted to being inexperienced with traffic accidents. For whatever reason he took his word over mine that he signaled. 'Failure to control vehicle to avoid accident'. So yeah, I hit him at about 20mph by the time I slowed before I hit him, going about 40 originally in a 45. I was being cautious because he previously did a u-turn when I first came up on him. Was about 3 car lengths behind when I got up to him after he continued on, then about 5 or so after I backed off a little because he was tapping his brakes going through some curves. After the road straightened, he gradually slowed and pulled over to the far right of the road, he didnt signal or anything. I assumed he was letting me pass, or stopping one. So I let off the brakes and went to pass!!!

But yeah, I was pissed. I came out with a nasty attitude towards him. Felt bad afterwards, but who could blame me for being pissed at retarded drivers!! Sigh..

Didnt think damage was TOO bad till I started driving back home, and it was wondering/jerking/pulling all over the damn place. I hit his front left fender/wheel with my front right bumper/fender/tire. I think the bumper and tire took the brunt of the initial damage. But after getting it on the lift, I noticed it was a bit more serious. The right lower control arm was popped out of place. Pushed in towards the motor. Front and back bolts. Went to take pics and ALSO noticed that the alignment cam tabs, that are welded to the crossmember, were bent flat. Both front and rear. So I attempted to pry it back out and tighten er down and test drive it. It's now not herky jerky, but alignment is still way off. So I think I can at least safely drive it for now to town if need be. I am going to call Big-O tomorrow or drive down there and see what they can do IF they can even do anything. probably wont as it cant be properly aligned. Idk what to do now.. My court date is the 26th. Then from there I can let insurance take over with the claim for repairs. Which will be handled through them regardless of outcome at court because I have full coverage. And I need to know if I can continue driving this or not. I think me and my brother might be able to align it a bit better ourselves, if big-o wont touch it that is.

I'm just so lost on everything right now. I'm hoping for the best, that I will win at court, get it all approved for repair, get me a loner vehicle provided by insurance co, and wait till the repairs are done and have her back again in tip top shape..

So the question is, how bad is this?? Obviously there's a lot of repairs. But I'm more concerned with how they'll treat the damage to the crossmember. Thats not a cheap and easy part to replace! Or does it not matter? I'm thinking worst case scenario, "TOTALLED!!" But I would like to hope that they'll just replace it as well no problem... I have no clue what to expect. Never dealt with insurance claims/repairs before. I'm freaking out right now, lol.














The damage... Dem Hyundai's are pretty solid! Look at that shit.. just a scratch compared to mine

 

Replacements so far as I can tell at the very least:

Fender
Bumper
Windshield washer fluid reservoir (cracked somewhere)
Crossmember
Headlight (retro, which I already have new housings and projectors I was waiting to install)
Probably cam bolts/plates
Re-do my 8" led bar bracket in turn signal area (was a bitch to make)
Possibly fender flare
Probably replace LBJ, maybe tie rod
maybe wheel bearing

I also saw a few related threads at the bottom of the page that I just glanced at, and saw total chaos sells some weld-on reinforced cam tab gussets. Would the insurance co/repair shop consider this? Do they actually have repair shops that they go to and they figure it all out themselves or do you have any say in how/where it gets repaired? Or is it let them do it, or get a check and you do it yourself/take it where you want? I guess I can do it myself if need be. My bro has a lot of nice tools as well as a nice welder...

 

make sure the repair shop has a frame machine. This truck needs to have the frame measured to make sure that it is not "diamoned". I'm betting that they will find it is. I hope I'm wrong, but the last 3 trucks of my own that I rebuilt had corner impacts and they all were diamond shape.

Many cases the IC will "total" a truck with abent frame.

I'm pretty sure any decent Insurance Company adjuster will specify that the truck will have to go to a facility with a frame machine.

 

Well I forgot I have an old friend who is an Insurance adjuster for my insurance company I have, so he willbe overlooking everything! Helped me a ton on what to do and have an appointment for Tuesday morning at Brighton Collison center and a rental waiting for me. Parts will also be guaranteed for the life of the vehicle. Also filled out my claim online as well as calling it in. And they say I'm 100% not at fault. And will be fighting to get my $500 deductible back. As far as the frame, I'm unsure but I'll remind him to check it if he can. My custom headlight and led bar along with anything else I think is custom and needs replacing will be listed with receipts for the adjuster to review since those cannot be fixed at the shop. They all assured me everything would be taken care of properly so I'm feeling pretty relieved now. I just hope I win at court as well. I took a TON of pics as well as more with detailed diagrams of the driving, what led to it, where he was when he was stopped, his projected path, my skid marks outlined, as well as more shots of the rural road showing there was areas where he could have safely made his u-turns. Idk if that'll help me or not, but worth a shot I guess. I would hope the more info and pics I have than he does, would be a good sign that I'm trying to prove my innocence and am in fact not at fault. We shall see..

 

Cripes!,,what a bummer. Not at Fault? double win. let it rip,,right back to pre crash condition.

I had a light duty, tire screetching, bumper banger a few years back, I kicked the plastic bumper section back into place, as it just got pushed against the frame end. You have the full chrome center section, so it held all the way across and bent the crap out of it, sucks!

Tell them to keep the claim open after it is ready to be picked up. DON"T CLOSE THE CLAIM upon delivery and signature. There is usually a 6 month to 2 year rider that says it has to stay open,,but double check with your Ins buddy.

,,,For radiator stuff, and A/C stuff, that might fail and leak soon after. Even if they are not leaking now,,they might start soon just due to the impact loading, twisting, tweaking. You have a crapload of wiring,,so you might buddy up with the mech doing the work and slowly walk him thru relevant stuff about that. No need for him to nuke the system.

 

an illegal u-turn would almost be his fault (depends on who gets believed) and if he pulled off the road that's a generally accepted rule of he is no longer traveling on the road, therefore opening it up to you. again it depends on who the court believes.

thing is that custom work, unless properly turned into the insurance to cover it, does "not" have to be fixed. the Ins company is responsible for getting the vehicle back to factory drive-able condition. even then used parts are the norm

 

why do you think you need a new cross member?
wheel bearing?
cam bolts/plates are fine. unless they are seized in there.
replacing the LBjs wouldnt be a bad idea.

but if your going to isurance for it... mise well get all you can LOL

 

Because those tabs are bent, which are welded onto the crossmember. And I doubt the collision center is going to do some major fabrication work to get new tabs welded back on there. Unless it gets taken to a different shop but I don't think they do that. Idk. Also the wheel bearing because I can now feel play in it where I couldn't before. Just a hair but. I will probably be replacing them of they don't. To make sure it doesn't fail prematurely.

It really doesn't look that bad, but it took a pretty good jolt to the wheel. So much that it pushed the lower control arm all the way in, bending the alignment tabs completely flat, making it so loose that it was literally shaking the lower control arm and wheel side to side as I drive home.

Idk we shall see what happens. I'm hoping for the best and that they don't forget anything. And yeah, whether or not I can work with the mechanic to walk him through when I get there, all the custom stuff and wiring so he doesn't fuck it all up. I know I'm gonna have to 're-do a lot of stuff. Especially the Light bars mounted back in. They were a bitch too.

It's just a nightmare. There really is a lot of repairs. And work on my end to bring it back to how she looked before. Never thought I'd get in a wreck. Especially when we were the only two cars on the frickin road, out in the middle of fucking nowhere. I'll post a pic with a diagram of what happened here in a few. Get yer opinions on that because I'm preparing all my pictures as well as a report/write-up to present to the court.

 

my comments above in bold. not trying to be a dick with that response by the way.
its really not that much to repair man, your not down and out, youll be back to where you were in no time

 

Oh I thought that crossmember was bolted on. Yeah as you can tell I know nothing about the frame. Just what I assumed. How would the repair shop handle that though with the tabs?

Again I see there is heavier duty tabs you can purchase, grind off old ones, and weld on new... If I end up having to repair this myself, could I present this to the adjuster and get reimbursed for them perhaps? Then weld them on myself? Or rather my bro because idk how to weld, ha. I would think that they'd attempt to bend them over themselves and weld them, but I'm not convinced a collision center wouldn't know what to do with that type of thing. Maybe a fab shop.. I have no clue.. Regardless I will be discussing this with the adjuster tomorrow. See what they say.. But would like to know what to tell them if they ask me what I want to do about it if they cant fix it. Perhaps send it to a fab shop. If they even will provide that. Maybe even have the frame checked as well.

And i rocked the wheel top to bottom. Very little play. But I can feel it. It could just be the ball joint. Idk. Was just stating that its a possibility that might have been affected as well.

 

Here's the pictures I have prepared for the judge. Idk how good of a job I did, or if it will help me. I realize its not proof, its just my side of the story of what happened. And I'll be stating that to the judge. I know it's really none of my business what he was doing, where he was going, but figured the more in detail I can be, the better. What do you think of presenting these, as well as whom was at fault?


EDIT: Well I huess the resizing made the print too small in most of the pics. Except the last one. But I will be bringing in my tablet to present the photos so he can easily zoom in and out. And the full size are easier to read. Don't want the judge to have to use a magnifying glass if he's 70. ha.

I'll see if I can link out the originals. (FIXED)

 

and for the last part, its probably the ball joint. those are known to go out on our trucks. the wheel bearings, not so much. they are pretty bulletproof on toyotas.
it could be the wheel bearing, dont get me wrong, but i just really doubt it. and they are expensive to replace so lets hope the wheel bearing is fine. haha

 

post #11 above edited with larger pics. Lemme know what you guys think...

 

when he pulled over to the side, did he ever get to a complete stop?


either way, i dont think it was your fault.

Edit: i dont know the laws and im not a cop, so i dont know.

 

Cool thanks man. Yeah I think the wheel bearings need replaced anyways. I will probably just be sure to put these items first on my to-do list if they don't replace any of them. And sounds like a plan with the insurance paying out for the repairs to crossmember. Will see what the adjuster says about that. And hopefully I can find a nice fab shop to quote me on it. Would they have to physically look at it or could I show them the pics and get a quote?

 

Um, pretty much. He might have been inching forward. I'm not sure because he was VERY gradually slowing and pulled to the far right. As I caught up to him he mustve been really close to stopping, but I was already beside him at that point. He turned into me at the last second. Like he was debating on doing his u-turn or not. He was completely lost. My first thought when he started slowing, was that he was just letting me pass him and he was gonna continue on. I've had that happen multiple times on this road. People sight see on this road sometimes. There's some petroglyphs nearby.

 

yeah i think its his fault. hope it works out for you.

 

Me too brother, and can I say HOLYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LED'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

Haha. yeah... AND i came out of the truck, all pissed off, and was like, "DID YOU NOT SEE ME FOLLOWING YOU OR WHAT!?!?!"

He goes, "Yeah your truck has what, orange lights?"

I say, "YEAH!! SO PEOPLE CAN SEE ME BETTER!!!!!"

lol. Guess it didnt help. Idk if he truly saw me or not, he had to. I followed him for a good 1/2 mile or more, idk. But my lights were in his face when he got out so he mightve just said that.

 

It will be all back together soon. It sucks but it will work out bro