[Deuce-Koup]

I wasn't really sure where this should be posted but I figured this to be most fitting.
I was in a minor accident on the weekend. Nobody was injured and it truly was just a bad place at the wrong time kinda thing. The vehicle in front of me lost control so I put my foot on thebrakes to avoid compounding the problem. Immediately my koup began to slide and I could tell yhr I was not going to be ableto stop in time so a choice had to be made. The passenger door of the vehicle in front, oncoming traffic or the snow on the side of the street? I chose the snow bank figuring the worst that could happen would be replacing the bumper and considering I want to get a full body kit down the road the bumper wouldn't be much of a loss.

Unknown to myself there happened to be a large temporary curb under all that snow and when I hit it a lot more than the bumper got damaged. My dealership quoted me for $3900 +gst for parts and labour. Not including the bumper. Control arm, strut, wheel bearing, and sub-frame are among the many things I now need to replace. The car still drives but I highly doubt it is safe! Thank goodness for comprehensive insurance or else my 4 month old koup would be a write off as I am a newly married young man with not a whole lot of financial back-up.

The moral of this story is avoid the curb and point it to the car in front. It might suck but it's better than the ridiculous amount of undercarriage damage.

 

[[email protected]]

I am sorry to hear about your accident and luckily nobody was hurt. Although you Koup did get damaged, I still think you may have done the right choice by hitting the curb/snowbank. If you had pointed it to hit the car in front of you, maybe the car would have had less damage but you and the passengers might have got hurt. We can replace cars...but we can't replace people. I think you did the right thing.

 

[ForteGT2]

^^^I agree -- the choice to hit the snow was better than hitting the car in front of you for two more reasons: You could recieve a ticket for failure to control your vehicle AND you could cause whiplash to the people in the car you hit. The total damages would most likely be as high too since you don't know how much damage you would have sustained -- it could have been considrably more (maybe). However, the cost of litigation for the whiplash injury is often outrageous and your insurance company would most likely have been shelling out large amounts of money for the injuries too. You might think the insurance company takes care of all this but you would be wrong -- you can get sued for the injuries too (in US at least, not sure about Can.)!

You just happened to find the snowbank that was covering something too...wish you would have just hit snow....

 

[spicyredkoup]

I would take the snow and hope for the best rather than hit another car if possible. If you are ever in that situation again it might be just snow and a cushioned stop rather than an expensive repair.

 

[Deuce-Koup]

You all have very good points. When I typed this up I was pretty frustrated with the size of the bill and I most certainly wasn't thinking about potential injuries. You have all made me feel much better about the choice I made! Thank you!

 

[Xray89]

I had a similar situation happen to me 3 years ago. A car was dead in the road and I didn't notice until I was on it so I had a choice of rear end, going off a 6 foot embankment into a forest or swerve left. I chose left and got in a front end collision, luckily no one was hurt..... except for my F150 sheared the cab off of the chassis, so yeah you definitely made the right decision. You're car isn't totally killed and you didn't jeopardize anyone else's safety.

 

[noodile]

I am glad you're fine, and hope for your koup to be fixed real soon.


Can we have some pictures. Please, please, please.

 

[Geek.Verve]

Sorry to hear about your accident, but glad you're ok. I agree with others here. You most certainly did the right thing. I would have done the same (if I wasn't concentrating too much on trying to avoid crapping in my pants, that is). Props for keeping your head.

Hind sight's 20/20. Nine times out of ten the snow will be the most logical choice. Like michael said, cars can be replaced, people can't.

 

[jcbel]

You made the right choice Deuce, a car you can fix but people not necessarily... stay safe in the crazy weather over there!

 

[Deuce-Koup]

@ noodle
Sorry, I turned the car over for repairs before I got any pictures. I'll see if the body shop will share their photos with me or let me take some of the damaged bumper.

@ jcbl
Thanks. I know how freaky it is to get in an accident and have little to no mental power to do anything. But after that happened once I took it upon myself to learn how to deal with a bad situation. I don't claim to know what to do in every situation, nobody possibly could, but I do know how to handle my car and make it do what I tell it to.

@ everyone else
Thank you for your support and concern. I have come to grips with the fact that I did it to myself, but it was way better than the alternative!

 

[thiefness]

Deuce, definitely the correct decision, especially considering that if you had hit their passenger door you could have made the airbag(s) go off, which is quite a costly repair in and of itself, let alone anything else that was damaged. Including potential injuries. :]

Hope the body shop does a good job, good luck.

 

[Deuce-Koup]

When I get the car back I will try and get some photos for you guys. I still need to put up an avatar too! Lol
The really dumb thing is that apparently ALL the parts needed are on back order so they said best case I get the car back the week before Christmas. But at least I got a rental in the mean time.

 

[thiefness]

What kinda rental did you end up with? :]

 

[Deuce-Koup]

A gold '09 Toyota Carolla. It's ok but I really miss my SX.

 

[Deuce-Koup]

so I got an update on the preogress made on my SX today... None! apparently all of the OEM suspension parts are on back-order and they don't expect to get them in until mid to late January. in the mean time, my rental allowance is almost maxed out and my insurance company wont cover me for anymore than what I currently have even though without a car I have no job, and if i have no job, they wont get paid the deductible. Its so nice that the people who are supposed to be there to help you end up telling you where you can shove it and that you have to be happy with it too. Unfortunately I am a young man and young people dont know anything so trying to fight for whats right is next to impossible. yay.

 

[HerAlterEgo]

Do you have a co-signer on the loan? If I was in your situation I would give my dear old Dad a phone call.

 

[tommdm]

Try to get something out of the dealership! Question the dealership after-sale service and how reliable they can be if they cannot b there for you when you need them the most! It may work out!

 

[Deuce-Koup]

Update:
Got the car back today! Oh God how nice it is to be back in my baby! I really need to be careful though. After driving that crappy Carolla for so long it has become far too easy to speed. I found myself driving down Glenmore Tr. here in Calgary and I felt like grabbing another gear, so I did. After grabbing another, and another I found myself doing 140k and thinking holy crap how did that happen. Lol

As for the body work, it looks great! The body shop colour matched it very well. I dont know what under the body looks like but I would assume pretty good because it drives like a dream. When I bought it, it had a slight pull to the right. Bu now it tracks very straight. I could let go of the wheel and it would hold true forever.
I will try to post some pics of the car once I have some goodies installed.

Thanks again for everyones concern and support! It has been very reassuring to me while I have been without my car.

Everyone in winter conditions, drive safe and leave space. Ice can come outta nowhere. Everyone else... Drive crazy, take chances! (Jk)

Deuce

 

[Kia Forplay]

good to hear that you and your koup are back on the road.