First (Minor) Accident - How Bad is It?

[ARK]

I had my first accident today. Side swiped by someone who drifted into my lane on a sharp curve. My front right side connected with his left rear side. How bad is the damage?

I’m most concerned with the light assembly, it looks a little scratched at the edge. Can that be polished? There is also a small scrape on the wheel which I hope should be fixable without replacement. The bumper, fender, and that black trim surrounding the wheel well look like they will have to be repainted though.

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[Monke]

I hope you can find the best body shop. Ford body shop will be the best. Ford dealers in town do not have body shop so this would be a nightmare. Why not trying to get everything changed out since the deductible will have to be paid once?

 

[DevSecOps]

Well, that sucks doesn't it? Glad it wasn't anything major!

The wheel should be an easy fix. Is anything bent/dented/dinged or do you think they could just re-paint? Hard to tell by that picture.

 

[TsunmiBob]

I had someone add a “racing stripe” to my passenger side. Pickup pulling a trailer that drifted into my lane. I stopped - the trailer dragged along the whole side of the car, ripping off the side mirror too. Cost estimate is $5400.

As I contacted body shops, they directed to me to a place that specializes in EV’s. I guess the heat curing process for paint work can affect batteries, something to check out. Also repairs are delayed because of supply chain.

Wishing you the best on getting yours repaired!

 

[ARK]

Well, that sucks doesn't it? Glad it wasn't anything major!

The wheel should be an easy fix. Is anything bent/dented/dinged or do you think they could just re-paint? Hard to tell by that picture.

Thanks. Yes, it does suck. It doesn’t appear bent/dented/dinged - the most damage appears to be where the bumper meets the fender. Here is a different pic.

 

[ARK]

I hope you can find the best body shop. Ford body shop will be the best. Ford dealers in town do not have body shop so this would be a nightmare. Why not trying to get everything changed out since the deductible will have to be paid once?

Thanks, I had to take it into a Ford dealer for a continuing inability to get handsfree BlueCruise, I guess they can handle this too while it is there.

 

[ARK]

I had someone add a “racing stripe” to my passenger side. Pickup pulling a trailer that drifted into my lane. I stopped - the trailer dragged along the whole side of the car, ripping off the side mirror too. Cost estimate is $5400.

As I contacted body shops, they directed to me to a place that specializes in EV’s. I guess the heat curing process for paint work can affect batteries, something to check out. Also repairs are delayed because of supply chain.

Wishing you the best on getting yours repaired!

Ouch, that’s awful, especially on that gorgeous all white package.

The guy who hit me is blaming it on me, this is going to be an obnoxious insurance fight. I wish I had a dash cam…

 

[ChuckA]

I’m not an expert, but in my experiences a side swipe in the front is the other party’s fault. You might have been in their blind spot, but not visa-versa.

Based on the location of the damage to his car, it should be clear it’s his fault. You were cut off during the turn. Were the police called?

 

[ARK]

I’m not an expert, but in my experiences a side swipe in the front is the other party’s fault. You might have been in their blind spot, but not visa-versa.

Based on the location of the damage to his car, it should be clear it’s his fault. You were cut off during the turn. Were the police called?

If there’s some rule like that, that would be great. We were traveling in the same direction though. The road is two lanes in each direction.

On a curve, I was on the inside he was on the outside. He got ‘scared’ of the curve, hugged his inside line so badly he crossed his lane and hit me. No reaction from him despite me honking and braking as I saw it happen, and I had very limited room to swerve because of a traffic island to my own left and him bearing down from my right. Claims I overshot my lane and crossed into his.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I had my first accident today. Side swiped by someone who drifted into my lane on a sharp curve. My front right side connected with his left rear side. How bad is the damage?

I’m most concerned with the light assembly, it looks a little scratched at the edge. Can that be polished? There is also a small scrape on the wheel which I hope should be fixable without replacement. The bumper, fender, and that black trim surrounding the wheel well look like they will have to be repainted though.

Make sure they check that light assembly. The tabs on them aren’t very strong. If the tab breaks it’sa couple of $K for that piece alone.

 

[ChuckA]

If there’s some rule like that, that would be great. We were traveling in the same direction though. The road is two lanes in each direction.

On a curve, I was on the inside he was on the outside. He got ‘scared’ of the curve, hugged his inside line so badly he crossed his lane and hit me. No reaction from him despite me honking and braking as I saw it happen, and I had very limited room to swerve because of a traffic island to my own left and him bearing down from my right. Claims I overshot my lane and crossed into his.

Not a rule, just common reasoning. Both cars were staggered and he was in front and cut you off. Good luck in arguing with insurance if there is no police report. I’d stick to the “he cut me off” argument.

 

[MotownMachdoc]

I had my first accident today. Side swiped by someone who drifted into my lane on a sharp curve. My front right side connected with his left rear side. How bad is the damage?

I’m most concerned with the light assembly, it looks a little scratched at the edge. Can that be polished? There is also a small scrape on the wheel which I hope should be fixable without replacement. The bumper, fender, and that black trim surrounding the wheel well look like they will have to be repainted though.

Does the passenger door open and close without catching? If it binds there is an alignment issue with the fender, bumper or otherwise.

 

[ARK]

Does the passenger door open and close without catching? If it binds there is an alignment issue with the fender, bumper or otherwise.

Seems to be OK, though I’ll ask the dealership to make sure it all looks ok, especially @ChasingCoral’s suggestion on the lights. I *almost* avoided it which is what is so frustrating, if it wasn’t for the concrete traffic island, I could have dipped into the oncoming lane a bit. I guess the upside is the damage seems pretty minor considering the 30-35ish speed we must have both been traveling.

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