Trip Report - I wrecked my car yesterday

[swede123]

So the first winter storm of the year in Denver hit us yesterday. Lots of heavy snow, lots of morons on the road who forgot about winter driving conditions since last time around.

First I'm stuck on the Interstate trying to get to work. I get about 200 yards in three hours and finally decide enough is enough. Turn around, head back up north.

I get kind of close to my exit, at which point I-25 turns from three to four lanes, the far right one ultimately turning into the offramp for my exit, about a mile ahead. The road at this point was wet, but not snowy, and there's some minor snow flurries and fog. I'm probably going 65 (speed limit is 75) and I move over to the far right lane. I see a car ahead and quickly realize it isn't moving very fast, if at all. At this point I hit the brakes, start sliding, and am rapidly approaching this 4Runner.

There's traffic to my left and a guard rail to my right, so rather than chancing bouncing out in traffic and get hit from the side or something I continue to apply brakes, slowing myself down to 50 maybe. I smash right into the 4Runner, pushing her a good 60 feet forward. My entire front end is completely crushed, but I suffer no immediate damage, other than some airbag burns on my hands and some soreness all around.

The cops are called, we exchange our information while waiting for the tow truck to get done with his business. Her car is barely damaged, the trailer hitch took most of the impact from my car. She then starts talking about neckpains and the cop has to fill out a full report.

About an hour after the initial wreck the cop drops me off at a nearby gas station where my wife picks me up. He then drops the girl from the other car off at the nearby hospital to get checked out.

Observations:
1) I was going too fast for the conditions. I doubt I could have prevented the accident had I gone ten miles slower but at least my car might have stood a chance.
2) I can't help but wonder what the lady was doing sitting stopped in the far right lane of the freeway. At best she was going like 20 mph which seems somewhat dangerous considering it's a 75 mph Interstate.
3) I must say I was impressed with the safety features of my car. I'm 6'8" and it's a pretty tight fit in my '98 Civic. Yet, the crumple zones worked well and none of my body parts banged up against the dash or wheel or anything.
4) I curse myself for the phone call I made back in April of this year, a call to my insurance agent to drop the full coverage on my car. Yup, liability only which means no insurance money to buy a new ride.

Well, that's pretty much it. If anyone has experience with salvage operations that might pay something (anything) for wrecked vehicles I'd appreciate any comments. Heck, a few hundred bucks in my pocket would beat nothing if that's what it came down to.

Swede

[tdarko]

sorry about your tough day, wrecks are always a pain in the ass. glad everyone is ok.

p.s. the carwash crashed my car into my gf's car last week /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

Damn, that sucks, Swede. I'm sorry to hear it. I'm glad everyone's alright, though, and it sounds like you did pretty much as well as you could have reacting to it.

I heard you got 6-8 inches over that way. I only got enough to turn the grass white at my house near the foothills and it was all gone overnight. That's weird, because usually we get the snow and you guys get the drizzly rain.

[Hiding]

Sorry about the wreck, that sucks.

Any junkyard will give you a few hundred for a junked car, but there is probably more money in parting it out yourself.

As far as how slow she was going, isn't there a minimum speed limit on the highway? like 45 or 55. If she starts anything over the neck trouble, I think I would consider it.

[SmileyEH]

I'm the guy that's doing 80 in the left lane everyday, but as soon as the roads get shitty I'm the slowest one on the road. 65 seems way way to fast for slippery conditions. Sucks though, good luck with the repair/new car.

-SmileyEH

[mslif]

I could not believe how much snow we got! I woke up yesterday and had to dig my car out. I saw quite a few accident on I25 but the highway was pretty cleared by the time I got on it. The traffic was going only about 45 and people were actually driving reasonnably well.

I am glad you were not hurt. It is stranged that she was stopped or barely moving, was she exiting? Were you on the exit ramp?

[mslif]

[ QUOTE ]
Damn, that sucks, Swede. I'm sorry to hear it. I'm glad everyone's alright, though, and it sounds like you did pretty much as well as you could have reacting to it.

I heard you got 6-8 inches over that way. I only got enough to turn the grass white at my house near the foothills and it was all gone overnight. That's weird, because usually we get the snow and you guys get the drizzly rain.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live by the Tech Center and I had to dig my car out. Most of the trees in my area are boken... I got another foot of snow yesterday during the day.

[daryn]

lots of morons on the road who forgot about winter driving conditions since last time around.

[handsome]

I've had one of these threads in the past. Glad you made it out safe. Makes me consider getting snow tires for my Civic.

[swede123]

Yeah, I'm definitely one of them. I'd say the lady stopped on the freeway would also be to blame but like I said later on in my post I should have been going slower. Tell you what though, I drove VERY carefully this morning, heh.

Swede

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
I live by the Tech Center and I had to dig my car out.

[/ QUOTE ]
You live in the Tech Center and work Downtown? Why not take the light rail? Or are you not really that close to a station?

[SmileyEH]

[ QUOTE ]
I've had one of these threads in the past. Glad you made it out safe. Makes me consider getting snow tires for my Civic.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're really cheap just get them for the front wheels.

-SmileyEH

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I'm definitely one of them. I'd say the lady stopped on the freeway would also be to blame but like I said later on in my post I should have been going slower. Tell you what though, I drove VERY carefully this morning, heh.

Swede

[/ QUOTE ]

i agree, just like you were going too fast she was probably going too slow.

[2planka]

Sorry to hear about that. A wreck that everyone walks away from ain't that bad. Cars can be replaced.

[Boris]

Wow that sucks. Glad nobody got seriously hurt. It was stupid of that lady to be going so slow. Even when the road starts to get slick you should still be able to go at least 40mph. So it could have been avoided if you were going 50 and she was going 40. I'm thinking its more her fault than yours. But it also sounds like you spaced out at exactly the wrong time.

[handsome]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've had one of these threads in the past. Glad you made it out safe. Makes me consider getting snow tires for my Civic.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're really cheap just get them for the front wheels.

-SmileyEH

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never heard this advice before. Isn't that dangerous? I can imagine the front tires sticking and the rear tires slipping after a moderate turn, resulting in an easy spinout, which are not fun at all...

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've had one of these threads in the past. Glad you made it out safe. Makes me consider getting snow tires for my Civic.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're really cheap just get them for the front wheels.

-SmileyEH

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never heard this advice before. Isn't that dangerous? I can imagine the front tires sticking and the rear tires slipping after a moderate turn, resulting in an easy spinout, which are not fun at all...

[/ QUOTE ]

If you only have two snow tires/chains it's better for them to be on the driving wheels. Of course it's even better to have snow tires on all four wheels, but front only sure beats nothing.

Swede

[mslif]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I live by the Tech Center and I had to dig my car out.

[/ QUOTE ]
You live in the Tech Center and work Downtown? Why not take the light rail? Or are you not really that close to a station?

[/ QUOTE ]

I never really looked into it. I get free covered parking downtown and I like to have my car in case I have an emergency or errands to run. The commute is not that bad, it only takes me about 30 minutes to get downtown. Also the light rail is always so crowded.

[SmileyEH]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've had one of these threads in the past. Glad you made it out safe. Makes me consider getting snow tires for my Civic.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're really cheap just get them for the front wheels.

-SmileyEH

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never heard this advice before. Isn't that dangerous? I can imagine the front tires sticking and the rear tires slipping after a moderate turn, resulting in an easy spinout, which are not fun at all...

[/ QUOTE ]

In FWD cars everything happens on the front tires. There's less weight on the back ones, and a spin out won't really happen unless you're really going too fast or don't know to give it gas when turning etc. Obviously all 4 tires is best, but the front 2 is going to be giving you like 80% of the safety.

-SmileyEH

It's refreshing to hear someone's story about their car wreck who's: 1. Safe; 2. Willing to not only see their possible part, but openly admit it. nh

In my limited experience, junk yards aren't going to give you anywhere near what the parts are worth. The problem with parting it out yourself is the time it'll take.

If you have the time, you could visit small body shops/mechanics in your area. Take pictures of what's left and leave them, along with the mileage info, etc. They'll be able to tell what's salvageable and just might have a need come up. They'll probably low-ball you, but you can always haggle a little.

g/l

[JackWilson]

Dunno the driving laws in America, but I would assume there's a minimum speed limit on highways (freeways, interstates?). In South Africa the minimum is 60 km/h and the max 120km/h which translates roughly to 37.5mph and 75mph respectively. What's the status on that in the U.S? Are there different laws for every state?

[Cancer Merchant]

Depends on the state; some have posted minimum speeds, others do not.

[touchfaith]

Ouch...glad you're ok dude. Suprised to hear the different snow conditions from area-to-area of the city. Out hear, they made it sound like the whole state got about 2 feet...

Mmmmmm, I need a Tahoe trip. I love to drive in the snow.

[JDErickson]

Swede,
Did you hit black ice or did you just skid on the wet road?

Sorry about the accident. Same things happen here in Salt Lake on the first big storm. Especially the people driving way to slow for conditions and creating bottlenecks for everyone else driving a safe speed for conditions. People seem to now know that if a row of cars come upon a car going much slower then normal there is a whipsaw effect that cause every car farther back to have to slow down faster and faster until the guy way back in the back ends up slamming on his brakes.

[MonkeeMan]

Glad you're OK.

I like that the cop dropped you off first, and then took the injured party to the hospital.

[DrSavage]

I actually got into an accident last week myself, but it was at low speed in heavy traffic. Some lady in front of me slammed the brakes in front of me when someone in front of her started to slow down and i bumped her. I don't think i was moving faster than 10 mph, probably even 5 but unfortunately because i was braking the car was nosediving and instead of hitting her bumper to bumper i hit her with my front grile cracking it and damaging the radiator /images/graemlins/frown.gif. Got like $2500 in repairs (which is covered with $500 deductible), she had a scratch on the bumper. My insurance sure will go through the roof now though /images/graemlins/frown.gif.

[scdavis0]

It sounds like you were driving like a total idiot.

[swede123]

My wife was down at the towing company's lot to pick up some personal stuff and she snapped a few shots of the poor little vehicle. My initial thought was that the repairs to the vehicle, worth about $3,000 before the wreck, would add up to way more than it was worth. Is this a correct assessment, based on what you see here?

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/jonasola/P1010075.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/jonasola/P1010069.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/jonasola/P1010070.jpg

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
My initial thought was that the repairs to the vehicle, worth about $3,000 before the wreck, would add up to way more than it was worth. Is this a correct assessment, based on what you see here?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes.

[jon_1van]

I had a Nissan Sentra with near identical damage to this. It cost about 7k to repair.

So your car is totaled.

Did you have antilock brakes? I suggest you get them...they rock. My car skidded like crazy in my accident.

[DrSavage]

[ QUOTE ]
It sounds like you were driving like a total idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]
It sounds like you can suck my dick.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
Damn, that sucks, Swede. I'm sorry to hear it. I'm glad everyone's alright, though, and it sounds like you did pretty much as well as you could have reacting to it.

I heard you got 6-8 inches over that way. I only got enough to turn the grass white at my house near the foothills and it was all gone overnight. That's weird, because usually we get the snow and you guys get the drizzly rain.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got only a little snow on the grass, Sunday night (near I-70 and Federal). It changed back to rain on Monday and snow on the grass was gone before the end of the day. It was kind of an odd pattern: Snow south and east, rain west. Snow south and wese and rain north and east is more typical (Denver metro has higher elevations to south and west, for those not familiar with it). I got plenty of moisture, but it was mostly rain or melting snow, no accumulation and no tree damage. Good thing for me. the neighbors on either side of me have huge white poplars (like a cottonwood, but with bigger leaves and wood just as weak), that drop branches like a stripper drops clothes if they get heavy snow with the leaves on. A branch from one of them knocked my power out for an entire weekend in May 2003. Fortunately, I work for the feds and had Monday off, so I sat in front of my computer all day playing *****.

It was one of those wet, near-freezing storms where a couple degrees difference in temperature makes a huge difference.

Too bad about the wreck, OP. If your car's only worth 3K, I think it's totaled. Better to sell it for salvage or part it out and get another one. Good thing nobody was hurt badly. As with most accidents, it looks like you both made mistakes: You, driving too fast and maybe not paying attention as well as you could have. Her, driving much too slow.

[MonkeeMan]

Were her flashers on?

[JackWilson]

[ QUOTE ]
Depends on the state; some have posted minimum speeds, others do not.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is very curious. I can't imagine why some states don't have minimum speeds.

[MonkeeMan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Depends on the state; some have posted minimum speeds, others do not.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is very curious. I can't imagine why some states don't have minimum speeds.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't believe the minimum's apply in inclement weather.
[ QUOTE ]
The road at this point was wet, but not snowy, and there's some minor snow flurries and fog

[/ QUOTE ]

[captZEEbo1]

car insurance is -ev

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
car insurance is -ev

[/ QUOTE ]

That was my reasoning this spring. I pretty much feel this way still, inspite of my accident, particularly when your annual premium is 1/3 of the total vehicle value.

Swede

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
car insurance is -ev

[/ QUOTE ]

That was my reasoning this spring. I pretty much feel this way still, inspite of my accident, particularly when your annual premium is 1/3 of the total vehicle value.

Swede

[/ QUOTE ]
Exactly. It's important to not be results oriented. Full coverage on a $3k car is kind of silly.

[jstnrgrs]

1) I thought you lived in Sweeden.
2) 2.5 years ago, I rear-ended a guy (completlty my fault) going about 5 mph. When the cops got there, he was complaining about neck pains, but since then, I haven't heard anymore about it.