# Wrecked my cruze, need advice on how bad the damage is!



## Nescafe (Mar 16, 2015)

Wrecked it being dumb, inexperienced in the rain, hit a fire hydrant (no water did not shoot out). 

Airbags didnt deploy, but aside from not being able to drive it home, I have no idea if its ever going to go back to pre wreck condition. I'm just pissed and sad that I ****** up such a nice car.

Any advice or observations on the photos of the damage would help. It's in a body shop in Killeen Texas, recommended by the tow truck owner. Insurance is going to cover it (thank god)


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Only thing I can Write Brother is Good Job ​.. Too fast for conditions Hah .


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## spaycace (Feb 9, 2012)

Back when I had my Cruze Eco, I hit a fox dead center on the front, and did over $2k in damages before all was said and done for the insurance company. I wouldn't be surprised if you surpass the $4k mark. Best of luck


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I'm not a body guy. There's some bent metal, but I'm not seeing anything that suggests bent frame. Bumper, fascia, fender, headlight and I think you'll be back in business. 

The one thing I'm not sure if is what that bent metal means - if it's going to be a problem in mounting things back one. Or if that bracket if hard to replace. The other is how much force the front wheel took. There might be some hidden damage there.


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## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

It doesn't look too bad to me, but I'll guess $3500-$4500 in damages for a shop to repair.


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## roadrunnerA12 (Jan 21, 2015)

You will need to cough up your deductible for Collision coverage and the body shop will then make it look like nothing ever happened. Don't be too hard on yourself. We've all been there in our younger days - doing dumb stuff in our cars. For me, it was before seat belts - but I was immortal, of course. lol


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## Daisy81 (Jun 17, 2012)

It looks like you caused enough damage that it will never be the same but didn't cause enough damage for them to buy you out so you can get a new one. Sorry.


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## Nescafe (Mar 16, 2015)

roadrunnerA12 said:


> You will need to cough up your deductible for Collision coverage and the body shop will then make it look like nothing ever happened. Don't be too hard on yourself. We've all been there in our younger days - doing dumb stuff in our cars. For me, it was before seat belts - but I was immortal, of course. lol


Thanks, it helps when someone says it'll be back to before the accident! Half of the people say yes, the other half say it'll never be the same. 

At least the body shop and my insurance have a lifetime warranty on the repairs. In a couple of weeks I'll go back down and pick the car up and then get the **** out of the state of Texas! ! !


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## Daisy81 (Jun 17, 2012)

Nescafe said:


> Thanks, it helps when someone says it'll be back to before the accident! Half of the people say yes, the other half say it'll never be the same.
> 
> At least the body shop and my insurance have a lifetime warranty on the repairs. In a couple of weeks I'll go back down and pick the car up and then get the **** out of the state of Texas! ! !


I had a similar situation with my 2002 Honda Civic, inexperience, rain and no antilock brakes. The body shops got the car as close to the pre accident state as possible but every time I looked at the car I could see the difference in the paint between the front bumper and the side skirts. The car then developed issues like a broken idle bar, a slipping transmission and other random electrical issues mixed in for good measure. If you can afford to get out of the loan I would trade it in and get another car as soon as possible before it starts acting up ands leaves you stranded at the mall or where ever you go when you're out and about.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

When my Pontiac Transport had about 30K miles on it it was hit on the side just in front of the passenger front tire by an unlicensed, uninsured driver. USAA covered the repair. The only damage that was hidden and I ended up paying for years later was a leak in a radiator seam on that side of the van. Other than that you couldn't tell it had ever been in an accident, even with a close inspection. This included paint matching. The quality of a repair is very, very dependent on the repair shop. My recommendation is find out who your insurance company and local Chevy dealership agree on and take it there.


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## Daisy81 (Jun 17, 2012)

obermd said:


> When my Pontiac Transport had about 30K miles on it it was hit on the side just in front of the passenger front tire by an unlicensed, uninsured driver. USAA covered the repair. The only damage that was hidden and I ended up paying for years later was a leak in a radiator seam on that side of the van. Other than that you couldn't tell it had ever been in an accident, even with a close inspection. This included paint matching. The quality of a repair is very, very dependent on the repair shop. My recommendation is find out who your insurance company and local Chevy dealership agree on and take it there.


In this case whatever you do don't let Progressive's shop touch it!


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## bloberg19 (Oct 21, 2013)

Its going to cost more then 4 gs to fix you riped out the lower support for the head lights and the horn so your going to need a new core supportbut it can be fixed dont be to hard on your self!!!! It will be perfect after plus its your car and small stuff like that adds character.


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## Ger8mm (Mar 13, 2014)

If your handy, you actually could save a ton of money doing the majority yourself. I had a guy rear end me and drove off, fixed the damage under 500.00.....just a thought, but good luck, the cruze is really easy to work on so its hard for a shop to really eff it up.


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## Nescafe (Mar 16, 2015)

bloberg19 said:


> Its going to cost more then 4 gs to fix you riped out the lower support for the head lights and the horn so your going to need a new core supportbut it can be fixed dont be to hard on your self!!!! It will be perfect after plus its your car and small stuff like that adds character.


That's what I think. USAA said **** the shop the tow truck recommended, they took it to caliber collision, and from their site they look pretty legit. Plus since its their shop they have a lifetime warranty on the repairs.

It better be good, $1000 deductible, and I have to drive it 1k miles back home. 

The court says I can do a driver's course instead of the ticket going on my record, or I can fight failure to control speed, but **** those cops for doing me dirty. Texas DPS, thanks for salt on the wound!


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## roadrunnerA12 (Jan 21, 2015)

As far as trading it in right after it is repaired, don't forget that the accident has already been reported to CARFAX. 99 times out of 100, the car will look like it never had any damage, as long as you use a good body shop that both the dealer and insurance company agree on, as someone else has said. So keep it forever!


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## hank hill (Nov 30, 2014)

wow...there's a lot of damage there. looks like the wheel got pushed back & possibly tweaked the engine cradle. push to have it totaled & walk away. it'll never be the same if repaired....


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Good for USAA. Take the course. If nothing else it's a good refresher.


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## bloberg19 (Oct 21, 2013)

Usaa is a great insurance company iv had them sences in was out of high school my dad is a vet and because of that i get usaa.


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## Ger8mm (Mar 13, 2014)

yea keep car, your re-sale value just went down the drain lol


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## S-Fitz (Jul 16, 2012)

This was $6700 to fix, if that helps establish a guideline.














Yours looks like it's in worse shape, hope your ok!


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## Nescafe (Mar 16, 2015)

hank hill said:


> wow...there's a lot of damage there. looks like the wheel got pushed back & possibly tweaked the engine cradle. push to have it totaled & walk away. it'll never be the same if repaired....


If that's an option given to me that's what I'll do, but if it's not, ill keep the car. USAA is getting the body shop to do the appraisal, so yeah, not much wiggle room. The shops a good one, but if its totalled, **** it.


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## Nescafe (Mar 16, 2015)

S-Fitz said:


> This was $6700 to fix, if that helps establish a guideline.
> [iurl="http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=139258&d=1427155490"]
> 
> 
> ...


Sorry for the double post, on mobile. 

Idk, no disrespect, but its reassuring to know that other people have jacked up their nice cars. 

This is definitely a lesson learned for me, and does anyone else see the two things everyone is saying? Itll never be the same, or it will be back as it was? Which is it, because the body shop is a good one, I wasn't planning on reselling my cruze, and I just want to get over this hurdle.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Nescafe said:


> does anyone else see the two things everyone is saying? Itll never be the same, or it will be back as it was? Which is it,


It really depends on what's damaged. If it's just bolt-on stuff, the only concern is paint matching. If it damaged the actual mechanical, then there's a possibility it will never run quite right.


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## S-Fitz (Jul 16, 2012)

Nescafe said:


> Sorry for the double post, on mobile.
> 
> Idk, no disrespect, but its reassuring to know that other people have jacked up their nice cars.
> 
> This is definitely a lesson learned for me, and does anyone else see the two things everyone is saying? Itll never be the same, or it will be back as it was? Which is it, because the body shop is a good one, I wasn't planning on reselling my cruze, and I just want to get over this hurdle.


Nah, that was my neighbor's kid's handy work


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## Daisy81 (Jun 17, 2012)

roadrunnerA12 said:


> As far as trading it in right after it is repaired, don't forget that the accident has already been reported to CARFAX. 99 times out of 100, the car will look like it never had any damage, as long as you use a good body shop that both the dealer and insurance company agree on, as someone else has said. So keep it forever!


i wasn't suggesting getting rid of it to avoid the ding to the value of the car. I was worried about the car developing issues as a result of the damage.


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## Nescafe (Mar 16, 2015)

Well i'll be sure to request that they be extra thorough on their inspections, anything that comes up should be covered through USAAs lifetime warranty.

Someone said something about the engine cradle, the whole bay looked intact and unshaken, the tie rod on that side is probably busted, but i'm sure they'll be able to fix it up. Who the **** knows though, because I don't, i'm 1000 miles away right now 

In the interest of not double posting and following standard forum etiquette, here's an update.

So the car currently is at a corporate body shop, the one recommended by USAA insurance, and one that will have a lifetime limited warranty, regardless of location.

The story that comes along with this update, is that sketchy **** happens, and that when dealing with auto body shops, when the bullshit detector goes off you should be worried. The car was towed at the scene by a tow truck the cops called, no problem, but the next day the tow truck guy decided to push a body shop on me, and in my inexperienced and nice self, I was happy to oblige as far as I could, without signing anything or going 100%. Great move, but not enough, because he took it to a "local shop that wouldn't screw a soldier", bullshit alarm, because Killeen is known for this ****, alongside Bragg and Benning. I said I wouldn't do anything until I spoke to my insurance, but he took it to the "local shop" anyways, and began a week long game of hide and where is my car! 

After a week long event of calling the "local shop" and USAA, and the tow truck company, the car was found, and arranged to be transported not 5 miles from where it was originally in the tow yard. Then a call Monday morning, from the "local shop" with a name change, they pretended to be the USAA recommended shop and said they were going with a name change. Emailed me paperwork, and bam-o, it was still using the signature of the old name. Holy ... So I call them back, tell them not to touch my car, don't try an estimate, don't do anything, it would be picked up, and wow the owner of the "local shop" gets on the phone, tries to tell me this and that, and I tell him bluntly but in a nice way, No. 

Apparently that "local shop" will pay your deductible, another bullshit alarm, and even with my $1k deductible, I am in no position to be playing the save money now, get pinched later game. 

The car is finally at the corporate body shop, who are more than not sketchy.... their shop isn't in an old store front on the main drag, where you could see through the windows that they were painting cars, and storing vehicles in the parking lot right on the street. I even get text updates, and phone call status updates without even asking. 

If anyone reads this, the lesson is don't be dumb and hit a fire hydrant in the rain being stupid, but more importantly to listen to your gut about sketchy af body shops. Plus, reading all the comments on this post alone helped me. Knowing about hidden damages, and being told that the quality of the repairs depend more on the quality of the shop, than the total extent of the damage, made me push hard to get my cruze to somewhere above board.

Edit Again:

Estimate is $7300. I managed to be on the brink of it being totaled. ******* court cost though, that's dirty, giving an out of state driver a ticket for something like this, knowing he's not going to be able to come back and try to defend himself.


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