My Bronco may be toast… rear ended

[B-Dog15]

They definitely went underneath for sure. My rear tow hook is pointing straight down almost. Exhaust looks messed pretty bad too.

I spoke with the insurance agent and she said that due to the crappy insurance the at fault driver had that my Bronco will likely be totaled… Luckily I pay for really good insurance so I should be alright financially. Not to sound like a snob or anything but my mom also works for a really well known law firm and is putting me in touch with a lawyer who specializes in collision stuff. I’m hopeful things will be sorted out and am thankful no one was injured!

I appreciate all of the kind words and information!

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[B-Dog15]

It will be interesting. Apparently replacing the entire frame was better (and less expensive and shorter time) than some partial option that exists. IN addition to the frame the rear tailgate and steel bumper are getting replaced, but it was shockingly not much else They do have to re-mount my winch and my slider steps and re-install my onboard air in the bumper. It is being done at Caliber Collision and they have been great so far. As a '21 I was sure it would be totaled, but it has all the options and hi package items I wanted, so maybe that saved it.

Edit: I added some pics to show how little damage it appeared to be (tire crunched the gate, but the hinges were unaffected, and the glass and hardtop all still perfect). Apparently the way his bumper must have hit mine, or my hitch, just deformed the rear of the frame enough to cause the replacement. Drove perfectly fine and I was shocked when they put it up to laser it. Happy it is being repaired, but seems a bit wild that it's ending up with a new frame from that little bit. Go figure.

This is almost exactly how my rear ended looks unfortunately except my tow hook is more mashed and the part of the frame where the hitch is supposed to attach is folded up under…

 

[MilesTeg]

It will be interesting. Apparently replacing the entire frame was better (and less expensive and shorter time) than some partial option that exists.

Ugh. No shade on Caliber, but I would not want any vehicle that had been frame swapped by a body shop -- or well anyone that wasn't literally doing it every day. That's pretty much disassembling the entire vehicle and then putting it all back together. (no double they have expert mechanics do it on some kind of subcontract, not body guys, but still)

BOF makes it.. possible, but still a huge task with a lot of things that can go wrong. Car manufacturers literally have entire assembly lines with machines and humans that specialize in just one step in the process, and they still make mistakes.

Not telling you what to do, but my course of action would be to sell the vehicle after getting it back and buy a new one.

 

[B-Dog15]

Update:

I may be getting absolutely shafted on this one. The driver at fault has a payout limit that seems like it will potentially not be able to cover all of the damages to all of the cars. Luckily I paid for collision coverage so I’m hoping at least my remaining balance on my loan can be paid off but I’m not sure what they will say my “actual cash value” is compared to what I still owe. Just sucks because I have only had the truck for about a year so haven’t had time to pay down on it… Rental is also out of the question for now because their insurance can not guarantee me that I will get reimbursed.

I am going to consult with an attorney to see about what my next steps should be. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mds5917]

Ugh. No shade on Caliber, but I would not want any vehicle that had been frame swapped by a body shop -- or well anyone that wasn't literally doing it every day. That's pretty much disassembling the entire vehicle and then putting it all back together. (no double they have expert mechanics do it on some kind of subcontract, not body guys, but still)

BOF makes it.. possible, but still a huge task with a lot of things that can go wrong. Car manufacturers literally have entire assembly lines with machines and humans that specialize in just one step in the process, and they still make mistakes.

Not telling you what to do, but my course of action would be to sell the vehicle after getting it back and buy a new one.

I'm pretty comfortable with my local location - they were doing a Jeep just before mine hit the rack. I will be getting copies of the laser report before anything gets "signed off". I will also be having a certified appraiser for a diminished value claim. My original plan was to sell it next year as I bought the Ford PremiumCare 7yr/100K package and that would give any prospective buyer the comfort of having at least a year and about 20k miles of full warranty. Now I am considering making sure it is back to "new" standards, and maybe selling this year to give 2 years and 35k in warranty to help assure a new owner. This just sucks.

 

[MilesTeg]

I'm pretty comfortable with my local location - they were doing a Jeep just before mine hit the rack. I will be getting copies of the laser report before anything gets "signed off". I will also be having a certified appraiser for a diminished value claim. My original plan was to sell it next year as I bought the Ford PremiumCare 7yr/100K package and that would give any prospective buyer the comfort of having at least a year and about 20k miles of full warranty. Now I am considering making sure it is back to "new" standards, and maybe selling this year to give 2 years and 35k in warranty to help assure a new owner. This just sucks.

Earnest question: does Ford PremiumCare actually still apply after a 3rd party does that kind of work?

 

[mds5917]

Earnest question: does Ford PremiumCare actually still apply after a 3rd party does that kind of work?

Indeed it does. So long as your vehicle is not totaled or issued a salvage tag it still applies and is honored. For my case, the only things damaged are the tailgate, bumper and then the frame. The big items got the PremiumCare for were the nav/audio system and the engine/drivetrain - none of which have any issues in this absurd low-speed stupid-a$$ accident. Guess that old F=MA equation wins, even if A was small.

 

[MilesTeg]

Update:

I may be getting absolutely shafted on this one. The driver at fault has a payout limit that seems like it will potentially not be able to cover all of the damages to all of the cars. Luckily I paid for collision coverage so I’m hoping at least my remaining balance on my loan can be paid off but I’m not sure what they will say my “actual cash value” is compared to what I still owe. Just sucks because I have only had the truck for about a year so haven’t had time to pay down on it… Rental is also out of the question for now because their insurance can not guarantee me that I will get reimbursed.

I am going to consult with an attorney to see about what my next steps should be. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Yikes. I would definitely talk to an attorney, but if the driver that hit you didn't have enough insurance for this, they are probably too poor for you to be able to reasonably recover any damages in a civil suit. Unfortunately, winning a civil suit isn't even half the battle, you still have to recover the damages, and as the saying goes: you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. An even if you can do something like wage garnishment or asset seizure, you have to consider if it's worth the trouble.

Sadly, there's very little you can do to know if you will ever recover any damages until you try. Maybe you'll get lucky and the other person was just cheap on insurance but can and will actually pay damages.

 

[B-Dog15]

Yikes. I would definitely talk to an attorney, but if the driver that hit you didn't have enough insurance for this, they are probably too poor for you to be able to reasonably recover any damages in a civil suit. Unfortunately, winning a civil suit isn't even half the battle, you still have to recover the damages, and as the saying goes: you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. An even if you can do something like wage garnishment or asset seizure, you have to consider if it's worth the trouble.

Sadly, there's very little you can do to know if you will ever recover any damages until you try. Maybe you'll get lucky and the other person was just cheap on insurance but can and will actually pay damages.

This exactly what I was thinking. Unfortunately, those who can’t afford to actually afford to drive are the ones who screw everyone else over.

 

[B-Dog15]

Update:

Insurance says my Bronco is repairable! While I am excited I will hold my breath because there is a chance once they start digging deeper that they will see some frame damage... I had this happen to me on a previous vehicle and I got my hopes up and was then let down.

My biggest complaint is I am not sure how long this repair is going to take and the at fault drivers insurance is being a huge PITA.

 

[LVS]

When I got rear-ended (LR Freelander) I called my insurance and did everything through them. They organized the repairs, provided a rental car and sent the final bill to the other insurance company.

None of this cost me anything.

 

[GoHawks63]

Wouldn't your Uninsured/Underinsured coverage cover the gap between the other carrier's max payout and what the repairs come out to be?

 

[B-Dog15]

Wouldn't your Uninsured/Underinsured coverage cover the gap between the other carrier's max payout and what the repairs come out to be?

Yes however it apparently does not cover rentals which I think is so stupid. I am in talks currently with the at fault driver’s insurance to get a rental OK’d

 

[mds5917]

Yes however it apparently does not cover rentals which I think is so stupid. I am in talks currently with the at fault driver’s insurance to get a rental OK’d

Hopefully they can cover it - I did not have rental coverage on my insurance, but since it was his fault, they covered me (for 30 days). I now have to get it extended because it will likely be an additional 3-4 weeks until completion.

If you do end up with the frame repair, it took them a few weeks to get one shipped in, and is going to be another 3+ weeks once they start to complete that. I had originally been concerned because there was a backlog on tailgates earlier this year and I thought that was all I needed at the time, but that supposedly is not as long a wait now as it was. Good luck!

 

[Valhalla]

Replace those plastic bumpers with some nice steel ones designed to slide off rocks, next time they will just ease under only scraping the paint.

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