How bad is the Damage? Totaled?

[RedCharger2012]

On Saturday, April 20th,I was hit in the intersection by a Taxi making an left hand turn. The police on the scene instantly placed the taxi driver at fault. This is the damage done, do you believe it will be totaled? How much do you think repair costs will be? It had to be towed away(obviously lol). Its a 2012 with less than 13k on it. Geico is going to look at it tomorrow. Just want to know what to prepare myself for , alot of people are saying it's totaled. Check engine light was on as well after this.

From other people I spoke to,(insurance hasn't looked at it yet), people are saying between 7-10K in cosmetic damage alone that you can see in the photo. What do you guys think?

[skip68]

Welcome to the site.     there are some guys here that have the "new" Charger but it's mostly dedicated towards the older classic Chargers.  I think chargerforums is the site for new chargers.   But by all means stick around.   Actually, we have several members with the new car.   Sorry to see that happen.   Did you get smacked by the airbag?     I'm no expert but it doesn't look totaled to me. 

[areibel]

I'd say it's not totaled either, but they body shop will want to do a thorough check out for the dreaded "unseen damage".  The check engine is probably a sensor that got trashed from the damage, but until you'd get it up in the air to see if it tweaked the frame you really can't tell if there's anything more than sheetmetal and broken plastic. 

[Cooter]

It all depends on how upside down you are in that thing, how much book value/resale value is, and how far you want to go with totaled to decide what the insurance company will do. IF it's worth more than 10K, then it's prolly not totaled.

[Aero426]

A 2012 with that low miles and no bags deployed will be repaired.

[RedCharger2012]

I always been a Charger fan (new and old). Figured this would be the opportune moment to come around after this incident.

Shockingly the AirBags never deployed. Was a pretty hard collision. Taxi driver claimed he never saw me coming through the intersection, cop said "So your didn't see a big bright red effing charger coming your way? Yea me either" 

I always hear that "once a car has front end damage it never rides the same", if this is repairable, I hope I don't go through that phase of "it not feeling right". I would have to add some upgrades to make it feel "special again".

[Brass]

Upside:  It probably would've been more money to repair if the air bag deployed.

Downside:  Since it didn't, that would leave me with an uneasy feeling – couldn't trust it to deploy in the future if needed to.

[Aero426]

I always hear that "once a car has front end damage it never rides the same", if this is repairable, I hope I don't go through that phase of "it not feeling right".

Being in the collision business, I can tell you that while the damage is more than what you can see, it is also not what would be called severe.  Should be no problem and the car will drive fine.     The air bag systems are pretty intelligent.  If it was not functional at the time of the impact, the computer would have flagged it.    It will be ready to go when you get the car back.

If you are talking to body shops,  ask them if they use some kind of electronic measuring system.   Also ask if their technicians are I-Car Gold Class certified.     Not sure what part of the country you are in.  

[Baldwinvette77]

i've seen a 7 year old Lexus with heavier damage than that (both airbags went off) get repaired and is back on the road, im no expert, but it should be fixable

ohyeah another thing a friends 300c got bad front end damage (much worse than what you have pictured) he got an aftermarket grille, headlights and i think a bumper too, simply because they cost less than new dealer parts you may want to check out some aftermarket offerings, stock or custom, they may save you a bit.

[69charger2002]

I always hear that "once a car has front end damage it never rides the same", if this is repairable, I hope I don't go through that phase of "it not feeling right".

Being in the collision business, I can tell you that while the damage is more than what you can see, it is also not what would be called severe.  Should be no problem and the car will drive fine.     The air bag systems are pretty intelligent.  If it was not functional at the time of the impact, the computer would have flagged it.    It will be ready to go when you get the car back.

If you are talking to body shops,  ask them if they use some kind of electronic measuring system.   Also ask if their technicians are I-Car Gold Class certified.     Not sure what part of the country you are in.  

If the air bag system is so smart, why didn't it deploy???  just messing with you. To the OP, it doesn't appear to be totalled to me. If it was an 07, probably, but not being a 2012

[RedCharger2012]

Lol.

cool I appreciate all of you guys concern and input. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on the update as soon as I get one.

I even considered If i get it back to just get it painted a whole new color at this point just to feel like it's something new 

[NJRBros]

Looks pretty similar to my accident.. Car ran a stop sign making a left turn and police put other driver totally at fault. My airbags didn't deploy either and my check engine light was also on afterwards. Obviously, since it's a 2005 Jetta, the parts are definitely cheaper than yours will be, but we got quoted 4k. Since we had the resources/know how to repair this at our home, we repaired it for a little more than half of that! We even replaced the radiator support, fender, bumper, grille, hood, and more misc. with OEM parts!   Everyone including the tow truck driver told us it was totaled. However, there was absolutely no damage to the engine and the engine light was able to be reset. I guess it came on because the airbox cover popped off and smothered the intake ??

Anyway, unless there is serious unseen/engine damage, I'd doubt it's going to be totaled.
Good luck!  

[JB400]

Unless the substructure got bent, it's not gonna be totaled.  Of course, if it is totaled,   2nd gen maybe 

[GL0169]

Thank God  you weren't driving a real charger 

[ws23rt]

Looks like my 09 challenger after hitting a dear. No air bag deploy. no structural damage. $7500 repair and like new.

[ottawamerc]

I wouldn't worry about the air bag not deploying and therefore being defective. The new generation systems determine the severity and point of impact and deploy if necessary, also word of caution even if the bags do deploy some have the ability to re inflate with a second charge. Air bags are life savers and dangerous items at the same time. Hope your Charger get massaged back to its proper shape, great looking car  

[Nacho-RT74]

you don't have to worry, no need to find Goodmark or AMD panels yet, neither repro grilles or headlights... still factory parts available on these days for those

[JB400]

you don't have to worry, no need to find Goodmark or AMD panels yet, neither repro grilles or headlights... still factory parts available on these days for those

I read in Mopar Muscle, they bought a roof for a new Challenger for $300 from the factory.  Wish the classic stuff was that cheap.

[472 R/T SE]

That don't look too bad especially since the bags didn't pop.  I've always been told the bags tend to sway the opinion one way or the other.   Glad no one was seriously hurt, after-all, that's what really matters.

The State Farm adjuster that came out & looked at my wife's truck actually told me that if SF didn't total it that I should ask them if I could get some kind of guarantee that the new bags will deploy again in case of another accident.  Didn't have to worry about it, SF cut us a $14,8k check.  Dude on the phone said he couldn't remember the last time he cut a check for that much for a stock '03.

[jaak]

A 2012 with that low miles and no bags deployed will be repaired.

I agree.


Another thing to keep in mind (especially if you are not at fault), be sure to hit their insurance company up for depreciation. I never heard of that until someone told me. Years ago a lady pulled out in front of me and I was driving an S-10 I had only had for 5 months. I told the insurance company I wanted to be paid for the depreciation of my vehicle, they set up an appointment with an appraiser. Got my truck fixed AND got a check for a few hundred dollars (800, IIRC) for the depreciation. I think the amount depends on what the vehicle is worth and how much damage had to be repaired. Its worth asking about, because even if you vehicle is repaired correctly, like new....It will always hurt the resale value because it has been wrecked.

Jason

[RedCharger2012]

never  knew about the "Depreciation" part, that makes alot of sense! I will def bring it up to my lawyer once I find out the car is not totaled. Still no verdict.

[472 R/T SE]

Yeah, I'd be all over that depreciation issue with a rig so new.

Is that an R/T?  Are those factory wheels?  Got any pix of it not crunched?  It looks like you de-molded it?

[bill440rt]

I always hear that "once a car has front end damage it never rides the same", if this is repairable, I hope I don't go through that phase of "it not feeling right".

Being in the collision business, I can tell you that while the damage is more than what you can see, it is also not what would be called severe.  Should be no problem and the car will drive fine.     The air bag systems are pretty intelligent.  If it was not functional at the time of the impact, the computer would have flagged it.    It will be ready to go when you get the car back.

If you are talking to body shops,  ask them if they use some kind of electronic measuring system.   Also ask if their technicians are I-Car Gold Class certified.     Not sure what part of the country you are in.  

2x 
There is definitely some frame damage there. Whether the frame rail will need replacement will be determined once the car is torn down at the body shop. In newer cars, frame rail replacement is much more common than you think simply due to the type of metal they are constructed from. Depending on the severity of damage to the frame rail, some manufacturers require it be replaced vs repaired. Now, whether the body shop will adhere to this is yet another story...
Like Aero said, just make sure you choose a reputable shop. Make sure it has modern equipment and their techs are properly trained.
The car looks definitely repairable.

[RedCharger2012]

it was an SE , not a RT or Hemi 

Rims were factory, only thing I changed was the speaker system and added tint.

[aussiemuscle]

Taxi driver claimed he never saw me coming through the intersection, cop said "So your didn't see a big bright red effing charger coming your way? Yea me either" 

well, if you don't look, then technically he didn't see you. i'm amazed people struggle to see my bright orange Falcon. (if their vision is that bad, they shouldn't be driving).