Stupid Drivers -- and Poor Me

[tricky lugnuts]

Well my clean lifelong AZ Charger was just involved in its first accident in at least seven years...

Thank you, awful driver from West Virginia!!!

Low speed collision -- wiped out my passenger side front fender, tweaked my bumper. Doesn't seem to be any other damage. At least the door to her truck wouldn't stay closed and she had to pay for a tow...

Fortunately that fender was the worst piece of sheet metal on my car. (Hint: I'm trying to be optimistic and not doing a very good job )

I guess I wasn't as polite as I could be initially after the wreck... But she was cited, improper lane change. Anybody have a clean '71 passenger side fender or know where to start looking? Front bumper too. Should be insurance company work -- premium paid for NOS parts!!!!

[69bronzeT5]

Damn man, sucks to hear that!!!!  :pity:Any pics?

[70charger_boy]

Well my clean lifelong AZ Charger was just involved in its first accident in at least seven years...

Thank you, awful driver from West Virginia!!!

But she was cited

That explains it

[1969chargerrtse]

Sorry to hear that.  That sucks   Some of us were reading about crashed Mopars on the site today and commenting on being afraid to take our cars out, and then this.   Hang in there, keep up the optimism.  You'll get through it, and your o.k.  Good Luck.

[moparsons]

Well my clean lifelong AZ Charger was just involved in its first accident in at least seven years...

Thank you, awful driver from West Virginia!!!

But she was cited

That explains it

That sucks       Just want you to know we're not all bad drivers here in WV. I guess every state has dumb asses though.

[69bronzeT5]

Some of us were reading about crashed Mopars on the site today and commenting on being afraid to take our cars out, and then this.

Yea, its sorta weird how I said this:

If you noticed, most of the wrecked cars in this thread were wrecked by careless drivers, namely the people driving the actual Mopar itself. Such as the Cuda in the ravine; speeding caused that. Or, the rolled over Charger...chances are the driver did that by himself. Yea sure, some of the wrecks were caused by other people such as that purple Superbee that got hit by the Jeep or probally that mashed orange Roadrunner but as long as you drive safely and dont drive like a bat out of hell, you should be fine. Of course, theres always a chance of an accident but sh*t happens and you cant prevent it.

And then that happened......

[911bear]

   sorry to hear about your crash..... hope you find the right parts ! but....... not all drivers from west virginia are bad ;-}
27 plus years and not even a parking ticket here .... but now there are some real nuts , and hell you,ll find a few nuts everywhere you go ! lol
911bear

[Charger74]

Sorry to hear about your car.  Funny though, cause for the 20 years I lived in AZ, I always thought the worst drivers out there were from New Mexico or snowbirds...   

[41husk]

Doesn't sound to bad, and the Insurance should take care of it.  My biggest worry is that if anything happens, with the cost of parts for our cars, it may be easier and cheeper for the insurance Co. to total the car out rather than repair, especialy if you don't keep your insurance up.  I know up until a couple years ago I had my 70 Challenger convertible insured for $8,000.  If anything had happened the insurance Co. could have saved big $ just totalling it out.  It may still be under insured at 20k, but I won't increase it until it's in paint.

[tricky lugnuts]

Thank you all for the condolences. It was sort of tough to see the old Dodge parked out front this morning all beat up like that. I'll do my best to get some pics up today if possible.

My advice is REMEMBER: You take a risk every time you drive your old Charger -- even playing it safe. I was going maybe 20 mph. Folks talking on cell phones, eating McDonalds -- doing everything but watching out for sweet vintage rides or anything else for that matter. It's this whole new fad in auto design fueling it -- a womb in your car. TVs, movies, phones, food, comforting music, cushy upholstery and sound proof windows. Relax, you're in your car -- never mind that any moment a two-ton hulk of steel could crash into you and kill you.

I'm expecting a bad joke with the lady's insurance agency -- like someone said -- 'Oh just total it out. You don't mind having a salvage title do you, son?' Well yes, actually I do. My car was also under-insured (I think) at $7,500. So do you think it's likely, based on that, they're going to be too happy about shelling out $3-4,000 to fix everything that got messed up and do it right? Probably not.

My insurance person told me it takes the local police 3-4 days to process an incident report. I've yet to hear from hers, though I suspect they know by now since her big, bad truck (yes, it was a Dodge) had to be towed off, whereas my Charger drove home. Well that's 3-4 days too long if you ask me. If this crap gets dragged out for months, I'm going to be upset. (One benefit is being on the editorial board of a local newspaper!!)

People don't realize that Chargers aren't Dodge Neons or Ford Tauruses. Or that the aftermarket sucks A$$ in regards to sheet metal for 71 Chargers. That I had to work my butt off to get that fender right for someone else to smash up -- and then come to the conclusion that they can't find a new one either.

All in all, the car should be repairable (not the parts that were hit, though). I've already started making some calls to my insurance agency. If I can find the parts I should be able to do the work myself -- but I'll be damned if I want to buy a new fender, a new bumper, new bumper mounts, and a new hideaway headlights grill and surround, as well as fender moldings and braces and side markers, to cover for her piss-poor driving. I liked my car the way it was. I don't like it the way it is now. And I don't see anybody else racing to fix it. She'll probably get her truck fixed before my car is fixed.

The damage pushed the fender back into the door and the hood, too, so most likely they will need to be repainted as well.

The lady said I was rude after the crash. I think my exact first words were, "Oh well that was real &%*$in' slick lady."

Should I have been more concerned about her? I am glad no one was hurt. Had I swerved further to try and miss her and wound up in the oncoming lane of traffic, who knows what could have happened.

Since we were going so slow, I don't know. I knew right away she didn't fly through the windshield or have an airbag pop in her face. I knew right away that her drivers side door didn't collapse far enough to crush her. If someone should be concerned about her and her kid in the car seat in the back it should be her -- and maybe she should stop pulling out in front of cars with the right of way like an idiot. I wouldn't have hit her if she hadn't made it happen. And if insurance companies don't want to pay for the damage they're responsible for, maybe they should quit covering a bunch of idiots. Her rates probably won't go up enough to cover the true costs of her poor driving -- so all the rest of us will wind up subsidizing it with our premiums.

Of course I apologize for identifying her a West Virginian, though... I personally know not everyone in WV is that dumb!!! Sorry to those of you who are Mountaineers -- and glad to hear you're driving safe.

Rant over -- for now.

[41husk]

Best of luck dude, and I think the rant is justified

[69bronzeT5]

Any pics?

[tricky lugnuts]

pics from after the wreck -- for 'before' pics, imagine car without any of the damage and everything lined up properly. 

[tricky lugnuts]

Another

[tricky lugnuts]

And one more...

[68chrgrwife]

OUCH!! 

[dukeboy_318]

ouch nice looking car otherwise

[supserdave]

I think I have a much cleaner fender if your interested. I think it has one small dent, but I can get you pics if you don't have one.

Hopefully you will get it fixed up soon.

[TruckDriver]

That sucks

[chgr500]

Well my clean lifelong AZ Charger was just involved in its first accident in at least seven years...

Thank you, awful driver from West Virginia!!!

Low speed collision -- wiped out my passenger side front fender, tweaked my bumper. Doesn't seem to be any other damage. At least the door to her truck wouldn't stay closed and she had to pay for a tow...

Fortunately that fender was the worst piece of sheet metal on my car. (Hint: I'm trying to be optimistic and not doing a very good job )

I guess I wasn't as polite as I could be initially after the wreck... But she was cited, improper lane change. Anybody have a clean '71 passenger side fender or know where to start looking? Front bumper too. Should be insurance company work -- premium paid for NOS parts!!!!

WHAT THE F$&K.....is it kill '71 Charger month or what? ....believe me I know exactly how you feel




http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,34937.msg381464.html#msg381464

[Charger_Croatia]

Man, that really sucks!

[tricky lugnuts]

Yes the wreck really sucks. Everyone around town seems bummed about it too, for the most part. All are very sympathetic -- now if only I could get a hold of the lady's insurance company!!

It all looks fixable to me though - - with parts.

Supserdave -- if you do have a fender I would be happy to buy it!!! I don't have one. My only issue is that it be relatively rust free. You can email me at tlotshaw@mariettaregister.com if you have one for sale.

Chgr 500 -- It looks like you have been here and done that. Everybody keeps telling me the insurance co. is going to try and total my car out and make me settle. A salvage title is JUST OUT OF THE QUESTION. Maybe if they want to write me off for $14-16,000 -- but otherwise I think it might wind up being worth a lawyer. I hope everything with your car has been taken care of -- that looked like a nasty dent on an otherwise sweet car. If it is kill a 71 charger month -- hopefully we get a respite next month, or maybe even a little break through next year!

Of course it takes our podunk town PD 3-4 days to issue an incident report... So I have all that time to stew before I can do anything. Cop at the scene told me the other driver was being cited. She damn well better be.

Anyways, I'll make sure to post pics as things progress...

[bakerhillpins]

Best of luck arguing with her insurance company. 

Around here its not necessary to have a LEO show up if there were no injuries but you can request one, which you should always do. I was hit by a lady who ran a stop sign, no injuries but I requested a LEO. Good thing I did, she gave bum Insurance info. Oh and she "forgot" her DL that day too. The only reason I was able to prove she was there (beyond a large legal expense) was because of the police report, thus the Ins. co went after her rather than it being my responsibility.

Folks talking on cell phones, eating McDonalds -- doing everything but watching out for sweet vintage rides or anything else for that matter. It's this whole new fad in auto design fueling it -- a womb in your car. TVs, movies, phones, food, comforting music, cushy upholstery and sound proof windows. Relax, you're in your car -- never mind that any moment a two-ton hulk of steel could crash into you and kill you.

Not to downplay your situation but you should jump on a motorcycle sometime. Its like driving around in a giant magnet. Jezuz, I have had people LOOK directly at me and then proceed to pull out in front of me. This s**t appens all the time.