[speedlever]

On the way home from getting pizza for the family, a guy ran a stop sign and took out my RL tonight. Fortunately, no injuries. But damage is significant.

The car was a blue Jetta and came from my right side, so my right front hit his left front. But even my driver side door is jammed. I could barely open it enough to squeeze out. The only fluid leakage I noticed from mine came from the windshield washer reservoir.

My dash cam recorded it all. But the guy admitted he was at fault.

And now the fun begins. Sigh.

 

[Elkhunter]

I might have to look into one of those dash cams....

 

[larryr]

I might have to look into one of those dash cams....

Walmart sells one for $40.00 - it is really good and fair at night. I have one in my vehicle. Just upgrade the micro sd card to 32 gb for hours of recordings.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/42104314?...91698648&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=91013166048&veh=sem

 

[John's Ridge]

Well crap Speedlever, that sucks!!! I am glad you're ok but now you have to deal with body shops and insurance companies!!! Not to mention your baby will no longer be prestine!! Not a good way to spend Mom's day evening!!

Who is his insurance company? Any idea what shop you are going to use? It looks like $4-5 K of damage as it got into the core supt, radiator, condensor etc. Keep us informed!!!:act018:

 

[speedlever]

His insurance is USAA so that is encouraging (I think). Maybe I'll get a new radiator out of this. But I suspect significant frame damage too since the driver's door is jammed. I'll be very surprised if this doesn't top $5k by a wide margin. But I am certainly not the expert in this field.

And I expect to pursue diminished value as well.

 

[John's Ridge]

USAA is a good insurance company. The fender is back into the door due to direct impact. Yes, the unibody has been pushed over causing the left fender to be into the driver's door but this is repairable. It looks like your suspension was spared!! You might be right in thinking it will be above the 5K because at first glance I did not think it shoved the unibody over (the hood line looked good on the left fender) but it did due to the above.

Try pushing for OEM parts (I am not sure if USAA pushes AM parts).

It should be a good repair! :act018:

 

[Dnick]

So what happened to the RIGHT side of his Jetta???

 

[John's Ridge]

The Jetta looks totaled!:act018:

 

[speedlever]

Actually, I wondered the same thing. After I hit him, he drove in a tight right circle ending up as pictured.

 

[Carsmak]

Man, that sucks. Wish you the best of luck, with the insurance dealings.

 

[e_piph_a_ny]

Sorry your RL got smacked, but glad you're okay. That's the most important thing. :act035:

 

[speedlever]

I estimate my speed at 15 to 20 mph when we hit. No idea how fast he was moving. There was no air bag deployment which surprised me. He said something about his dog jumped in his lap and said he hit the gas and the brakes at the same time. (The dog was ok too.)

However, my pizza was a mess.

I'll consider posting a short video clip from my dash cam tomorrow if I have time.

 

[John's Ridge]

Too much of an angle for the air bag to go off.

 

[coolbob]

Well that sucks! I hope all goes well with the repairs, please keep us posted.

 

[Rich M.]

Sorry to read about your collision. The main thing is your okay. With that being said, it is still a tough pill to swallow. We try to keep our Ridgelines as nice as possible, but then something like this happens. I could go on, but
I would only add to the depression.

One thing positive that I learned from this incident is the next time I get a pizza, I will have it delivered.

I am glad to hear the other person was a stand-up guy and took responsibility for the collision. Your incident made me think again about installing a dash cam. Too many people are not as responsible as your guy, so supporting evidence might be a nice ace in the hole. What type of camera setup are you using and is it hard wired into your truck? If you hard wired it, how did you do this?

Like a lot of members, I love my Ridgelines. However, I have one nagging concern that somehow my Ridgeline gets totaled. Not many, if at all, new Ridgelines out there to be had. Some might say wait for the Gen II. I have seen the various drawings, photoshop, etc of the Gen II and I am NOT a big fan of any of them. The current Ridgeline is a unique truck that sits apart from the Nissan and Toyota trucks. For me, even though the bed's side wings (that now seem to be gone in the Gen II) can be a pain, I think they help define the truck.

 

[speedlever]

Rich, I fully agree with your assessment of the Gen 1 RL.... and also your concern should you lose yours.

My dashcam is a real cheapo I bought from estore009. ~$50 for a G1W-C.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-G...ffType=OrderSubTotalOffer&_trksid=p5731.m3795

I mount it to my rearview mirror and had planned to power it from the overhead wiring, but haven't gotten around to that yet. So it runs from a power cord coming up from the 12v outlets and looped over the rearview mirror. To power from the 12v lines overhead, it needs a stepdown converter 12v-5v, iirc.

I actually bought 2 of them but one could never record without inducing noise and I sent it back for a refund. (tried replacing, but the replacement still had noise). Of course dealing with a Chinese vendor meant the shipping times and hoops to jump through were significant. But it is what it is.

 

[speedlever]

Video deleted....

 

[Heli ATP]

Glad you are OK, sorry about your RL. Will you keep it or replace it?

 

[speedlever]

I anticipate keeping it... depending on the damage assessment.

Speaking of which, I just got a call from the USAA adjuster and was told they will NOT use OEM parts if the vehicle is over 2 years old. That is NOT what I wanted to hear.

 

[Rich M.]

From the video, it looks like you did not have a chance. Between the tree obstruction and the glare from the sunset, preventability on this one was slim.

Also, no unusual words recorded.