My air bag (car didn't have side air bags) did not inflate and I think it's because I was pushed and travelled sideways.

I got some closure when I went down to the tow company last week to retrieve my license plates and personal belongings from the car. I really liked that little car, and it was good to see the damage again. It made the verdict of 'totaled' more sensible.

AAA has called it a total loss and the amount of the settlement covers the outstanding balance on the loan, plus a couple thousand more. I'm satisfied with that. The car was 11 years old. I had it only 2 years, but still, it had only 83K miles on it.

I'm seriously thinking of leasing now. I am not driving anywhere near as much as I did when I first moved here and it seems to me leasing would alleviate the headache of repair costs and angst about breakdowns.

I'm thinking another Hyundai. Like I said, I liked the one I had and they are affordable. My rental is a Nissan and it is not for me. (Apologies to anyone for whom Nissan is their car of choice. It's a fine car, but I don't like the exterior styling and there are some control layouts that annoy me. Personal stuff.)

Your accident sounds ghastly, Amanda. Glad you are OK. I always hear good things about Camry's.

But you MUST be traumatized from what you described. What a jerk, whether kid or DUI or nutcase - he put you very much in danger, and to a ton of trouble, whether or not you get reimbursed.

My last total (comes of driving older cars) was especially annoying because it was an "oldie but goodie" perfectly maintained CAMRY with under a hundred thou miles, and most infuriatingly, I too had just gotten four new tires. Of course, its intrinsic valuation and the new tires weren't factored into the car's worth. (I've since learned that it's not just Blue Book valuation but a portion thereof - at least with State Farm, 80% Blue Book).

That was the accident caused by an empty trashbin (trash day in an Ides of Mach wind!)
that somehow blew and wound up wrapped around my drivers side wheel. Caused me to lose control. Spun several times, ending up wedged against a tree off the road.

I ended up with several broken ribs, a severely undervalued car, and most maddening, I was declared at fault so my premium zoomed up! Even the car behind me hadn't seen the blowing trashbin. I call that an Act of G-d!

Jeez, I felt slight extrapolated trauma just reading about your accident - can't believe you escaped without serious injury (and yes, do check it out!*) So sorry you are going through this.

[*pique, that molar that fell off months after your accident, is almost incredible - especially that the auto insurance covered it ! Good thing that dentist identified its cause]

Thanks, RealPlayer.

As others mentioned, the insurance companies have these things down to a science. There’s a back and forth between the parties, all according to schedule. I remember all this from when I was hit by a car in 2020, and was covered by the car insurance my wife had, even though I was on my bike.

I'm glad you are feeling okay. Sorry about your car, but boy we all would be much sorrier if it was you that was totalled.

I was in an accident last fall, and at first thought I was just fine, physically. Within a week I found out I had severe lateral whiplash, and a few months later a back molar cracked and broke off--the dentist asked me if I had been rear ended, because that was what it looked like, from his experience. It was ten months before all symptoms from the accident were at last resolved. The other driver's insurance took full responsibility and paid for everything, including OEM parts for my nearly new Subaru Forester.

As for the business end of things, you can still file a police report and should, if you haven't already. Was this a hit-and-run? Did the other driver have insurance? It's his insurance company that is responsible, and so your insurance company will probably go after them, since you haven't put in a claim with the other driver's insurance.

You should be entitled to 100 percent coverage for every out of pocket expense you have had, including the cab, the co-pay on the car rental, your deductible, plus compensation for inconvenience and wear and tear on your nerves. I'd even send the a bill for the roses and the prosecca and call it compensation for the anguish their driver caused.

I'm not a doctor or an insurance adjuster, obviously. Just speaking from my own experience in my own jurisdiction. It may be different with your insurance and in your state. If NH has an insurance commissioner, it could be well worth your while to call that office and find out what your rights are.

Remember I’m in Canada so my insurance is probably different. I am with TD Insurance. I’ve been with them for 23 years for auto and home insurance and while I haven’t had a lot of claims I have been very happy with the level of service when I have had to make a claim.

I called my insurance (AAA) as soon as I got home, which was 4 hours after the accident. They have been very helpful so far. Since I'd already rented a car, they opened a new reservation in my name at the reduced rate and asked Enterprise (one of the rental companies they contract with--coincidentally the company I rented from) to merge it with the one I made and reimburse me for any over charges.

Not feeling too badly today.

Glad to hear this!

@dolmansaxlil what insurance company do you use?

This doesn’t help now, but maybe will help someone else in future. Rob’s car was hit in a parking lot in July. He called the insurance company immediately - before anyone else. They told him to call the police and they would deal with everyone else. Within two hours the police had come to look at it, the insurance company had arranged for it to be taken to a local body shop, and they had pre-arranged a rental in case we needed it (we did not). While we were on our trip the insurance company dealt with the estimate, approved paying for it, and kept us up to date about when it would be ready. It took a week after our trip for it to be finished so I emailed the adjuster from the airport and asked them to arrange a rental for our return. Our only contact with the body shop was to pick up the car at the end.

I had never been through the process and was shocked at how helpful the insurance company was and how little we actually had to do. They just handled everything.

Obviously it depends on your company, but if I were ever in an accident I would definitely call my insurance company first because they may be more helpful than you’d think!

At this point I'm rather hoping it is called a total.

Sorry to hear of your being rear ended.

Glad you’re all right!

It sounds like a bad one. I recently went through this myself--rear ended, car was drivable. It ended up being close to $10k for repairs, which surprised me.

Adjuster took a few days. Repair took weeks. I paid for my own rental replacement but enterprise gave me the insurance rate of $35 /day. It added up.

I just talked to the towing guy and he feels pretty sure it's totalled. Ugh.

Given your description of the accident, it's hard to imagine that the car would NOT be totaled. You're describing an impact that likely messed up the chassis.

They'll give you the bluebook value of the car (or some other similar estimate), which is a pain. But that's often better than repairing a car, especially a nice one, because most insurers (State Farm, Geico, and so on) are unlikely to allow you to use OEM parts. For that, you would have to have used a costly insurer like Chubb. Most insurers will require the body shop to use parts made by "Richard's auto parts" in some basement in Akron that do the job but are usually nowhere near the quality of OEM parts.

I've just spoken to the first adjuster (a different one will phone tomorrow, probably) and she did make it sound like things will move along.

A bit of good news, though. My policy has rental coverage, so I will only have to pay $35/day for the rental. Yay.

But ugh the hassle and inconvenience! Best of luck getting everything figured out!