I was making a right on red and started to move forward thinking I it was clear only to realize there was a car coming I hadn’t seen so I had to re-apply the brakes. The lady behind me failed to do the same. So with a smidge over 200 miles on the odometer my new G37S MT took one up the butt from an 06 Camry. ARGH! Now I’m stuck driving a barge-like Avalon for a week while it’s getting repaired. I hadn’t even opened the gas cap on the car yet as it was still on the tank of fuel that came with it!

The impact was a pretty good “whomp”, nothing to deploy airbags but certainly not a love tap. When I got out of the car I was shocked to find virtually no visible damage to either my car or the offending Camry. There were minor marks where her license plate frame made the actual contact with my bumper and the sides of the bumper running up towards the rear fender wells were popped out. Just some plastic clips that had come loose. A couple taps with my palm to pop those back in and unless I showed you exactly where to look you’d never know I’d been hit. Still, the damage didn’t seem to match the level of the offending “whomp”.

I was right, upon removing the bumper to have a thorough estimate done the reinforcement bar was bent, one of the supports for the re-bar was cracked and the other was bent down. The ends of some of the bolts attaching the re-bar to the supports had been pushed forward and rammed themselves into the rear uni-body structure. The total estimate ended up a little over $1000. If the car had been several years old I probably would have let the apologetic lady off the hook at the scene based on the lack of visible damage and continued cluelessly on my way without ever looking at the under-pinnings and realizing there was anything wrong.

On the positive side, any lingering doubts I had about my decision to lease instead of buy are now gone. Even though the car will be properly repaired, the vehicle history will indicate it’s been in an accident and the car will suffer the attendant loss of resale value. Since it’s leased, that’s not really my concern.

(Before you ask, yes, I forgot to take pictures)

 

Sucks that you got hit so early

 

I logged on to the website here and started looking through the topics and then i saw yours thread and instantly said "AWW ****!"
lol i dunno why. Its just so disheartening to see topics like this.
I'm glad it was only what it was. Just a fender bender.
Glad no one was hurt, you or your car (well not too much)

Atleast you have the good thing of having a lease, that's my preferred method as well. AND since it's a new car, so you won't have to worry about having the colors being off when they put a new bumper on.

 

Too true, I forgot to mention that the repair should be a good color match and fade at the same rate as the rest of the car. Although I'm sure the bumper will no longer have the scratch shield paint. I wonder if that will have any effect on color match down the road a few years.

The repairs are completed. I got the call letting me know at 5:30 yesterday but I couldn't get in to pick it up before they closed at 7:00 so I have to wait until Monday to get it back

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go captain the Avalon around town some more today. That thing is huge. It should come with a fog horn.

 

this is OT but I've been at work for the past 19 hours (I'm on a 32 hour shift ) and as I was reading this part the thought "what the hell does lingerie have anything to do with this" popped into my head, before I reread that it said lingering not lingerie Thought that was funny.

Anyway glad you got it repaired and its a good warning to make sure you get everything checked out properly.

 

It took me a minute to figure out that you meant lingerie. I read your post first and couldn't figure out WTH lingere was. Once I figured it out though, it is pretty funny.

 

See thats what no sleep does, I can't spell for crap, luckily all the forms at work are pretty much filled in with all the options and I just pick the right answer.

 

:-(

 

I was wondering who was going to be the first. I almost go rear ended on the highway several days ago. Leases are beautiful things. I used to get upset about scratches and stone chips. Now I still care, but it doesn't sting as much.

 

So do I get a prize of some sort?

 

They'd probably let it slide on this one, but ANY form of loss of value to the car , you ARE responsible for, leasing the vehicle. The leasing company wants it back in sellable form, and expects a certain level of value. No more than if you spray painted the bumpers black; you couldn't just turn it in that way and not expect a charge for loss of depreciation, just because it's a lease.

Point being... the lady's insurance company would be responsible for this loss of value... so you may want to check and make sure you aren't responsible for any charges NOW... ask your leasing company.

 

Hahahaha my friends dad has an 06 Avalon Limited. Thing is a total barge, but it has some grunt for a big car. Too bad the suspension cant keep up with the power.



Sucks about your car though, man. Thats a real shame. You might be the first.

 

Sorry to hear that bro!! Be careful stay away from old ppl!!!