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EnjoyDriving

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Just rear ended while we were waiting for a right turn at a signal. We both were stopped and the truck behind me thought it was a green becoz the car on left was moving, so he ran right into my rear. Visual damage on rear bumper and passenger rear panel.

Will take it to body shop next week, but i wonder if there could be any mechanical damage, and since this is a hybrid any thing else i should watch out for? planning yo take it to Toyota for a quick look too

appreciate any input here, TIA.
 
Oh, that sucks. I just got my Subaru back from the body shop ... for the second time in a year.

I don't think the hybrid has anything special to think about. The rear drive motor is back there, but it's going to take some significant damage before that would be a problem. The 12V battery is in the rear (passenger side), but it would take some significant damage to the cargo area to get to it. Other than that, everything's basically the same as the gas model. I don't think it's going to be any different than any other car, so your body shop should know how to handle this just fine.
 
Most bumpers these days are just cosmetic covers and the real shock absorbing structure is behind the cover. Crossbars, shock absorbing structures. Some deforming and must be replaced. Some actual shock absorber looking items.

Find out if your state and insurance has a thing called "diminished value". Your car is now going to be marked in things like Carfax and in the DMV as repaired and thus, if someone were to buy it, they would expect to pay you significantly less as the panel would have to be replaced and or straightened and the impact protection might not be as complete. To minimize this, take before and after pictures and have the records of what was done available to show how minimal the damage was and how it doesn't affect the utility of the car. Is the cargo hatch and any sensors ok?

Another thing to ask is if the impact would have impacted the wheel alignment. Investigate a rental and who pays while the work is being done. Good body shops are often booked far in advance.

I was hit while stopped last in a line of traffic stopped at a stop light. This by a small sedan who couldn't see the stoplight because of a panel truck between us that managed to swerve away at the last minute into the median presenting her with a surprise. I was in a Porsche at the time. Took to a body shop and they replaced the impact absorbing items, refurbished the cover, painted the bumper cover and checked the alignmant and I was made whole. I disclosed the accident when I sold the car 5 years later, you couldn't tell a thing from looking at it. The only hassle was her insurance company refused to pay for the use of new bolts to replace the well rusted ones that secured the muffler that had to be removed for the repair. They were about $8 each ...

Good luck.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
thx for all input, mine s a XSE with no parking sensor. at the body shop right now and they can see that the rear reenforce beam got pushed in quite a bit, but they r not seeing any mechanical damage at this moment, and the car does drive fine except i felt the car jerked a little more than usual as the ICE stopped and started while we were waiting for cop.

will get another quote later, its definitely sad for a 6 month old car, but well it will get fixed.

Normally i would upgrade the bumper but this Rav4 is so new i don't think there os good 3rd party one out there ?
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
my 1st estimate is over 3K by visual damages alone...... luckily the guy is insured and he already filed a claim, so will wait to talk to the adjuster and will bring up suggested questions above (Thx for the input).

i did see a Rav4 with 3rd party body packages in Hong Kong, and i did like the rear bumper pieces, so now google time!! ?
 
Is it my imagination or are a lot of 4.5 RAV4's being rear-ended?

I have been behind a few lately and the left and right brake lights are not very visible and the "third" brake light is out of the line of sight.

I would appear that these accidents are happening in daylight so could this be the next Toyota fix to add a harness to light up more lights on the rear like they are when the headlights are on? Maybe we should all drive with the headlights on all the time (not auto for some of us) and see if this stops happening.

Thoughts?
 
Yeah, I don't like those small rear stop lights. I added really bright rear turn signals to potentially help with that, also thinking to add flashing brake light, but if you are fully stopped that might not help much.
 
Sorry to hear. At least he didn’t run away and he is insured, correct? Around here (Austin, TX metro), they mostly run, if they couldn’t they are usually uninsured.

I have never been hit by an insured driver. [emoji35]


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The number of uninsured drivers is absolutely shocking. This should be much easier to enforce, considering that vehicles are registered to people and insurance is tied to specific vehicles.
 
thx for all input, mine s a XSE with no parking sensor. at the body shop right now and they can see that the rear reenforce beam got pushed in quite a bit, but they r not seeing any mechanical damage at this moment, and the car does drive fine except i felt the car jerked a little more than usual as the ICE stopped and started while we were waiting for cop.

will get another quote later, its definitely sad for a 6 month old car, but well it will get fixed.

Normally i would upgrade the bumper but this Rav4 is so new i don't think there os good 3rd party one out there ?
Now is a good time to install an OEM trailer hitch if you want one. If I remember correctly, the OEM hitch replaces the bumper.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Is it my imagination or are a lot of 4.5 RAV4's being rear-ended?

I have been behind a few lately and the left and right brake lights are not very visible and the "third" brake light is out of the line of sight.

I would appear that these accidents are happening in daylight so could this be the next Toyota fix to add a harness to light up more lights on the rear like they are when the headlights are on? Maybe we should all drive with the headlights on all the time (not auto for some of us) and see if this stops happening.

Thoughts?
In my case, it was actually due to the negligence of the driver behind me - he actually got tricked by the guy next to our lane who sped off and cut into the oncoming cars to make that right turn recklessly. I was actually looking at his car and the oncoming cars chasing right behind him and thinking how reckless the guy was, then "BAM" I got hit instead - how funny!!

Well, i did find some bumper kit and one even from TRD in JP!! But I don't think i would go that route because the rear bumper might look odd without the rest of the kits :-D So, i might look into getting an OEM hitch instead, thanks for the tips!!
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Most bumpers these days are just cosmetic covers and the real shock absorbing structure is behind the cover. Crossbars, shock absorbing structures. Some deforming and must be replaced. Some actual shock absorber looking items.

Find out if your state and insurance has a thing called "diminished value". Your car is now going to be marked in things like Carfax and in the DMV as repaired and thus, if someone were to buy it, they would expect to pay you significantly less as the panel would have to be replaced and or straightened and the impact protection might not be as complete. To minimize this, take before and after pictures and have the records of what was done available to show how minimal the damage was and how it doesn't affect the utility of the car. Is the cargo hatch and any sensors ok?

Another thing to ask is if the impact would have impacted the wheel alignment. Investigate a rental and who pays while the work is being done. Good body shops are often booked far in advance.

I was hit while stopped last in a line of traffic stopped at a stop light. This by a small sedan who couldn't see the stoplight because of a panel truck between us that managed to swerve away at the last minute into the median presenting her with a surprise. I was in a Porsche at the time. Took to a body shop and they replaced the impact absorbing items, refurbished the cover, painted the bumper cover and checked the alignmant and I was made whole. I disclosed the accident when I sold the car 5 years later, you couldn't tell a thing from looking at it. The only hassle was her insurance company refused to pay for the use of new bolts to replace the well rusted ones that secured the muffler that had to be removed for the repair. They were about $8 each ...

Good luck.
Hi, my car is currently in the shop and the Insurance guy asked me for an estimate on the "diminished value" - how should I come up with that? Would i be able to get it from the shop? Any site like KBB to give out that estimate? Or, should I just request for 1M? ;-) J/K
 
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