A sad day for me. LX may be done.

[Snafu13F]

I reacted a bit too slowly to some idiot coming to a dead stop on the freeway and wrecked my LX on Monday just outside of Dallas. I am extremely depressed, since my insurance company told me they intend to total it even before the estimate comes in, due to it being a 2011 with 203k on the clock. I’m unsure what to do. Even with a buddy lawyer who lives in Dallas jumping all over it already, I doubt I’m going to get enough to clear the note, much less replace it. Watching her bleed to death on the freeway sucked. Unsurprisingly, when I cleaned her out yesterday, I tried to start it. She fired right up like there was nothing wrong. Here’s the few pics I got before I left her in Dallas...the bumper cover was 3 weeks old

 

[grinchy]

What was the some idiot driving?

 

[Snafu13F]

What was the some idiot driving?

Some sort of small car, I hit the RX 350 between us. The small car girl got out, claimed responsibility for causing the accident, realized there were two wrecked Lexuses there and bailed. I didnt even realize she was gone for several minutes. I’m obviously still 100% liable for not braking soon enough. It’s worse because it’s my own fault.

 

[1world1love]

Some sort of small car, I hit the RX 350 between us. The small car girl got out, claimed responsibility for causing the accident, realized there were two wrecked Lexuses there and bailed. I didnt even realize she was gone for several minutes. I’m obviously still 100% liable for not braking soon enough. It’s worse because it’s my own fault.

That is a real bummer and I hate to hear it. Hopefully everybody was ok.

Did the driver in front of you notice if the small car had fully functioning tail lights? In some places that makes a difference for liability purposes. Or if any driver is impaired, they are automatically liable. If she bolted, she probably had a better reason than being hit by two Lexus SUVs. In fact it would cause most people to start grabbing their neck and moaning loudly.

 

[mcgaskins]

It’s just a vehicle, and it kept you safe which is all that matters. I personally wouldn’t want it back after a fix with that many miles, and I’ll bet you can get a good insurance payout. Keep in mind the market for 200s has driven prices way up in the last year, so do your homework and negotiate hard on the value of the payout. You do not have to accept the first offer, and the more patient and prepared you are the better it will be for you. Good luck!

 

[18Cruiser]

Man,
I live in Dallas, sorry to say but we have some really horrible drivers here. Looks like you were at the high 5 on 75. I got hit just south of there by a idoit woman who cut across three lanes of traffic to make her exit. She got the worst of it but she got out looked at the damage to her car and my car, then said "I ain't gots no surance, file whatever you want" and sped off. She unfortunately for her left her rear bumper at the scene of the accident which had her license plate on it.

Good news it it just damaged the fender a little and the Tupperware, which fast tracked my new ARB front bumper and a few other things that the needed to be upgraded. Every time some idiot does something like this, I use it as an excuse to upgrade "to protect you honey and the kids, if God forbid you guys are in the Cruiser next time someone does something stupid."

Maybe see if your insurance won't total it. Have them pay you the same, then do the mods you want to make it an off-road beast.

 

[Angelo1]

Man,
I live in Dallas, sorry to say but we have some really horrible drivers here. Looks like you were at the high 5 on 75. I got hit just south of there by a idoit woman who cut across three lanes of traffic to make her exit. She got the worst of it but she got out looked at the damage to her car and my car, then said "I ain't gots no surance, file whatever you want" and sped off. She unfortunately for her left her rear bumper at the scene of the accident which had her license plate on it.

Good news it it just damaged the fender a little and the Tupperware, which fast tracked my new ARB front bumper and a few other things that the needed to be upgraded. Every time some idiot does something like this, I use it as an excuse to upgrade "to protect you honey and the kids, if God forbid you guys are in the Cruiser next time someone does something stupid."

Maybe see if your insurance won't total it. Have them pay you the same, then do the mods you want to make it an off-road beast.

Bad drivers are everywhere and the worst are uninsured. I wish they made a device in cars that kill the vehicle ignition when the insurance lapses.

 

[John Guedry]

Might not be a bad choice to buy it back from them.

 

[1world1love]

Might not be a bad choice to buy it back from them.

exactly. At a minimum it is a parts goldmine, but it doesn’t look that bad to me.

 

[1world1love]

Did any airbags deploy?

 

[CharlieS]

Sorry to hear that. Hope everyone is okay.

If you love it, and the frame is straight, you could it back and fix it.

Also, I have no idea what fluid that is on the ground or which vehicle it came from, but if it is yours, I wouldn’t “fire it up” again. You could make a bad situation horrible if that is engine oil or coolant and you run the engine.

 

[Big Timber]

"tis but a scratch!"

seriously, I've had it worse, but I did not have but 30 some thousand miles on it either. Wound up costing insurance $38,000 to fix. Both aribags deployed, so that was a lot of it. And had a lot of internal damage beyond the bumper cover and headlights. You might be able to fix it for $15K....on the high side, probably less than $10K. Seems to be mostly cosmetic. See if you can take it to a good body shop for their assessment. They deal with this stuff every day.

 

[Snafu13F]

Sorry to hear that. Hope everyone is okay.

If you love it, and the frame is straight, you could it back and fix it.

Also, I have no idea what fluid that is on the ground or which vehicle it came from, but if it is yours, I wouldn’t “fire it up” again. You could make a bad situation horrible if that is engine oil or coolant and you run the engine.

The fluid you see is my coolant leaking out, not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but the radiator is up against the engine block. It was probably foolish to start it, but I’m generally foolish. The frame looked ok to me, you can see it in one of the pics, we will see what the body shop says.

Did any airbags deploy?

The airbags fortunately did not deploy

 

[TeCKis300]

"tis but a scratch!"

seriously, I've had it worse, but I did not have but 30 some thousand miles on it either. Wound up costing insurance $38,000 to fix. Both aribags deployed, so that was a lot of it. And had a lot of internal damage beyond the bumper cover and headlights. You might be able to fix it for $15K....on the high side, probably less than $10K. Seems to be mostly cosmetic. See if you can take it to a good body shop for their assessment. They deal with this stuff every day.

I'd agree with this. Gotta remember these cars are touching on $80-100k new so even cosmetics are going to be a chunk of change. I'd say closer to $15k.

 

[Snafu13F]

Ran across this old pic of the original carpet protection film, still in place 10+ years later. I put weathertechs over it and kept it in place.

 

[Moby]

I bought my FJ-62 back from insurance. Sold it to Tor (Torfab) for a reasonable price for both of us. Wasn't trying to make big profit or anything. Just a lot of good parts that could go towards keeping other Landcruisers going....

 

[Nooooooooob1]

exactly. At a minimum it is a parts goldmine, but it doesn’t look that bad to me.

I agree. I’d be buying it back and trying to fix it, or worst case, part it out and profit.

 

[yOHda]

Nothing in the pics really scares me though as far as trying to put it back together. I would be buying it back and fixing it myself. Perfect candidate for some bumpers and such.

Seeing as though my 200 has been a magnet for scratches, I totally agree on having to swipe a current drivers license and insurance card before being able to drive on public roads. In Ohio, where inspections aren't even a thing, people drive sad excuses for vehicles 70+ mph right along side you with their phone glued to their face.

I wish I was part of The Slicer Task Force. We would drive around "Toby Halicki" style and punt offending cars off the highway.

 

[RT Cruiser]

Truly sorry to hear this. I'm glad to hear you and your family are ok. I know the pain of losing a well-taken-care-of vehicle due to a another drive. I hope you guys recover soon. Again, sorry to hear this. But it's good to know everyone is ok.

 

[Artie]

Truly sorry to hear this. I'm glad to hear you and your family are ok. I know the pain of losing a well-taken-care-of vehicle due to a another drive.

1) Here in CO, the insurance is required by law that if damages exceed 80% of the value then they must either total out the vehicle and sell it at auction, or sell it back to the owner and then mark the title as "salvaged." Do you research before you take any offer from your insurance company.

2) Check with Texas about assessed liability from an accident. If Texas allows you to provide documentation and to make an argument to your insurance company as to how much should be your assessed portion of the accident liability, then you would to be ahead of that process, not behind it. Generally, an insurance company will do an "internal investigation" as to how much will be your liability. You want to push and push to be sure your assessed liability is very low, or none at all. See 3).

3) With the new national insurance database, anything that hits it (accidents, tickets, etc.) can stay on there FOREVER. Insurance underwriters will pull from your history to determine your rates, even 20 years from now. So this is why 2) is critical. Someone in my family is still dealing with something that happened 10 years ago which we're hoping to undo one day soon.

4) Dash cams. I've been wanting to submit a post about the necessity of dash cams, what to look for in a cam, and my 4-side dash-cam setup. We've been through one horrible situation due to an aggressive driver (my 2nd sentence). I drive with much less stress now because 90% of all the space around me is covered on video, night and day.

5) If damages are minimal, then don't file anything with your insurance. Pay for it out of pocket.

I hope you guys recover soon. Again, sorry to hear this. But it's good to know everyone is ok.

I would like to hear more about #4.