crunched..

roddie Fri Aug 01, 2014 4:54 am

Well.. this put a "twist" in my lunch yesterday at work.

crunched.. Photo-14

A young truck driver was making a noon-time delivery at our company, and was backing a 53' trailer down the aisle in the parking lot. Instead of pulling forward to re-center the trailer.. he cut his wheels and caught the front of my vehicle with the tractor's mud-flap and dragged it sideways about 2 feet before he realized what happened. It was 12:02 p.m... and about eight people (including myself) saw it happen.

At least it wasn't a high-speed impact.. and I don't think there's any main frame damage. My vehicle was straight in the parking space, and it's front wheels were also straight before it was hit. What concerned me was how the front wheels were turned all the way left after it was dragged. I actually had never noticed before; whether the steering column "locks" when the ignition key is removed... so I'm not sure if there's damage inside the steering column too. The steering is definitely out of alignment now.. because when the ramp truck driver came, he started the engine and turned the wheels straight, and the steering wheel was 90 degrees out of alignment.

Anybody know if the "at-fault" party's insurance company has the right to total another's vehicle that they damaged? The freight company's insurance will be paying. I'm sure that the laws vary from state to state.. but what happens if the estimate to repair (if not actually totaled) is greater than the value? If "my" ins. company were paying in such a situation.. they would surely total it. My vehicle is a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer LS with 78K miles. It's probably worth $6-8,000.00 and I have no idea how much damage was actually sustained. It will definitely need a right fender, hood, bumper/frame/bracket, grille assembly, headlight assembly, wind deflector.. and possibly sensors related to the airbag.

pkrankow Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:21 am

Get with your company's agent. I am reasonably sure that both companies have to agree, but the general guideline is 50% value for repair bill. The insurance companies generally would rather total out a vehicle than have a problem with the repair.

I feel sorry for the truck driver too, this might be a career ending experience for him.

Phil

**Cribbs74** Fri Aug 01, 2014 9:51 am

Something is surely buggered in the steering. Wether it be the rack or the column itself.

I hope insurance does what you want them to!

batjac Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:16 pm

Oh, Man! I'm sorry to see that. I'd hate to have that happen to a vehicle of mine. I love my vehicles more than any monetary value could replace. Hope you're okay with how this turns out.

The Sympathetic Mark

dckrsn Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:50 pm

Dang, that sucks Roddie.
Hope everything works out for you.
Bob

roddie Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:13 pm

Hey guys, Thanks for your concerns. It's a waiting-game at this point. My vehicle is at a body company that made a repair on my wife's car a few years ago. The repair was flawless... and they handled everything.. right down to a rental for her.

I don't let these things stress me out. No one was injured.. which is the main thing. I "do" feel bad for the young man who was operating the semi.. but that's a huge responsibility. The lunchtime traffic in the lot; no doubt added to his misjudgment. People were waiting for him to move out of the way, so they could get by with their cars. There was a guy parked right next to me sitting in his car, eating his lunch when it happened.

dckrsn Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:31 pm

roddie wrote: I don't let these things stress me out. No one was injured.. which is the main thing. I "do" feel bad for the young man who was operating the semi.. but that's a huge responsibility.

Good Karma bro.
If I was in a position to hire that driver, I'd check his history, and give him a second chance.He's just had
a invaluable education. Whenever I see something like that happen, I think...he'll never do that again.
Bob

roddie Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:47 pm

dckrsn wrote:
roddie wrote: I don't let these things stress me out. No one was injured.. which is the main thing. I "do" feel bad for the young man who was operating the semi.. but that's a huge responsibility.
Good Karma bro.
If I was in a position to hire that driver, I'd check his history, and give him a second chance.He's just had
a invaluable education. Whenever I see something like that happen, I think...he'll never do that again.
Bob

Yes... after the cop took all the info., the kid very competently backed that 53' trailer down around a corner into our enclosed and "submerged" loading-dock bay in one shot. We all have had our bad days.

Oldenginerod Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:08 pm

roddie wrote:
It will definitely need a right fender, hood, bumper/frame/bracket, grille assembly, headlight assembly, wind deflector.. and possibly sensors related to the airbag.

I certainly don't expect any airbag problems. They're triggered by inertia and with the car parked and switched off nothing should have sensed the low impact. The damage doesn't look "deep" enough to have reached one of the sensors anyway.

$6-$8,000 for a vehicle like this? Man, you guys have it good. For $6-$8,000 AU out here you'd get a 2000 model Corolla with 200,000 on the clock.

Rod.

**Admin** Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:53 am

Ouch! That sucks! Hopefully everything will work out smoothly for you.

ian1954 Sat Aug 02, 2014 3:33 am

Well the front is certainly messed up. I have no idea of values and insurance policies in the USA but in the UK the vehicle would be probably be written off because of age and value and parts availability. The value usually assessed by the insurance company and, naturally, they under value!

Car insurance here is weird and devisive. We get "no claims" bonus but you have no clue as to the original figure that the so called percentage discount is applied to. We all now ring around for the cheapest quote.

For example - my motobike cost me £145 to insure the first year - the second year premium was quoted by the compay at £780. After complaining they reduced it to £450. I reinsured with another company for £140. The third year - again with another years no claims bonus - the requote is £450. Shopped around and got it for £90. I don't understand insurance quotes.

The other thing to note is that if you only renewed your insurance a few weeks ago then your vehicle is more likely to be written off because the insurance ceases with the vehicle.

Quite a few here, particularly with motorbikes, after write off is agreed negotiate a buy back from the insurance company. Then source "used" parts for the repair, find a reasonable repairer and end up with their bike back and still with money in pocket. It works with bikes because of the cost of replacement panels, exhorbitant OEM exhaust pipes, levers and mirrors.

These can all be replaced with much cheaper (and often better quality) combined with a change of colour and fresh life built into the bike.

It is nice to keep a cool and relaxed approach to incidents like this but it is inconvenient and often frustrating sorting things out.

roddie Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:09 am

Oldenginerod wrote:
roddie wrote:
It will definitely need a right fender, hood, bumper/frame/bracket, grille assembly, headlight assembly, wind deflector.. and possibly sensors related to the airbag.

I certainly don't expect any airbag problems. They're triggered by inertia and with the car parked and switched off nothing should have sensed the low impact. The damage doesn't look "deep" enough to have reached one of the sensors anyway.

$6-$8,000 for a vehicle like this? Man, you guys have it good. For $6-$8,000 AU out here you'd get a 2000 model Corolla with 200,000 on the clock.

Rod.

I bought the vehicle just over 3 years ago for $18,000.. most of which was financed on a 5 year note. I've put about 30K miles on it since then. Most 2005 model year daily-driver automobiles would have well over 100K miles on them. This one just turned over to 78K miles. Fuel economy isn't very good though. It has a 4.2L straight six. (I can only imagine what a considerably larger Chevy "Tahoe" or "Suburban" gets) I average 15mpg highway max.. with a tailwind.. going downhill. Shocked

This drops considerably if you don't keep an eye on the tire pressure.. and since our band plays weekly.. it's usually loaded with 3-400 lbs. of music gear too.

I really like the vehicle though. My previous one was hard to replace (for me) which was a 1994 Ford Taurus LX sedan. The Taurus had been a "one-owner" (in the family) vehicle before I "acquired" it. It came from Kentucky... and was special ordered from the factory with every option available. Even the headlights were different. (I've only seen one other Taurus with that style) It was the most comfortable, best-handling car I've ever owned. It had Ford's more reliable 3.0L V6 as opposed to the 3.8L which was notorious for head gasket trouble. When I met my wife, she had a 93 Taurus GL sedan and although it was in good shape.. it had the 3.8L engine and a totally different road-feel.

Here's the old Taurus parked at a solo gig I did in Andover, MA about 4 years ago.

crunched.. Keys_g10

pkrankow Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:32 am

ian1954 wrote:
Quite a few here, particularly with motorbikes, after write off is agreed negotiate a buy back from the insurance company. Then source "used" parts for the repair, find a reasonable repairer and end up with their bike back and still with money in pocket. It works with bikes because of the cost of replacement panels, exhorbitant OEM exhaust pipes, levers and mirrors.

These can all be replaced with much cheaper (and often better quality) combined with a change of colour and fresh life built into the bike.

Around here that gets the vehicle a salvage title with may cause more future headaches with resale and licensing.

pkrankow Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:49 am

roddie wrote:
I bought the vehicle just over 3 years ago for $18,000.. most of which was financed on a 5 year note. I've put about 30K miles on it since then. Most 2005 model year daily-driver automobiles would have well over 100K miles on them. This one just turned over to 78K miles. Fuel economy isn't very good though. It has a 4.2L straight six. (I can only imagine what a considerably larger Chevy "Tahoe" or "Suburban" gets) I average 15mpg highway max.. with a tailwind.. going downhill. This drops considerably if you don't keep an eye on the tire pressure.. and since our band plays weekly.. it's usually loaded with 3-400 lbs. of music gear too.

My 2012 Tahoe 4wd, 5.3L flex fuel, gets 15 combined gas mileage on "E10" (I have not tried E85, it is supposed to make more power, but have less economy and E85 is the same price). Most of my driving is around 55mph or slower and I am rarely on the highway so I get a severe economy penalty for driving less than 70. The truck is merely nice since the radio sucks (antenna in the glass doesn't help any), it is loud with a booming sound every bump due to the open box (having the 3rd row set up does help a little, every vehicle of this size and larger with an enclosed box has this problem, and I don't tolerate noises like I used to), and at 55 cruise control is a joke since on an incline change to uphill the transmission downshifts AND the engine switches from 4 to 8 cylinder mode basically planting my head into the headrest quite hard (don't even bother with cruise under 65).

I think it is too much truck, but my wife does need it for getting to work in the winter.

On long hauls, over 70 mph, without a trailer, pencil and paper gas mileage is in the upper 20's or even 30 MPG. I can't stand that driving slower costs significantly more!

Phil

crankbndr Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:17 am

I agree with Rod on pricing, I recently had to find a used car for my brother and could not believe what JUNK 10K would buy.
It would have been easier and better to by new and finance but my brother has insurance issues. I looked a hundreds of cars before I found an OK deal. Over the years I've learned to be a pretty
good negotiator against the dealer, walked out on many "deals". Once a salesman came out to my truck as I was pulling out and took my offer, had to chuckle on that one.
But now the car dealers have the upper hand, they are selling every thing they get new or used, hard to make a good buy.
I hate it when my stuff gets damaged through no fault of my own, your Chevy looked nice with low miles, it will be hard to replace.

roddie Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:36 am

That's not as bad as I figured Phil. Yea.. the Trailblazer was originally supposed to be for my wife too. Rhode Island highways generally have a 55 mph speed limit. Cross the border in to MA.. and it goes up to 65 mph. I usually drive divided highways at 65-70... and other drivers are either on my tail.. or blowing by me.

Don't even start with the "radio" thing.. Mad

I haven't had the $$ to have mine fixed. It works when it wants to. It always powers-up.. but intermittently (most of the time) I lose all speakers except the 1/4" tweeters in the dash.. Laughing

(I don't have to tell you how listening only to frequencies in the 20+KHz band sounds) Occasionally, "one" of the front door speakers will work.. and very rarely.. all six. It's most likely the speaker harness on the back of the radio. I think it may not be clipped in all the way. I don't have a tool to remove the radio from the dash to inspect it. Maybe while it's at the body company, I'll ask them to check it. They surely have the right tools. The antenna is mounted on the right front fender (which incidentally will be replaced when they do the bodywork)

I've noticed that either temperature or vibration seem to dictate the state of the speaker connections. and the condition "stays" that way during "use" cycles. If it's working.. it stays working until the next time I drive. It makes me crazy Phil. I like to listen to "talk" radio.. as opposed to broadcast music stations. The CD player is also affected by this.. so I can't even listen to my favorite tunes whenever I want to. Most musicians would find this "intolerable"... but I guess I've become complacent to the condition. Neutral

roddie Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:26 am

crankbndr wrote:I agree with Rod on pricing, I recently had to find a used car for my brother and could not believe what JUNK 10K would buy.
It would have been easier and better to by new and finance but my brother has insurance issues. I looked a hundreds of cars before I found an OK deal. Over the years I've learned to be a pretty
good negotiator against the dealer, walked out on many "deals". Once a salesman came out to my truck as I was pulling out and took my offer, had to chuckle on that one.
But now the car dealers have the upper hand, they are selling every thing they get new or used, hard to make a good buy.
I hate it when my stuff gets damaged through no fault of my own, your Chevy looked nice with low miles, it will be hard to replace.

It's hard to say what will happen with the Trailblazer. The body company is very reputable. If they "do" make the determination to total it, I'll definitely look into getting something more economical. I'll need something that provides for space, security and easy-loading of my music gear. My wife has a small SUV (2012 Chevy "Captiva") that my music gear fits in (barely) for a gig that I have tomorrow.

The damage to the Trailblazer doesn't look too bad. The truck that hit it, was "creeping" backward when it caught and dragged it. I doubt there's any frame damage. It's not like it was a "high-impact" jolt. Still; the cost of labor and materials to repair, could easily exceed $4000.00+ by today's standards.

pkrankow Sat Aug 02, 2014 12:40 pm

Beware of "buy here-pay here" places. The interest rate is fine (ok, lousy but reasonable), somewhere around 8%-10% based on the notes I have seen, but the 100% finance charge is painful to look at! That $5000 car gets a note of $10,000!

I have not used one, and I hope to never even consider it!

Phil

roddie Mon May 23, 2016 4:31 pm

Man.. this thread's got dust on it.. My 2005 Chevy Trailblazer did get fixed.. and I did get a new windshield out of the deal. The body company did an excellent job. The trucking company that was responsible, paid the repair bill. Apparently they don't file with their insurance carrier for damages under a certain $ amount. That's probably a standard practice for trucking companies.

Rather than start a new thread; I thought I'd ask a question about some trouble I had with the Trailblazer this past weekend after a late-night band-gig. My wife went out to start the vehicle.. and couldn't get the headlights to work. Long story short; I found that the high-beams would work.. so we were able to drive home. The tail-lamps work.. but the front marker-lamps don't. The directional-lamps all work.

This vehicle has an "auto" setting for the H/L switch.. and that's where it stays. I generally never touch it.. but I did try switching to the other modes in a frantic effort to get the headlights to turn on. It was just out of luck that I tried pulling back on the M/F directional switch; which lit the "brights".. and clicking it forward; sustained illumination as designed. Rolling Eyes

I'm not real good with electronics.. or circuitry. I do however have a "lamp-style" continuity-tester.

Any thoughts on what I might check for.. before having someone else look at it?

TIA..

**Admin** Mon May 23, 2016 4:42 pm

Good to hear you got everything sorted out the the truck damage.

Maybe a relay or a fuse, the highs work so probably a relay. Could be a loose or broken wire too. I haven't had to work on the electrical systems in newer vehicles so I've not that sure either.

pkrankow Mon May 23, 2016 4:53 pm

Start in the fuse panel. Then check relays and switches. Odd kind of problem you have there.

I have dealt with "self insured" companies before (I have worked at a couple = mandatory training, even though I did not get a company car). There should be a "financial responsibility" card that they present that is very similar to an insurance card. Typically there is also a traditional "secondary" insurance policy in place, often with an insane (to most people) deductible.

Glad they took care of you.

Phil

roddie Mon May 23, 2016 5:22 pm

pkrankow wrote:Start in the fuse panel. Then check relays and switches. Odd kind of problem you have there.

I have dealt with "self insured" companies before (I have worked at a couple = mandatory training, even though I did not get a company car). There should be a "financial responsibility" card that they present that is very similar to an insurance card. Typically there is also a traditional "secondary" insurance policy in place, often with an insane (to most people) deductible.

Glad they took care of you.

Phil

Thanks Phil. Actually.. my current problem turns out to be fairly common.

link

I went outside and swapped the solid-state fan relay into the headlamp relay socket in the fuse box.. and got my low-beams back; as confirmed with the key-fob. I actually noticed last week during daylight; that I had no "confirm-flash" of the headlamps.. when unlocking.. but didn't think much about it.. Rolling Eyes

I'm used to seeing that function at nighttime. I'll obtain another relay soon to fix the problem.

The YouTube fix-vid stresses the importance of testing the circuit with the specified solid-state relay that the clutch-fan also uses. Using a mechanical "coil-type" relay will damage the feedback circuitry leading to the ECM.

Thanks again Phil, for your comments.

Oldenginerod Mon May 23, 2016 5:26 pm

Here is my response prior to hearing that you found the issue. I thought I'd still post it for people's interest.
Rod.

The lighting system on vehicles such as this are generally controlled by the "Body Control Module" which is the computer which virtually runs everything but the engine. Basically, when you switch on the lights, all you do is turn a switch that signals to the BCM that you want the lights on- your switch is not directly connected. Sometimes a data scanner can be used to individually switch lights on via the BCM. That will confirm a faulty switch. They will generally give you a reading to show whether there is power in the system (fuse) and what the relay status is.
Not quite so simple as wriggling wires and backprobing everything with a test light these days.
Generally, tail-lamps, dash illumination and front markers are on the same circuit. If any of them are working you can rule out the fuse. May still be the switch, but if those others are working then it's unlikely.

roddie Mon May 23, 2016 6:52 pm

I am thankful that we have resources today; such as YouTube.. which can help to diagnose these type of problems. I'm looking at a $30 relay that I can install myself. Going to a dealer for help... would more than likely cost me 10X that...

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