Aurora 1, Telephone Pole 0 3/26 Update!

[95mushroom]

Well yesterday at about 7:30pm, I wrecked my Aurora. I ran to get 2 bottles of soda from Publix because we didn't have any for dinner. Coming back, I was playing with the radio, looked up and there's white Grand Cherokee nearly stopped in front of me. There was about 3 cars stacked up, waiting to turn left into a trailer park of all things. Thought for a split second, can't go into oncoming lanes because that's why they're stacked up with cars coming, I definitely do not want to hit the back of the Cherokee at 40mph, so I cut right into the grass. I was hard on the brakes, once the right side got offroad the car pulled right off. I crossed a drive-way and went down the ditch. I had zero control, my plan was to snake by on right, but I was probably too hard on the brakes and lost it.

I hit small mailbox first, then plowed right into the telephone pole, and then through it. Both airbags deployed, I was wearing my seat belt and didn't fly into the bag hard. My face is fine and all I have is a very little raspberry on my left forearm. It was very quick and scary because the cabin filled my smoke (airbag) and the horn went off and would not shut off. It never really occurred to me about the lines and that they could have fallen on my car. Thankfully the lines and adjacent poles were strong enough to support it. Though, there were two lines that ran across the road and now were hanging down low enough to get snuggled by a decent sized truck. Thankfully the firetruck came very quickly and started directing traffic. I wasn't charged with anything, but Bell South will contact my insurance company for the utility pole replacement ($2,000).

There are accidents on that road all the time, mine literally happened across the street from another one where a kid swerved to avoid an oncoming car in his lane in his Chevy truck, loss control and crashed into 2 parked industrial dumpster, he was very unfortunate and lost his life. The people from the trailers came and tried to save him but he crushed his chest. They also came and saw if I was okay. I wasn't even out of the car yet and one guy was knocking on my window to see if I was okay and by the time I called 911, the firetruck was arriving.

The Aurora took it much better then anyone can imagine. The bumper collapsed into the condenser/rad pushing them back a bit. My two main points of concern is there is a bit of subframe damaged (last pic) and as I went through the pole, the pole boinked off the top right corner of the roof. We're exploring a couple options. I really love my car and really, really, want to keep it, but where do you draw the line? The car is fully insured, but if we go that route, Blue Book is only $3,000, I'm not certain it will be less then that in repairs. And if it is totaled, now what? If we take it back, it will be totaled and not be able to register it again, right? Or I take the money, and eat the costs saved in the car (the repairs and stuff). I'm not sure I want to go through it again, repairing this after that on another 1995 80-100k Aurora after we did everything once, sometimes twice to mine. But what other respectable car could I look at for $2,500-$4,000? None come to mind as nice as the Aurora, but I certainly don't want to throw cash at another one, after we already did with mine.

Anyway, here's the pics, the pole's in the first two, we can't really see it, but I'm on the other side of the ditch taking the pictures.

[A-boy95]

DUDE NOT COOL

[shys95aurora]

WWF man well at least ur ok. i say fix it up it looks good pre cash and not that badnow.

[erw38]

glad you're ok

[bcsman]

Just think how much damage there would have been were you driving a compact or sub-compact car?? You had the full protection of a REAL vehicle and even tho your baby is damaged she protected you from seriuos injury. Consider yourself fortunate.

[95mushroom]

Yes, thankfully she had enough mass to go though it, instead of exerting all the force from not making it through the pole, on me.

[Flybrian]

First of all, thank God you're okay. That could've been far, far worse in a lesser car.

Second, I do have to laugh that you murdered a telephone pole and your Aurora doesn't look that much worse for the wear. A friend of mine back in high school ran his '94 Escort wagon into a telephone pole and it was gone. The car literally wrapped itself around the pole and this was only approximately 25-30mph.

Third, I'm sorry to say your car is likely 'totalled'. I say that with 90% confidence I'm right. I had a recent accident where my fender, bumper cover, and driver's headlamp had to be replaced and it was declared a total loss. Most insurance companies search for parts from two or three of their 'buddy' junkyards who are usually in state, maybe one or two random ones to keep up the appearances of looking impartial, and of course GM. According to your adjuster, finding parts for your car will be 'impossible' as 'only General Motors has them' and even then, they can't 'guarantee they have them in stock.' Aside from which, 'they cost more than Mercedes parts.' They always like to compare cars to Mercedes, likely because they *heart* their leased C280s so much.

Now totalled does NOT mean unfixable. The parts themselves are rather affordable and aren't even that hard to obtain, even within our kooky little state. The insurance company simply won't give a **** to look for them. Here's what I found after a quick browse on car-part.com
Bumper Cover - $150-350
Hood - $100-300
Hood Latch Assy - $20-40
Windshield - $75-125
Airbag (D) - $60-200
Airbag (P) - $60-200
Radiator - $75-150
Repaint Hood and Bumper - $200-400
Total - $720-1765
Those are all within ~50-100 miles of where you live. You may need more parts also, but that's a rough idea regarding the major needs. Obviously, the exterior parts will likely not match your color. I was a lucky SOB and found a silver teal metallic hood to match my car, but who knows with your color, though many listings did say 'Purple' and, well...you know these people and color codes.

Fourth, if anyone tells you it can't ever be retitled in Florida, that's bull****. Pure and simple. Bull****. My ******** insurance rep tried to tell me how I should just total my Olds, let them keep the car, keep the payoff, and buy another new car because they were going to issue a Certificate of Destruction. Now, THAT guarantees you can't legally rebuild it, however I finally annoyed them into issuing me a Salvage Title that ensures the vehicle can be reregistered as long as it is rebuilt properly and the rebuild is signed-off by a DMC inspector. I will say this now:

**IF YOU INTEND TO REBUILD YOUR CAR, MAKE SURE YOU GET A "SALVAGE TILE!!" DO NOT ACCEPT A CERTIFICATE OF DESTRUCTION!!**

I need to empasize that because I'm sure many (older/foreign/female/stressed-out) people were mollycoddled by their claims rep into simply letting go of their older, excellent-condition car just because the insurance company's cost of repairs exceeded their arbitrary valuation on the car and they were fed this crock of **** about "you can never legally drive your car again no matter how well you fix it" <--exact words used by my claims rep. Its a lie and its a cop-out. It should be up to YOU to decide if its worth repairing, not them.

Okay, off my soapbox...

I see you have a few options here:

1 - Rebuild your car
First thing first - make sure the car is safe to drive. Obviously it got you home. My Olds drove me 5 miles back to my home after a side-impact; then the wheel almost fell off. Also, make sure whatever damage you have is 'fixable' in some way - no huge leaks, no crooked frames, mechanical damage etc.

If you have the time and want to put the effort into this, its really not that hard to rebuild your car. As stated above, the parts are not difficult to come by nor that expensive. My payoff for a 1996 Aurora with 110k was ~ $3300. Yours will be slightly less than that. In fact, if all the damage aside from the radiator is cosmetic, you may end up in the black as a result of this.

Also, be aware that to legally reregister and insure your car, you should keep all the necessary documents relating to the repairs, including the receipts for the parts. Depending on the inspector, they may or may not be picky about it. There is obviously a good reason for this, to ensure you're not putting junk out on the road. Also, your car will carry a 'REBUILD' title and must display a special decal on the door panel or somewhere. It will also be worth absolutely nothing for resale.

2 - 86 the 'shroom, find another Aurora
This is also less difficult than it appears - as long as you have alternate transportation until you find the Aurora you want. Though our cars are getting rare, if you seek, you shall find. Dolphin Automotive now and then posts low-mileage Auroras on eBay for ~4-6,000. There are also a couple Classics on AutoTrader within 100 miles of Orlando under 80k miles for $3-5k. Heck, there's a '97 on Tampa Craigslist for $1750 that needs work on the charging system (maybe just a new alt?) Just something to consider.

3 - 86 the 'shroom, find another car
Bad idea. Other cars suck compared to the Aurora. Period.
Okay, seriously, for this price range, you're looking at older cars (<'95), high-mileage cars (100k+), or compact cars (Saturns). Again, something to consider.

So, basically, if you love your car so much you'd do anything for it, choose Option 1. If you're willing to move on, but to another Olds, choose Option 2. If you're willing to just get another decent car regardless of what it is, choose Option 3.

If you want any other advice from someone who's 'been there' with the whole totalling business, let me know. Also, if you need help with anything from finding parts, getting parts, checking out a salvage yeard, or looking over a certain Aurora (or any car) in the Tampa Bay area, definitely let me know. I'm not sure how many I-4 corridor members are active on the boards, but I'd be glad to help in any way if you'd like it. ;D

So, sorry for the manifesto there. Hope at least some of it helped. Sorry again for your loss, but very happy YOU are alive and posting!

[JimW]

My first concern is, you are ok. Sucks to see your car took such a hit, but it could have been much worse.

I know its going to be a tough spot now to make a decision on the car, but if you have to total it, you can probably recoup some money on the work you've done to the car.

The rims/tires alone could fetch over $1000

Hang in there Shawn.

[95mushroom]

Thanks Brian for the post, it definitely helped me get a better perspective on the situation. I'm afraid the car's totaled too. There's a slight oil leak now, though it's right under the radiator, so it could be the oil cooler, but I think the oil filter looks pushed back a bit. Also, that support under rad took a big hit. I'm not sure if that's something we could fix, though the dent in the roof is something we definitely can't. She still looks amazing though. I think she's trying to put on a smile through all this (like the 7th pic in the original post).

I really was planning on keeping the car forever, so I'd really, really like to get her back on the road, I just am really unsure that's possible at this point. When you totaled yours, you had to buy the car back right? My other question is what to do with my stuff (wheels/radio etc)? Should I leave it on there? When my brother totaled his GTI, he took his radio system out, though, I've heard you'll get a lesser pay off. Any insight? We thought about just getting a Wally-World HU and wiring in one spare speaker just so it has one.

[Flybrian]

No problem.

95mushroom said:

When you totaled yours, you had to buy the car back right? My other question is what to do with my stuff (wheels/radio etc)? Should I leave it on there? When my brother totaled his GTI, he took his radio system out, though, I've heard you'll get a lesser pay off. Any insight? We thought about just getting a Wally-World HU and wiring in one spare speaker just so it has one.

Yes, I essentially 'bought the car' from them for the salvage value of $100 (my insurer was/is Progressive) and took the rest of the payoff. Because I bought the car back, they devalued slightly it for very stupid little things like a missing fan speed knob ($20) and a broken rear ashtray assly ($70). The fact that the knob was in the glove box and the 'broken' ashtray just needed to be closed a certain way didn't matter. Neither did it matter that the power antenna mast was broken and I had a non-standard Buick Concert Sound II headunit in the dash. They aren't that knowledgable.

Because of this, if you take anything that is "yours," replace it with something that looks decent. Don't leave gaping holes. If you keep the wheels, replace them with stock (or if you don't have them or want those too, 16" steelies with wheel covers if you can get cheap enough ones that fit). Throw in a cheap-ass WalMart head unit that fits or go to a junkyard and get a junk DIN2 cassette deck that doesn't work but fits in the slot.

They may nickel-and-dime you for wear-and-tear (maybe not since they're physically getting the car to salvage themselves), but it won't be so bad if you plug the holes.

Good luck with what you decide. Believe me, its sometimes a hard decision, but let us know whatever it is and especially if we can help.

[Marc]

95Mushroom.....I'm glad to see that you got through that OK. If Auroras weren't such strongly built cars, you might not have.

[austinator]

First off, glad to hear you're in good condition. I had my car 'totalled' when i was hit earlier this year. They gave me 4600 for the car and then allowed me to buy it back for abt $300. If you get a deal even similar to this, I would buy it back no matter what. You can easily get $300 out of parting your car if nothing else. That's my opinion anyways.

Austin

[greenmachine]

Shroom,

I'm glad you were able to walk away.

Best of luck in whatever decision you make about your ride.

[fear]

Glad your ok. Damn that sucks. At least you only killed a telephone pole and not a person. Also a telephone telephone pole wont sue you.

[scottydl]

Dude... dude... that's all I can say. But as others have said, you're ok and that's the most important part. The fact that you hit that pole head-on was probably the best scenario (for you) since there was more "car" to take to impact... bad for the car though. Could be more damage than you realize from parts getting pushed back. Man, tough decisions here but Flybrian has all but spelled out each and every option.

[stevezasycho]

Glad youre ok man.. Ive been in the same boat, except I hit a city bus.. I wish you best of luck in your choice.. If it is the sadder side of things, I can give those GXP 18s a good home..

..COuld be a lot worse.. SOmeone could have died.. Glad to see it didnt happen..

[algonquin]

Thank God you came through wth no significant damage to yourself. Flybrian has the right idea. What a great friend to have. Time will get you back on the road.

[95mushroom]

Thanks everyone for there concern. It seems the pole was the best idea. I was going at a good enough clip to potentially injure the Cherokee driver in front and there's no telling if I would have drove the Cherokee into the cars in front of him as well. And yea, there's no way that poles suing me now.

Hopefully time is the best medicine, because its not easy thinking about replacing her right now

[aaaauroraaaa]

95mushroom said:

Thanks everyone for there concern. It seems the pole was the best idea. I was going at a good enough clip to potentially injure the Cherokee driver in front and there's no telling if I would have drove the Cherokee into the cars in front of him as well. And yea, there's no way that poles suing me now.

Hopefully time is the best medicine, because its not easy thinking about replacing her right now

Glad to see your okay :-)

If it makes you feel better I did something like that before... 70mph on a dirt road... needless to say I went off the road and took out a 2 fence posts(think 8x8 cattle fence posts) and a small tree in my Bonneville. paid for repairs out of pocket.

No airbags went off in my case though, and no frame/radiator damage.

Dent on roof(like yours), dent/scratches on front bumper for 1.5 years... priceless

In your case, I wouldn't keep the same aurora... Make it look driveable and sell it for $1000-$1500, or if insurance gives you full coverage, take the $3,000 and run.

[Letitroll98]

Like everyone else here, glad you're OK and sorry to hear about the accident. It's amazing that you did so much damage to the pole and so little to the car and yourself. Another testament to the tank we drive. And I think you made a reasonable decision missing the Jeep, from the pics it looks like you had a chance of coming out clean, it just didn't quite work out.

I checked KBB for the trade in value for your year and it ranges from $1,485 to $2,400, so yeah, they're going to total it. I added all the options I could to try and get the highest value possible. So following Brian's great advice (nothing like been there done that) I would take the money minus the salvage value and keep the car. Even if you part it out you'll be ahead of the game.

Whether you try to fix it or not is up to you and what you think your skills are and how bad the car's trashed. Roof's are very expensive to replace and next to impossible to repair. I had very similar damage (roof and front end) and it costed out around $10k+ retail for the repairs, albeit a much newer model year.

[macadamiaman]

It was very quick and scary because the cabin filled my smoke (airbag) and the horn went off and would not shut off.

When I hit (head on) a Saab a few years ago in my Olds 88 LSS, exact exact same thing. Weird smoke, horn going on forever (til the battery died , and all happened in what seemed like a nanosecond.

Yeah, they'll total it. You can title a totaled car, no problem.

[95mushroom]

macadamiaman said:

It was very quick and scary because the cabin filled my smoke (airbag) and the horn went off and would not shut off.

When I hit (head on) a Saab a few years ago in my Olds 88 LSS, exact exact same thing. Weird smoke, horn going on forever (til the battery died , and all happened in what seemed like a nanosecond.

Yeah, they'll total it. You can title a totaled car, no problem.

Yea, it was scary. It was right in front of houses so the firefighter disconnected the battery. The horn is from the airbag going off, destroying the horn button/sensor pad.

I went back today, I had no chance. The car wouldn't fit between the lane and the ditch (storm drainage). Following the marks, I hit the brakes, steered right, the passenger side wheels caught the ditch pulled off the road, then hopped the driveway and went down the other side of the driveway into the pole. It was a sign or something from a higher power. Leaving the store, VATS went off and I had to clean the key and wait the 3 minutes.

I definitely plan buying the car back regardless. If I do get another car, it 95% probably will be a Classic, so then I can just swap everything over. Hopefully I get a bit more, my brother's GTI KBB was $7,400 and he got $9,100.

[premiumV]

Dude...so glad you are ok...wow. While I was looking at the pics of the pole vs. your car, some words that you once said came into mind. She's large and in charge....yup, for sure!!

[aldrichd]

Sorry to hear about your wreck. Has to be traumatic. Just remember THINGS can be replaced...people can't. Good luck on your replacement.

[Mr. Javi]

Man, at least your okay that is the most important thing, I hate to tell you but most likely it will be totalled.

Take the money.

95mushroom said:

It was very quick and scary because the cabin filled my smoke (airbag) and the horn went off and would not shut off.

I remember when I had my accident in '05, the same thing happened to me with the smoke, it was a scary feeling,
now imagine it with 3 kids in the back seats.

I feel real bad about this, I hate to see another Classic Aurora get the R.I.P. sign, but you have to look at in a positive way,
somehow.

Good luck with what ever choice you make dude.

[Aurora40]

Glad you are ok! Probably a good move not hitting the Jeep. Probably would have damaged all the cars and who knows if someone would have gotten hurt. Best of luck with either fixing or replacing the 'shroom.

[BuccaneersFan]

Glad you're okay. Accidents suck, but to look at the bright side you didn't get hurt and you don't have to deal with someone suing you. Did you get a ticket for anything? What insurance company do you have? Some will not let you buy the car back, hopefully this is not the case with yours.

[BlackButy]

Man that really sucks! Glad you are ok though.

You could have your car totalled by the insurance company, buy it back for cheap, then stick money into it. On my Bonnie though, I had it totalled for $3500, bought it back for $250, and parted it out only to make another $3000.

[luvmybravada]

I'm sooooo sorry! That is horrible!!! Your car is one of my favorites!

[akodo]

I'll throw my glad-your-O.K.s on top of the pile. Having gotten that out of the way...

Its a little hard to tell from the pics, but I don't think your roof repair will be all that bad. I've had luck in the past just pulling the headliner and tapping them back out. The dent looks pretty shallow and even. Add a little bondo and some sanding...you'll never know it was there. Of course, if the windshield frame is bent (can't tell from the pics) thats a bit worse.

Really, it comes down to how much you want it. ANYTHING can be fixed. Money or resale value isn't relevant, since you will probably never sell the car anyway. Parts are readily available, most are bolt-on in this case, and the crossmember can be straightened by a frame shop if necessary. So the question is. how much is she worth to you?