My Aurora..... is gone...... AND NOW BACK!!!

[RCSRGREAT]

Well I was driving to work this morning and I met the most wonderful deer in Kendall County... The dumb thing rammed the side of my car and then rolled down the side of it, pushing in the whole passenger side of the car.... The mirror is broken off, the passenger front door has huge dents, the rear door is jammed closed due to the massive dent right over the handle and the rear fender is dented. luckily the mirrors have heavy duty wiring or the mirror would have hit my face (had the passenger side window down). I was hit by some pieces of the mirror on my neck and cheek but other then that Im ok (just pissed). Insurance said its most likely totaled and they wont let me keep the car because I still owe money on it, was told they would write it off if its totaled and give me a check to pay the loan off and the car would be gone.... I wish theyd just write it off and let me keep it...

Maybe ill get a G8 now... i dont know what im going to do right now..












Gonna miss the car if i cant keep it... I just put $2k into this car like in the last month also... Sucks.

-Don

[Marc]

That's repairable. That's actually very little damage.

[RCSRGREAT]

well, from what they are telling me is that its going to be totaled most likely...

[XJSman89]

Wow, Don. How unfortunate! I hope you get to keep it although a G8 or a GTO wouldn't be bad either!

[RCSRGREAT]

yea... i cant believe it ran into me though. stupid thing, he hit the car hard too. i was going about 50mph and it shook the car. I had the passenger window down (no A/C lol) and its head came partially in the window and it hit the pillar between the doors as well... just noticed that its dented a little too. the front window and door look like they line up and close good still but the back door wont open and the window is jammed up into the seal around the door and the window wont even roll down.

[aj]

Wow man that sucks. It does not look that bad and it is repairable but they probably will totaled it but hopefully not. Its too much of a good car for it to be totaled well good luck!

[robaurora01]

should let them total it and go to the junk yard its going to and buy it back lol

[bobsblue95]

Dang that sucks! Glad you're ok though!

[ntrenn]

Don't give in so easily, unless you want a G8. Looks mighty repairable to me - maybe even get by with a door and a mirror. Since you just put $2,000 in the car, that will weigh on their value equation quite heavily.

[RCA1186]

NO WAY DON! That is crap, this is why I HATE deer! No way is that totaled I would fight it out with your insurance company for sure!

[RCSRGREAT]

Jul 6, 2010 7:57:07 GMT -6 RCA1186 said:

NO WAY DON! That is crap, this is why I HATE deer! No way is that totaled I would fight it out with your insurance company for sure!

Yea, i hate deer too. I seen him coming up the ditch but there really wasnt anytime to do anything. if i had hit the breaks and had slowed down that would have put it in front of my car then and it would have cause major damage to the front end then. i just had nothing i could do lol, just watched him run right into the side of my car. He even put his head down like he was ramming it and the dent on the fron passenger door and the mirror was from his rack then his butt swung around and hit my back door and then he kept running.

Im going to try everything i can to keep the car even if they total it. I dont think the insurance company will want it but the dealer that i have it financed through (in Ohio) might want it if its totaled. If thats the case im going to tell them, hey its in chicago if you want it come and get it. Hopefully they wont drive the 500+ miles to come get it then lol.

[RCA1186]

I hope that works, it really doesn't look totaled to me at all, just get a junkyard door and mirror, hardly worth your whole car,
And maybe then just deal with the front door damage I can't tell how bad it is on my phone if that's do-able or not.

[RCSRGREAT]

well.... $2200 estimates from 3 places and all said it will not be totaled, so all is left to wait on is the adjusters estimate and then it can be fixed. They all said the rear door is going to need replaced the front door will need a new outer panel and the mirror then blend the paint with the rear and front fenders..... Another good thing is that they are going to save my tinted windows, they will take them out and put the glass in the new doors so i wont have to get them re-tinted. so as of now it looks like my car is safe. If it goes over $2700 the car could be totaled so i only have $500 of playing room....

[fatjock]

Good luck with it.

Depending upon how much you want to keep it (and I know I would having just put so much into it), get a lawyer to deal with the insurance company on your behalf.

If the cheque pays off the loan, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to purchase it back for scrap value........then, depending on the value of the cheque, I'd look for another white donor car to rob the doors and mirror off, and do the work myself.

Just a thought.

[scottydl]

Whew, that was close! If the costs get a little closer to $2700 and they want to total it out, you CAN argue the value of your vehicle is higher. You just need to find Auroras for sale in your area and show those prices to your adjuster. I got an extra $1000 on the settlement for my Bonneville when it was totaled by an engine fire, just by faxing in classified ads for other Bonnies in the area. I can't believe they would total out and send a car to the crusher these days for a couple dents on the side. Back in the day you'd have those banged out and be back on the road in no time! P.S. glad you're okay!

[ntrenn]

You don't even have to have Auroras in your area. Anything you think is 'comparable' on Cars.com, Ebay, anything. Your insurance co will pull out 2 comps that are described as 'runs good' for $1500. You will pull out 3 or 4 145,000 mile garage queens for $4500. You win that fight every time and they fix the car. How do I know??? My insurance company comped a $800 runs good Astro for my babied 150,000 mile LT, 8 passenger, dual air, dual heat, that had never burned a quart of oil and didn't even have a spot on a seat. I ended up with $3000 for the car for about an hour's work.

[RCA1186]

Don, we can all help out and put ads on craigslist for our Auroras for $4500 lol

[RCSRGREAT]

Jul 6, 2010 23:44:37 GMT -6 RCA1186 said:

Don, we can all help out and put ads on craigslist for our Auroras for $4500 lol

Lol, no need anymore. Thanks though lol. They valued my car at $4370 (thats with the 146K miles on it). They are going to fix it, the estimate finally went through and is now up to $2,641.22 (which is 62% of my cars value) im aloud up to 70% of the cars total value before they total it, so im in the clear. They will start the work on July 26th and will take 8 days.

I dont have rental car on my insurance so i would have to pay out of pocket for a rental, but the owner of Carstar (where im getting the work done) is giving my a company discount on a rental car in THEIR name lol. They are renting a car for me for 8 days at $25 a day AND because they have it as their business vehicle they get a discount which is 4 days for free (They do a lot of business with them for traveling to meetings and what not). I thought that was pretty awesome.

[71corvette454]

I'm so sorry to hear about the crash... Good to hear that it ended well though! I hope you'll be able to show off your new corners when the repairs are over, because I can't wait to see them

[Mr. Javi]

Glad you ok man, that sucks with them dang deer. I would get a train horn and install it on my ride in, if I lived out in rural areas just for some added safety.

trainhorns.net/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGYcnYLK_50

[RCSRGREAT]

Javi, I dont know if id go that far with a horn lmao but that youtube video was hilarious that is crazy.

[RCA1186]

I WANT THAT TRAIN HORN lol that was hilarious, that is what I'd be doing all day lol

[RCSRGREAT]

I know, thats some funny crap..

[RCSRGREAT]

Just an update, i will be getting my car back tomorrow or wednesday and i cant wait... im tired of driving this HHR that they gave me as a rental... i will post before and after pics, went there saturday and they were done painting and were starting to put everything back together.

[carter]

Did you end up with a new paint job or just on donor parts? I'm sure you'll be glad to have her back.

[nice95]

You don't have to live in a rural area to have Deer issues. I live in a small village surrounded by Toledo, and Sylvania Ohio, and we have quite a Deer population. I've had as many as 9 in my backyard at once, and I'm on a half acre lot

[tipsymcstager]

that'll buff right out.

just kidding, glady nobody got injured!
all kidding aside don't look that bad

[RCSRGREAT]

Aug 2, 2010 13:12:37 GMT -6 carter said:

Did you end up with a new paint job or just on donor parts? I'm sure you'll be glad to have her back.

they blended in the paint onto the doors to the fenders and hood so you cant tell the difference in the new and old paint... its all nice and shiney again with new clear coat on the whole car! they even fixed a few dings and scratches with touch up paint for free. Im really glad to have it back, the HHR was nice because it was new but it wasnt that good of a car- id never buy one lol.

[RCSRGREAT]

Aug 2, 2010 15:58:13 GMT -6 nice95 said:

You don't have to live in a rural area to have Deer issues. I live in a small village surrounded by Toledo, and Sylvania Ohio, and we have quite a Deer population. I've had as many as 9 in my backyard at once, and I'm on a half acre lot

Where do you live? Im from Toledo originally. I then moved out to Metamora/Swanton area.... I know how bad the deers are there.

[RCSRGREAT]

Aug 3, 2010 11:21:08 GMT -6 tipsymcstager said:

that'll buff right out.

just kidding, glady nobody got injured!
all kidding aside don't look that bad

$2700 buff job

Both new doors, the rear was jammed closed so it did enough damage IMO lol