SUPERMAC

ok so carfreeks.net is having a Cruise & Dine on March 25th and we are looking for anyone that wants to join up and have a fun drive.

If your interested please post up your name and what car you will most likely be driving, and i will let the event organizer know you're attending.

" MEET TIME IS 12 noon SHARP "

Here's the Safeway address:
1525 W Main St,
Molalla, OR 97038

here is the drive route planned.



Thanks a lot,
Chris

kristopher_d

Boy, That's a popular weekend. All Mazda Meet in Portland on the 24th, CarFreaks and The-Winding-Road with Group Drives on the 25th (opposite directions) and a Subaru meet and Greet in Kitsap on the 25th.

SUPERMAC

well i figure there are a nice number of events going on up north. so the southern guys need something to do as well.

maybe the mazda people would be interested in joining up with us? that is, if 2 days of events and driving isnt too much.

rotor_rooter

Hey people! Me my 8 we game! thats awesome well counr me in! I'll let ppl know if anything changes

kristopher_d

I was just noting how eager the local sports car community is for the traditional driving season to start. I just learned the BMW club is making a group run to Port Townsend on the 25th as well. No body wants to drive hung-over, but no body wants to wait, so all the twisty back roads in the region will probably be covered with people doing a little spring carbon cleaning. :D

BunnyGirl

Well, that would have been perfect for me since it's only a few miles from my house. However, my car skidded under an SUV yesterday and is at the body shop for several weeks. The lady in front of me slammed on her breaks and did a nosedive, I slammed on mine instantaneously, lost traction, and skidded under the back of her SUV. She has no damage except for a slightly dented muffler. I have a few thousand dollars worth of damage to my hood, bumper, and driver's side fender is cracked.

The police didn't cite me and said I didn't appear to be at fault, that the lady in front contributed to an unsafe driving condition with her inattention. We'll have to see how the insurance handles it.

There were four accidents in a 1 mile radius of where I had mine yesterday, all at the same time frame that the police and fire rescue are attributing to weather conditions.

Nobody was hurt, though.

Aipex8

iTrader: (1)

I'll go.

BG, if you couldn't out brake an SUV then you were either following too close or you weren't paying attention. I haven't heard of too many instances where a rear end collision is the fault of the car in front. So, good luck with that.

BunnyGirl

You're right on that one, but it was determined at the scene, based on witnesses, that I wasn't following too close, speeding, or anything else otherwise reckless, and I wasn't cited for anything. I was going under the speed limit, too. It was really overcast/cloudy and kinda dark out with drizzle (you can see by the pictures below), and I was also the only one driving with my headlights on. I'm sure I'm going to be deemed at least partially at fault, though.

It was right around a curve and you couldn't see ahead of time that anyone was slowing down/stopped or that the car was slamming on their brakes until the instant they did it. There is an accident on this same stretch a few times a month with virtually identical circumstances because there are a lot of driveways there and it is a busy road. You can't see coming or going out of or into driveways very easily, either.

I was definitely slowing down and was pretty sure I would have been stopped in time, except that my car just started skidding and lost traction on the wet pavement.

We are still working out the details of what was going on and trying to assign fault. At least according to my insurance company when they called back this morning they said they were looking at a no fault kind of situation with the road and weather conditions and the nature of the accident, and the report from the police/fire rescue people and witnesses at the scene. We'll just have to wait and see now.

The people in the front vehicle said they were turning into a driveway and had to hit the brakes and stop suddenly because of oncoming traffic that they couldn't see until the last minute (coming around a curve and obstructed by a pole). Then they heard squealing behind them followed by one big bang. They think the lady behind them hit them, and I then hit her. I couldn't see the truck in front of the SUV. All I could see was the SUV with its sudden braking and nosedise. The truck in front was an old work truck and they said they could find no real damage that needed repairing and so wasn't going to worry about having it checked out or anything and they said they felt totally fine and refused medical treatment. Not that any of this means a whole lot, though.

The lady I slid under had a slightly dented muffler and that's all any of us could tell. I thought I saw scuffs from my car on her bumper, but it turned out to be just dirt when I rubbed at it. I also got down and was looking underneath and couldn't see anything that was obvious damage except for some slight denting of her muffler.

My car appears to have suffered all the damage so far and I'm waiting on an official estimate, but when I got it to the body shop the estimator said that it looked to be maybe $3000- $5000 at that time, but didn't know for sure until they take it in and start a full inspection to make sure there isn't any "hidden" damage. I should know probably by the end of the week what they find out. At least my deductible is only $250, since my budget is a little tight for cash, having taken time off work in February.

BunnyGirl

Well, unless something changes, my insurance says I will be 1/3 fault in this three-car accident and working on figuring out how to distribute the fault amongst the remaing two cars. Both of them are considered partially at fault for having no lights on in reduced visibility conditions, which contributed to the accident.

05TiGr8Lady

Wow... that's too bad. Sounds like you're ok though? How about your arm you just had surgery on? Looks like you need a new license plate?

BTW - I was at the grocery store yesterday and there is all the Easter stuff for sale... I saw a kid's rubber ball - it was pink - that had your avatar picture on it - it was a large picture! If you want it, I'll go get it.

BunnyGirl

Wow! I'd love it!

I'm okay except for a bruise on the ball of my foot from slamming on the brakes so hard. Otherwise no injuries. Everyone else was fine, too. After I realized there was no way I was going to stop since my car lost all traction (you can see where, too, since the marks in the road from my hard braking end where there was a puddle and then about four car lengths later are pieces of my broken grill and shredded license plate) and started skidding and I was either going to end up in the back of her car or the ditch if I swerved hard, I just took my hand off the wheel and put my arm down at my lap so it wouldn't be hurt as bad if it was going to be. No change in my symptoms with it and no stiff muscles anywhere.

The license plate, the holder, and the mounting brackets are all toast. The lady's SUV is used on a horse ranch as a work vehicle to haul stuff around so she had some sort of hook protruding on the rear passenger side, which punctured a hole in the center of my car, where the styrofoam is coming out of my bumper.

Meanwhile, I found out from my insurance company this morning that the lady I ended up under has been rearended four times previously in the last two years while she has been driving. What are the odds of that?

I'm waiting for the body shop to do a tear down of my car today to see how much damage there really is besides just the obvious bumper, hood, and the cracked driver's side fender. On the initial inspection they said that the frame and everything else they could get to was totally straight, fully intact, and undamaged; same with teh engine compartment. That is why they are tearing it down today to look for more damage. They said it just over $3000 at this time and $3500 is the cutoff for where the insurance inspector has to come check it out before they can start the repairs. They said that by the end of the week they should be able to start ordering the parts to fix it. Said it looks to be about three weeks before I get Bella back.

Meanwhile, the truck in front got his estimates done for his "damaged" bumper and they said it was only $68. The lady hasn't taken her SUV in yet.

BunnyGirl

Well, good news, sort of. My insurance company said they aren't going to count the accident against me and raise my rates. Said other factors contributed to the accident that made it only partially my fault, and that no one else had any real damage and no one had any injuries. Plus, the lady I hit changed her story twice now, contradicting what she told the police. The guy in the front said he thought the SUV hit him, and then I hit the SUV. At least that's what he feels since he felt his truck get hit and then heard another bang a second or two later, which was me going under the SUV.

The lady I ended up underneath finally took her car in and the body shop said she had preexisting damage already to her vehicle (makes sense since it is over six years old and used on a ranch to haul stuff), so they can't accurately gauge how much or what damage actually came from my car, but put the estimate at $300 for a new muffler, although it was also already dented some, since there is rust inside the "folds" of the metal which couldn't have developed from Monday already. Also said they didn't find any evidence of paint transfer anywhere under her vehicle from my car.

So things are looking a lot better for me now. All I have to do is pay my $250 deductible, which I am able to do. I'm just waiting on my completed estimate, which I should have sometime today, they think. Then they'll be able to start fixing my car.

SUPERMAC

shoot tell them to total it and you can buy mine. :D only $19k

BunnyGirl

LOL! I want mine.

Edit: My damage isn't that extensive that they should total it. It just looks pretty crappy right now. The body shop is still looking for "hidden" damage to the frame or elsewhere. So far they are only finding damage to the panels and not the main frame or supports or anything, just the crumpled panels. I know a new hood including painting and everything is $1800. Don't know about for a new bumper and fender, though. Of course, I also have to get a new license plate holder and a new license plate, which isn't too expensive. My car still drives and handles good as new, not even out of alignment from what I can tell. Doesn't sound weird or anything either, although a bit noisier since the hood was "open" when I was driving it and the engine cover got jolted loose, but not damaged. It was just kinda laying under there and I couldn't get the hood open to put it back on. The insurance adjuster is supposed to go look at it at the body shop on Friday before J&M can start working on the repairs.

BunnyGirl

Well, got my estimate today, finally. $7886, half of which ends up being labor for all the shop hours involved. This includes new hood, bumper, bumper support bar (just in case it was weakened from the impact, not acutally showing damage), and driver's side fender, 78.5 estimated shop hours, so this means approximately four weeks of time in the shop for repairs. There was no frame damage detected on tear down.

Not too bad percentage wise since the insurance company put the value of my car at $33.5K, so less than 25% damage by cost.

I also had to go pick up my mangled plate today and take it down to the DMV and fill out a form and pay $15 for a set of replacement plates and a get a temporary trip permit.

I was also now deemed not at fault since one of the vehicles involved didn't have valid insurance, which meant they were driving illegally since insurance is required to operate a vehicle in Oregon. So, now all this falls under uninsured motorist coverage. Of course, this still means I end up paying the same deductible to get Bella fixed, but $250 isn't bad.