Looking for a bit of advice here..
So I was in an accident at the end of July during a bad storm..basically, due to some bad tires and alot of water on the road, I hydroplaned and slammed into the left guard rail on the highway. While I was waiting for the cops, my battery died so I had to get towed. The car was towed to a geico xpress shop. I called the place at least once a week to check up on the status of the repairs, they kept mentioning the engine--my engine had been having a rough start up for a bit which I was aware of so I everytime it was mentioned I said "yea, it starts up rough--I may have to take it to the dealer"...I asked them if they could change my plugs and wires ---they said no problem. I went to pick it up today, got in the car, turned it on and a bunch of white smoke started coming out of the exhaust. Not only that but it barely drives--there seems to be no power. When it cranks, it never seemed to fire up. Basically, it pretty much couldnt be driven.

Now--here's my situation..does anyone know what the cause of that could be given the symptoms? And given the circumstances...should I call my insurance and have them make sure that problem is fixed as the car was clearly operational prior to the accident or should I have them tow it to the dealer hoping they'll fix the engine under the extended warranty..(the rx is an 04 with 70k miles on it)?..I would definitely go with the insurance as--that's the reason why you get insurance in the first place but I'd hate to see this car declared a total loss.

What do you guys think?

 

the white smoke is probably the water vapor...since you crashed during a storm, there's a chance that quite a bit of moisture could have condensed in the exhaust while it was cooling... is your check engine light lit? also, check connections on both ends of the spark plug wires.

 

Why did your battery die while you were waiting for the cops?
Did you sit there with the lights on with the engine turned off for a very long time?

Anyway, chances are you need to do several things:

De-flood procedure.
Inspect coils wires and plugs in case they are fouled and replace the parts that need to be replaced.
Compression test.

BC.

 

I had to give the battery a jump the night before--so I knew it was pretty weak as it was. When I crashed I left the car on accessories mode so that I can charge my iphone and call the cops. I shut off the engine since the Oil light came on..and yeah..the CEL flashed when I went to pick it up.