2GN.ORG

Yup, it finally happened.

So what happened Gramps

You can't tell from the pics but my hood was over the fender before I opened it. The impact point was between the fog light and the FMIC. The impact broke the support for the driver's side headlight. I can't close the hood now.

Car is going in to the body shop at 7:30 in the morning. I missed work tonight because of this and I will now lose my bonus for perfect attendance for the quarter.

Dam that sucks. Is the bumper messed up? I can see the fender and headlight is shoved over. Bend the core support?

The bumper is scuffed from the impact but, other than possible frame damage, I don't know what else might be wrong. I'm waiting to see if there is an oil puddle in the garage in the morning... I hope not. The body shop is clear across the county and the hood won't latch (just the safety catch is working) so this will make for an interesting drive. I was told that the body shop is taking appointments for February 15th unless a car is deemed unsafe or undrivable. I sure don't want to drive mine in its current state for almost three weeks!

I'm just happy it's fixable bud. Thank goodness for that! I'm sorry it happened to you though

If you have a wrench or any tools loosen the front bolt that holds the fender on(Should be a ten) Then pull out on the fender so that the hood will latch. Might have to loosen the headlight up too.

I highly doubt you were hit hard enough to crack the block or the head or anything. I doubt you have to worry about seeing any puddles of oil.

^^I have no tools but I appreciate your suggestion. I've just been trying to calm myself down- the other guy probably thinks that I am a nut case since I didn't get out of my car for about five minutes, just sat and bawled my eyes out. Just couldn't deal with it, pretty much in shock. I was naive enough to think that I had made it past some "magic" point where something wouldn't happen to my baby (prior history of two wrecked Neons, one of which was a total). And to have it happen within literal STEPS of my driveway.

Just seen this, hopefully it's not bad. The pics do not really show that much damage so you should be fine...hopefully

Noo not your immaculate srt! I'm srry to hear about this gramps, hope they fix it right and on the other guys dime.

Sorry to hear this gramps. I hope you get it all sorted and it's good as new soon.

As I said in my PM David. I am so sorry to hear about this, I hope they bring it right back to factory perfect condition.

Ouch. From the pictures its a little hard for me to tell the damage. Maybe that's a benefit of a black car?

I hope insurance will cover it for ya Dave! Sorry.

Midnight_Rider wrote:And to have it happen within literal STEPS of my driveway.

They say like 75% of wrecks happen within 2 miles of your home. Do your research on Body Shop's. Don't let some asshole screw it up more.

heydockyle wrote: Do your research on Body Shop's. Don't let some asshole screw it up more.

Best of luck gramps! Thats a shame your car got hit

heydockyle wrote:

Midnight_Rider wrote:And to have it happen within literal STEPS of my driveway.

They say like 75% of wrecks happen within 2 miles of your home. Do your research on Body Shop's. Don't let some asshole screw it up more.

That's why you always have to move




Best of luck getting everything sorted out David.

Damn just saw this thread. Hope all goes well and its fixed up well. Took me a while to figure out what was wrong and then I saw the hood alignment.

What kind of car hit you?

Thanks everyone for your concerns. I have been an emotional wreck the last few days.

MyNeonSaysHi wrote:What kind of car hit you?

A 2000 Buick Century decided to kiss my Neon. Yeah, the pictures don't really show the extent of the damage due to snow reflections, black paint and the car being winter dirty. I wasn't able to get the hood to latch after I took the pics. The estimater at the body shop was trying to convince me that a new hood will be needed!

r/tguy02 wrote:...hope they fix it right and on the other guys dime.

Both of us are State Farm policyholders so that makes it a little easier. Indiana law protects me as far as sheet metal and plastic parts (thank God I have an '05- any older and I wouldn't have that protection).

Tear-down starts on Monday and I'm supposed to get an estimate on Tuesday. On top of all of this, my mother is having major surgery on Monday morning so the timing of the accident couldn't have been worse.

I'm hoping that the shop will allow me to snap pics during the repair (I picked another location that they have that is located a few minutes from my full-time job so stopping by daily won't be a problem). I'll keep y'all posted and thanks again for the good wishes.

sorry man

That's not good at all! Hopefully they do it right the first time and you don't ever have to worry about it

Damn Gramps I'm really sorry to hear that. At least the damage isn't too bad, just think....a fresh repaint for the front end those are never a bad thing!

Glad you are okay first off
sorry to hear about your car=( it will be all fixed soon though like it never happened

LilSparkPlug wrote:Damn Gramps I'm really sorry to hear that. At least the damage isn't too bad, just think....a fresh repaint for the front end those are never a bad thing!

Thanks LSP. I'm worried that there might be frame damage but the car didn't seem to have any alignment issues when I drove it to the body shop yesterday so maybe not. Hard to believe that a car would literally bounce backwards after a collision at a low speed but that's exactly what happened.

You can see the impact point (a smudge in the salt ) to the left of the driver's side fog light. Since the car was hit at an angle and the resulting hood gap, I am concerned about what the body shop will find after the tear-down. If the fascia is replaced, that will take care of the front license plate hole and rock chips on the passenger-side lip that I was planning to have fixed- trying to look at the bright side.

It really doesn't look too bad to be honest. Maybe minor frame tweaking at most.

Yes, hopefully I am just overreacting and it won't be that bad but you know how it is when your pride and joy gets hurt.

Yes....I know it all too well

Poop. I'm sorry Gramps!

Oh no! Not the perfect stock SRT! Sorry to hear, Gramps. Honestly, I don't think there will be any frame damage. When I smashed my neon into the back of a Chevy Tracker, I had a lot worse damage, and none of it was frame damage. Hope everything gets sorted out and your SRT is put back into perfect status.

what a shame, sorry it happened to you

Thanks again, everyone. I hope to have tear-down pics by Tuesday night.