was driving to silver springs MD earlier this evening w/ some church youth kids to go to a pre-bball tourney rally (tourney is tomorrow). me and 3 kids in my car. we were at a stop light about 5 mins from where i needed to be, and even before the light turns green, out of no where i hear a huge SMASH sound, like a huge piece of steel and plastic being slammed on the ground. at the same time my car lurches forward and my initial reaction before i knew what happened was to slam on my brakes to keep myself from moving forward...

after the dust settled i asked if everyone in the car was ok, and luckily everyone had their seatbelts on. so i step out the car to see who hit me (since my trunk had totally popped open and i couldnt see through my mirror), and lo and behold, its a motherf'ing 2004 dodge ram 3500. a huge, red, 6 wheeler diesel. i check to see his damage: nothing except a few minor scrapes. go figure. right then the light had turned green and cars were startin to roll by and the car that was 2 cars behind me on my drivers side yells out the window saying "hey he was on his cellphone! i saw it!" and slowly drove off. ugh.

ironically enough there were three cop cars to my left on small street perpindicular to where i was and they were all looking at me, lol. they waved at me to drive over if i could, and i did. i pull up and he takes a look at the damage, the kids get out and he starts taking our info. the truck and guy belonged to some construction business, but he couldnt speak english that well and couldnt understand me when i asked him when would be best for me to contact him and his employer. thats gonna be a great headahce later...

anyway, this is my first accident ever and i was wondering what the process was w/ insurance and crap. my cars insured under my dads policy but i have all the necessary info on my end.

i took pics w/ my digicam which i had on hand, but i left it in my roommates car. i'll upload some cellphone pics soon.

im gonna try to call my insurance and his tomorrow. are there any things i need to be aware of while doing this? i was also thinking that man, this isnt just going to be a pain now, but if i ever have to sell my car, i know this'll affect how much i can sell it for. and whats that whole thing about claiming a car is "totaled"...? sorry, this is an area ive never had to deal w/, but obviously i'll be learning very soon lol. im just tryin to keep a level head, but im pretty sad. its like watching a really good friend tear his ACL or something. you know it can be fixed, but it wont be the same...

any and all info would be a huge help. thanks guys :hs:

 

here are the pics i took w/ my phone. sorry theyre not the best quality, and i didnt have time to haze out my plates, so dont be jerks and go crazy w/ them

 

call insurance asap... and give them all the info you have... police report and any other information you wrote down regarding the other driver.

theyll send over someone in a few days to appraise the damage and declare if its totalled or not.

my accord was hit by a dodge ram in the rear quarter... I had 3+ grand worth of damage and all he had were a few scratches and a broken headlight

 

The only thing I can say is don't rush to the first body shop you find to have it repaired quickly. That’s where people screw up and get screwed with shoddy work. Ask around, Ask Honda for recommendations or a local high end car dealer such as Porsche where they have their cars repaired.

Is it going affect resale it YES. I would ask the insurance company for a devalued claim payout after the damage is repaired. They are usually 10-15% of the cars value. I did this on my BMW after the quarter panel and door was replaced. Yet when I sold it I still got more than blue book

 

yeah im planning on doing a lot of looking around and asking honda dealers where to get my junk repaired. and thanks for the info about the devalued claim info, i'll def keep that in mind.

i was gonna wait til morning but i just got off the phone w/ a geico rep. he was mad cool. gave him all my info and the other drivers and he left me w/ a claim number and told me id be contacted w/in 48hrs.

it sucks to see them be able to drive away w/ nothing more than mere scrapes. judging from the pics, any idea how much damage was done? you cant see it in these pics, but the inside of the trunk looks imploded

 

looks like honda taillights aren't as strong as they used to be :hsugh:

that sucks though man, sounds like you have nothing to worry about

 

oh youd be surprised. i punched the one on the right out of curiosity and a piece fell off, but i'll tell you, it was a sturdy piece of plastic right there :hsugh:

 

hmmm...i'll say about $6000 worth of damage there.

 

get a lawyer and go to see doctor. Trusts me, it REALLY HELPS.


WILL NOT COST YOU A DIME.

 

your car kinda looks like a pug now...

that blows. The day I get rear ended...that is gonna suck for the other person.