SO today on my way to work I was on the on ramp to the Mass Pike, I started to take a left turn to enter the EZ Pass lane. All the sudden a silver subaru flys by me on the right and cuts into my lane for the EZ Pass. I guess he didn't realize how big the turn was and SLAMS on his brakes. To avoid hitting him I hit my brakes, I was pretty worried about the manuever and as soon as I hit the brake my car slides completley sideways. I try to save it but and was able to correct some of the spin but it was too late I hit the gaurd rail. I can't believe how bad I spun considering I was only going 25-30 mph. Oh yea it has been raining here since last night. Here's the list of damage, new bumper cover, new headlight assembly, and I think my upper tie bar. All in all should cost about $1700-2000 to fix. So here's the question, I am concerned to go through insurance because the car has already been in one accident (some woman hit my rear bumper pretty good while it was parked). I have heard that it significantly reduces resale if the car has been in two accidents. Any truth to that?

 

If your first accident shows up on carfax, it would turn away many buyers already. So adding a second accident may not hurt resale more so than the first.

I'm assuming your insurance didn't consider the first to be your fault, but it may for the second one, which is a pretty steep hit to your rates for the next 3-5 years.

 

In Mass we have accident court so I will try to plead my case there if I end up going through insurance. I think I have a pretty good chance of proving the accident was not my fault but you never know.

 

if you can fight it, go for it... just not sure how it will play out...
did you call the cops and reported the guy who cut you off???

 

I didn't call the cops becuase I was not sure if I wanted to go through insurance.

 

you shuoldve called the cops... just a headas up, that might come back to bite you in the end

as long as you're ok thats all that matters

 

didn't something very similar happen to zach? (LAS2K)

 

Sounds like you are going to be better off just paying out of pocket. You don't have any info on this WRX so it will probably be claimed as your fault. Your insurance will probably go up and yet another accident will be reported on your carfax.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeR324 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To avoid hitting him I hit my brakes, I was pretty worried about the maneuver and as soon as I hit the brake my car slides completely sideways. I try to save it but and was able to correct some of the spin but it was too late I hit the guard rail. I can't believe how bad I spun considering I was only going 25-30 mph. Oh yea it has been raining here since last night. </TD></TR></TABLE>


on a totally separate note, I highly advise going to some high performance driving schools. I really don't see any reason why you should have spun by what you described.

I'm not trying to pick on you. I just would like to help you be better prepared to react in these situations should it ever happen to you again.

I'm sorry to hear about the damage. In that circumstance, you should have called the cops. If there was anyone else on the road that stuck around you would have had a witness in the police report. And that's what I pay insurance for. To help me out when these boo-boos happen.

Everyone's insurance here is going to vary. This is where it helps to know your insurance policy inside and out. Don't be afraid to call your agent and discuss any or every scenario you can think of.

 

I don't think that a high performance driving school would have helped all though I do believe they are a great thing and I do intend on attending one some time. I think the accident was caused by a number of things. First my tires aren't bald but they need to replaced soon. I havn't done this yet because I will be putting snow tires on the car soon. Second wet concrete, the pavement they have on the ramp where I crashed is very slippery when its wet, its not normal black top. I keep on going over everything in my head imagining what I could have done different to avoid the accident. In my opion I had two options, tap on the brakes so I wouldn't spin out but most likely hit the car in front of me, or slam on my brakes to avoid hitting the car but causing me to spin out. I know that braking hard while going around a tight corner is not a good thing but I was out of options. Thanks for all the info guys.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeR324 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I know that braking hard while going around a tight corner is not a good thing but I was out of options. Thanks for all the info guys. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You would be surprised what you can accomplish. I teach these kind of maneuvers and it is possible, on both wet and dry surfaces, to threshold brake while turning. And we teach these in 1995 Caprices with LT1's with ABS turned off.

And for the record I would never recommend someone to 'tap' or 'slam' on the brakes. Keep your heel planted on the floor and squeeze the brakes using the small muscles in your lower leg. The second you pick your foot up off the floor you use your thigh muscles and they are overpowering and are unable to modulate as well.

 

When I said tap I meant to press lightly on the brakes, I will say that if I had taken one of the performance schools it would not have hurt my chances of saving that car, probably something I should look into. I do feel very comfortable with my car and typically know how it will react. I used to live by an old commercial building with a huge parking lot that is always vacant. I guess you can say I conducted my own driving school there, but then again I suppose a school is only as good as the teachers. Know of any good performance schools in Mass?


Modified by TypeR324 at 1:34 PM 11/7/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeR324 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I guess you can say I conducted my own driving school there, but then again I suppose a school is only as good as the teachers. </TD></TR></TABLE>

very true. lol


I don't know of any off the top of my head in Mass. I'll have to do some research for you.

 

even if you dont go through insurance i am sure it is still gonna show up on the carfax since the body shop is gonna have to enter info into the system to repair it right?????

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sillyboybmxer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">even if you dont go through insurance i am sure it is still gonna show up on the carfax since the body shop is gonna have to enter info into the system to repair it right?????
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have often wondered exactly how stuff gets reported to the CarFax reports. I was under the impression it was only authorized body shops, dealerships, etc that reported stuff.

 

im pretty sure its just accident reports...

 

find these parts on ebay. its cheaper. idk about the tie bar though.

 

that sucks *****. i've lost count of the number of times i got run off the road in and around the weston tolls. i work in natick, so i've found it way easier to just take backroads there.


good luck, you'll need it for the accident court.