Snow/ Ice Accident

S

Skeletor03

New member
So this morning I dropped the kids (dogs) off at day camp, on the way out I hit a patch of snow/ice and slide in to a curb. My alignment is pretty off, the truck goes straight with the steering wheel off to the right about a 4th of the way. My rim is pretty scratched up and my traction control light is on. Anything thing else I should be worried about. I am contacting insurance today to get it fixed, but should I be concerned about other issues?
 
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screw insurance, just get it aligned, that should take care of the traction light too (may need to be reset? someone else can chime in on that). just get some silver touch up paint for the rim or buy a new rim online.
 
how much higher is the premium though to get that $100 deductible?

you still have to go through the hassle of the claim process and in this state (MA), you have to go to a "hearing" with the insurance company and registry stating it shouldnt be your fault because it was snowing.

but, if you need a new rim on top of the alignment, sounds like it may be worth it.

to your original question, i suppose it is possible you bent a tie rod or other steering/suspension component. if you are going to file a claim, make sure they check that out thoroughly. otherwise, the alignment should take care of it and if they can't get it within specs, you must have something bent.
 
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Skeletor03 said:
deductible is 100 dollars and it will not increase since it was due to snow.
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Wow, insurance companies up here would laugh you out the door if you tried to claim something wasn't your fault because it was snowing or icy.

I agree with others that the sensor may have something to do with the alignment being messed up, but I've had my alignment out before (albeit probably not as severely) without any lights coming on. I'm sure if you bring it in for the alignment and that doesn't take care of the light then they can just run a diagnostic on it at that point.
 
Skeletor03 said:
deductible is 100 dollars and it will not increase since it was due to snow.
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Not necessarily true.

My wife is an insurance agent and gets these types of claims all the time--I've heard some real winners over the years.

If you are one to utilize your insurance for everything...towing because you ran out of gas, towing because your battery died, claiming damage from improperly installed chains, driving on a flat and damaging the rim, alignment because you smacked a curb, hole in oil pan while offroading, dent because you hit a shopping cart etc. Your premium may or may not increase depending on the amount of previous claims you've made. If you're one to claim this, that and the other, your rates will go up.

Is your $100 deductible comp or collision?

Generally speaking, if your vehicle is in motion and you hit a car/tire/animal/person/boulder/tree etc resulting in damage to the vehicle, then it would be a collision claim.

Rock chips, vandalism, breaking into the vehicle etc are treated as comp.

I'd be willing to bet you bent/tweaked the tie rod end.
 
So I took it to the approved shop which I used when my car was keyed back in college (8 years ago). (A guy went on a rampage and keyed 97 cars in one night in a parking garage, most likely a drunk idiot.) However, they believe that they can refinish the rim to make it look brand new as long as it is not bent. If it is bent they will order new ones tomorrow. The mechanic who looked it over quickly believes a tie rod is bent, but does not believe it is a big deal.

This is why I love my insurance company. This was declared a 'No Fault" accident there for the premium will not increase. My wife and I have been lucky, in the past 5 years we have made 3 'No Fault' claims. 1 was this and the other 2 was my wife's car (rock chips and a hit and run).
 
So this has turned in to a cluster F!

I went last night to pick up the truck. I took the truck in the my work garage and looked it over and it looked great. The body shop was able to refinish the rims and make them look pretty flawless. I found one issue on one of the rims, but thought screw it...not visible to two people I asked, just me.

However, today while driving to work I noticed while driving on a windy road I noticed a feeling like running over a rubble strip. However it is only when turning the wheel slightly to the right. Right away I called the shop that did the repairs and went over and picked up the owner and went for a ride. Finally, back to the shop he feels that there is something wrong with the traction control sensor in the truck now, still due to hitting the curb. Said he would run some test on it tomorrow and hopefully get it back to me by the end of the week. This is killing me not having my truck and driving my sister in law's 2001 RAV4, feels wrong driving it.
 
How fast we're you going when you slid into the curb? And, since your rim was damaged I'm assuming that you hit the curb with the wheels turned (ie side impact to the tire/rim)?

I slid into a curb years ago on wet roads in my old Buick while trying to make a right turn (there was a traffic divider that separated the lanes going straight fron the right turn lane -- so the left front wheel hit the curb). I was going a bit too fast for the conditions (road was greasy as it had just started to rain) but I didn't really hit the curb going "that fast" -- the whole left front suspension got jacked up pretty good though since it's not designed to deal with a side impact to the tire/rim. And in my case the tire was flat since the rim bead took the brunt of the impact. In hind sight I should have straightened the wheels before hitting the curb so the suspension had a fighting chance to absorb more of the impact (at least set the tire up to hit the curb squarely and maybe be able to roll up and over the curb).

Anyway, depending on how hard the rim hit the curb it wouldn't take much to tweak the suspension. Hope that's not the case for you as my Buick repair bill was not insignificant... Just my $0.02 -- good luck!
 
Skeletor03 said:
So this has turned in to a cluster F!

I went last night to pick up the truck. I took the truck in the my work garage and looked it over and it looked great. The body shop was able to refinish the rims and make them look pretty flawless. I found one issue on one of the rims, but thought screw it...not visible to two people I asked, just me.

However, today while driving to work I noticed while driving on a windy road I noticed a feeling like running over a rubble strip. However it is only when turning the wheel slightly to the right. Right away I called the shop that did the repairs and went over and picked up the owner and went for a ride. Finally, back to the shop he feels that there is something wrong with the traction control sensor in the truck now, still due to hitting the curb. Said he would run some test on it tomorrow and hopefully get it back to me by the end of the week. This is killing me not having my truck and driving my sister in law's 2001 RAV4, feels wrong driving it.
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You and I have different definitions of a "cluster."
 
Taking my truck to my Toyota dealer tomorrow with State Farms clearance saying they will cover all of the cost because the shop they sent me to does not know what the problem is. So today I called my family friend...car mechanic for 35 years. Told him the whole story and the outcome now. His first reaction was that he believes that it is a wheel bearing. Told him that I had to take it to Toyota dealer or it would be at his shop in a heartbeat. So hopefully it is a wheel bearing and Toyota can replace it and I can be on my way.

by the way I hit at less then 15 miles per hour...
 
Wheel bearing was knocked out of place by 2 MM and therefore when I turned it vibrated the wheel and that was the problem. Toyota had it fixed in 3 hours. Picking the truck up later this week. Hopefully back to normal.
 
Skeletor03 said:
Wheel bearing was knocked out of place by 2 MM and therefore when I turned it vibrated the wheel and that was the problem. Toyota had it fixed in 3 hours. Picking the truck up later this week. Hopefully back to normal.
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which toyota do you go to?
 
NJshadow93 said:
I wouldn't be surprised if you bent one of your LCAs. I've seen that happen a few times this winter already.
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Ditto...and make sure whoever "inspects" it for damage knows what they are doing. Some of the boob Toyota mechanics in the thread about bad Toyota service departments wouldn't know a bent LCA if it hit them in the face...and wouldn't have the neurons to compare the undamaged side to the damaged side.
 
SShink said:
Ditto...and make sure whoever "inspects" it for damage knows what they are doing. Some of the boob Toyota mechanics in the thread about bad Toyota service departments wouldn't know a bent LCA if it hit them in the face...and wouldn't have the neurons to compare the undamaged side to the damaged side.
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I am friends with the head mechanic...went to high school together.
 
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