So, Saturday I fell asleep on the highway driving my fiancee's 05 Pontiac Vibe. She was sleeping in the passengers seat, and we both woke up riding the gravel on the side of the highway. Thankfully it was 5 am, so the highway was empty. We hit a guardrail on the passengers side which threw us back onto the road as I woke up and I couldn't recover control. We went into the median where there was a wire guard, which slowed us down and got us back onto the highway. We drove the two miles to a safe place off the highway, and as we were calming down a police officer happened to drive by. He stopped took the police report, I had AAA come for the car and my parents come to pick us up.
All in all it was a very scary experience. I felt like I was fine to get us home, we were about 4 miles from our exit and I wake up in a bumper car. It seemed very dark out and it took me a moment to get oriented and at that point everything I knew about recovering in a slide was out the window. All I had to offer were expletives as I hit the brake, turned the wheel and stared directly at the barriers we were about to run into. Thankfully no injuries to either of us. Airbags did not deploy but we both had our seatbelts on. Our necks were a little sore that night but it's two days later and we both feel fine with no real pain, so we haven't gone to get anything checked out.
Not sure how the insurance is going to come out, the wire guard pretty much peeled the drivers side front quarter panel like a can. The hood is somewhat buckled and the front bumber is scratched/cracked. The passengers side took a hit from the hard guardrail, but not as bad. Pretty much all of the body needs replacing/work front of the doors, and the rear passengers side took a hit too. The car was still driving and only has 36k on it, so I'm not sure how the insurance is going to shake out. After we got off the highway some plastic on the passenger wheel well started to rub the tire, but otherwise it would be driveable-ish. We grabbed a rental car(no rental coverage) and insurance is supposed to stop and look at it today in front of my parents house before it gets towed to a shop for an estimate.
Anyone have any tips for dealing with a totalled car/ single vehicle accident insurance issues? I'm hoping it will be fairly straightforward but if anyone knows where I need to watch closely I'd like to benefit from your experience.
I'll try to throw up a pic later on today on my next break, but for now lunch is over and its back to work.
**update - Haven't heard back from the insurance company yet, but the garage called and the damage is $11k worth.
All in all it was a very scary experience. I felt like I was fine to get us home, we were about 4 miles from our exit and I wake up in a bumper car. It seemed very dark out and it took me a moment to get oriented and at that point everything I knew about recovering in a slide was out the window. All I had to offer were expletives as I hit the brake, turned the wheel and stared directly at the barriers we were about to run into. Thankfully no injuries to either of us. Airbags did not deploy but we both had our seatbelts on. Our necks were a little sore that night but it's two days later and we both feel fine with no real pain, so we haven't gone to get anything checked out.
Not sure how the insurance is going to come out, the wire guard pretty much peeled the drivers side front quarter panel like a can. The hood is somewhat buckled and the front bumber is scratched/cracked. The passengers side took a hit from the hard guardrail, but not as bad. Pretty much all of the body needs replacing/work front of the doors, and the rear passengers side took a hit too. The car was still driving and only has 36k on it, so I'm not sure how the insurance is going to shake out. After we got off the highway some plastic on the passenger wheel well started to rub the tire, but otherwise it would be driveable-ish. We grabbed a rental car(no rental coverage) and insurance is supposed to stop and look at it today in front of my parents house before it gets towed to a shop for an estimate.
Anyone have any tips for dealing with a totalled car/ single vehicle accident insurance issues? I'm hoping it will be fairly straightforward but if anyone knows where I need to watch closely I'd like to benefit from your experience.
I'll try to throw up a pic later on today on my next break, but for now lunch is over and its back to work.
**update - Haven't heard back from the insurance company yet, but the garage called and the damage is $11k worth.
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