So, Julie and I were in a pretty bad accident this past Sunday: a six-car pile-up on I-205, a little ways south of the Portland Airport. Fortunately, everyone involved seemed to be alright. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our brand-new Prius.
Basically, it was a rainy day and a little Toyota pickup struck a GMC Envoy in the right-hand lane, which caused the pickup to spin out of its lane and into the center lane perpendicular to the flow of traffic in front of us. I slammed on the brakes and the Prius came to an abrupt stop. Actually, I was quite impressed with the way the Prius handled, especially considering the slick conditions. The anti-lock brakes and vehicle stability control no doubt helped. I was able to maintain control of the Prius and keep it in the center lane while coming to an emergency stop. Unfortunately, the Rav4 SUV behind us wasn’t able to respond as quickly.
No sooner had we come to a complete stop than the Rav4 plowed into the back of our Prius and pushed us into the Toyota pickup. I’m not entirely sure what happened after that, but there were two other vehicles involved in the accident after that point.
We are thankful that everyone involved in the crash was able to walk away from it, especially considering the road conditions on the freeway. Julie and I have been sore and achy since the crash, though not as much as we had expected to be. We took a trip to our physician just to be safe, and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong that rest, anti-inflammatories and heating-pads won’t cure.
This past week has been spent getting a “crash-course” (sorry, bad pun) on how to work with the insurance industry. The claims adjuster just looked at our car and it seems that the repairs will be at least $10,000. There are always additional damages that aren’t apparent on the surface, so the end total could be upwards of $15,000, still shy of the 80% cost needed to total the car. The body shop is saying that it’s 19 business days of labor to repair the vehicle… so it’s going to be a good month before we get our car back.
Not to turn this into a Prius ad, but I would like to say how impressed Julie and I were with the Prius, not only with the job it did keeping us out of the accident that happened in front of us, but also with how well it protected us during the rear-end collision. The Rav4 was obviously totaled: frame damage, leaking fluid, in addition to the body damage. You’d figure, in an elastic collision like an automobile accident, that the damage would be pretty evenly split between the two vehicles. However, the Prius did an outstanding job of absorbing the energy of the impact and keeping Julie and me safe.
yikes! i’m glad the two of you came out alright. car accidents are no fun, and dealing with insurance companies can be as painful (if not more so) than the physical injuries. here’s to a speedy recovery. 🙂
I’m glad to hear you both made it out okay. I’m impressed with your Prius, too!
I’m glad you’re both ok!! I remember the accident Dave and I were in. I was soooo shaken up afterward! For us the car was a total loss, which was awful since it wasn’t very old either.