Thread: My wife was in an "assident" with the van....

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A week ago yesterday my wife got rear ended while waiting to left into our Credit Union. A guy driving an HHR wasn't paying attention and hit her real hard on the right side rear.
She is okay, a little achy yet and she is going for some physical therapy Monday but she will be fine. The poor van though has seen better days...
The impact rolled the right side of the bumper under the van, buckled the floor, wrinkled the pass side quarter, smashed the lower doors and tweaked the slider so it doesn't close tight.

The floor inside. You can see the amount of buckle with the shadow from the scraper handle.

Another back view to show how far the bumper rolled under.

The insurance adjuster was out early last Friday. He totaled the van, which I knew he would. I started the by-back procedure that day and have a check coming for the balance. I paid the insurance $947.00 dollars for the van and still have almost $4200 coming in the mail. I will have it fixed for less then $500.00.

Got the "fixing" process going Tuesday afternoon. I drove the van down to my friend Phil's junkyard. I backed the van up unto the bed of his rollback wrecker and we strapped the van down with chains. Hooked the winch to the bumper and, in less then 10 minutes, had it pulled out like this.

Pulling it out also brought the floor wrinkle down about 75%, brought the slider door back into shape so it closes tight and allowed the lower doors to open again.

The issue now is to get the door sill pulled back into shape. We will work on this after I get the bumper and brackets removed.

I will need to look at the structure behind the sill before I decide how to pull it back out. I may end up cutting access holes in the back so I can get big washers on eye bolts from the front. We'll see.
I have been sick with a viral infection since Tuesday night so I haven't done ANYTHING the last couple of days other then coughing my lungs out and not sleeping. This is the first I felt good enough to even think about posting it.
Well wish me luck and say a prayer for my wife. She is on the mend physically but is still having some issues driving... I sent her out shopping with her mother this morning... That should take her mind off HER problems...
Mark

Hope your wife comes out ok on the injuries! They take a long time to heal and have been know to come back and haunt you later!!!!

That's too bad, Mark. Glad your wife was not hurt seriously, and understand her being a bit tentative after that wallop! And she doesn't get a new car out of the deal, either!!! Just kidding, it's great that you're going to be able to get it back right and have some good money to boot. Do you end up with a salvage title, or did they just leave it titled to you outright?

Sorry to hear this news! Hope & pray the wife mends quickly and completely!

Will the van end up with a Salvage title? Over here in Mass., when you buy one back that's been totaled, you get a salvage title and (theoretically) it's supposed to be used for parts and not registerable with the DMV.

Curious if it's the same over your way?

(RSpears beat me to it!)

Sorry to hear about your wife's injury but hopefully it's not too serious and she'll be able to recover without recurring problems.


It looks like you're doing a bang up ...make that bang out job on the van. If that was my van I know it would make me feel better.


Hope you're now blessed with a long string of really good luck after all that.

Thanks for the thoughts and support guys.
The "total" has no affect on the title here in Michigan. Nothing changes on that end. If anyone runs a car fax on it that is where it will be seen. That's not an issue though, I don't plan to sell it soon...

I'm glad to hear your wife wasn't hurt seriously. She got really lucky. Nice work pulling that bumper back out!