Hit and run

They hit the left and pushed the car way back, but it's all open space and smooth curbs, so nothing to push the car into.

I'm honestly too shaken to really ascertain the damage. I imagine the header panel is cracked, the fender is bent, the turn signal broken obviously. Chances are the whole structure is somewhat bent.

I'm not sure what this does to the parking pawl in the transmission, the parking brake, the tires...

I worked so hard to make this car a unique, modern classic daily driver. And now this. I guess it's fixable, but it hurts.
 
That’s really heartbreaking to look at. The only thing I can say of comfort is it probably looks worse than it is, once you dig the busted up corner out it’ll seem less intimidating, the fender and bumper cover doesn’t even look that bad other than where the two meet where the paint seemed to chip, the cover might even buff out to a degree, if it’s not torn it’s savable, and the fender might just need its mounting bracket straightened or replaced with that buckled lower corner being the main spot that needs bodywork.

I seriously doubt the structure is bent, and if you had the parking brake on the park pawl should be completely fine, most likely car just skidded back
 
Hard to see on this pic, but this spot is bent slightly. Header panel cracked of course. Driver door makes contact with fender.

20241209_092355.jpg

The parking brake was set just one click, which wouldn't even hold the car on an incline. Whatever energy hit the wheels definitely hit the transmission. I also think that it probably just skidded over the asphalt, though there are no tire tracks at all. I haven't even moved it yet, so I don't know if P still holds or engages/disengages properly.
 
Insurance guy will be here on Wednesday. When I submitted the claim, it said that it  might be a total loss.

Does anyone have experience with this? Would I have to give up the car in that case?
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Insurance guy will be here on Wednesday. When I submitted the claim, it said that it  might be a total loss.

Does anyone have experience with this? Would I have to give up the car in that case?
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Yes and no, if they declare it a total loss you can buy it back for the salvage price. I’ve not gone through this myself but I know many people who have.

It’s also why I don’t bother with anything but liability insurance on these cars, they’ll total your car if you file a claim on the rear view mirror coming unglued from the windshield.
 
You can likely loosen the top bolts on the fender and yank that forward with the door open. That will at least get it so you don't ruin the door. Sorry this happened...
 
I just pulled into the driveway, where there's an incline. Parking brake functions normally. Shifting to P also holds the car by itself.

I don't want to drive the car any distance until the insurance guy was here. I'm seriously paranoid about the transmission though; I see myself cruising at 70 mph when suddenly a rogue parking pawl locks up my rear wheels. I mean I know the parking pawl is held down by a tiny spring... Has this ever happened? It would be almost inevitable total loss of control.

Looking at the tires, they don't show any sign of sliding (odd wear?), and there are no tire tracks on the ground. It's like the rear end of my car was airborne??!

XR7-4.6 said:
they’ll total your car if you file a claim on the rear view mirror coming unglued from the windshield.
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I mean part of it may be that in my claim, I checked off every potential damage item, however unlikely. That covered half of the car. I want to keep this car. So much work went into this.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I just pulled into the driveway, where there's an incline. Parking brake functions normally. Shifting to P also holds the car by itself.

I don't want to drive the car any distance until the insurance guy was here. I'm seriously paranoid about the transmission though; I see myself cruising at 70 mph when suddenly a rogue parking pawl locks up my rear wheels. I mean I know the parking pawl is held down by a tiny spring... Has this ever happened? It would be almost inevitable total loss of control.

Looking at the tires, they don't show any sign of sliding (odd wear?), and there are no tire tracks on the ground. It's like the rear end of my car was airborne??!



I mean part of it may be that in my claim, I checked off every potential damage item, however unlikely. That covered half of the car. I want to keep this car. So much work went into this.
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If the pawl engaged at 75mph it would sheer off like butter and you’d barely notice it. I truly wouldn’t worry about it at this point, the damage looks entirely cosmetic, even structurally that core support looks normal, they all kind of look mangled there from the factory, you might just be noticing it now.

Honestly to me it looks like a low speed impact, probably some drunk in a SUV pushed your car at no more than 5mph, you wouldn’t really see tire marks being left by that.
 
I feel your pain brother, but as others have stated, it probably isn't as bad as it looks. Yes, it did affect several panels, but I'd be surprised if there was any major structural damage underneath.

I'm with XR7-4.6. Insurance other than liability is a complete waste of time on these cars. If it were me I wouldn't even file a claim, but it will be interesting to see what they say. I was working on a 2011-ish Prius several months ago where the owner was lightly rear-ended. The hatch was bent, but still functional. Some of the structure behind the bumper cover was pushed in a bit, but nothing terrible. They totalled the car out. I put a new taillight in it and got the hatch so it could open and close/latch and told her I'd keep an eye out for body parts at the junkyard.

If I were you, I'd get it functional (door opening/closing and turn signal) and start collecting parts. I'm sure you know how to remove the front bumper cover, and the fender isn't hard to remove either. Just do it all at once when you get all of the parts together. If it makes you feel any better, I'm driving with a cracked front fender, slightly pushed in door, and cracked quarter panel on my Saturn wagon until I can find replacements. Of more importance is I got it back to being fully operational.

You can definitely bring her back to how she was with some patience.
 
Thank you both. I hear you.

I tend to really get upset about these things. This is the third time since I drive that I experience a hit and run or outright vandalism. I'm not hung up on material things; I live a very simple life by choice. But I love my car, and this total disregard for it feels like disregard for me personally.

But yeah, I'll get over it.

I think one thing that also hurts me is that in these situations, the car always becomes so interchangeable. I mean the insurance looks into some data sheet to ascertain the car's market value...but for me personally, it's worth much more. I mean only yesterday I Lemon Pledged my genuine wood shift knob!
 
10 years ago some lunatic in Cleveland (who didn't appreciate me going 30 in a 25) road raged and went around me on the right, then intended to cut me off but missed and ended up inadvertently doing the pit maneuver to himself around the nose of my old 94 Coug. He hit the right fender and both it and the corner light was crushed in a few inches. The header panel was busted up in a few places and the front bumper cover was scuffed up (not terribly unlike what I can see from your photos). I epoxied the header panel well enough to keep it together, replaced the fender and corner with local JY parts and used over-the-counter rattle can paint to finish it up. I didn't bother mentioning anything to insurance because the car wasn't worth more than $1000 at the time and it was sure to be totaled. Never had any straightness/alignment issues.

I will say that having full coverage on my DDs (that I didn't consider "junkers" like, sadly, the 94 was) has come in handy. When the 96 Mark got rear ended, they gave me like $4500 for it - that's with it having had 255,000 miles on it. When I bought the 98 to replace it, I had more than enough left over to fix the "rough edges" that came with the car - new tires, a few interior pieces etc.
 
Every state is different, but here in TN, if it's over 10 yo, you don't even have to get a rebuilt title.
I went thru that with Lazarus and it was mostly to protect the next buyer of your car. It has a bright orange title, lol.
When I wrecked the Tbird, I bent the hood and core support, which I replaced, and bent straight.
I bought the parts from a member, Spattered, on the old site, and got a box of parts, a whole hood sized crate, from him.:) I miss that guy now.
In both cases, the ins co totaled the car, paid me the "value" of the car, and I bought it back for a small amount of that cash, $600, iirc. I got 5600 bux for the car, bought them back, fixed them, mostly replaced the damaged parts, did some shaping with a BFH, and drove them.
It will cost less than a car payment on a new car to fix.
 
Today I drove it a nice long while and eventually got through some high tailed country roads. Check engine light turned off afterword. I bet it was an emissions code.

1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Thank you both. I hear you.

I tend to really get upset about these things. This is the third time since I drive that I experience a hit and run or outright vandalism. I'm not hung up on material things; I live a very simple life by choice. But I love my car, and this total disregard for it feels like disregard for me personally.

But yeah, I'll get over it.

I think one thing that also hurts me is that in these situations, the car always becomes so interchangeable. I mean the insurance looks into some data sheet to ascertain the car's market value...but for me personally, it's worth much more. I mean only yesterday I Lemon Pledged my genuine wood shift knob!
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Totally agreed. Even if its affordable to replace the car with one of the same platform, there's a lot of room for heartache.

I saw some people lean on my car while looking at their own. It drove me absolutely nuts. We have an unspoken contract where nobody leans on somebodies car. Which is quite interesting to understand. They had a very thick accent. I can only conclude they haven't been in the US for very long. Some cultures just treat them as moving objects and nothing more.

It will cost less than a car payment on a new car to fix.
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Yep, that mantra is going to get me in trouble haha.
 
Vicinity said:
I saw some people lean on my car while looking at their own. It drove me absolutely nuts. We have an unspoken contract where nobody leans on somebodies car. Which is quite interesting to understand. They had a very thick accent. I can only conclude they haven't been in the US for very long. Some cultures just treat them as moving objects and nothing more.
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Omg, this!

It reminds me, one time when I lived in NYC, I had a brand new Jetta. I walked up to it in the morning. A construction worker was comfortably leaning against it. I approached him and said "I love your car!" He's like "oh, it's not mine." I said "It's not?! Guess what: it's mine!!!"
 
That is great news at least. I don't know what guidance the police will be able to give you, but your insurance company is not your friend here. To them, your car is just a used 27 year old Ford that nobody cares about and you are just a slab of meat that pays a premium every 6 months so you can have a piece of paper in your glove box with their name on it.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Thank you both. I hear you.

I tend to really get upset about these things. This is the third time since I drive that I experience a hit and run or outright vandalism. I'm not hung up on material things; I live a very simple life by choice. But I love my car, and this total disregard for it feels like disregard for me personally.

But yeah, I'll get over it.

I think one thing that also hurts me is that in these situations, the car always becomes so interchangeable. I mean the insurance looks into some data sheet to ascertain the car's market value...but for me personally, it's worth much more. I mean only yesterday I Lemon Pledged my genuine wood shift knob!
Click to expand...


I try to look at these things when they’re not so severe as “well it’s definitely mine now lol”.

Your attitude toward interchangeability is my attitude as well, and the reason I just won’t bother beyond liability. On a car I don’t have sentimental value on sure, frankly I’ve toyed with getting more coverage on my Focus but those cars in that year range are so cheap to find I’d probably come out ahead just buying another one outright than paying the higher premiums and deductible if I filed a claim it it were wrecked(however I have formed an attachment to that car too, in spite of it being a rusty fwd 4 banger auto that vibrates a lot). The Cougar is too sentimental for me to care about replacement value, it would feel like blood money. I’ve had the thing for 18 years, I’m not going to let my insurance provider have final say in its fate. If I wreck it it or it gets wrecked I’m eating it, and that’s just the way it is. Money won’t repair the damage.
 
Good news that they caught the guy! Every state has different laws about total loss vehicles, but I just looked up Virginia, and it is good news. They only require a salvage title if the vehicle is 6 years old or newer or if it has a value of more than $10k. Since you won’t be in either of theses cases, that means if they declare the car a total loss, they would simply pay you for the value of the vehicle before the accident, minus the “salvage value” or what they would expect to get selling it to a junkyard as is, and then you keep the car and nothing happens with the title or registration. This is most likely what they will do because if they say OK to fix it, then find more hidden damage, then they are on the hook for fixing it, so with older cars, most insurance companies will total it out, pay you for its value, and walk away. This would also probably be best for you since in your junkyard travels you can likely find and buy all the parts needed to fix it cheaper, and then just have to pay a shop to do the paint and any straightening of the inner structure.

As for the value of the car, you have a few things going for you. The low mileage definitely helps. Also the fact that you keep the car so clean is a major help in the valuation, since they won’t be able to knock money off for interior stains or faded paint or anything like that. Also do your research on other cars for sale in the area to try to have similar comparable cars to compare their valuation. If you see cars in similar shape and mileage are going for say similar to what they offer, then take the money, fix the car, and have a few bucks left over, but if they offer you significantly less, then you have the ammunition to dispute it.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Do you have a link for this?
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Salvage and Nonrepairable Vehicles

Citizens, insurance companies, auto recyclers (salvage dealers, demolishers, rebuilders or scrap metal processors), salvage pools and vehicle removal operators are required to obtain a salvage certificate, nonrepairable certificate or certificate of title for each salvage or nonrepairable...
www.dmv.virginia.gov www.dmv.virginia.gov

That damage makes my heart hurt. Been there and done that earlier this year with our Fusion. It's a gut punch for sure, but at least it is fixable. Glad they caught the guy.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Everyone, thanks for the support today. I can share an update that police identified the guilty party, and they admitted to it. Now I'll go through the motions with whatever guidance police and insurance give me.
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How did they find him?
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
A combination of things. I don't really want to go into great detail. Suffice to say that this is a cul-de-sac with very observant residents who care about the safety of their neighborhood.
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“Someone” heard the crunch and ran outside with a bat…. :LOL:
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
A combination of things. I don't really want to go into great detail. Suffice to say that this is a cul-de-sac with very observant residents who care about the safety of their neighborhood.
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Good. Good neighbors are great to have. Glad that part of the problem worked out for you.
 
Continuing story...which by the way doesn't really belong into the What did...today thread. But when I started posting about this, I was upset and grabbed the first thread I could think off.

Taking a closer look at the damage, the structural bumper is bent in substantially:

20241212_103454.jpg20241212_114954.jpg

Is that part bolted on or welded on?
 
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