After picking up my car from the shop a few days ago after I had the differential replaced, I drove up to Santa Barbara with a friend for a charity golf tournament at Sandpiper Golf Club overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We had a great day, won first place, and had a nice dinner, and then headed home. About forty five minutes south in the City of Ventura, the car in front of us apparently ran over what appeared to be a truck tailgate/bumper, and put it right in front of my XKR with no possibility of avoiding it. I got off the freeway at the next offramp to find my front lower valance completely ripped away along with the black plastic sub-structure to which it was attached. It was too dark to see what the other damage is. I had to break away a piece of the black plastic that was scraping along the ground, and we continued our journey home. Tomorrow it goes back to the shop, and in the morning light I get to discover what other damage was done. It had been such a nice day for topless driving, mid 70's, sunny, gorgeous, and in a split second it turned south.

Oh well, no one was hurt, we made it home without further incident, and I guess everything will get fixed. Could've been a lot worse.

 

Sorry about your car, but glad you are OK.

And as you said, everything will get fixed.

 

Aww jeez! Agree, at least it wasn't worse.
And you did win the tournament.

One of several prices we pay for driving such fine motorcars: eternal vigilance on the roadways

 

Hope your damage is minimal, and no other pieces missing. Best of luck getting it fixed up. Road junk is my biggest worry with this car, Amazing what's lying out there.

 

Well that sucks. Glad your ok could have been worse. I think I know how you feel. Someone back into the front of mine the other day and took off while my wife and I were enjoying a nice meal in one of our favorite restaurant.

 

Sorry for your misfortune but glad you're okay....

These ground-hugging cruisers just don't stand a chance when they encounter significant road debris....

 

Hey Ted--sorry to hear about your misfortune. At least is wasn't anything worse than a bit of property damage.

I know that feeling when are cruising down the freeway enjoying life and then you suddenly see something in the road ahead or you notice some car or truck ahead that has kicked up some debris that starts bouncing towards you. Time seems to stop as your mind starts racing on which way to dart but you know that the coming mishap is inevitable.

Doug

 

Hang in there Ted. I similarly took a huge chunk of truck right to the front of the cowl. Luckily there was little damage, but I have scores of stress fractures appearing in the paint work. I was impressed by car's ability to take a real "shot" and more or less just shake it off. I don't think you'll find any other damage beyond what you've seen. Good luck!

 

Well shock of shocks, my XKR went to the shop early this morning as Mercury Insurance was sending an adjuster to look at the damage. Mind you, if you looked all around the car there was no visible damage to the body. But somehow, the adjuster agreed to a $7000.00 estimate to fix all of the banged up items under the car, believe it or not. He called me and told me that the oil pan, air conditioning condenser, trans cooler, lower valance (which is attached to the front bumper, so they're replacing the bumper, as well), tie rods, as well as a number of other structures were banged up although still functioning, and he felt all of those ought to be replaced. That is probably close to the actual value of the car, I can only hope that he saw how beautiful the condition of the car was, and decided not to total it.

They start ordering parts today. Wow!

 

I'm quite surprised that the car wasn't totaled. The insurance gods were smiling down on you today....

 

I also hope they don't total it. Seems your having better luck with Mercury Insurance than I am having. I had to hire a lawyer to go after Mercury Insurance over my totaled Alfa Spider. That happened 5/4 and still no settlement.

Dave

 

Honestly, I don't understand it. It's at least 75-80% of the value of the car. I delivered the car to the body shop that I always use at 7:00am. At about 11:30 I received a phone call from the independent adjuster supplied by Mercury, and he informed me that although all of the previously listed items were not leaking or non-functional, they were significantly banged up, and he felt they should be replaced. At the time I was busy doing some work, and I wasn't thinking it was that involved so I told him that since my deductible was $500, if the estimate was close even up to a $1000, I would simply pay it, and not run it through the insurance claim. He didn't tell me what the estimate was, however. About an hour later, I called the body shop, and the owner told me that the estimate was over $7000, and that it had already been approved and Mercury would be sending the check less the $500 deductible. I was stunned!

The next brief thought is, hell the car still looks the same, drives the same, but just is a bit beat up underneath, maybe sell this one and buy one with less mileage. Between the $6500 and probably $8000 that I could get for mine, unrepaired (after all, I've done the tensioners, timing chains, gaskets, hydraulic lines, pressure reducer, actuator, supercharger rebuild,...........), i could get a top notch low mileage car. But after that fleeting thought, I just couldn't think of getting rid of her, she's in exceptionally beautiful condition, has provided me with years of smiles, and I still love drivin' her. Might as well fix her up, make her whole again, and drive her another 150,000 miles. While in the shop, I'll do the few things I've neglected to do like repair the headrests, replace a few burned out dash bulbs (for the third or fourth time), and finally do the shock mounts and maybe even new front springs as my car sits fairly low in front. The cat will be gone for a couple of weeks, getting "healed," but I'll just have to suffer driving the 2010 instead.

I miss her already.

 

berg, you think like me, with everything new, how could I give up a car I know is as right as it gets for a 2002. Glad you are going to be around to enjoy it, things don't always end up this way.


Wayne

 

damn Ted - she'll be in great shape for another 150K.

 

Wow! That worked out great it seems. Good ending to what could have been a disaster.

Congratulations and glad you've decided to keep her.

 

I can't take any credit for it, the adjuster and my body shop guy worked it out. I wasn't even aware of any of it until it was over. I still can't believe it because, as I stated, there is no body damage except for the very lowest portion of valance that is attached to the bottom of the bumper, so it looks perfect. However, it doesn't surprise me that there was considerable damage. Whatever I ran over traversed the whole lane, so it was nearly 10' long and probably 8-10" high and deep. It is no wonder there was damage but $7000's worth just surprised me. I would have been upset were it to have been salvaged.

 

Great news that your insurance covered everything. I posted earlier my poor baby got whacked by a lawn chair thet a negligent driver never tied down in their pickup. Flew off truck, unable to avoid even though I had some distance but was boxed in and bam. $3,500 in damage. mostly paint. big dent in hood and lots of scuffs all around car. Like you I was worried as well that the insurance might total her. 1997 xk8 with 100K miles. Well shes fixed, looks great and I am sure yours will be like knew. Good luck.

 

Glad it all worked out. A lot more damage than I would have expected, but there you go.

What you left out is what it's going to take to fix that chair.

 

Thats funny. LOL. I saved the chair just si the insurance adjuster could see my cars paint all over it. I also had pictures of the truck that it flew out of. $10 chair , airborne on the highway equals $3K or more in damage.

 

Yikes--I don't know if I am more surprised by the $7,000 estimate or the fact that Mercury was so quick and agreeable in making your mishap less painful. Of course there are those who could probably advise you how to parlay that amount up several thousand more (just making trouble lol)

Doug