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First Accident - Rear Ended by driver who was texting and driving
Got into my first accident with my B9 yesterday while driving home from the airport after a month long business trip....
Some girl driving a Jeep Wrangler rammed into my car while texting and driving and not paying attention on the road.
Despite of all this, I was really impressed with the car's safety performance(?). I'm not sure how fast she was going behind me but I don't think she got the chance to hit the brakes as the hit was pretty hard (enough to have the sunroof slider to be pushed back all the way after the hit).
Upon impact, I think the car's brakes came on, keeping the car from moving forward, with four way signals turning on automatically and the car went into Park by itself. I also got a message pop up on my mmi screen indicating that a collision was detected and gave me a choice to call a tow or emergency responder.
My neck is still stiff, but seems to be getting better. I'm going to wait til tomorrow and see if it gets any worse or I might just go to the hospital to get it checked out.
The girl was very apologetic and all but why people continues to text and drive, it really beats me. What is that important....that it can't wait until the car is safely parked?
Sorry to see to what happened to your car. My car is still getting repaired after a small hit on quarter panel + rear bumper in the parking lot by a couple that weren't looking where they were backing out.
It beats me why people do not pay attention when they're driving. I think we're the minority that drive for the sole pleasure of driving. Most people just want to get from point A to B and apparently do some other stuff so they don't waste time just driving...
That is the reason I am excited about autonomous driving. Even if all cars were equipped with what our B9 A4 has (forward and rear collision systems), lots of accidents could be avoided.
Sorry about the accident and your B9, but the important thing is you.
I would get to a doctor for an examination right away. Do it even if the pain starts to subside. Get your condition on paper.
From your description, the accident sounds completely the other driver’s fault. But her insurance company is going to be very interested in making you happy once they learn she has openly admitted to distracted and/or impaired driving.
As not only a fellow Audi owner but a motorcyclist and bicyclist who sees people texting and driving regularly from a completely different, my-life-is-at-the-imminent-disposal-of-your-2-ton-wrecking-ball vantage point, I absolutely have zero empathy or tolerance whatsoever for the person who hit you. "I am so so sorry" doesn't fix your Audi or a lifetime of chronic back pain or absolve you from the PTSD of tensing up every time you see a Wrangler in the rear-view for the rest of your life.
But you know what might help? A million dollars.
If it were me I would promptly lawyer up and take this chick's insurance for every single dollar in her policy and then some, with hopes of pricing her into uninsurability and out of car ownership / off the road forever. Of that I would keep enough to buy a new, undamaged car (they never drive the same after they are smacked like this) and cover my medical bills (my neck hurts just thinking about this accident) and donate the other $800-900k to charity including some anti-texting-and-drive initiatives. Call that petty if you want but like I said: zero tolerance / this is not a three strikes situation / I have almost been killed on my motorcycle by this kind of bull****.
Cheers to a speedy repair, OP. Sorry to hear about this.
Originally Posted by kkim84
My neck is still stiff, but seems to be getting better. I'm going to wait til tomorrow and see if it gets any worse or I might just go to the hospital to get it checked out.
Happy to hear you're getting better, but some advice for the future: next time don't wait. Go immediately. Damage relating to whiplash-type injuries becomes exponentially less treatable by even the best PTs with each passing hour. That is what the PIP on your insurance is for (and hers will surely be the one who pays it in this instance).
Apologies for the morbid curiosity, but it sounds like you are OK and I am left wondering how well your car absorbed the crash! About 20 years ago my B5 A4 got a similar walloping from a low-slung Benz coupe, before I even had it long enough to get the license plates in the mail.
When you get around to inspecting damage, be sure to lift the trunk floor and take a good look at the sheet metal down there, as well as looking up under the bumper if you are able. In my old A4, there was less visible damage on the outside than on yours, but the region behind the bumper was crumpled like a soda can and wrapped around the spare tire. The Benz, on the other hand, looked like it had imploded and was disabled with engine fluids pouring onto the street.
I drove it to work from my accident, not even realizing the car had taken that much damage until my adjuster pointed it out later. After repair, it was like new and I kept it a happy seven years.
When you get around to inspecting damage, be sure to lift the trunk floor and take a good look at the sheet metal down there, as well as looking up under the bumper if you are able. In my old A4, there was less visible damage on the outside than on yours, but the region behind the bumper was crumpled like a soda can and wrapped around the spare tire.
It's great to hear you don't initially appear to have suffered a serious injury, but Brian's comment about getting your physical condition on record asap makes a great deal of sense. Having spent a certain fraction of my life in ER's (not as a patient), I'd simply suggest that having a well documented medical record of your state before, during, and after an event is of profound importance.
Also, could someone comment on how much of the rear end in the B9 is bonded/glued aluminum as compared to steel (HSS or otherwise)? I'm asking with the idea that increasing fractions of most cars are of different composites that don't always behave like straight steel; the repair process is not trivial to predict if that's the case.
One of the reasons I picked an Allroad over the Jaguar F-Pace is that a huge fraction of the SUV is aluminum that requires a specialized body shop to do well and the delays that follow can be substantial.
As not only a fellow Audi owner but a motorcyclist and bicyclist who sees people texting and driving regularly from a completely different, my-life-is-at-the-imminent-disposal-of-your-2-ton-wrecking-ball vantage point, I absolutely have zero empathy or tolerance whatsoever for the person who hit you. "I am so so sorry" doesn't fix your Audi or a lifetime of chronic back pain or absolve you from the PTSD of tensing up every time you see a Wrangler in the rear-view for the rest of your life.
Very sorry to hear this. I can certainly empathize as I had exactly the same thing happen in early June. Some moron slammed into my rear bumper at 25+ mph while I was stationary. I wasn't watching the approaching horror movie in the rear view so I don't know what the guy was up to back there. But I learned from public records that he had been cited previously for distracted driving. I didn't get any MMI warning messages so maybe you were hit harder. My neck was pretty sore for about 4-5 days. But the assessment of my physician was that there wasn't much they could do for it. The whiplash did go away on its own after several days.
The guy who hit me did it squarely, preserving the rear quarters. My trunk lid was smashed in pretty good though the trunk did still function. I thought that damage was confined to the lid and the bumper but when they removed the body panels they found structural damage to the horizontal crash bar underneath. That rail transfers force to the two frame rails that run the length of the car.
The initial estimate from the other guy's insurance adjustor was $4,000 and change. But the final bill end closer to $7,500. Fortunately the guy who hit me had State Farm and they were excellent every step of the way. Make sure that your adjustor includes time for recalibrating all of the sensors and radars, etc.which can be time-consuming. Good luck and I hope your neck feels better soon. I'm attaching my paperwork in the event that it is of any use to you.
07-29-2018, 01:07 PM
First Accident - Rear Ended by driver who was texting and driving
