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It Was a Short Honeymoon...

3K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  salcuta88 
#1 ·
A sad day indeed :crying:. Only yesterday I proudly submitted my first post on my '05 CTS in the 'Name Your Cars Game' thread, and how proud of it I am. Then today, just tooling along perfectly normally, POW. A fellow runs the red light, and even though the ABS put up a noble fight on the rainy road, we hit pretty hard. At least no one was hurt.

Horribly, I had spent quite a while saving up, and weeks searching for just the exact right CTS! This one had all the options, the colors I wanted, the 3.6, and had been lovingly tended all its life - the accident was quite literally its very first scratch. I'd only gotten it a couple weeks ago and I was still catching myself smiling every time I got behind the wheel. What an amazing car!

Now of course, my question is whether anyone here has a 'ballpark' idea just what it might cost to repair such damage. As far as driveability it seems completely unaffected, and it was a purely frontal contact, no sideways sliding or the like. The airbags didn't deploy (in my car at least, the other guy was a bit more shaken. That's a Caddy for you!) and the steering, braking, etc seem totally normal. In short it appears to my untrained eye to be limited entirely to body damage - considering the force involved, amazing - but a testament to the build quality of Cadillac!

So in brief: I know the bumper is trashed, the grille/plastic surround is damaged, the left headlight pod is skewed but unbroken, and the front edge of the hood is curled downward. All the lights seem to work, as well as the fogs/DRL's/turn signals. (hopefully my little robotic headlamp washers are okay!). The way the left headlight is pushed in a bit makes me fear that perhaps the left front fender is somehow internally damaged too, but I just can't tell. It could be a seperate mounting bracket perhaps.

Any ideas? I am not very experienced when it comes to estimating things like this; indeed in my 19 years of driving I've only dented one fender. I do know an insurance company will only pick up repairs up to a certain amount and that the other driver had a rental (so presumably has at least a passable policy) but I'm dreading the thought of learning that my Caddy is totaled just when I was starting to really bond with it. I was hoping for a few rough guesses on the cost, so that I could have something to compare against when I start dealing with the insurance company tomorrow.

And thanks, all. One miniscule consolation is that after this car had amazed me with its ride, handling, looks, comfort, economy... it scores another point with safety. I'm a Cadillac man for life now!
 
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#5 ·
Hello Chris 78,

I am sorry to hear about this accident you were involved in. Glad you are alright. I understand how upsetting this must be for you, after stating how much you love your CTS. I am unable to price any estimates for repair costs for you. If you have other questions or would like to keep us updated on your situation, please reach out to us via private message.

Regards,

Laura M.
Cadillac Customer Service
 
#7 ·
Ah yes, right! Pics! I was at work when I posted originally but I will attach them.

Having spoken to insurance, it appears it's going to be about a 4300 - 4500 dollar job, IF they don't find any surprises underneath.

Alas, this may very well be the case. Today driving about, two times the key would not come out of the ignition when shutting the car off. I had to shove the gear-selector forward to get it to release / activate the central unlocking. It indicates Reverse whilst in Park, even though the car is most definitely out of gear. This has never happened at all before, but for the life of me I can't imagine what possible connection this might have to bumper / front clip damage... I shudder to think there's somehow drivetrain damage from this. If it is, I'm nervous about what it might cost, and whether it betokens future problems and reliability issues for this car? Also, and it is hard to tell because I am not all that used to the car yet, it seems to ride more roughly, and pull just a smidgin to the right. Since the wheels were nowhere near the site of impact (it touched the other car dead-on) how can this be? I suppose it's possible the frame telescoped inward... but I devoutly hope not.

Any thoughts? I hope I'm just worrying too much, but since this is the first car I've ever actually made payments on (all the others have been hand-me-downs!) and since this is the only time I've ever been in an accident (barring a fender dent) I want to be sure!

Pics follow... and thanks for the replies!
 

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#8 ·
First and foremost, Im glad to hear you were not hurt.

And secondly, from the pictures, your car doesnt look all that bad. $4,000 is a kick in the pants, but everything to do with Cadillac is expensive. Hopefully your insurance will help you out. They should, especially if this is your first accident.

You should see if the Vee bumper is the same price at the dealership. Get that swapped out on your insurance's dime. They have to replace it anyways, if the Vee-car bumper is the same price, it only makes sense.
 
#9 ·
Wow, $4,000 for that? Mine was around $10,000 back in 2009...



This is what I hit. Funny how he had to wait for a tow truck, but I drove home.



After that hit, my gear shift had the same problem too. My brother and I took care of it at his shop though. It was a matter of adjusting the set-nut that attaches the shifter to the transmission. Took a couple times to get it just right.

KOT
 
#10 ·
Chris 78 said:
Ah yes, right! Pics! I was at work when I posted originally but I will attach them.

Having spoken to insurance, it appears it's going to be about a 4300 - 4500 dollar job, IF they don't find any surprises underneath.

Alas, this may very well be the case. Today driving about, two times the key would not come out of the ignition when shutting the car off. I had to shove the gear-selector forward to get it to release / activate the central unlocking. It indicates Reverse whilst in Park, even though the car is most definitely out of gear. This has never happened at all before, but for the life of me I can't imagine what possible connection this might have to bumper / front clip damage... I shudder to think there's somehow drivetrain damage from this. If it is, I'm nervous about what it might cost, and whether it betokens future problems and reliability issues for this car? Also, and it is hard to tell because I am not all that used to the car yet, it seems to ride more roughly, and pull just a smidgin to the right. Since the wheels were nowhere near the site of impact (it touched the other car dead-on) how can this be? I suppose it's possible the frame telescoped inward... but I devoutly hope not.

Any thoughts? I hope I'm just worrying too much, but since this is the first car I've ever actually made payments on (all the others have been hand-me-downs!) and since this is the only time I've ever been in an accident (barring a fender dent) I want to be sure!

Pics follow... and thanks for the replies!
Same thing what happened to me last 6 months ago. What i did is i brought it in my local bodyshop and i told them that i want a v bumper instead of normal cts bumper then i bought a clear fogs with side marker, set of ccfl halo headlight, sports grill from the member here in forum and lower grill. I reinverse everything i bought and at the end i just spend $100 for all upgrades because of my policy package.
 
#11 ·
At least the transmission thing isn't too un-fixable then. I'm very glad to learn this! Luckily the car I hit was a perfect T-bone, so I hit him bang-on. I just about demolished the thing so I guess his car absorbed more of the energy so mine didn't have to. (In fact I hit him hard enough that the exhaust on the opposite side was knocked off. Ouch!) Going to talk to the insurer and see if they'll okay a transmission adjustment along with all the rest.

The V bumper is an interesting notion that I rather like - I live in a stupid 'two license plate' state and that will mar the lines of it slightly - but it will still look better than the bland horizontal strip-duct. I'm thinking that bumper, and coupling it with a body-color grille with a full chrome surround, like this one...

I bet the combination would be pretty sharp!
 

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#12 ·
As you can see in my picture, I live in a two-plate state as well... But when I took my car to my body shop of my chosen. I specifically told them to leave the front plate off. Here it is 3 1/2 years later and I still have no plate up front. I've been pulled over because of some led strips that I had under the hood. The cop asked me where my front plate is, and I told him it was at home. "Alright, I'm gonna let you go. But if I see you again with no plate still, I'll give you a ticket." That was 2 years ago.

KOT
 
#13 ·
LOL I was looking at the pics like... where's the accident?
Glad to see you are ok, and that is very VERY minor compared to what it could have been.

I took this picture here, once I had finished tinting, dipping, and painting everything over...


and literally less then a week, blue honda gets sideways in front of me on the highway...


So thanks to the good members of the cadillacforums community:






Total cost:
$1,550.

This was replacement headlight, hood, fender, bumper, grill, wheel well liner, WITH paint. Keep eyes out, take your time, and you'll find good deals. Hell, might find some members with extra or spare parts.
 
#15 ·
Hm. The more I see replies the more I wonder about the body shop I got sent to. $4k seems like a hideous amount when compared to the extent of the damages in these pictures. He's also being dodgy about my proposed CTS-V bumper mod saying he can't guarantee the work on 'non stock' repairs (!) and wanting to charge and extra $1500 just for the lower grille insert. Absurd! Add to that the fact that they say they can't even get around to getting it into the shop for over a month, and I care less and less for going there. The local dealership did some work on my Seville though, and they did terrible paint work... bubbles on the hood and it's flaking off after six months. Got one more place to try... hopefully on Monday I'll be able to talk my insurance company into letting me go there!

Edit: Oh and I forgot that when I checked in, they'd ordered the wrong headlight pods. I've got the fancy ones with the automatic squirters... useless, but I'm not giving them up without a fight. :p
 
#18 ·
We've bought lots of wrecked cars and fixed them. If you can go to the junk yards or buy the parts online, and then take the car to a shop, it would be much cheaper than letting the shop buying all the parts for you.

A good parts website is www.car-parts.com buy authentic parts, not from taiwan.

Also, for a cheaper repair, you might wanna find a Russian shop. They work fast and charge less. But then again, you can get an estimate from other shops as well. Just don't go to the dealer, they overcharge you. With parts and painting, you shouldn't pay more than $700.
 
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