To all who've been in an accident in their P5, how do you think it's fared compared with other cars?

Had my first accident (ever, and hopefully the last) in my P5 just before Labor day. Hadnt even changed the oil in it for the first time yet. I was driving home, traffic was light, everyone was doing 60. Then all of a sudden everyone decides they need to test their brakes. I barely stopped maybe an inch from the Focus in front of me (she had ABS, I dont), then I get slammed from behind by an Aerostar at maybe 5-10 mph. Lifted the rear of my car a little when his bumper went under mine and pushed me into the Focus. P5 sandwich.
The other drivers were cool about it, except the Aerostar was a dishwashing company car with no insurance. The Focus just got a nice souvenier imprint of my license plate on her rear bumper. The Aerostar's bumper was about ready to fall off and I think he cracked his radiator because he was dripping something all over.
For me, the front bumper had a little scratch and looked like it was pushed inward about half an inch. The rear bumper was loose and chewed up in places, and the tailpipe was bent near 90 degrees downward. Other than that, at the time I thought it was damn impressive considering.
Insurance estimate was $1300. The body shop said $1500; they wanted to replace the rear bumper and cover instead of just repairing; insurance went along. The car also sounded awful, which I assumed was the bent exhause. They replace it and no dice, still bad. So I wait 2 weeks while they find a replacement for the pipe that runs from the engine to exhaust.
I get it back and it looks beautiful; perfect job of painting and repair on the bumpers, looks new. I drive home thinking the exhaust sounds deeper. Once I reach freeway speeds the noise is awful. So now I'm waiting while they order some other parts (I dont know which yet) that were apparently also damaged.
Repairs are already at $1900, but fortunatley insurance is still paying.

Seems to me the bumpers held up great, most of the problem maybe due to the exhaust taking a hit and passing on the damage to what's in front of it. I think the Aerostar went under the rear partly because it's got a low front bumper, but also the rear bumper cover flexed inward on the lower part and made a little wedge for him to scood under.

So, how does everyone else feel about the P5's durability in minor/semi-minor accidents?

BTW, they Troopers decided I deserved a ticket for "speeding too fast causing an accident", even though I was just keeping up with the Focus and I was the one who was rear-ended. I'm a slow driver, how I ended up paired with a P5 I'll never know.

 

I would fight that ticket if I were you. From what you say you couldn't have been going too fast because you avoided hitting the car in front of you. It sounds like the van was going too fast.

 

that is screwed up.. my first accedent was in an areostar, my 2nd accedent was in the p5

areostart totaled = no one fault, some guy ran a red light and i turned left and he tboned me WTF! its his fault!he ran a red! but cops are gay.. as usual

p5, almost totaled, some chic turned left in front of me and i was going straight and magicaly i have $15000CAD worth of damage.. whoa nelie

 

Yeah, I plan to fight it. They say I hit the Focus before the Aerostar hit me, which is crap, there was at least 1 second between the time I stopped and when the Aerostar hit.

If you dont count the $130 ticket, it's only cost me $100 so far. The Aerostar wasnt insured, but I'm insured against that, so it covered most of my deductible. Still, after driving a Ranger for all this time I'd pay the whole bill to get my P5 back.

 

Your ticket is bogus...the aerostar was following to closely...pretty much negligent on his part...it seems to me that the reason why he gave you the ticket is because you had insurance and the other driver did not. And hello, the Aero-crap-star weighs more then you vehicle...and if it is sliding from 60mph...it is definately going to move your vehicle into the next one...Also the cop was not there to see you stop before getting hit...that is bias...bring it to court and have it thrown out.

This is the first time that I have heard of the person that gets crunched in the middle to get a ticket.

I should know, my sister got her car crunched twice...and both of them were at a stop light.

Also what part of seattle did you get tagged in? There are certain parts were the cops are more dicks then help.

 

Fight that ticket!! If you had hit the car in front of you and THEN been rear-ended.. you would have double tagged the car in front of you..

Get a statement from the focus driver saying they were only hit once (it's probably in the police report already).. theres no way you could have hit the focus, got rear-ended a second later and been too far away from the car in front of you to hit it again..

As far as the cost of damages go.. nowadays.. cars are designed to distribute force away from the people in the car by falling into a gazillion pieces when they get hit.. I think they all cost a fortune for minor accidents.. and anything bigger then minor, and its a total right off... but as far as I'm concerned.. better the car in a million pieces then me

 

I've already talked to the Focus driver, she says she doesnt know who hit who because it happened so fast. But she agrees it's a bogus ticket. I was behind her for at least a mile, so I couldnt have been speeding. Anyway, we'll see what happens in traffic court.

SEA_P5: I was on I5 where it goes under I90. It was two State Troopers (they looked like twins, actually). My friends have all told me the Seattle or King County Sherrifs are a lot more lenient. I think they just looked at the P5 and said, bam, speeder.

 

The police were just happy to give out tickets that day. You got screwed. It's good that you are deciding to fight it.

 

On the original subject, the closest thing my P5 has had to an accident is when I lent it to my sister-in-law
to take her driving test. While parking she ran straight into a pole. Luckily she barely touched it, but it did
take a small chunk of the paint. I think the car held up very well. She is going to get the whole front
bumber repainted for $300. My poor baby, the honeymoon is definitly over at 4000 miles.

 

The police here in Seattle have Quota's that they must meet each day...They like to call it tickets, but really it is a free line of revenue for the city. You were probably tagged by the city cops looking to up their quota for the day. I have seen cars lately get ticketed for doing rolling stops at stop signs. Just a little info for others, currently the state of washington is off by 1 billion for revenues for the state. Esentially what this means is that certain programs will be cut next year, this also includes the police.

Seattle gets hit a little harder then the rest of washington due to the volume of individuals who work in the city. The local police are now trying to prove that they are a valuable asset to the city by the quantity of tickets that they are handing out. This may sound stupid, but in actuality they just had a news conference here stating that they will be cutting 45 positions here in Seattle for the local police.

Definately bring in the ticket and fight it. Have the focus driver verify your story as she was there. She may not have seen the physical damage but can verify that you were bumped ahead and not following to closely.

Hopefully this will be thrown out and not put on your record.

 

First, i don't have a P5 but i have a 99 ES. I got side swiped (well my wife) and you know if your both going the same speed and someone just merges over a lil and smacks ya you'd think minimal damage. Nope. $6500 in repairs including a new motor (which i don't get proof that the motor had 22k miles less on it). The front bumber kinda just crumpled and ripped apart from such a small hit. But insurance paid for the whole thing.
Second, did the aerostar even get a ticket? If not yeah you need to fight it. If he did, you could fight the fact that he hit you, and you weren't the reason you got hit. However, according to the laws, you are at fault for hitting the car in front of you. It sux but thats the law. Sorry buddy. But he ummm defenitly needs to be seud by your insurance company so they can get the money back and your premium won't go up.

 

This is funny,Pr5 owner and I had the exact same accident!!

If the girl driving the other car was driving a Neon( like the girl in my accident) then I think we should ALL stay the **** away from anyone driving a Neon( which could be hard for me because my sister drives one).

And my accident was only $10 500CDN .

 

sorry the girl was driving a Subaru Legacy Wagon (~90's), she was blond, blue eyes, tatoo on shoulder.. bout all i remember

 

Damn! This is exactly how I lost my very first car, a 1978 Rabbit.

A car in front of me slammed the brakes and I slammed mine. The F350 pickup with a load of rock in the back slammed the brakes and plowed right into me, pushing me into the car in front.

The guy in front said the same thing, he did not know if I hit him before the truck (he could not remember if he felt one hit or two). So the cop was going to charge me for the accident (nice that no evidence is needed) until a good samaritan witness from a nearby house came out and told the cop that she saw the "little blue car" stop first, then get pushed into the front car by the truck.

Saved my bacon she did!

The cop said we were all driving too damn fast but thankfully did not issue tickets for that.

 

OK, even her discription sounds the same...
I guess she had to get a new car after my accident and move out west?