I was in the Wrangler, stopped at a light, when sumdood ran into me yesterday. And not just a little "bump" - a big ol' crunch. Enough to hit my hear hard on the headrest. A little on the grumpy side, I got out to see the damage.
Sumdood was fine, and very apologetic (which was good). I looked at my bumper, and then did a double take. No damage. At all.
Well, to the Wrangler. His front end was all stove to heck and gone. Crumpled hood, fluids leaking onto the road. Not a good day for him.
I have to say that I was a bit impressed, although it makes sense. If you're taking something out in the back woods, you don't want the bumper cover peeling off (to the tune of $700) the first time you kiss a tree.
I love happy endings to stories like this. I keep a big bumper and big ugly tow hitch (weight distributing hitch) for this very reason.
ReplyDeleteGet the bumper checked by a body shop, sometimes there are crushable mounts and attachments that are good for one use.
ReplyDeleteI did this from the wrong side a few years ago. Whilst at stop light, Dog decided it would be funny to drop his chew toy (random piece of 2x6) down by my feet. Light turned green while removing it. Traffic ceased to advance mid-intersection. Turns out, a ten mph impact will completely cave in the rear end of a late model chrysler minivan. Same impact did zero damage to an 89 chevy half ton. Broke my $30 fog lights though... The guy I hit had only one comment, "If I was in my truck instead of this stupid van, we'd have both been on our way by now." I HAD been intending to go shooting, but by the time Missoula's traffic incident van showed up and took statements, there was no time left. Did an estimated $3k of damage to the car- put a new set of $30 fog lights on the truck.
ReplyDeleteMy wife has been driving Wranglers since 1986, and prefers them to passenger cars in case of accident.
ReplyDeleteHer current Jeep has been rear-ended twice with minor cosmetic damage, but in both cases the other vehicle was totaled and had to be towed away.
Yeah, what Jon said.
ReplyDeleteHave the back underside checked by a professional, JIC.
I got hit from behind at a stop sign a few years ago. The guy jumped and and cussed me up one side and down another. I was a bit puzzled. But he had left shards of his fancy vehicle all over the undamaged back bumper of my my not-so-fancy.
ReplyDeleteHope the bumper stickers were OK too.
ReplyDeleteMy 4 Runner has a frame mounted trailer hitch that has wreaked untold carnage on the front ends of Saturns, Hondas and Camrys down in SoCal. They slam on the brakes, their car nosedives and the hitch punches a hole in their grill and radiator.
ReplyDeleteI get their info and drive off.
I have considered a chrome battlespike insert but that would be overkill.
One thing to be wary of is that it used to be a common criminal tactic to "bump" someone's car from behind, then to rob them when they got out to check damage. This was usually done at night when not a lot of traffic was around, though.
ReplyDeleteBob, it was mid-morning. Not that it couldn't have been a threat, I guess.
ReplyDeleteA good reason to carry.
@Jon and Doubletrouble, it doesn't look like there's anything crumplable underneath.
ReplyDeleteIt surprised me how solid everything is on a fairly inexpensive vehicle. But then again, you don't want your crumple zone getting crumpled when you're off road.
Last winter in the drive through lane at Wendys sumdood just upped & backed into me from about 10 feet in front of me in line.
ReplyDeleteJust a love tap really, but the rear of his minivan was dented in and scratched, the front bumper of my Jeep Grand Cherokee... nothing.
I miss my little Saturns, but the reasons to love my Jeep are legion.
Huge 9 passenger station wagon. Hit by 4 college students in a Toyota. No noticeable damage to what must have been about a $800 wagon. Hood, bumper, headlights, etc. on Toyota were trashed. Ut had to be towed away.
ReplyDeleteThe girl sent pictures of her car to her parents. Her dad, to his credit, called me and offered to repair any damage. When I told him I was fine, my kids were fine, and my car was fine, and that I really didn't need anything from him, I could hear both the relief and disbelief in his voice.
get underneath the jeep and inspect the bumper brackets and frame where the brackets connect with a flashlight. Damage is not always apparent from the outside. -from experience.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Got a "love tap" from a Hyundai. All she did was leave a little bit of a paint smear on my hitch. My Durango has survived a few of my taps of pulling to close to cement things when we first got it and the like. Snapped my side mirror off, ripped out my rear windshield wiper. Never any damadge to the truck itself. It is lovingly called the tank.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, I had a '96 Mercury Sable (ugly and underpowered, but it held 2 car-seats) and a lady in a Lexus blew through a stop sign during a light rain. I hit the horn and the brakes, but ran into her front passenger-side wheel with my front driver-side bumper.
ReplyDeleteSnapped her axle, crumpled the fender and buckled her hood, but it didn't even break my headlight.
I got 2 calls from her insurance agent because he couldn't believe there was no damage to my car. He finally sent me a statement to sign before he'd believe that I wasn't going to hit them up for repairs.
To hell with the bumper.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any twinge at all in your neck, go to a qualified Medical Massage Therapist. Much better than a Chiropractor for most anything that doesn't require Cat scans and MRI's, and even then more help than pain pills and MD's generally.
Just MHO, I had a similar event earlier this year. Love my chrome hitch.
Ah memories. I was driving a '64 Ford F-100 P/U in Baltimore years ago. Stopped for a light, and was rear-ended by a VW Beetle.
ReplyDeleteI had paint stripes on my bumper. There was no visible front end on the Beetle ahead of the firewall.
When I was a kid & my mom was driving a 70-something Buick wagon, she stopped for traffic on the access road & sumdoap in a newer sedan changed lanes (out of the one still moving, no less) & plowed into the wagon at a good 40 mph. Totaled their car. Dog-eared the corner of our license plate.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I miss my '69 F-250, though to be fair, 1995 the Ex-forest service F-250 I picked up off Craig's list is a fair substitute.
ReplyDeleteBody on frame plus trailer hitch normally wins when little import cars run into you.