So This Just Happened in my Parking Lot

[Trlr8tdd]

Similar incident with my 05 Ram (6” lift on 37’s) car plowed into the trailer hitch, truck took no other “obvious “ damage other than skidded 2” and insurance wouldn’t pay a dime. It developed stress waves along the bed, bed was no longer square to the frame, she developed death wobble and I very quickly had a axle seal go out. No telling what all was really wrong with it. NTSB estimated 20-30 mph hit. In aviation we call that hidden damage, not so prevalent in auto insurance. Don’t let them take you to the cleaners telling you it’s just surface damage.

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[tabrods]

Was walking into my local supermarket when a guy walks up behind me and says" Is that your green Jeep?". I turned around expecting something "Nice Jeep Man" but instead got "I just hit your tail gate". Any damage I said? Sorry, he says, just bumped that thing you have on the hitch. That thing was a Weathertech Bumper Step. https://www.weathertech.com/bumpstep-original/. I went and looked and no damage. Without it he would have bashed in the back bumper. He said he just wanted me to know and would feel bad if he just left w/o saying anything. Car was in neutral with brake on.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Similar incident with my 05 Ram (6” lift on 37’s) car plowed into the trailer hitch, truck took no other “obvious “ damage other than skidded 2” and insurance wouldn’t pay a dime. It developed stress waves along the bed, bed was no longer square to the frame, she developed death wobble and I very quickly had a axle seal go out. No telling what all was really wrong with it. NTSB estimated 20-30 mph hit. In aviation we call that hidden damage, not so prevalent in auto insurance. Don’t let them take you to the cleaners telling you it’s just surface damage.

I have seen cracked engine mounts, cracked bell housings, sheered rubber mounts, and the battery - the plates inside can shift causing damage you can't necessarily see just looking. That's MASS you are taking from 0 mph up to whatever energy the thing hitting it has. People forget that things at rest tend to stay at rest. So if there's a heavy component inside something else, the light parts will move readily while the heavy parts tend to stay static - and things break and crack inside other things. If a vehicle is hit with enough energy you can even crack mounts in the dash as heavy things like radios, etc. try to stay still while the lighter parts around it move.
I've done automotive inspections for others years ago. I'd hate to be involved in that these days, it's far more complex, but I can imagine all the things that people say "oh, it's ok" because there's no SHEET METAL damage - only to later find a transmission leak because of a small crack.

It's physics. It's energy transfer, it's mass. Don't let a "Body shop" be the only thing to inspect it is my advice.

 

[firemedic2714]

In case someone hasn't mentioned it already, don't forget to ask for a diminished value adjustment.

 

[TheGreatCO]

In case someone hasn't mentioned it already, don't forget to ask for a diminished value adjustment.

I already ask my insurance company about this.

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