so i was at a T intersection waiting for the signal, facing west, trying to make a left turn southbound.

the signal turned green, checked left and saw a car about 10 lanes away. waited for a second and took off, assuming that he would stop because if my signal is green, obviously his signal would've been red.

while making my left, he wouldn't stop and ran the red light, i immediately pressed on the gas and steered to my right as he hit my driver's side... seemed like he was doing 60mph.

my curtain air bags deployed and my car turned 90 degrees to the right and stopped facing north, his car hit me and he went about 20 ft southwest direction, and eventually his car pointed south.

cops came, rode an ambulance, got a report done, but the sheriff told me that the other driver said i was making a U-turn on the other side?? if i was making a U-turn, he would've obviously hit my passenger side.

problem is there weren't any witnesses so the police report says unable to determine fault... i let my insurance company know and i talked to a couple of lawyers... seems like i should take it to trial.

i regret not getting a blackbox.. the car had under 1000 miles on the odo

funny thing is as soon as my airbags deployed, the car called SOS (mbrace i think?). there should be a time recorded for the call? i had a passenger with me, as soon as he got out he started taking pictures but nothing really to my advantage.

anyway picked up my car today from the towing company and took it to my local dealer... service told me that their body shop will contact me on monday. hopefully insurance doesn't total it cuz it's a lease and i put a heavy down payment on it.. any advice on what i should do? i

 

Good to hear you have no injuries what a jerk!! hope you get it sorted out with the insurance.

 

ouch! that hurts, I feel your pain but I can tell you and I am a licensed appraiser in the state of PA that from the pics the car the car does not seem to be a total, obviously you need a new drivers door and all the guts inside,glass,trim panel,curtain bag,seat belt, headliner and probably going to need to replace the A hinge pillar and b pillar/center post, I have to see how it comes but it might just be one piece, so they should just replace the whole uniside, probably some repair time on back door and front fender, replace rocker molding and some more stuff I'm sure, now depending on the insurance company some total at 70%, meaning for you you have 100K car they would need almost 70k in damage to total it, some companies might be 60%, and I know here in PA you have to factory in the salvage value which would obviously be very high on your car, if you need any other help or advice feel free to PM me, and I'm sorry for you make sure you find the right body shop, not just where the dealer tells you

 

also it's obvious he was the striking vehicle, I don't know how he could say you were making a u turn, a u turn on the road he was traveling or a u turn from the street you were making a left? either way it doesn't add up, and your passenger is also your witness,

 

sorry to hear bro, glad your ok.

 

No one every talks about how safe this car is...glad your OK....

 

We re happy youre OK which is what matters the most .. that looks like quite an impact ! he came from your left , how on earth would any policeman buy that you could have been making a U turn ??

 

Damn! That's not good! Glad you're ok!

 

thanks guys. i'm also really thankful that i'm not severely injured. i can personally tell all of you that our ride is built very very well, and it will save your life in case of a bad accident.

thanks for the advice. i left it at the dealer and wanted to see how much the estimate would be for their body shop. looking for a couple more that does a good job at reasonable prices.

the sticker on the car was $114k, and considering the fact that it has <1000mi on it, i'm assuming the market value would be somewhere around 90-100k. my initial guess is the repair costs wouldn't exceed $70k, so i'm crossing my fingers it won't get be deemed total.

it's gonna be a long week for me

obviously the other driver wasn't aware of anything, which is why he hit me in the first place. i went back to the scene today to check, and there were absolutely so skid marks until the collision, meaning he didn't see me at all, which would also mean that he wasn't aware of the red light. because i steered to the right before he hit me, my car pointed toward his direction, and i guess when he got off his car and saw me pointing that way, he told the cop that i was making a u-turn. however, if i was making a u-turn, he would've hit my passenger side or my rear end, both of which didn't happen.

the cop personally came to me and said my story is more coherent, makes more sense, and lines up with my passenger's story, and looking at the collision scene makes my story more believable. however, he told me that because there weren't any witnesses, he has to report what the other driver said and what i said. the cop told me that he said i was making a u-turn, and logically thinking, the cop said he probably didn't see me or the red light or where i came from.

so basically he reported both sides of the story, and said he will write down "facts line up more toward my story," but unable to determine whose fault...

 

First off thank god your ok. If your a dad or a husband and your able to kis them good night last night thats all what matters. Everything I mean everything else can be fixed and replaced.
Now about your car, you should find out from the city what locations have cameras, and see if any business on that road have cameras. Once you find out ask the owners if you view the tapes. If they refuse get your lawyer To speed up the paper work to mark those tapes as discovery and or get a court order. That can all be done 24 hours if your lawyer is good.

 

Hopefully with it being a lease that you were not planning on purchasing it at the end. As it now has accident history and will drop the value and what dealers will give you way down.

 

jesus that's crazy! glad you're ok man

 

thankfully you were able to walk away from this accident. so true how safe these cars are. best of luck with repairs and reimbursement.

 

your health is more important than anything, money can be gained again, cars can be purchased again, but you can't replace yor body parts or your soul.

i hope you sort it out.

 

Glad you're ok. Cars can always be replaced, humans not so much. Hope everything goes well insurance wise.

 

personally i would not want that car back... i would let the insurance company total it and buy me a new car... not sure if u have replacement cost insurance

 

I'm glad your ok not hurt ,, the car is definitely fixable . The only thing I would say and u know what it is , I've had years of good and bad experience with this kind of thing , "You can't assume that people are going to stop for obvious red lights at any distance from the intersection and light .You have to watch the front wheels for braking and see thing stop I do it all the time , that probably made his day to wreck your car , people just don't care , I have found that people will try to F with u in a cars like this.. Drive smart "Brother " I 'm never the 1st car to pull off from a light or intersection , I look around for cars and traffic like my neck is a periscope . They run lights city and suburbs , every intersection is a danger now days . Thank "God" u weren't killed or hurt really Bad .... They car can be fixed or get a new one. Broadside is the worst possible accident to get in , it the weakest point of a car body structure. Mercedes are one of the best cars to be in any accident their made like tanks .. Take care "BRO" ---Badm

 

if i were to buy it, i wasn't planning on waiting till the end of the lease to do it. although my credit score is good, i'm pretty young (24) and i have a relatively short credit history compared to the other top tier people, so when i went in to lease the car they told me that mbfs won't approve it, but their finance guy was willing to "shove it down mbfs' throat" if i agree to a high money factor.

i waited 4 months for this car, and i didn't want to walk away. so i signed the papers and thought if i really like it after a while, i might as well pay off the car after a couple months rather than paying the high finance/rent charge and buying it out in the end.

now since the accident occurred, i'm not really sure what i should do. if the car gets fixed and i finish my 3yr lease, yeah then i'll probably just return the car. but since it has an accident history, will mbfs negotiate the buyout price in the end? or, if i intend on paying it off after the car gets fixed, is there a chance that the price will be negotiable?

i'm pretty young and i don't have much experience in buying cars. this is just my third lease and the previous two i just ended up returning them. any advice would be appreciated.

relating to my reply above, this is a lease and i made a large down payment in the beginning. if the insurance company decides to total it, i think i read somewhere that i don't get my down payment back and i lose all of that expense. what do you think i should do? appreciate your feedback.

thanks for the words. i'm a defensive driver and usually take much caution when making turns. the accident happened 2 minutes away from my place, so i pretty much know how the signals work. the signal that i was waiting on is a solid green where i can only make a left or a right, no straight ahead. after the light turned green, i looked left and saw him coming some 10 lanes away. because my light was green, it's obvious that his light was red. i assumed he would stop, but yeah i should've been more careful and waited to see if he would run the red light.

in most cases, it's out of the ordinary to wait say 5 seconds after the light turns green to take off. i regret that i didn't wait, and now i have a trauma when taking off after the signal turns green. lesson learned and i guess it's always better safe than sorry. really thankful that i didn't get hurt...

 

Could have been way worse, I had a car written off by a red light runner and was furious over that for years (insurance screwed me BAD), now I look back and am thankful I can still walk and tell the story. A car is a hunk of metal and can be fixed, glad to hear you made it though walking and talking pal

 

Glad you're ok

 

It's good the car had protected you well. It's always a leap of faith that people wouldn't run the red light.

Gotta do what russians do--dashboard cam in nearly every car...thus all those russian collision videos on liveleak.com. I'm gonna go get myself a GoPro; also to protect myself from people intentionally backing into you and claim getting rear-ended. Look that up...lots of that going on nowadays especially if they see you drive somewhat of a fancy car.

 

Glad you are ok my friend.

 

listen man I got into an accident and didn't come out so well out of it so this is what i have to tell you

1) I'm glad you're ok
2) I'm glad you're ok
3) I'm glad you're ok
4) The hell with the car, because I'm glad you're ok
5) I know this sounds cheesy to some people but get a dash cam man. I got one HD night vision for less than 50 bux.
6) I'm glad you're ok

 

I’m glad you’re ok! Here’s one possible way to minimize your loss….
Depending on the insurance you may be able to collect on the diminished value of the car. It’s tricky since you are not the legal owner of the vehicle. I had a similar situation and I was able to negotiate a settlement that was to be held in escrow until the end of my lease, at that time the settlement was to be applied towards the purchase of the vehicle if I decided to purchase it. Several weeks after the money was placed in escrow, I traded the car and received the check for the diminished value of the car. I was about 12 months into a 36 month lease.

Research diminished value claims, i had to hire an expert to document the diminished value of the car due to the accident.

Good luck.

 

good to see the car did its job after getting tboned!!!Esp if the guy was going 60mph.