Got rear ended—What do I look for?

jmask

jmask

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2020
Messages
29
Location
Seattle
Hey folks

This weekend I got rear ended at decent speed on the freeway. The other guy's car was pretty messed up, but I couldn't find a scratch on the TJ. That being said, I'm a bit worried about the not-so-surface level things that might have gotten out of alignment as a result of the collision. I'm going to take it to a shop on his insurance's dime to get it checked out, but was curious if anyone here has any thoughts on specific things to look for. For what it's worth, I drove home following the incident and everything drove and felt normal, no vibes or leaking fluids or anything else funky.

Any thoughts are really appreciated!
 
You need to take the jeep to a competent body shop and have them set up and measure your jeep..the other person's insurance will pay for it. Then you can go from there. You don't want something to come up down the road that may be related..if you need help message me I'm in the body shop business
 
  • Like
Reactions: Moon Eyes and mrjp
Look along the frame near the back. There are ovals cut into the side. Check for any that have bent out a bit where the frame tubing is no longer flat.
 
Take to a reputable body shop. Have them check the frame especially. Check the doors and tailgate to see if the gaps are still good . If you have carpet, pull it up on the rear floor and look for any distortion.
 
make sure your seat sliders work that would help to determine if your body got tweaked and look at the body mounts
 
Go to a Dr. and make sure your back and neck aren't f'ed up.
Don't be a "nice guy" when it comes to their insurance company.
Oh and have a competent body shop check the jeep over.
 
Don't let them pressure you into going to the body shops that are their preferred shops. You can go wherever you want.
 
TheBoogieman said:
Pics or it never happened.;)
This thread is worthless without pics

p.s. How do you get rear ended without caving in the tailgate?
Click to expand...

I got to agree with the picture suggestion.


TheBoogieman said:
That's what ruined mine when I got hit at a very low speed.
Click to expand...

Worse than that, I caved in my tailgate by backing into a tree while trying to get out of a twisted trail and paying too much attention to the extra deep rut on one side. The impact was so light it didn't even scratch the spare tire cover.

On a better note, 20 yrs ago my S10 4x4 got rear ended buy a 90s Grand Am while I was stopping. It went all the way under to my rear tires. The S10 had no visible damage so I got back in and used 4wd to drive off his hood. One leaf spring shackle, the bumper and tailpipe made very high pitched squeals and everyone there freaked out. Still no visible damage but I did get a 4 wheel alignment to make sure the rear axle was still where it was supposed to be. Everything was fine. The Grand AM guy was kinda lucky too. Even though 2/3 of his hood looked like the roof of a truck that got stuck under the 11foot8 bridge he was leaking no fluids and was able to drive home.
 
Farmergreg said:
Go to a Dr. and make sure your back and neck aren't f'ed up.
Don't be a "nice guy" when it comes to their insurance company.
Click to expand...
Mich2020 said:
Look for a good lawyer
Click to expand...
If needed.

People complain insurance rates are too high. The insurance company doesn’t really pay, in the end it’s all of us.
And the lawyers and insurance companies just keep making money.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thunderhead
Kid Mechanic said:
If needed.

People complain insurance rates are too high. The insurance company doesn’t really pay, in the end it’s all of us.
And the lawyers and insurance companies just keep making money.
Click to expand...
How many "accidents" have you been the victim of lately?

I had a damn long run (40 years) w/o incident. Two years ago some fuck slammed into the back of my camper, hard enough to bend the bed of the truck by rocking the 5th wheel hitch forward. Tried to be the nice guy but THEIR INSURANCE COMPANY WILL TRY AND SCREW YOU. Took over a year to settle that as Progressive tried to dispute it. That experience taught me that I should have left the scene on a stretcher.

Fast forward to last fall, a car tried to pass my semi that was turning left, got somewhat pinned under the side of the trailer. Again, before the accident report was even available the drivers insurance (State Farm) said they would only pay 65%. So yes indeed, I'm suing them for the rest. They have money to pay for their "Jake" commercials on every channel because they fuck victims on settlements.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lowranger, tombicon, reddvltj and 1 other person
Farmergreg said:
How many "accidents" have you been the victim of lately?

I had a damn long run (40 years) w/o incident. Two years ago some fuck slammed into the back of my camper, hard enough to bend the bed of the truck by rocking the 5th wheel hitch forward. Tried to be the nice guy but THEIR INSURANCE COMPANY WILL TRY AND SCREW YOU. Took over a year to settle that as Progressive tried to dispute it. That experience taught me that I should have left the scene on a stretcher.

Fast forward to last fall, a car tried to pass my semi that was turning left, got somewhat pinned under the side of the trailer. Again, before the accident report was even available the drivers insurance (State Farm) said they would only pay 65%. So yes indeed, I'm suing them for the rest. They have money to pay for their "Jake" commercials on every channel because they fuck victims on settlements.
Click to expand...
Lighten up, Francis!

Read my first sentence again, slowly if it helps you.
 
Kid Mechanic said:
Lighten up, Francis!

Read my first sentence again, slowly if it helps you.
Click to expand...
Francis could be a little lighter if he wasn’t in the process of suing State Farm for damages.

Read my response again. (Slowly if it helps)

Be the nice guy (if needed) and wait for their insurance company to screw you over. (And they will)

Funny how this has happened in the last couple years from two companies. No personal injury claims in either you would think they would be happy repairing bent metal.

Have you seen the awesome theme park mega campuses these insurance companies build? Like a casino, they can’t do it by paying out claims.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I'm currently going back and forth with my insurance and his insurance. He's got foreign insurance which just ads to the headache! No back/neck pain for myself or the passenger so far, but figure we'll head to the doctor anyway and see what the professionals say. I'm out of town for a couple weeks, but will be taking the TJ to a body shop that knows what they're doing to get the frame inspected as soon as I get back.

Here's a couple pictures of my car and his car post-collision. Let me know if y'all see anything. It looks like he just bounced off the tire. I looked at the tailgate and everything looks straight there as far as I can tell. Only damage I can see is a little crease in the soft top window where the furniture I was hauling slammed into it - glad I didn't have the hard top on

IMG_7634.JPG


imageedit_3_5408425433.jpg
 
Did you get a side picture of the two vehicles that might show what part of the Jeep was hit first? That bumper is way more durable than the tailgate being pushed in by the tire.
 
I completely whiffed on getting a side picture of his car before we parted ways. I don't have a picture of the side of mine at the moment as I'm out of town but nothing looked askew after a pretty thorough lookaround following the incident. Of course I'll let the pro's at a shop get their hands on it when I get back though
 
Top Bottom
Back