Category: Accident

If you experience a car accident, whether a minor or major one, there will probably be damage that will affect your vehicle. You’ll be lucky to escape repair costs as even the most minimal of damage may require repair. Determining whether you need repairs will take not only your own observation but that of any law enforcement officials at the accident scene, your insurance company and an auto body repair expert.

 

Ignoring Repairs

Some drivers will ignore minor repairs and go on their merry driving way, but in making that choice, they are setting themselves up for problems down the road. There are several reasons you shouldn’t ignore even the slightest damage following an accident as any initial damage can lead to further damage. There are several other reasons you should repair your vehicle after an accident.

 

Saving on Repair Costs

Keeping any insurance claim money and not paying out the deductible is not the wisest tactic. Allowing damage to remain on a vehicle is costly as further complications can occur as time goes on and overall repair costs escalate. It’s a lot easier to just pay the original repair costs. If the deductible worries you, there are ways to cover repair costs through payment plans to auto body repair shops.

 

I Need My Car

You may think losing your vehicle for a few days is a major dilemma, but delaying repairs can make any future repairs more difficult and costly. Waiting patiently for your vehicle to go through a professional repair process is important to the stability and longevity of your vehicle. Most auto body repair shops will do everything within reason to repair and return a vehicle in a reasonable amount of time. Use a rental car, loaner car, catch a ride with a co-worker or take a city bus, train or other public transportation.

 

Insurance Company Woes

Deciding to delay damage repairs on your vehicle causes additional problems. If another accident occurs, your insurance provider may wonder about the previous damage and why you didn’t make repairs early on. Also, your provider may feel that the initial accident aggravated any new damage, or they might feel that you are being deceptive on your part and are trying to receive an additional disbursement.

 

The (DIY) Routine

You may believe you possess the tricks of the trade to repair the damage to your vehicle, but you’d be wise to realize that auto body technicians are highly trained and must be certified to repair vehicle damage. Trying to compete with that and repair unseen damage can be an arduous process and present safety hazards to you along the way, plus compromise the stability of your vehicle. You may think you are saving time, and money, but a professional knows best.

 

Finding the Right Auto Body Shop

Finding a reputable body shop for repair work is important, and many vehicle owners express distrust in body shops as they feel they’ll be bilked out of gobs of money in the repair process. Most body shops today are both highly reputable and technically savvy, and they’ll provide the latest in innovative repair services with fair prices. Many shops are adept at working with insurance companies and will also help vehicle owners in the negotiation process.

 

Repair Procedures

When you realize the extent of damage to your vehicle following an accident and understand that you need to take care of any damage as soon as possible, you’ll want to be aware of the right procedures to follow.

The process begins with contacting your insurance company, filing and completing a claim form and selecting a reputable body repair shop. Choosing a shop to do the job is important, as you want to find one that will complete the work in a reasonable amount of time but meet certain standards. It pays to check reliable repair shops.  Talk to others or read online reviews as to the reliability of body shops that you would like to use,  or your insurance company recommends that you use.

Before you make a final choice, make sure you get price estimates from several shops and double check that your final choice has ASE certified mechanics, provides warranties for repairs, expresses whether they use new or after market replacement parts, provides explicit written and verbal explanations as to the exact extent of damages and repairs that will occur. In addition, get a final repair estimate agreeable to you and your insurance carrier.

If you’re still unsure whether your vehicle needs repair work after an accident, complete the online contact form and an expert will get back to you with answers to questions you may have. Once you receive a full assessment, you’ll be better able to decide on filing an insurance claim and choosing a shop for needed repairs.

According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), you should replace airbags that have been inflated or deployed following a collision without delay. They also recommend that you should only use authorized service centers for installation and not to drive the vehicle until a new airbag is installed.

Airbag Use

Airbags are often unable to be repaired or fixed once an accident has occurred. They are designed for one-time use. Airbags from older model vehicles can be repaired in certain instances. With newer vehicles, full replacement is usually the only option. Mechanics must replace airbags every time inflation has occurred, whether the deployment of the airbag occurred through the steering wheel, the passenger area, side panels, or seat areas.

Repairs

When an air bag’s sensors are triggered, or the bag inflates, repairs will be needed, and driving will be at a standstill until they are completed. Protection is imperative; you or any passengers could be in danger as the triggering sensors will be impaired, and there will be no airbag inflation. There are repair steps to be followed to fix the airbags of a car. The following steps are typically what happens restoring airbag use.

Indicators

Even when an airbag did not inflate, its sensors may have been triggered, which indicates that a reset of the sensors may be necessary. A warning light in most cars will come on to indicate that there is a problem with an airbag or airbags. If you see that light, you’ll probably need to have the airbag light reset. Again, airbags will not inflate properly if an accident has occurred.

Resets

Once airbags have been inflated or deployed, resets may be possible with certain vehicle types and models. That possibility will depend on whether the bag suffered any damage during the accident. The reset process involves packing or stuffing the airbag into its compartment and resetting the light. If you have a newer vehicle, the airbags will not be able to reset. It’s best to contact a vehicle repair shop to find out whether or not you can reset your airbags.

Replacement

If airbags have become over-inflated and have been released, or your vehicle is one where an airbag can’t be rest, any airbags involved in an accident will need replacement. In either case, a full replacement of an airbag module will be necessary. In addition, a deployed steering wheel airbag may have caused enough damage to warrant the replacement of the steering wheel itself and its column. Once new airbags are installed, and in position, the sensor can be reset. This action confirms that the airbags are functioning as they should.

Authorized Technician

When you make arrangements to have your airbag or airbags replaced, you want to make sure you are utilizing an authorized repair center. Since your airbags are in place to prevent injuries and deaths in collisions, you’ll want to be assured of a proper airbag installation by a qualified technician. If you decide to use an unauthorized service center, you could wind up with either a faulty, reprocessed, or used airbag, or even a defective and recycled one from an auto salvage yard or a questionable used car lot. When you go the unauthorized route, you are asking for trouble, as well as placing yourself and others in jeopardy if another crash occurs.

Costs

The costs of airbag replacement will hinge on several factors, including the make, model, and year of the vehicle, the number of airbags that inflated, and their location in the vehicle. Other costs will include any parts necessary to replace the entire airbag module. The average price of a replacement can run anywhere from three to five thousand dollars. Costs could be higher if your insurer has determined your vehicle to be a total loss because of any deployed airbags.

Insurance Coverage

When you have an accident, and your airbags inflate, you will be required to repair the airbags before you can drive your vehicle. Your car insurance should cover the replacement of the airbags and any extended damage issues, but reimbursement will depend on the extent of the damage. When an airbag deploys or inflates, quite a bit of damage can occur. Any covering or casing of the airbag itself will need to be replaced, as will the sensor. Side and front window damage can also happen, as well as damage to other interior structures that can include the steering wheel, column area, dashboard, consoles, panels, seats, and other components in the vicinity of any airbags.

In certain accident situations, quite a bit of crushing damage can occur, which means that the damage could be widespread, and critical components affected. Not only would the whole interior front section of a vehicle be involved, but other exterior parts in the front portion of a vehicle could also be affected. Fenders, bumpers, hoods, grilles, radiators, air conditioning condensers, and other components could be in jeopardy and require replacement, not to mention any extensive bodywork. Repairs could get expensive, and a vehicle even determined to be a total loss. In this case, insurance coverage and any reimbursement would depend on the actual cash value of the vehicle before an accident and the costs of repairs. Whatever the case, insurance should cover airbag replacement.

Airbags in a car can usually be fixed after an accident, which includes both resetting and replacing any that have been subject to damage because of a collision. Depending on the make and model of a vehicle, a full replacement may be necessary. To determine where you stand with airbag repair or replacement, complete the online contact form, and an authorized service center expert will get back to you with the information you need to reset, repair, or replace your airbags in the right way.

When you take your car to the auto shop for repairs, the first step is always a diagnosis. At this stage, many people are holding their breath and nervously hoping that the problem isn’t the engine or the transmission. These are often the two most expensive and difficult parts of the car to repair, and that’s always a bad day for you.

To start, let’s answer the question posed by the title of this article: Yes, you absolutely can suffer transmission problems as a result of a car accident. Like any other part of your vehicle, a transmission can be ruined by a strong enough impact.

Impact Analysis Guide

After you have been in an accident, the first thing to check is your health. Once you know that you are not hurt, you should check the location of the impact. This will affect the likelihood of transmission damage. If you have a front-wheel-drive vehicle, the transmission will be located upfront. Thus, it will probably be safe if the car is struck from the rear. In rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles, the transmission will be in the back. Thus, it will probably be safe if the car is struck from the front.

In most cases, you will be able to visually inspect the damage and see if your transmission has been struck. It is usually one of the biggest parts of the vehicle, so it isn’t hard to find. Here are some pictures of a typical transmission to get you started. As you can see, there are slight differences in appearance between an automatic transmission and a manual one. Still, it shouldn’t be hard to find a component this large. When you have located the transmission, see if it’s leaking any fluid.

Any time your transmission has been struck by a direct impact, you should get it inspected by a qualified professional because it is probably damaged. Even if the outer casing is not damaged, the impact can knock those gears out of alignment and cause all kinds of problems.

Less Obvious Problems

Not all transmission problems will show themselves right away. You might drive away from the accident, thinking that nothing is wrong, only to find that your car is slipping out of gear or shifting too hard from one gear to the next. This will be especially obvious if you drive a manual transmission because you will feel the gears grinding as they try (and fail) to align correctly.

In most instances, this is not something that you can fix yourself. You might as well make peace with the fact that you will have to fork out some serious money to get this thing fixed. Transmission repairs can be so expensive that you might want to consider buying a different vehicle. However, there is something you can do to give your mechanic a better idea of the problem. Since they charge by the hour, this is likely to save you money.

A Quick Diagnosis

First, you will need to start your car and let it run until it reaches normal operating temperature. This will normally be the spot in the middle of the gauge, and you may want to step on the gas and rev the engine a little bit. This will speed up the process. Once you reach the right temperature, open the hood, and remove the transmission dipstick. If you don’t know where that is, try to find a parts diagram for your car. Your cars owner’s manual might also be of assistance here.

Keep the car running as you check the amount of fluid using the dipstick. If you are lucky, you might simply be low on fluid. In cases like this, you will be able to add the correct amount of fluid and call the problem fixed.

Next, close the hood and get in the car. Put the transmission in gear and see if it clunks or grinds. If it does, you have most likely found the problem. A clunking noise usually indicates that the gear mounts are failing. If it grinds, the gears might simply be misaligned due to impact.

Finally, give the car a short drive. Make sure that your vehicle shifts its gears enough for a proper test. If it slips in and out of gear, the problem is most likely in the clutch or the torque converter. Once again, you probably can’t fix those problems yourself, but you can save your mechanic some time.

Conclusion

Today’s article has been based on a simple question, and the answer is not a pleasant one. It would be nice if transmissions were better protected, but it won’t do us any good to lament that fact. All we can do is deal with the situation and get that crucial vehicle back on the road. By following the simple guidelines outlined here, you can probably take care of that process with a little less stress, uncertainty, and time. If you would like to thank us for that little bit of help, you can fill out the contact form below.