Today was the one week anniversary of getting my 2009 Accent GLS. I love this car. But just my luck, I hit a deer on my way home from work this afternoon. $2250 in damage. Needs a hood, hinge, bumper, grill and headlight assembly, and a small repair to the fender where the hood pushed back into it. Not only haven't I made the first payment, I haven't even recieved the payment book.

 

Where's the deer, I'm down to 8lb of burger,, need more meat for jerky.

 

thats when i go to a junkyard and get 'new' parts cheaper. but hey thats me.

 

The good thing is I have $0 deductible comprehensive coverage. The body shop called three different salvage yards and no one has any good used parts. I've never heard of this before, but they are buying a 'remanufactured' headlight assembly. Personally I don't car what they use as long as it matches and looks like the original.

 

$2250! The damage dosn't look that bad. Interesting how much more the body shops charge insurance companies than they do if one paid out of pocket. Why not just order the parts from Hyundai? FYI those "reman" headlights are probably not going to fit the same, same with aftermarket body parts, half the time, they won't even aline right. Most aftermarket headlights will yellow after a year or 2, due to cheap lenses and lack of uv protective coating. I also have $0 deductables, dosen't really cost me any more to have it all at $0. I also decided to put very little down, and get gap coverage, so if this car gets totaled, I'll just buy a new one, and not lose as much in depreciation, since gap will cover the rest of the loan. 3.9% apr is peanuts, otherwise I would have put 50% down on this car, but the gap is like having seperate insurance, just for the depreciation of a new car.

 

Took it in to the Body shop on Wednesday. Drove by today and the car is sitting outside with the new hood on and painted. Looks like all they have to do is put in the headlight assembly, grill and bumper cover. With any luck maybe I'll have it back on Monday. I miss my own car.

First rental I got was a Toyota Prius. My opinion is that they are just weird. It's my first experience with a CVT transmission and a hybrid. No gearshift, just a 'joystick'. No key, just a 'start' button. Press the start button and nothing happens except the dash lights up and it says ready. Push the button again and everything shuts back off. Push it the third time and when it says ready I pull the joystick over to 'D' and step on the gas pedal, which I assume is no longer really a gas pedal as I suspect it is an electronic contraption, and the car starts to move. I hit about 20 mph and the engine roars to life. Coming down a steep hill I let off the electronic contraption that used to be a gas pedal and the engine shuts off. Weird. Equally as weird is the fact the transmission doesn't shift. The next day we had 2" of snow. This car has traction control. Great, right? Nope, I stopped at the top of my driveway and when I stepped on the electronic contraption that used to be a gas pedal the TC light came on but the car wouldn't move. The tires would not spin. Had to back down the driveway until I could get a little traction to get moving. The tires on this car, while they had plenty of tread, were of a performance type. They weren't made for snow, that's for sure. Every time I stepped on that electronic contraption the TC light came on. At 15mph I stepped on the brake ever so lightly and the anti-lock brakes kicked in and I drover right past the entrance to my work place. That afternoon I called Enterprise and complained and they replaced it with a Ford Explorer 4x4 that gets about 15 mpg.

Like I said, I can't wait to get my Accent back that will get me around in the snow and do it at 30 MPG. It starts, it shifts, it stops and it has a key.

 

Too bad about your car.
Years ago we had a couple cars or jeeps that had a starter button. You turned the key on and then pushed the button. We also had one with the starter button on the floor to the right of the gas pedal. Real pain in the butt trying to start a standard in the cold that way. An ignition key is the easiest way to go. I wonder why they think it needs to be changed.

Here's my daughter's 2011 Accent GL on her first time out with it alone.

 

That too bad too. My daughter is 16 and will be taking her driving test in a few weeks. I've given her a key to the Hyundai and, even though it's my car to drive to work and run errands, you'd think I gave her a million dollars. I got the car back from the body shop on Monday and it looks like new. Hopefully it stays that way.

 

That's why you put the kids in a larger, older car at first, so they don't mess up the new cars. My first car was a '79 Bonneville that I bought myself, but I never had any accidents.

 

sounds like a good one. i had a '90 toyota cressida until my ex rolled it! it was a lot of fun though, that car could drift! driving sideways in the snow accent doesn't really do that so well....but it DOES use about half the gas.