[BlankCzech]

...but some idiot backed in to me at a light. He pulled to far forward at a red and decided to hightail it backwards. Obviously he didn't see me in his rear view mirror. But if he had stopped even 3 seconds after I started honking my horn he would not have hit me. Or if he had checked his driver side mirror he would've seen me screaming at him to stop. I always stop so I am clearly looking in to a persons drivers side mirror.

Well the guy was very distraught about hitting my car. When he saw what he backed in to I thought he was going to break down crying. In my younger days I *might* have really ripped in to the guy but I've had plenty worse happen to me and I never reacted in a bitter angry way. My personality just doesn't let me get as angry as I think I ought to be when thing of this nature happen to me.
The damage isn't to bad...from appearances. *pics to follow*. His rounded bumper rode over my nose and squished the car down enough to crack the top horizontal license plate area right in the center. The front and bottom part of the tag rectangle seem fine. He did break all but one or two of the tabs holding the grill in place. He also put a 3" crack through the nose about 6" to the passenger side of the Lotus emblem. Amazingly the Lotus emblem did NOT pop off which is squarely where he slid across and compressed my car down.
The car drives and tracks fine at up to ~70 MPH. Now its just an insurance and a time thing. I'm going to take pics now

 

[shadowhusky]

That really sucks.

 

[serpent]

sorry about the accident and car, but at least your safe and the guy didnt run.


the car will be back on the road in no time :up:

 

[BlankCzech]

I'm trying to learn how to post a pic. I have one loaded in to my photo area but I can't get them to show in any forums. I'm trying to get this to work. I really want some feedback because I was planing on driving this 4k+ miles in the next 10 days! :clap:

 

[TimMullen]

I'm trying to learn how to post a pic. I have one loaded in to my photo area but I can't get them to show in any forums. I'm trying to get this to work. I really want some feedback because I was planing on driving this 4k+ miles in the next 10 days! :clap:

It helps if you resize them down to a normal size for the forum.

To upload a file, after you have entered the text, scroll down to the section labeled "Additional Options", and click the "Manage Attachments" button. The Browse to the location on your system that contains the photo(s), select it(them), and click the "Upload" button. Then, click the "Submit Reply" button below the text section as normal...

 

[BlankCzech]

YAY I got it!!! I think I can repair all the damage I see. I also think the right thing to do is take the clam off and inspect for any possible damage. Then I think Lotus would say a clam replacement is required.
I am pretty sure this will end up at my dealer getting a proper look over and alignment check.
Note that I actually applied the dead bugs myself. And I don't garage my car during driving season and it was raining. But I do have a fresh coat of wax. Thank you Tim Mullen for your help

 

[agirls]

No matter what I'm driving, if the car in front of me stops too far forward, I always stop with lots of space between their car and mine. But backing up on a street is just stupid. I've seen people do it and then they leave it in reverse! Then the light turns green. So stupid. Glad the damage was not worse. It looks to just be cosmetic which is troublesome enough. When is your trip? I would consider taking it to a shop so they can document the damage and begin the process/negotiations with the insurance company and maybe take the car on the trip anyways if the damage is only cosmetic. Then you won't care about all the bugs and rocks hitting your clam on the 4k trip 'cause it's gonna be replaced/fixed anyways!

 

[LotusSG2057]

I can relate to this based on the pictures that were posted up. The grille was lose and the front end was cracked too with some scratch marks on the front end. Since it seemed unsafe to drive the lotus with the grille wobbling around on the road, we decided to take it off because it seemed like the best thing to do. The Lotus dealer didn't think it was a big deal doing that since it was going to affect the car in any bad way. So, basically we had to get a new shell and grille to fix the problem and that about a week or so, I forget. Sorry to hear about your car.

 

[glb]

Someone kindly taught me to open the pic in Paint to resize it.

Sorry about your accident.


In a normal car, the rule of thumb is to stop far enough behind a car so you can see its tires contact the road.

In the elise, especially behind Suvs and the like, I stop much further back and, if possible, slightly to the left so I can be seen in d/s mirror.

Some Suvs have 60' blind spots for v low object, e.g. children, lotuses.

 

[MickOpalak]

You can still go. Get it fixed when you get back. Cover it in duct tape in the mean time.

 

[Dragon]

Looks like a good time to add a racing stripe to the car...

 

[chapster5]

Sorry to hear about that, definatly looks Cosmetic get some tape over them cracks before water gets in! that would be your main concenr right now, check for any spider webbing too.

 

[BlankCzech]

Looks like a good time to add a racing stripe to the car...

I'm half expecting the insurance company to say something to that effect
I called Valenti in CT and said pretty much what I thought. This will be a new clam. Hopefully the crashbox is not cracked. or that will get replaced also. I found extensive spidering in the paint today. The front clam should be less expensive than I thought it would be. The starshield saved extensive paint damage. At least for the short term while I wait for the police report. My paint would be extremely scratched up if I didn't have it.
Thank you for the feedback everyone.
I'm going to go if my boss will let me. My Piloti shoes came in yesterday. Now I really need my sunglasses to be finished tomorrow and Ill be all set. I made this same trip 3 years ago and had a blast. I didn't have a front plate then and was lucky to not get pulled over.

 

[DeepAmpeg]

Sorry to hear about the fender bender. As small as these cars are drive em like your on a motorcycle. Always make sure people see you but it wont matter if the driver that hits you cant drive to begin with.

 

[111ltwt]

Call Danielle's in Westchester

They have lots of experience with repairing cars for HRM and "Keinayo"

 

[Mr_Baker]

We'll still let you in to fish and see friends with a cracked nose.