My first wreck. (Warning, long story..)

[lolabug]

D:
So, I'm driving, and it's ONE WEEK after I get my license, in September. Yeah, just driving my cute lil Stank Bug when all of a sudden, I see a pothole the size of Oklahoma itself. I have no time to react, since I was actually looking AHEAD and it wasnt in my field of vision. So my front-passenger tire goes BAM into it. I'm like, "Ohmygosh! ...Hey, maybe it's okay.." And i turn my music down to hear..

The bare, steel wheel grinding on the pavement ): I'm trying not to panic, and I put my emergency flashers on, then I pull into some little stretch of road that eventually leads to some school, or something I think. I get out and look at my car...
The wheel cover - gone.
The steel wheel - bent.
The tire - decimated.
And i start crying.
T____T

I called my mom on someone's phone who drove by, still crying... and meanwhile this guy (who was IRONICALLY on the ROAD CREW that was riiight about to FIX THAT POTHOLE I HAD JUST KILLED MY CAR WITH... >.>) helped me get the spare on.
My mom got there, and we drove to get the wheel fixed.

I ended up getting the freakin awesome rims that are still on my car to date, as an early Christmas present. After school (a large chunk of which I had missed dealing with the wheels), we took my car to get checked on, since I hit that pothole going probably 20-30 with my brakes on for like a second... After a few days, here's what we found out.

Both rocker arms were messed up and needed to be replaced.
Water pump - cracked.
Windshield fluid reservoir - leaking.
OIL PAN - cracked!

D:
At least I got awesome wheels! Lol.

The end.

(Awesome story, bro.)

[D2Beetle]

Wow!

The cost of fixing the Water pump and OIL PAN should not be to bad if you find a decent mechanic other than the dealer. Cowboy has a cracked oil pan and the previous owner patched it with liquid glass.

I have never changed rocker arms so I have no idea what that would cost. As far as the windshield fluid reservoir, it would be last on my to do list.

[Laura&Ringo]

Can you put a claim into the city for damages to the car? They obviously had notice of the pothole and were getting ready to fix it.

I hit a rock that was pushed up by a frost heave at the bottom of my mother's driveway (dirt road) and did $1200 damage to the engine sheild, transmission oil pan. etc. I wasn't even going 5 mph.

My insurance covered it, but then I ended up with a surcharge for having over $500 in property damage (to just my car...)

[FarrisK]

Originally Posted by lolabug

Both rocker arms were messed up and needed to be replaced.
Water pump - cracked.
Windshield fluid reservoir - leaking.
OIL PAN - cracked!

How did the rocker arms get messed up? Aren't those internal to the engine?

IMHO, the city should pay to fix these things. If it truly was an unavoidable pothole, the city was negligent... but they won't pay.

[MichelleRoze]

That's awful!!!! Sorry to hear about this!

My mom had a similar situation happen in her Hyundai Tuscon. She hit a pothole so deep that it flattened and bent BOTH of her passenger side wheels. After getting the SUV towed to the dealer, come to find out the control arm broke, some other misc stuff broke and the fender well was torn up. I believe it was a total of $2300 in repairs or something like that. Insurance paid for it thankfully. I think my mom tried to sue to city for faulty roads, since we weren't the only ones to have this happen to us, at that exact location. But i'm not sure what came of it.

Might want to see if you can get the city to pay for the damages. It's probably going to be costly, and I wouldn't fork out a penny because it wasn't your fault the road was falling apart like that and there was no proper warning signs on it.

Good luck and I hope you can get your car back soon. Our little cars don't like pot holes.

Question, since your oil pan and waterpump were damaged....does that mean you DIDN"T have a belly pan on the car? Look into getting a panzer plate and hopefully if you encounter another hole the size of Oklahoma again, your engine will be safe.

[lolabug]

Originally Posted by MichelleRoze

That's awful!!!! Sorry to hear about this!

My mom had a similar situation happen in her Hyundai Tuscon. She hit a pothole so deep that it flattened and bent BOTH of her passenger side wheels. After getting the SUV towed to the dealer, come to find out the control arm broke, some other misc stuff broke and the fender well was torn up. I believe it was a total of $2300 in repairs or something like that. Insurance paid for it thankfully. I think my mom tried to sue to city for faulty roads, since we weren't the only ones to have this happen to us, at that exact location. But i'm not sure what came of it.

Might want to see if you can get the city to pay for the damages. It's probably going to be costly, and I wouldn't fork out a penny because it wasn't your fault the road was falling apart like that and there was no proper warning signs on it.

Good luck and I hope you can get your car back soon. Our little cars don't like pot holes.

Question, since your oil pan and waterpump were damaged....does that mean you DIDN"T have a belly pan on the car? Look into getting a panzer plate and hopefully if you encounter another hole the size of Oklahoma again, your engine will be safe.

Mine must have hit the pavement so hard that it damaged the rocker arms, cuz I actually felt the impact through my spine, like I had fell on my butt or something. D:


And don't worry everyone, this happened last September, so Stinkbug has had a long time to recover :3

[vwgary]

I like your story telling style

[AceJay]

Cool story, bro.

Mine's better though
I crashed :(

[lolabug]

Originally Posted by vwgary

I like your story telling style

8D Thanks!
Keeps me with an A in English! Lol :3

[Smileybug]

I was terrified of this happening to me but I got lucky. I hit a huge pothole last week one day. It had snowed here over the weekend and it kept thawing and refreezing so the roads are getting trashed. Anyway, going down a road I normally travel but for the first time since it had snowed and frozen a few times. Hit the sucker going about 30-35mph. I felt it, I heard it, and I was freaking out! I was only a minute from my house so I drove home. Got out and checked my wheel. I just knew I had bent it. It managed to survive somehow. No tire or wheel damage! I definitely had some good luck on my side then.

Glad you got everything taken care of. Potholes are nasty. Not sure where you live, but around here, we don't get much snow and the roads are poorly maintained to begin with (seriously, once you cross the NC border on I85 from VA, the road immediately gets bumpy and full of holes!) so the ice really trashes the roads. The potholes are everywhere now Luckily most of them are small and I can avoid them.

[lolabug]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

I was terrified of this happening to me but I got lucky. I hit a huge pothole last week one day. It had snowed here over the weekend and it kept thawing and refreezing so the roads are getting trashed. Anyway, going down a road I normally travel but for the first time since it had snowed and frozen a few times. Hit the sucker going about 30-35mph. I felt it, I heard it, and I was freaking out! I was only a minute from my house so I drove home. Got out and checked my wheel. I just knew I had bent it. It managed to survive somehow. No tire or wheel damage! I definitely had some good luck on my side then.

Glad you got everything taken care of. Potholes are nasty. Not sure where you live, but around here, we don't get much snow and the roads are poorly maintained to begin with (seriously, once you cross the NC border on I85 from VA, the road immediately gets bumpy and full of holes!) so the ice really trashes the roads. The potholes are everywhere now Luckily most of them are small and I can avoid them.

Yeah, in Oklahoma we get a little winter weather, like ice or freezing rain, but this year we got several feet of snow.. Then after that melted, we got some more ice, then MORE snow, and ice, and fog... It's been crazy D:

The roads around where I live are usually alright, but in some places it's really bad :/
Glad to hear you survived though! :3