Another injured pony
05-21-2008, 04:51 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Pa
Posts: 763
Another injured pony
So Sunday morning I was driving home from getting some gas (gas is ALOT cheaper in NJ than it is in PA, so driving 15 miles just to fill up is still worth it.). For those in the Trenton area, I was coming southbound on I95, down the big hill just before you come across the Scudders Falls Bridge into PA. At the bottom of this hill is an onramp and then the highway passes over the Delaware river. This onramp is a very dangerous ramp, and when I am on the highway, I always make a point to be in the left hand lane to leave the right hand lane open for merging people.
Anyway.. coming down the hill, I see no one on the ramp waiting to merge, and since I need to get off on the first exit after the bridge, I hit my blinker, check my mirrors and then glance at the blind spot to make sure no one is there and look back into my lane...
... just in time to see something (and I still to this day can't say what it was, never saw it clearly and it was gone the next day) sitting in my lane. Before I can even swerve, I run over it with my tire, my tire pops and jerks the wheel hard left. My car goes into the concrete barrier in the middle, drives up it (and I do mean drives up it.. there is a skid mark from my tire going the entire height of the barrier) and when the rear tire hits the flared portion of the barrier at the bottom, it throws me around and kicks the front end back onto the road, dropping it down the 2 or 3 feet it had been airborne. I fought the car back and forth the entire length of the bridge and actually got it under control just in time to pull off on my exit ramp.
At first glance, it looked like just 2 rims and tires and the rocker panel under the door were damaged. Figuring the rims were already spent, I nursed the car home the 4 miles from there. When I got the car home is when I noticed a few things... The door was not lining up when it was closed.. The left fender was touching the A pillar. The trunk was not lining up right when it closed. Called the insurance and they took it away for an estimate. All told it's gonna be 4K in damage. I rippled both rear quarter panels when the car went airborne and the drivers side front fender also rippled when it went up on the concrete. Bent an A arm, and the tire rod ends are getting replaced. The trunk lid is even getting some repair time (and they are touching up a couple of chips in it as well for me!). Sadly, the only pieces of the body that they are not replacing are the only ones I *WANT* to replace... the hood, and the front andrear bumper covers.
So Progressive has my Pony until June 4th-ish. 2 and 1/2 weeks of friving the Mountaineer will have me ready to go bonkers I think. My Sister-in-Laws dealership has an 08 GO GT, optioned exactly as mine is except to add the IUP package and if mine had been totaled (or if they find more damage and do total it), the paperwork on it is already sitting and waiting.
Anyway.. coming down the hill, I see no one on the ramp waiting to merge, and since I need to get off on the first exit after the bridge, I hit my blinker, check my mirrors and then glance at the blind spot to make sure no one is there and look back into my lane...
... just in time to see something (and I still to this day can't say what it was, never saw it clearly and it was gone the next day) sitting in my lane. Before I can even swerve, I run over it with my tire, my tire pops and jerks the wheel hard left. My car goes into the concrete barrier in the middle, drives up it (and I do mean drives up it.. there is a skid mark from my tire going the entire height of the barrier) and when the rear tire hits the flared portion of the barrier at the bottom, it throws me around and kicks the front end back onto the road, dropping it down the 2 or 3 feet it had been airborne. I fought the car back and forth the entire length of the bridge and actually got it under control just in time to pull off on my exit ramp.
At first glance, it looked like just 2 rims and tires and the rocker panel under the door were damaged. Figuring the rims were already spent, I nursed the car home the 4 miles from there. When I got the car home is when I noticed a few things... The door was not lining up when it was closed.. The left fender was touching the A pillar. The trunk was not lining up right when it closed. Called the insurance and they took it away for an estimate. All told it's gonna be 4K in damage. I rippled both rear quarter panels when the car went airborne and the drivers side front fender also rippled when it went up on the concrete. Bent an A arm, and the tire rod ends are getting replaced. The trunk lid is even getting some repair time (and they are touching up a couple of chips in it as well for me!). Sadly, the only pieces of the body that they are not replacing are the only ones I *WANT* to replace... the hood, and the front andrear bumper covers.
So Progressive has my Pony until June 4th-ish. 2 and 1/2 weeks of friving the Mountaineer will have me ready to go bonkers I think. My Sister-in-Laws dealership has an 08 GO GT, optioned exactly as mine is except to add the IUP package and if mine had been totaled (or if they find more damage and do total it), the paperwork on it is already sitting and waiting.
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