Almost through our second winter with our 08 Expedition Limited and yesterday we had nasty weather, about an inch of snow followed by sleet mixed with freezing rain. I left for work at 6 AM and it was bad, but I made it ok. Son left for school at 7:20 spun our Honda Accord and nosed the front end into a snowbank about a mile from our house. Minor scrape damage to the front bumber. Then my wife left at 7:45 to go to her job as a teacher's aid and spun the Expedition in almost the same spot as son. It is a slight downhill sweeping right bend in the road and it was icy. She was in 4 wheel drive but she said the front just turned to the right on her. The back end scraped the snowbank on the drivers side and the front went straight across into the snowbank on the other side of the road. She called me and said what happened and they were very scared, but not hurt (my 10 yo son was with her). She said after she got herself righted and underway the town plow came by sanding the road (a little late?). She said she didn't think there was much damage, but the front plate plexiglass cover was busted. When I got home I see the driver's rear bumper, right on the corner under side got puched up almost like a fist hit it and the front bumper has a metal piece sticking through it between the license plate holder and the tow hook toward the driver side.

Does this sound like it is going to be super expensive to fix? Should I call insurance or get it repaired on my own? Anyone ever have to repair one of these. Don't think there is anything other than bumper damage.

 

Sorry about your son's and wife's misfortune. I'm glad to hear that they're physically ok, just a little mentally shooken up I'm sure.

So is it safe to assume that the Expy is in OK driving condition? If Yes, why not get a quote from a local body shop for the work to be done. Compare that to your insurance and see if it's worth filing a claim with them for the repair. For me, with my deductible where it is, it would probably be better to file it with insurance and be done with it. But this may not be the case with you.

I hope this helps a little. Glad to hear the family is safe though!

 

I am meeting with a body guy I trust tomorrow. I am pretty sure the damage is only cosmetic. My insurance just doubled from $2500 to $5040 a year when my son got his license. This is going to be another jump if I have to claim it. I'll know tomorrow what I'm gonna have to do. Thanks for the sentiments.

 

Saw the body guy today. He said it might be a bit more than the deductable to fix, not worth turning into insurance. He said fix it in the Spring after bad weather is gone and he won't have to spend a day warming the car in his garage before he can work on it. Relieved.

 

I forgot to mention this the other day, but when the body guy was looking at the rear bumper damage he said it looked like it had been repaired before. He said there was bondo under the paint on the bumper. You could see where it had chipped off. I would say it was about 1/16" thick. I told him I bought the Expy with 10K miles and car faxed it and there was nothing on the car fax. He said it could have been repaired off the books if it was a minor hit. Anyone know if ford uses bondo on the bumper as part of manufacturing process? I didn't think so.

 

I was in an accident with my Lincoln back in 1999 and last year I car faxed it and it didn't show up on mine. So, I think that carfax sometimes doesn't get everything so it need to be used cautiously.

Mark

 

If it was damaged in transit, the dealer would repair it at the shop or sub it out, then send Ford the bill. A minor accident not reported to DMV won't show up on Carfax.

 

So sounds to you all like it had been damaged previously. Let's hope it was just minor. We'll know for sure when he starts working on it. He's been a body man for 40 years and owns his own shop.

 

Ford wouldnt use bondo as part of the manufacturing process.

 

Carfax will only show accidents when a police report was filed. If the prior owner backed into a pole, for instance and got the damage fixed on his own, there would br no carfax report filed. Likewise, during small fender-bender accident on the road, the parties will simply agree to fix the damage on the at-fault driver's dime without involving police or claims. Likewise, dealers often take trades with a little bit of damage and fix them prior to resale, without carfax getting involved.

My son was lightly rear-ended while stopped in my '02 E-150. by a teenage girl. Her father called me and asked me if it could be fixed under the radar; I agreed, and to my benefit, got a step bumper put on (which he gladly paid for) instead of the regular bumper. Body damage was restricted to a small kink in the bottom of the rear door, which my body shop's paintless dent removal guy pulled out so it was virtually invisible. Both the girl and my son were about 17 or 18, so I figured that keeping the claim invisible could only help (her more than me)....could have been the other way around.

Good luck,
George

 

Carfax and Autocheck only get there info from claims made on the vehicle. So if it was minor enough for someone to fix themselves it wouldnt show up. I've seen where cars were in major accidents, repaired and the Carfax was still good.

Dave, just out of curiosity, are you going to file a claim with your insurance or when you decide to sell it are you going to tell the next owner? I think not.

In my opinion the front and rear bumpers on these expys are too fragile anyway and can't take even a minor hit, where as the old steel bumpers wouldn't even have a scratch. As long as there is no structural damage underneath then it's just cosmetic stuff.


Matt

 

yeah its rather sad. my '98 expedition with the big steel bumper did about $6k in damage to a 2010 undercover police expedition this winter. my truck rear ended the 2010 expediton. took out the bumper cover, tail light, inner bumper structure, part of the QT panel.

damage to my '98? i hooked a chain to the bumper and a tree and pulled it out...looks like new again. i like steel

goodluck with the repairs! i just got done dealing with 3 wrecks, one a total loss head-on crash..it sucks

 

Thanks for the support guys. Sorry to hear your troubles AlaskanEx. Guess I could've done a lot worse.