How does the damage look?

[Evil-Bee-NH]

Agreed leave the judgement out of this i'm no trucker but i do drive for a living and even using safe driving practices it only takes one short bus mistake or stunt by someone to make your safe driving unsafe. Can't tell you how many times people slam on brakes with no one in front of them because they see a cop. Or think they see a cop or worse god forbid that hippie peta member hits the poor squirrel or bird that darted out in front of them.

OP it's not totaled but won't be cheap my adivce from having similar fender damage but not as severe get a repair cost if they're fixig look for a replacement fender altogether and compare the prices i coulda bought a new fender had it primed and color match painted for less then it cost them to repair mine back a few years ago. I was lucky it was just body damage not frame or anything else hope you get lucky aswell.

[Firehawk178]

I suspect this "safe distance" discussion will get interesting.

IMHO, once you make contact with the car ahead of you, any distance you were following at can no longer be considered as having been safe.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by Firehawk178

I suspect this "safe distance" discussion will get interesting.

IMHO, once you make contact with the car ahead of you, any distance you were following at can no longer be considered as having been safe.

pretty much. kind of paradoxical to call it safe when it was close enough to result in an accident. as someone else said, hate to see their idea of unsafe.

[USMUCL]

The self-righteousness is strong in this thread.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by rich3fan

How the F do you know? .

because it resulted in an accident Einstein. how safe could it have been?

[PalmerGA]

Originally Posted by Phail

OP - Mark a place on the road as the car infront of you passes it (like a street sign, etc), if you can't count to 3 one thousand before you pass that same point, you are not driving at a safe follow distance.

I was taught the "2 second rule" (two one thousand, if you prefer). Regardless of how much room you keep between you and the car ahead, you have to be paying attention. What pisses me off is that most drivers won't allow you to keep a safe distance - they have to squeeze in even the smallest of openings. Assholes!

[Aubrey64]

Everyone, I understand that from the looks of it I wasn't a safe distance- and obviously because I hit the guy in front of me it wasn't as safe as it should have been-because a safe distance, regardless of how far that distance is, would have allowed me time to stop- but I was far from tailgating. I've never had any sort of accident before in my life- I am not saying that I am a perfect driver (obviously I am not) but I know what a safe distance is, and though it would have been beneficial if I was farther away, I was not in anyway tailgating. I was driving on a major highway, going 75 miles per hour, and I hit the guy going probably 20-30mph- the ONLY reason I was able to reduce my speed by 45 miles per hour was because I was far enough away that allowed me time to slow down before impact, otherwise the damage would have been far worse, because a 20-30mph hit is nothing compared to a 75mph hit.

Honestly though, this "safe-distance" argument is irrelevant because regardless I am at fault- people make mistakes, and I made one today. 1 mistake in my entire driving career isn't the end of the world. I really just wanted opinions on my car while I wait to hear back from the repair shop on Monday.

[rich3fan]

Originally Posted by jd10013

because it resulted in an accident Einstein. how safe could it have been?

Oh okay. Makes perfect sense.

[SSteven]

Looks like a new zl1 bumper to me 😁

[intensifi]

What kind of brakes are you using? I see they are painted. Have you upgraded to the Brembos? My 2LT stops much better/shorter with the Brembos.

Please post pics looking down at the front corner with the hood open. Also let us know if the hood opens properly or if it is bent.

I replaced a fender myself (dented on pole in garage). It was pretty straight forward. The reason I mention this is with insurance money (AND ONLY IF THERE IS NO FRAME DAMAGE), you could buy the parts yourself and end up with a ZL1 front end, etc. for the same money you'll spend on letting an auto body shop do it.

[RJT RS]

I can tell by the pics. If you had got the inspection last month like you were supposed to it probably wouldn't have happened. Shame on you.

I'm betting if your car had a 100K on it, that still wouldn't total it. And as you said, I hope (I think) a 30mph impact isn't going to total my car.

btw, her car IS out of inspection, but the brakes is in jest if in doubt.

on edit: if you don't take it to the dealer, might check with Herb's off 635 in Garland

[bucolic]

A car going 60MPH travels 88 feet in one second.

Your driving along a safe distance from the car in front of you and glance down at your Chevrolet MyLink screen to change the station from The Highway Country station to 70's because Taylor Swift just came on.

Only took 3 seconds, 1 100, 2 200, 3 300. You look up and the car in front of you isn't a safe distance anymore and is braking quickly to avoid the deer that just ran out in front of them. Takes you another half second to get your foot from the accelerator to the brake.

(88*3) + (88/2) = 308 feet or one football field.

Can happen to anyone.

Glad your ok and your car is going to be fine. I think you actually did some good evasive driving to avoid hitting them square on.

[Need4speed_motorsports]

Your good.

But god danm that fender though.

[Tenring]

Originally Posted by bucolic

Can happen to anyone.

Glad your ok and your car is going to be fine. I think you actually did some good evasive driving to avoid hitting them square on.

Agreed................. all the best getting it corrected and on the road again!