Severe Damage after hitting Pothole
 

Hi All,

I'm not a frequent poster, but I do peruse the threads somewhat often and I appreciate any replies I get to this post in advance. I should also say, while I'm a huge "car guy" in general and the Camaro is my dream car, I'm no gear head and my knowledge of car mechanics is really quite limited. The car referenced below is my 2017 Camaro RS 2LT V6.

So, a little while ago, I'm on my way back from New York City on I95 right before the GW Bridge cruising along in moderate traffic, going around 70 MPH and my car goes over what feels and sounds like to be the largest pothole I've experienced in my entire life. The thing must have been the size of a crater. Pull over at a rest stop a few miles later and everything looks ok, but look the next day and both tires have bubbles.

Ok, got new tires from the dealer, two rims bent, went to an alloy wheel shop to fix the rims. All is good...except, all is not good.

The car doesn't handle quite right. Hard to describe exactly, but overall handling is decreased, the car struggles to stay in a straight line especially after coming out of a turn. Figure I better go back to the dealer and check aligment and suspension. They proceed to tell me that the alignment is out and one of the wheels is bent. I felt a sense of relief knowing there was an issue and it was an easy fix. The car had a four wheel alignment done and the wheel guy was going to fix the wheel again for $100. Great, my problems have been solved, right? Wrong, they were only beginning.

When I took the car back to the dealer AGAIN because the car was still pulling, they recommended that the front control arms and struts be replaced, because there was a dent in the left front control arm. I said OK, do what needs to be done to get the car back in normal condition. $1500 later the repairs were done, but they still could not get the car to get in alignment. They were now recommending to take the car to a body shop to check for possible frame issues.

The body shop found damag to the subframe and engine cradle, and also noticed the REAR left control arm was also damaged (something that the dealer told me prior that they would've been able to see when the car was on the rack for alignment). The dealer is now recommending to get my insurance involved because the work to the frame and the rear control arms could be well over $4,000.

Now, I'm thinking I just want to pay for the work that's already done and take the car to another local dealership for a second opinion before doing this extreme amount of work.

I wanted to get some opinions here about what could be wrong with my car, if the dealer is taking me for a ride, and if you think a pothole could really cause frame damage. Thanks all for reading such a long post, appreciate your help.

holy f#ck... I was suing the city dude.. god damn...
insurance sounds like a good idea... not sure a second opinion is worth the hassle

That's a lot of damage for a pothole. Normally you get the bent rim and/or damaged tires , maybe even the alignment but wow you've got serious problems going on there.

Too, look in to what you can do with the city or State DOT, in many instances you can file claims though I don't think the pay out rate is very high.

Time to make that car someone else's problem. Once you get insurance involved, it will be labeled frame damaged on all the car reporting sites. You will have a car thats worth far less than it should be. I would pull the ripcord on this one honestly. Sucks to say, but its not worth the headache unless this car is a lifetime keeper. I still wouldnt want it now though.

Hitting a deep pothole at 70mph is a collision, so it's quite possible you need some "frame" straightening.

This is a weakness of unibody cars...which is all cars these days.

Agreed, make an insurance claim, I think they might also be able to compensate you for the lost value as a result of the damage/repair history. I ask for this in every collision, they won't offer it.

Ok, new update. I went to a second dealer and they were able to get the car mostly in alignment. The car seems to drive fine but my concerns are still with the subframe that the previous dealer found. This is the sequence of repair sheets I received.

As you can see the first dealer's body shop found subframe damage and a bent rear control arm but the second dealer mentioned nothing about that. I'm tempted to just keep driving the car since everything feels ok. However, I'm concerned about safety and what may happen in the event of another collision. Worth taking to a body shop to get the frame looked at again?

Update?

Insurance, pay deductible.

That sucks. Don't know how it is in New York City but here in Tampa, FL you have to prove that the city has known about the pothole for 30 days before they will pay for damages.

Unfortunately this sounds like an insurance claim should be filed.