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Head-on collision with motorcycle

1282 Views 16 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  CrzRani
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A motorcyclist, traveling in the opposite lane of us lost control of his bike and hit me head-on going about 60mph or so. I was going about 20mph at the time. The cyclist partially came through our windshield.

I broke my wrist, but was wearing my seat belt, the Passport's collision avoidance braking kicked in and two airbags deployed. Our Passport did its job and kept us safe. We were able to walk away. The fate of the cyclist we hit is unknown...

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE HIVE MIND - I suspect that the '19 Passport Sport AWD is totaled, but with the exorbitant costs these days, I anticipate getting f*cked by the insurance company. Surely, they wouldn't try to repair this, correct?

Here's the damage that I can see:

  • Total front end damage including: bumpers, headlights, grill, hood, foglights, windshield and collision avoidance camera array, wiper blade arms somehow got mangled
  • Engine compartment: the whole radiator and associated fan and belt assembly - radiator is pushed back into the engine (although the engine still starts)
  • The metal crossbar behind the plastic bumper assembly is totally mangled - pushed in at least 5 inches
  • Lots of damage in the cabin from loose items in the car taking flight: both the turn signal and wiper control arms are smashed and bent (courtesy of my wrists and hands, the climate control unit in the dash got smashed, also the center console, facing the rear passenger compartment was totally shattered.

Am I just being paranoid about the insurance, or are they crazy enough to try to fix the external damage?

What about all of the things we can't see? The motor mounts, frame damage, broken sensor arrays, etc. etc.
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The cost would be my last concern at this point. I would be hoping and praying the person riding the motor cycle was ok.
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I attended to him on scene for 10 mins before anyone arrived, so I did all I could for him ...also I'm not a christian, so prayer is not in my wheelhouse...He's in the medical professional's hands now...

I have to deal with the aftermath, which after dealing with my broken wrist and other injuries includes dealing with insurance....

So, back to my question, this thing is totaled right?
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So glad you and from what is sounds like at least part of your family weren't injured any worse than you were. Since I am a Christian, the first thing that went through my mind was a quick prayer for the well being of the cyclist. I can't imagine anything besides divine intervention is going bring about a good outcome for him. And yes, I would guess your 4 year old Passport is totaled. Hopefully the poor guy has good insurance.
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Yikes. Glad you're OK. From the previous pic it looked like he had excessive speed on the curve and crossed over the centerline. I used to ride a motorcycle and have seen that multiple times but fortunately there was never a collision. It would be up to your insurance adjuster and Honda service to determine if your vehicle is to be totaled out. Just based on pics I couldn't say for sure.
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Yes, I hope the young man recovers too, no animosity toward him at all... the whole thing was as horrific as you might think ... He has minimum coverage insurance. Also, it wasn't his bike.... so the adjuster has effectively told me to go to my insurance company. Without going down the rabbit hole too much, the bar of 75% the cost of the vehicle is based on what? KBB/Nada which would be $23k. Or is it based on more subjective costs like retail, which would be more like $27k.... I'm not sure I have $20k in damage.... I suspect I'll end up upside down financially to the tune after all is said and done. However, I can't imagine the long term issues this vehicle would have after that kind of crash.
Each state has different thresholds for a total loss, so without knowing where you live it's impossible to say. Some calculate by damages that are greater than 70%-80% of the current market value, and others have a total loss formula.
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Make sure you get a Police Report and submit that to your Insurance Agent. Hope you took plenty of pix.
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All that damage and deployed airbags -- no insurance company is going to pay for all those needed repairs = Total loss .
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Glad that, other than the wrist, you are ok...I had a similar collision in "98. A wheel came off an 18 wheeler traveling in the opposite direction at about 60mph. The front damage on our 3 month old Ford minivan had very similar front end damage, windshield damage, including air bags, etc. The van new was around $29k. Cost to repair totaled $16k and took two months. I hope you will be able to work it all out with the insurance companies.
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Yikes. Glad you are okay. As a long time motorcyclist, too many idiots on the road gave us bad reps.
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Glad you are okay, thats terrible about the guy riding the motorcycle. His life will never be the same.
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Yikes. Glad you are okay. As a long time motorcyclists, too many idiots on the road gave us bad reps.
Yup. OP said it was not his bike he was riding. So we have a young person on an unfamiliar bike, sportbike, and apparently going too fast and crossed over the centerline. And more than likely never took an MSF New Riders course. Shame that he had to learn a lesson the hard way.
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I'm pretty sure it will be totaled. Glad you are ok. The MC rider's insurance company should be liable for the full replacement value of your vehicle. And your Insurance company should make sure the other one pays up (that's why you have them). What would suck is if the MC rider had the same insurance company as you do...

The above statements are just based on logic, I have no inside knowledge, but you can also threaten to contact one of the many lawyers who specialize in accident-money-settlements, if they don't give you what you deem to be fair...

Cheers and PLEASE keep us updated...
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So sorry for everyone involved, glad your relatively ok.
I have had some similar personal experiences and without getting too off track on a car forum I would strongly recommend deleting this thread and not speaking to anybody including your insurance company before speaking to a attorney. You'd be surprised at the twists and turns these things can take.
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I attended to him on scene for 10 mins before anyone arrived, so I did all I could for him ...also I'm not a christian, so prayer is not in my wheelhouse...He's in the medical professional's hands now...

I have to deal with the aftermath, which after dealing with my broken wrist and other injuries includes dealing with insurance....

So, back to my question, this thing is totaled right?
I had a head-on in my Mazda 626, I was nearly stopped and he was doing less than 15. My car was totaled by the insurance company. You should be able to get a quick quote from you insurance company.
Sad story being an avid motorcyclist myself and glad your injuries were minimal. Being that he was on a friend's bike and typically (just my IMO) liability is at the low end of coverage or none at all in some instances, you might need to lean on your insurance. This is all speculative, but quite a possibility. Also, hopefully his buddies insurance didn't have an exclusion for other riders. I had to do that when my husband totaled his bike and they wanted to double mine because of the potential of him riding it. I never let him touch it. When my daughter totaled our Subaru Baja, we actually made money since the value the insurance company adjusted to exceeded the KBB value by about $1500 and included maintenance repairs I had done 3 months earlier ($600) in the check. Gave her a good down payment for a new vehicle.

Good luck and I really want to know what comes of this and what your estimate comes to.
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