CRASH: 2025 JEEP Grand Cherokee versus 2010 MAZDA 3

[Melensdad]

Left the house to run some errands. Get 1.5 miles from home and a frantic call from my wife that her sister was just involved in an accident. Site of accident is 2 miles from where I am so I change direction and go to the accident site. Sister-in-law drives a little Mazda. It is totaled.

This was a low speed collision at a 4 way stop.
White car (2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee) ran the stop sign.
Black car (2010 Mazda) just started accelerating from the stop.
White car admitted fault.
Impact at 10 miles per hour?

Black car has massive front end damage. White car has some broken plastic bits.

99% sure that the Mazda was totaled.

As I understand it the white Cherokee's front left crashed into the front right of the Mazda. Impact point was front left corner of the Cherokee's bumper into the front right side of the Mazda, just ahead of the Mazda's front wheel.

 

[knotsew innocent]

i agree with you that the mazda is probably totaled. looks like more to repair that damage than the car would be worth.

hope everyone is ok.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Yes. The Mazda is totalled. Minimum 15k damage there with labor I'm guessing. I rebuilt the front end of my son's nissan as cheap as possible and without needing front fenders, he was into it roughly 4k in parts alone. We did the work to repair it ourselves.

My wife was in a similar low speed accident a few years ago. She was going through an intersection as a light turned yellow. A car waiting to turn went for it. She swerved but they hit. We had a gmc Yukon at the time. The whole front end was shifted over 3" from the impact. Both vehicles were totalled

 

[Melensdad]

i agree with you that the mazda is probably totaled. looks like more to repair that damage than the car would be worth.

hope everyone is ok.

All are fine. No injuries.

Sister in law has no money, no savings, only income is disability. So that little Mazda was literally her only asset.

Mazda has 161,000 miles on it. I'm guessing the full resale value of that car was maybe $4000. Everything is in front of the wheels in literally destroyed, and what I could see under the hood, the coolant overflow is crushed, possibly damage to the radiator? But just looking at replacing the sheet metal is more than the car is worth.

Sister in law was on her way to the doctor. Missed that appointment.

 

[Melensdad]

So the insurance company is offering her about $2200 for her car.

I looked on Autotrader.com and Cars.com and found similar cars with similar mileage in our area for over $3000. So I suggested she fight for more $$$ by providing her insurance company some evidence of higher resale value. Insurance uses Kelly Blue Book, which is netoriously low and also not always current with the resale market. Not sure if she can actually fight and win, but seems to be worth the effort to try.

Also, according to the police report, the other woman said that she came to a stop (which contradicts what the woman told me) and the other woman also said that my SIL 'came out of nowhere' so the police report shows both are at fault. My wife and SIL are fuming mad, and I understand that, but it doesn't actually change the situation. The lady apparently told the officer something different than she told me/us.

Guess my SIL should have had a dash cam?

But this is also the reason that I just installed one in my truck. Honestly I wonder if/when they will be an OEM feature in more cars. I know Tesla has them. I know that Toyota has them as dealer installed options on, at least some models. I suspect there are a lot of car companies that sell them as accessories but only Tesla seems to have them full integrated into their vehicles.