Cars crash in good times and bad—often into each other—and then collision estimators are called on to examine the damage. Interestingly, car accidents often follow a pattern. Cars have crashes at similar speeds, often impacting similar places on their bodies. Depending on the speed of the collision, damage can range from relatively minor to extensive.
Curious about what kinds of accidents drivers get their cars into most often? Here’s a look at the kinds of accidents future collision estimators can expect to see most frequently throughout their careers, and the kind of damage they lead to.
1. Auto Body Estimators Often Evaluate Damage from Low-Speed Accidents
Many accidents, particularly in parking lots or just out of driveways, take place at low speeds. Though there is risk of bodily injury with any accident, there’s not much to worry about in terms of the resulting state of a car with this kind of collision. Often, a little scratch or dent will be the only thing a car will suffer.
Barring strange circumstances, odds are good that the cost of repair for this sort of accident will be at the lower end of what you will see as a collision estimator. Paint jobs can be relatively pricey for small imperfections, though, so that aspect of a repair job may prove costlier.
2. Collision Estimators Will Likely See Cars That Were T-Boned
Often the result of running a light, or from not paying attention to the state of traffic on the road, T-bone collisions (also known as “side” collisions) are one of the more common kinds of accidents an auto body estimator will see. These crashes get their name from the rough “T” shape formed when the front of one car collides with the side of another.
The severity of damage in this kind of collision depends on the speed of both vehicles and where the impact was located. When you’re on the job and dealing with this kind of accident, expect low-end costs to be just a couple hundred dollars. However, for serious structural damage that impedes or prevents the car’s functioning, this kind of accident can lead to a repair bill of several thousand dollars.
3. Single-Car, High-Speed Impacts Lead to Lots of Costly Damage
Some of the scariest and most common accidents can involve just one car. Whether it drives off the road in the dark, skids on ice into oncoming traffic, or runs straight into a moose or deer, a lone car can get into some pretty bad scrapes, and you will see many of these throughout your career.
At high speeds, damage to a vehicle can range from miraculously low to catastrophically bad. When working as a collision estimator, you should generally expect huge bills to repair the damage that results from these accidents, with numbers likely in the thousands. Often, the amount of structural damage will be such that there won’t be much point in trying to repair and replace all of the car’s damaged parts—it would cost around the same amount to just get a new car.
From low-speed bumps to high-speed crashes, automobile collision estimators will encounter a wide variety of accidents on a regular basis. The levels of damage and the repair bills to fix them will be similarly varied.
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