Well, significant other got into another accident just this past week, fortunately she is not seriously hurt. Soft tissue damage from the seatbelt and verified whiplash. Doctor prescribed pain medication and rest - evaluate again in a few weeks time.
If you don't remember - she was also involved in aother accident last year - posted this at 9thgencorolla last year.
http://9thgencorolla.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103246&highlight=accident
That damage was fixed to my satisfaction - but took way longer than needed. But we got it fixed right in the end, so that is what counts.
This time around - she was dead stopped in normal rush hour traffic. Guy behind her wasn't paying attention and rear ended the driver's side rear corner of the car. The impact was hard enough that it pushed the Matrix into the car directly infront of her. But that car, Nissan Altima Coupe, had superficial damage - basically flexed a bit and had some holes punched into it from the bolts holding our license plate.
Fortunately for us, the county Sheriff and local PD were immediately behind the guy that hit her, so they were able to check on everyone involved and redirect traffic - plus no way the guy can BS his way out of this. His car was an Acura TSX - not much bigger than the Matrix, but the way it hit the car - did a number on it. Pics don't do it any justice - as most of the damage is spread around the car (doors will not open, if you force them, they overlap each other, front bumper basically fell off, rear bumper obliterated, blew up the storage area in the cargo hold - shot the compact spare out of the well, put the compact spare on as the impact punctured the rear tire.)
Just a couple of pics that I snapped from my phone - just to give you an idea.
Damage is not too bad, pic wise, but after tossing it up on the lift, the entire belly pan was wrinkled, from the rear bumper support to infront of the front seats. They estimated repairs to be in the $8000+ range, assuming they can straighten the frame. As such, his insurance company has declared it a total loss. Waiting to hear back from them on what they calculated as the ACV. If salvage is not too expensive - I'll buy it pack from them and partout the car to recoup the salvage cost. So keep an eye out for a for sale. 2ZZ-GE engine and transaxle are all original, doesn't burn oil, has about 119K miles on it. Though I might just hold onto the engine, as those are getting pretty rare / hard to find one that hasn't been beat on.
Started car shopping again - sucks as both our cars are paid off, and I wasn't looking for more car payments. We're looking at the 2009/2010 Matrix XRS - as we liked the utility of the car or maybe go another route - like a tank or similar for her. Looked at some 2005-2006 Corolla XRS and 2003-2005 Matrix XRS - but hard to find one relatively clean. May go completely different and go the Subaru, Audi route. Originally, we were looking to pick up a Audi S4 Avant - plenty of power, wagon for utility - but the ones we looked at were a little rough and/or high in miles. Couldn't justify a brand new one at the time (newborn baby, two car payments, etc) - but may consider it this time around. Audi Q5 / Subaru Tribeca sized vehicle or smaller. Have considered the S4 and WRX/STi - but she won't have any part of that. We'll see how things turn out.