Okay I got into a minor fender bender yesterday (when I hit her I was going like 5-10mph). Van drove just fine, all it looked like was some cosmetic damage. Then the van stalled out on me. The serpentine belt came off, my husband says its because the motor got pushed back, but there is no damage to the side panels, or to the grill just the hood got dented and the bumper was cracked. The thing is the van was sitting up on jacks for over 6 months because we were having a former transmission specialist rebuilding the transmission (long story short is that he had it fixed real quick but would never respond to my husband so I finally sent him a text and he told me to come and pick it up), with it being up on jacks for over 6 months it cracked the plastic on the power steering pump so my husband had to replace that. The adjuster is coming out sometime today, so I am hoping he is going to tell me nothing is wrong with the motor but is it possible to do that much damage going that slow?

 

yep it sure is possible. I had a 1999 chrysler cirrus that blew both air bags but the body didn't show any sign of damage at all.

 

I have a friend that works in an auto body shop and he came over last night and told me that I did not shift the motor, because of the way my motor is if it would have shifted it would have done it side ways. The problems with the motor is the radiator is cracked and there is a hole in one of my AC lines.

The adjuster came out bright and early this morning and he said with the damage that was done (something that helps hold the hood down was bent) and the bumper damage and the motor damage that more than likely it was going to be totaled. My friend gave me a couple of options I could just take the money and get another vehicle, take the buy back amount and he will fix it for me and I would only have to pay for parts (I babysit a couple hours a week and when needed during the school year for their baby). It doesn't help that the person who makes a majority of the decisions is camping with the boys this weekend and I can't seem to get a hold of him.