How to tell if a damaged car is safe to keep driving

Hey folks! This is Mike and Tom from Pacific One Collision and Restoration.

Welcome to another Q&A session where I answer questions from you all on the internet.

Today's question is:

"How to tell if a damaged car is safe to keep driving"

Summary:

Mike explains that when a car is drivable but visibly damaged, several things must be evaluated before deciding to keep driving it. First is legal compliance: are both headlights and taillights operational, and are the mirrors present so the driver can make safe lane changes? He notes the shop often sees vehicles come in for estimates missing a headlight or front blinker after a front corner impact, and he advises against driving those because they don't comply with the law. Second is the mechanical condition: is the car leaking fluids, or is there visible wheel damage? He warns that a lack of visible damage doesn't mean there is none, citing a curb strike on ice that feels fine until a severe vibration appears at 55 to 60 mph, which makes the vehicle unsafe to drive.

Answer:

Anytime you're in an accident and you're trying to determine if the car is drivable but it is clearly visibly damaged, there are several things to consider when you're evaluating that decision to drive the vehicle or not. The very first one is, does it comply with all state and local laws? And what I mean by that is, are all the lights operational and working? Do both headlights work? Do both taillights work? Are your mirrors present so you can make safe lane changes? A lot of times in this industry we see people that come in and want to get estimates and they have no headlight or no front blinker because they were impacted in the right or the left front. Our suggestion always to those customers is to not drive those vehicles because they don't comply with the laws. The second thing is you want to evaluate the vehicle mechanically, meaning is it leaking any fluids? Do you see any visible wheel damage? And just because you don't see visible damage does not mean there is not damage to the vehicle. We do see wheels get impacted. A lot of times when it's cold outside and there's ice on the road, if somebody hits a curb with their wheel, it looks okay. But then as you start to drive away, it feels fine, and then all of a sudden you're about 55 or 60 miles an hour and you've got a really bad vibration. That vehicle is not safe to drive, and I would not drive that vehicle on the road.