So I'm sitting at a red light minding my own business waiting for the light to turn green when I hear a loud smashing of car parts and I basically had enough time to let my foot off the brake pedal and think "Pleaaaaaase don't let that reach me..." before I got thrown into my seat belt and my glove box was flying open from the spare tools kit smacking it.

I get out, some guy in a Buick tried to change lanes right before the signal really fast so he could make the turn at the intersection, didn't check his blind spot, caught the passenger side quarter panel of a brand spanking new Jag X-type, threw the Jag sideways and, in the process of spinning wildly, the Jag smacked me.

All people involved seem to be ok, though the guy in the Jag was out of it for the better part of five minutes (automatic door locks FTL btw.)

The -7's in ok shape I think. By the time I got through all the police report this and that and got back home it was dark, so I can't check her completely. She seems just as driveable. The fuel gauge sender got snapped somewhere so now my needle's on E all the time. Rear bumper cover is fractured, they knocked the trim off the tail light assemblies, and they broke the body underneath the tail lights. I'm hoping a body shop can fix it for a reasonable price.

The Jag, btw, was gone. The Buick went about 18" into the trunk, bent the right rear wheel 90degrees so it was flat against the road. I found pieces of the CV joints for it on the median after they towed it away.

Anyone have an idea what the total damage I can get assessed without the insurance company saying: "Nope, car's totalled." I know I can get the car repaired easily, there's nothing really wrong with it right now, but I want to get the hard body repair work done right (and hey, if I can score half a free paint job from it, why not.)

TLDR summary:
I got hit. Anyone have an idea what the total damage I can get assessed without the insurance company saying: "Nope, car's totalled." I know I can get the car repaired easily, there's nothing really wrong with it right now, but I want to get the hard body repair work done right (and hey, if I can score half a free paint job from it, why not.)

 

that sucks dude. The value (in canada anyways) before its "totalled" is sometimes the blue book value which we all know is quite low, or the value you told them it was worth minus a certain amount. Hopefully since its not your fault at all they should just pay for repairs.

good luck

 

Sorry to hear about your damage, but at least you had the Jag's crumple zones to eat up a bunch of the energy. Nice of him to jump on that grenade for you.

Hopefully, all will again be well for your car.

 

sorry to hear that man. I almost got rear-ended the other day in my 7, in a notorious spot on my way to work. My buddies at the fraternity house that is right there sit on their porch in the summer drinking beer watching for accidents because it's so common. I stopped behind a car and immiediately watched my rear view mirror. Sure enough the Jeep Grand Cherokee that was driving behind me wasn't watching, so I wound up my motor and roasted my tires for a second to alert the driver to watch the road. He screeched to a halt about 4 feet behind me in a cloud of tire smoke.

 

thats why we cant have nice things....sorry to hear that. post pics so we can assess the damage.

 

Ouch. Been there done that. Hope it works out for you.

 

I wasn't lucky enough to have a buffer, I had a guy slam into me at 45 or 50 when I was at a red light. Lost a new 95 thunderbird from that. He never even hit his brakes. You have to wonder what they are doing when they should be driving.

 

Hope it works out ok.

Kiss4afrog, I was going to say cell phones, but since you said it was a new 95 T-bird, I can only assume the other guy was playing with himself or something.

 

Damn. You might just see if you can get the check and buy another one. Also demand deminished value compensation. Because the car will probably hit on carfax now and that means your resale is lower if keeping it.

 

Well, I got the evil call from the adjuster who went to my house and looked at the car while I'm at work. He says: "Eh, totaled. $685 plus tagging fees - salvage equals check." Somehow he figured the car was worth less than $700.

So I'm going to have to fight for this one, because I can't find an -SE on here that's selling in my neck of the woods with a rebuilt engine for under $2K. I want them to just give me the check really, because I'm not going to resell her later (barring a horrendous occasion) so then I can fix the body myself and get her repainted with the rest.

I'm compiling eBay and club and craigslist'ings to help with my point.

 

If you post pictures, I can probably tell you what you can and can't repair since I've had to do that a couple times on my seven before I completely totaled her.

Most likely its just some junkyard parts and possibly some stitch welding new sheetmetal...

 

Go to a Mazda dealer and get a statement from the owner for the actual price of the car, assessments from people who know nothing about the car are always low.

Had the same problem, rear ended nothing wrong with the car big dent in the back broken lights, they wrote it off for $1000, went to where i got it fixed a few times (owner loved 7's so that helped) he said it worth $3500, insurance gave that and i still could drive it, only to have some chick 6 months later pull a left turn coming at me, it killed it, but i still had the letter and they paid it out again only red flagged this time (frame damage), in all i received 7 Grand for a car i paid 3 grand for. I used that for the 84 GSL i have now.

 

I'm trying using comps from this site now. I explained to them at first that NADA lists it at $3600 and they were all "comission's included in that...blah". Now I'm just gonna throw prices for immaculate rebuild 7's at them (and I got the agent to tell me that it's just the mileage on the body, not the condition of the engine that a buyer looks at, LOL.)