Got rear ended today. my 89 GTUs ... I don't usually post in this section because the car has been rock solid. This is gonna be fun... Yes he has insurance.. guess we'll see what happens.

 

OOOF. Sorry to hear!

Good luck and hope it works out for you. Keep us all posted.

 

Ugh, that's a bad day. It looks expensive. Find the best body guy you can within 200 miles. I'd probably cut the corner out and weld-in a donor. Consider it a learning experience, starting with: why do you own this car?

 

Insurance will total that car.
That's not to say it isn't repairable- because it is- but their valuation of the car is certainly way lower than yours and the cost benefit ratio is not in your favor.

 

That sucks! I feel for you, as I've been there myself more than once.

It's a weird set of laws when the at fault party's insurance gets to decide whether to repair the vehicle!

Looks like about $2500 worth of damage at the minimum.

If insurance doesn't work, there is always the choice of small claims court if you know a bored lawyer you can pay in beer. Been there, done that.

 

+1

 

Ya we'll see what happens. Funny part is my wife won't let her go either. This is my 3rd RX-7. First was a 88 se, It got totaled back in '98. Flipped rolled cartwheeled... I walked away from that one... was doing speed limit and both front tires blew. any way 2001 i got my FD still have her. few years ago i got a deal on the 89 gtus.. Couldn't pass it up. Fun car to drive, but not as much as the FD is....LOL

 

in terms of repair to value it will be considered totaled
you will want to see about not having it come up as salvage, i believe with a car that age they can write up to $1 less than total value and it wont be a salvage title but your state laws may vary

 

I'm with @clokker on this one. Insurance will total that and write it off, I'd love to see it repaired and back on the road but I don't think it's economically viable.

 

From the insurance company's viewpoint I totally agree and that's how I came to my original statement.
However, from an enthusiast's perspective, that is a difficult, but hardly impossible repair and well within the scope of a talented home craftsman.

 

Doubt anyone would tackle repairing that panel...it's not only crunched at the corner but the panel is buckled half way along the 1/4.U are looking at whole 1/4 panel replacement...they are NLA from mazda in North America last I checked.Guess you can find a good donor but it is time consuming pain to separate the skin from a cut donor panel.

 

I was in a similar situation once. I got rear ended in my GTUs back in 2000. Guy didn't even have insurance. Luckily my uninsured motorist picked it up. They totaled the car yet I still have a clear title. This was 19 year ago but they basically offered me two amounts. The lesser of which I got to keep the car since it was paid for and I had the title. I guess since the title never left my possession it never got classified as a salvage title. Luckily I was able to fix it with what they gave me through used parts and a buddy who owned a body shop with a frame machine.

 

Its LEGO. If u can find another healthy shell for reasonable price, its always faster/easier to swap everything over to another shell, instead of trying to repair damage like this.

 

I didn't want to break it to ya, but now that it's out there - consider it totaled. Next question is: why bother restoring a totaled GTU's? Since you apparently own it because you got a good deal, it's even easier to part with.

Despite hIGGI's marvelous adaptwerx efforts to save them, 2nd gens are disposable, especially since that GTUs is no longer collectible (not that it ever was). The only reason to consider a buyback from the insurance company is if you can recover the money by parting it out. I'm no GTUs expert, but here are the saleable items with decent value:

1. Al hood/front clip
2. 4-pot front calipers
3. 4.30 LSD (yummy!)
4. TII seats
5. interior
6. N/A engine (mileage?)
7. TII (?) tranny
8. TII Wheels
9. S5 taillight

That's maybe $2.5k-$3K worth of parts, the problem being that none of them are readily shippable - they're all big, heavy or both. Sorry for the reality check, but in my mind, its all about the numbers at this point. Consider it fun while it lasted.

 

Thats a real shame. The way it's buckled up the B/C pillar makes me think it's really not gonna work out.

 

Ya i'll worry about the car soon enough. If its done for it's done for.. i still got my FD...hehehe.. I feel like **** now... finally hit me a little while ago. headed to a doc to get checked out.

 

I was hoping the wet roads make the accident less severe for the occupants. Find the best doctor you can within 500 miles and flex that neck to check it out. Hopefully the TII seat headrest did it's job. Good luck!

Oh, and while I'm somewhat on the bubble for this - good thing this didn't happen in the FD. [Easier call if it was a R1.]

 

just a couple corrections. The GTUs used n/a axles an transmission although with a closer ratio 5th gear than the other n/a's.

 

That sucks.... I hope you had an agreed value collector car insurance policy on it, at least then if they write it off as totaled, you'll get whatever value they agreed to. Fixing that mess will cost a bundle and it looks like it will be very difficult, even if you can find a new/used rear clip to work with, given all the buckling that can be seen in the picture.

 

It's all going to depend on your approach to the end game here.
If this is a business proposition, negotiate to whatever extent is possible, take the money that lands on the table and move on.
If it's a labor of love, prepare to get dirty.

Should you need inspiration, look to England.
Some of those nutters start with little more than a teacup of rust flakes and a VIN plate and viola!, a few years later they have Dad's old Alvis looking showroom fresh.
All done in a drafty, wet garden shed with basic hand tools and a stiff upper lip.

 

Wise words. If you didn't, and if others reading this currently don't, I suggest you get one. It isn't even all that expensive. Now that my TII is running again, I went with an agreed value policy. It's under $600 for the year.

 

^Yup. I've got my '89T2 insured for $15K and the FD that I recently picked up insured for $25K - costs me just a little over 600/year for both cars registered in MD. I'll probably increase the value on the FD after I'm done building it to my liking, which is what I did with the FC.

There are a few caveats with a collector car policy that you have to comply with, but since neither of my cars are daily drivers, it's no big deal for me. Basically they have to be garaged on property that you own, they can't be used for daily/routine transportation (insurance co. will want proof that you own another daily driver), and the mileage per year is limited. In my policy, you can increase the miles limit in tiers for more $, and share the total miles between the 2 cars, Since I can't drive both at the same time, I have it set at 5K miles per year shared between the FC & FD.

 

i have grundy, no mileage limits but it is not be used as a daily driver along with some other things to qualify for the policy
you get into an accident in the rain on a tuesday you have to figure out a way to explain to them you were driving it to get repairs performed. if your intention is to beat the system its not worth the potential issues you could have if god forbid you get into a bad accident.

 

Adjuster just came by... said it's going to be a total. but needs to do some research on the car being a gtus to find a value. I'll know more in about a week or 2. But i'm not expecting much...Thanks for all the info guys. Keeping my options open.

 

UPDATE: his insurance USAA is offering $7500 to total out the car. Told em i would like to keep it and not have it totaled. So i should be getting a call back by monday. But what do you think take it and run?