gregom

iTrader: (3)

I need some general advice from those of you who have been in this type of situation and/or have experience repairing body damage.

The story... a driver in a Nissan Murano stopped in the middle of the street for some ducks that were crossing, a guy following her (Volvo 940) hit the back of the Murano. This occurred before I was even there. Unfortunately since we were in the left-most lane and the right lane ends about 100 yards ahead, this happened to be the time when some guy in a large van rushes up and cuts me off before I even saw what situation was brewing up ahead, just a couple seconds before the incident occurred. I was starting to slow down to back off because he was too close when he cut me off...

He must of saw what was going on and cut back into the right lane and into a parking lot and bailed rather hastily (according to witnesses...). By the time I could see around the van, all I saw was a stationary vehicle not far ahead and I rear-ended it going about 25 MPH. The speed limit is 35 and I wasn't going over. I remember slowing down for the van, then getting full on the brakes and feeling the ABS, so I know I scrubbed off some speed before the hit.

Both front airbags went off and in the pics below you can see the damage. The engine was still running fine and there was a small coolant leak. There was a small amount of gear oil leaking... maybe power steering oil since the reservoir was damaged. Radiator is pushed back and my right headlamp is busted into lots of little pieces. ...really sucks too because I just spent a lot of time installing bixenon HID projectors and finished fixing my car up from my last off the track excursion that did some suspension and steering damage. Everything was back in order and felt great... not anymore though...

Luckily after all this no one was hurt... a police officer showed up and got everyone's insurance info and version of the story including one of the witnesses who saw the whole thing. No one got tickets, although we should of, especially since the guy I hit had a suspended drivers license. Anyway i'm now working with insurance to get my bank paid, but unfortunately i'm considerably upside-down on the loan (due to a poor buying decision and I bought just before the economy went to crap in 2008 and the value of sports cars went down) so I won't be getting another Z for at least a year.

In the mean time I bought me a cheap 1984 Mazda RX-7 GS, 5-speed manual, 1.1L Rotary, just to get me around... but I loved driving the Z and want another one. I could potentially get my wrecked one back soon and fix it up myself. I doubt there is frame damage, but won't really know until I get it up on a lift and check it out underneath. It's sitting in an insurance salvage yard now. Insurance is refusing to fix it and will only total the vehicle.

So judging from the pics... what do you guys think about getting the car back and fixing it up? The only thing I don't like about the car is its an automatic, but it could be a cheap buy to own a Z outright. I am considering stripping all the useless junk out of it, putting a roll cage in it, and making it a track car... in the future replacing the gearbox maybe with a sequential unit. But at the same time I kind of just want to pay the remaining balance off at my bank and get the hell out of the bad deal I got myself into... in a year or so I can go out and buy a Z and get a good deal, and get exactly what I want. I was 95% happy with my Z, all I wanted was a manual transmission and blue exterior paint, and I can get that in a little over a year...

So what would you guys do? Fix it? Or ditch it?



Here are the pics...
























And here's my RX-7...


And here's my Z again, pre-wreck condition...

JasonZ-YA

iTrader: (60)

appears fixable..

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Yeah I think so... forgot to mention (I just edited my original post), but insurance is refusing to fix it and wants to total it out.

Glex25

iTrader: (11)

To be honest it looks like a easy fix.
your crash bar didn't hit so no damage to the frame rails.
Our radiator supports are weak and they always break in a front end collision.

As far as you being upside down why would you want to buy it back knowing
that you will have to spend $$$ to fix it that you don't have.

Get out of it now while you can and possibly down the road you can get your Daytona Blue and 6MT 350Z that you REALLY want, once your finances are more stable.

phreaktor

iTrader: (22)

It can be fixed. Go with used parts from the Marketplace..

SatchScream

iTrader: (1)

What's up with your headlights?

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Yeah i'm leaning heavily toward the bail for this reason... I screwed up, and this is a chance to fix it. Albeit not a nicely packaged, get out of jail free card... but a chance none-the-less.

However depending on what I could work out... if I can get the Z back real cheap, get some used parts and do the work myself, I could own this Z for really cheap. And it may take me an extra year, but then I could have two Z's... and then make this car my dedicated track car.

But i'm not an autobody guy... and frankly I hate it. But I have a real good buddy of a buddy who is an autobody guy, and he already said he is willing to help out for pretty cheap, especially if I supply him with beer, lol.

Anyway, IF I were to do this I don't think i'd put new airbags in, especially if I decide to turn it into a track car.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

This... https://my350z.com/forum/exterior-an...rojectors.html

Deedilus

iTrader: (4)

Sick headlights. That's terrible that it happened though. I'm not really good at making those kind of decisions, but I think you should try and get it back cheap and turn it into a track car. That way when you get your next Z you don't have to worry about it getting smashed at the track. But if you're in a huge financial situation, maybe bailing out would be the way to go and just taking your chances if you decide to head to the track later on.

Jim07GT

Sounds like a financial decision.

How much do you owe, how much will insurance pay, how much will it cost to get the work done?

Will insurance wash out your loan and give you the wreck?

You need to put some numbers together to figure out what makes sense.

Hard to give any good advice without seeing the numbers.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Thanks I was pretty happy with them for $100...

Yeah it would be a good idea for me to get out completely, financially. But no one buys a car like this for good financial reasons, lol. It's a lot to think about... hopefully i'll get a lot more feedback from you guys to help make the decision. It may not be that much to buy my car back and fix it and own it outright. But then again it could turn into a money pit... tough call.

BTW no one mentioned it but I fixed the broken links for the full size pics.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

The numbers are embarrassing... but here goes...

Owe 24,600 total, insurance giving 15,000, leaving me over 9,000. I'm going to try to work with the bank to lower that but I have little enthusiasm.

If I could get the car at no cost from insurance (good joke right?) and fix it up for under $2,000 i'd be happy. Remember i'm not replacing airbags and will get mostly used parts and do the work myself.

Mike@Blackline

iTrader: (37)

id take the total out

adamc

wow.. if you owe that much and are only getting 15k you must have paid way to much for it when you bought it...
Z's hold their value really well

if you do decide to buy annother one go the smart route and buy an affordable one.. you can get a really nice Z fairly easy between 13k -15k
I paid 9k for a rebuild and am tickled to death..
looks like you went way to new and paid a alot more that it is worth

a lot of time if you act fast the insurance companies will give you a really low buy back cost.. because it saves them the trouble of going to pick up the car transfer it.. store it.. and arranging selling it to a salvage yard.. (if they done paid you.. u signed.. and the car is now gone.... forget it)

also never take the first offer they give you...
it is the adjusters job to put you as close to where you were before the accident as possible! remember that.. they can be asses but be vigilant
and if you feel like your getting screwed tell them replace the car..
tell them you want another just like it with same miles or less.. or more money

and to be honest.. if they replace your vehicle.. or give you enough money to get one just like it with same milage.. then you have lost nothing.. the fact that you owe way more than its worth is your fault.. and if you never wrecked it.. that problem would still exist

btw.. what is the mileage?

what ever you do.. try to avoid at the end of the day owing 9000 on something you no longer posses... because that would be a horrible move..

sdZ33

iTrader: (39)

NO GAP Ins?

michaelr1229

iTrader: (5)

this is so fixable i crashed a silvia s13 lol and i had a much deeper dent than you did but the shop i took it to just pulled it out and lined it up the best possible my engine was intake the suspension just needed a little work but its a nice car even for and automatic lol so i say stick with it if you really like the car ir decide to retrive it and scrap it for parts u might be able to make something out of it

its all up to u

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

So your car is an 05 or older, owned it for over 2 years now and still owe $25k. It may have been worth $19k when you bought it.

PatrickB

If you want a blue one i'd say let them pay you full replacement value and buy what you really wanted. I can't argue the logic that blue and manual is better its what i drive Sorry that it happened to your car man. If you ever want any help with the rx7 hit me up.

SoarVigor

iTrader: (2)

D b ftw!

ivansz

its automatic let it go and get you a manual. what kind headlights are these, they look like 03 and 06 headlight got married and this is their baby.