pot8r

I was traveling East on the Gardiner Expressway on Saturday at 4:30 on my way into Toronto with my wife for an anniversary getaway weekend. Traveling in the fast lane when my wife said, “the traffic signs say the Gardiner Expressway is slow after the Lakeshore exit”. And sure enough the traffic ahead was stopped. I came to a stop at the tail of the line of cars in the left lane. I glanced up in my rearview and saw a car swerve onto the shoulder as she was unable to stop her car in time. Close call.

Behind her a man in a minivan decided too late that he too would be unable to stop and tried to get over to the shoulder but clipped the side of my car.

The weekend was not ruined, but off to a bad start.

This is the car on the lift from the rear.

pot8r

Here is the damaged wheele

pot8r

on this one, you can see where the body shop spot whelded the rods so they could move the car around. 3 rods were snapped.

Inconsequential

You and your wife are fine?
Hope you are ok, the car is fixable, hurts to see, but fixable, you and your wife, not as easily.

pot8r

Thanks, we're fine. Ya that's what we keep telling ourselves, as long as no one was hurt, the rest is fixable. Everyone involved (9 people in 4 cars) is fine.

Now we get to decide if we want a fixed up car with 7k km or trade up to a new 04.

I'll wait to see how the car drives once it's out of the shop.

Inconsequential

true, hope shes ok though, if not, a new one isnt a bad idea either

Steveo67

NASTY!! Glad to hear you are both OK. I got rear-ended twice in the first week I had my car (only 350km!)...the second hit looked a lot like yours. I had mine repaired at Newmarket Autobody - they do all Mazda Canada's repairs for cars damaged in shipping (you'd be surprised how many cars are damaged in train de-railments). I was a guinea pig for the first Canadian RX-8 major body repair - quarter panel, trunk, frame rail etc. Took almost three months to get the parts and repair completed. The car seems to drive fine now, although I didn't have much reference with only 5 days driving it! Since they're ordering parts anyway, you should see about the Mazdaspeed body kit:D

Take care,

Steve

MTLbroker

Are morons out there aiming for new 8's?

Glad you're all OK.

MyRxBad

iTrader: (1)

Glad to hear you & your wife are ok.
Hard to look at another (local) Rx-8 the same color as mine smashed up.

Keep us up to date on the progress

Smoker

Sorry to hear your 8 got hurt in my town. I'm glad no body got hurt and the weekend was not completely ruined.

hobbes

You think people would be able to see a 8, and a "red" 8 at that. Cops seem to have an easy time picking us out. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you and your wife are fine. At least this proves that the 8 is a safe car for accidents like the one you have. Trade in for an 04 or 05 is a good idea :D
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PENNY STOCK PICK

Neo

OUCH!!!

Good to hear you and your wife are alright! Nothing more important than that!

Unfortunatey there are a lot of people out there who don't know how to drive....

I think you should trade up to a 05 (technically yours is an 04.. )
There's no way the car will be the same after that...

Later,

pot8r

Ya, that's my thought. Dealer wants 11k (all in) plus trade for a new one. I'm still trying to convince myself that that is worth it. I'll make up my mind by next week.

I'm not sure I want to break in a new one again. Oh decisions decisions.

Rotary Titus

OW...... for the 8...
but good thing you and your wife are ok!
wish you a quick insurance process!

Neo

pot8r,

How old is the car?? I can't imagine it having that many km's on it! And the dealer still wants 11g's plus the trade?!?! WTF?!
He should see the unfortunate luck you had and give you a straight trade! That's nonsense! I'd be furious... I know my dealer would give me a straight trade if I had that happen to me...

Good luck with the whole insurance procedure... Those are the guys you have to worry about now!

Later,

pot8r

I guess the question you have to ask is how much would you pay for an ’04 with 7k km, subtract 1500 for the dealer and that’s about where it would have to end up. My dealer tells me he could get $31k-$32.5 for a used 8 with 7k km. Sounds about right to me, but I have no idea what a used 8 goes for. Any idea out there?.

As far as the insurance, it’s been pretty painless. I had depreciation waver on my policy so the insurance is paying for all new OEM parts. They’ve agreed to waive the deductible up front. Only issue may be sourcing. Some of the suspension parts need to come in from the US. So the car will be in the shop in at least another 2 weekends. A replacement would be available in 2 days.

Neo

It's amazing how fast these cars depreciate...

I would have expected the car to go for at least 34-36G's. It's got 7K on the clock. It's not all that much.

I still think the dealer should at least trade you up to a new 05 without any real hassle or large hit to the wallet.
Were you leasing the car or financing?? Because if you were financing there really shouldn't be any difference. At least that's how my dealer would work out the problem. Knowing I only had the car for a short period of time and some moron ran into you!

Regardless, here's your situation. 1. you can wait for the car to be repaired (which you'll have to wait for anyway) and see how it is after, 2. trade up to a newer model (which would be the smart thing to do...) or 3 cut your loses and run.

I hope you've been happy with the car for the short period of time you've had her. If that's the case moving up to the 05 should be a no brainer. Trust me when I tell you that the car will not behave the same after that type of hit. That's a pretty strong hit! You even said they had to weld some of the arms so they can move it around.. It might not show any real damage in normal city driving. But if you intend to ring out the car from time to time, you'll notice it won't behave the way it use to.

Just my humble opinion...

Later,

mac

Check the Auto Trader, sellers are asking between $37-40k for GT's with 7,000 km. I wish that they would publish how much they are selling but I can't see them going for $7k less then the asking price.

Trade plus $11k is highway robbery.

pot8r

Neo,

Don't actually have to wait if I really don’t think they can make it good as new. The repairs are being done at the dealer’s body shop, so I would just need to sign stuff over to them to walk away with a new one – that, and drop $11k. I don’t actually have option 3, walk away, as the car is mine. $8k makes it a no brainer. $11k is a tougher sell.

Mac,

I will have a look at the Auto Trader. Must admit I hadn’t yet.

I’ll keep you posted.

Steveo67

Tough luck, but you have to remember that it was not your dealer's fault that you got rear-ended. My car was less than a week old when I got hit, but they were unwilling to give me a new one - ultimately someone is going to take the hit on depreciation, and it is extremely unlikely that your dealer will want to. I do take issue with the 30% upfront depreciation that they asses to the consumer (given that they always expect to get dealer cost for a demo, you would expect to get 30% discount using their math/logic if you puchased a demo - NEVER THE CASE!) The real problem is with our insurance system in Ontario. Your insurance company will end up paying for the repair even though your car was damaged through no fault of yours.....my insurance company considered dropping me because I was rear-ended twice within one week. They backed down after I contacted the Insurance Bureau of Canada and Consumer/Corporate Affairs. You should be entitled to sue the at-fault driver (or their insurance provider) for the cost difference to replace you vehicle with a new one.....it's just so heart warming to see all the news media reports of record insurance company profits.

MTLbroker

Try this. Tell him you will give him the car in accidented condition, sign over the insurance cheque, buy a brand new '04 off the lot. What would be the difference?

Remember, he knows that your car is there now - so your choices are limited. If you approached another dealer with the repair estimate from the insurance, as this competing dealser what would his bid be for trade against a new one off the lot.

pot8r

Quick update..

Dropped in on Keiswetter Body Shop to see how they were doing. They had dropped the rear to inspect the whole rear of the drive train. They found a dent in the carriage (part of the structure that holds the rear suspension, lsd, axel).So they ordered in a new one. They had mounted the new wheel and tire. Tread wear was noticeable on the remaining rear so I asked them to rotate as I didn’t think there should be tires with different wear in the back. Don't know specifically that that is bad, just guessing.

The rear quarter panel was installed and primed. Their guess was Friday or Monday. With my luck it will be late next week.

I’ve decided on trying it out on a long drive before making the decision about trading it in or not.

I’ll try and get pics next time there.

Jiff

Hmmm... my condolences~ on ur car. i know everyone keeps saying it. but it is indeed fortunate that no one was harmed in the accident~ 4 cars is huge..

A trade would be good~ a fixed up car never ever drives as well as a new one.

But i got a question for anyone who reads this.

Anyone know if there are any changes in the 05 8?
Just wondering.

hobbes

So far to my knowledge...

new key
two new paint colours
no more yellow

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Volcano Classic Vaporizer

broose

Hobbes, where did you hear that?