In reply to Stampie :
I'm hoping for the same. it is a local shop that's authorized to do that, and I am planning to have them do the alignment as well so they will see all the parts that have been replaced and also the lack of any frame damage.
I am still absolutely amazed that the hood and door are completely intact. I'm disappointed in the damage the nose took going from the tow company to the insurance auction. But I will probably leave at least some of that cosmetic damage in place rather than redo the nose since it's a daily driver.
This is from a little earlier, pre disassembly. The knockout for the tow hook is missing. The honeycomb grill in the center is pretty well busted up, and there is some cracking and paint damage underneath the light from transport.
Since this is non-metallic, I don't have to worry about rust. I'm hoping when we spray the fender that I can do something along the lines of a nail polish container brush for touch up paint and touch up the worst of it at that point.
And hopefully find a center honeycomb from a Pick-n-Pull or something like that.
The body trim clips as discussed at the end of page 2 arrived on Tuesday... Unfortunately, they will be the last thing to be used because they side skirt will not be installed until the fender is procured, painted, and properly installed.
Also, while standing on the trailer fender trying to remove the passenger side strut, I ended up breaking the trailer light. Boo!
Since this is not my trailer but on short term loan from AWSX1686, expect that it will be returned with LED lights on the front and back of both fenders. I will install them after my work is complete.
Removal of the strut is not entirely intuitive because the upper control arm binds it and essentially must be removed in order to get the strut out.
I gave my local garage $60 to disassemble the old struts and replace the cartridges with new. It seemed like a worthwhile way to limit risk.
One of these things is not like the others.....
Since you likely have to have a fender painted, might as well pull the nose and have both painted at the same time. Might as well, car is too nice not to do it (IMHO). Great to see that the hood and alignment seem good. Not surprised at all on the towing and storage lot damage......
In reply to dherr :
The nose is pulled. I'm more inclined to touch it up than full paint since it's going to get commuter wear pretty fast.
Greg Smith said:
Unfortunately oh, I won't be in quite the same financial situation is you but yes. At the end of this I have this car available for commuting and general use for years to come with no payments.
in December I put money down and had a 36-month loan on it. In January I made one payment on that loan.
At this point I owned the salvage free and clear... And for all intents and purposes I should have the car fully functional within the next week.
Congrats on the payoff and no loan, but...
If it could be better for you to have the cash-on-hand, did you know that you can borrow on a car that you already own? I did this with my Prius at 1.99% for 3 yrs. Currently PenFed is 2.99% for 3yr and 3.99% for 4 yr.
I detailed a lot of my experience in this thread.
In reply to John Welsh :
Interesting. Using secured debt to kill some unsecured debt is an interesting plan. Thanks for sharing as I wouldn't have even considered it.
(That said, I'm not likely to pursue it myself, but it's great info)
So I ended up snapping the wheelspeed sensor wire on the passenger side while replacing the strut. Argh.
I had planned to try splicing the wires for the driver side one but at this point I'm just going to order a new pair of sensors so both wheels have new matching sensors.
On the driver side, the new arms and strut mounted without any major drama.
Currently waiting for the wife to come home with more brake fluid so I can bleed the brakes!
On the paperwork front, no movement.
On the parts front, I now have to procure a HID headlight, left hand fender and paint, two wheel speed sensors, and the remaining trim clips that were supposed to arrive this past week.
Oh, yeah...and a 16" 5 spoke Sport wheel and some new snow tires. But the weather's good enough that I'll probably hold that off a bit and mount my summer wheels again.
Car-part.com shows the following...
Wheel $50 in PA
2006 Mazda Miata MX5 Wheel-Stock# 171582B • Stoystown Auto Wreckers-MIDW, Stoystown, PA
HID headlamp, $125 in Ohio
2007 Mazda Miata MX5 Headlight Assembly-Stock# J3755 • Pierce Auto Parts, New Paris, OH
In reply to John Welsh : thank you for the find on the wheel! I think that headlight is a halogen, not hid. I'm currently looking at a HID one that may be at the same location
...and looks like there's a fender in Martinsburg I may be able to pick up Monday.
In reply to Greg Smith :
The Headlight was listed as the HID option but many times, things are listed wrong on car-part. It really helps to look at the pictures. I really like it when I can get body panels already in the correct factory color.
In reply to John Welsh :
hm. I'll have to look at the headlamp further. My understanding is those may have changed a little bit between the NC1 and NC2.
It it seems there are a lot of modification things people do too, even using RX-8 parts. But I would prefer to keep the stock HID setup
So, the 2013 fender fits pretty well. The front edge of the hood gap is tight, so I may clearance the fender mounting holes about 1mm...
For now, I'm leaving it on the trailer, because I really really don't want to be tempted to drive this until all the paperwork's straight.
Paperwork update today. While the other insurance company sent payment in full for the loan 1/30, apparently Capitol One sent me a letter dated 2/11 (received today) that starts with "We recently learned that you are interested in keeping possession of the vehicle..."
Guys - you have been PAID IN FULL (I have the record) and instructed to send the title to me to process in PA.
Looks like they will be getting a phone call first thing tomorrow. Argh.
I'm not surprised that the logistics will be more time consuming than the repairs.
Found a LH HID headlamp on ebay with one scratch on the lens and slight damage (repaired) to the mounting ears, broken HID ballast.
Since my housing is damaged, but the ballast is fully functional, I plan to wetsansd and clearcoat the lens and install my existing ballast.
$250 plus existing headlamp reconditioning supplies compared to $6-700 for "new" or the lowest used one I could find was about $400.
Hopefully I can get the scratch out, but if not... It'll have to do for now, as long as it passes safety inspection.
At this point, total out of pocket is:
$530 for 2 Moog suspension arms, 2 Bilstein strut inserts, 1 brake hose.
$60 for strut disassembly / reassembly
$120 for 2 wheelspeed sensors
$250 for 1 used 2013 fender
$250 for 1 used headlight
$1210 spent to date
Remaining:
1 winter wheel (should be $50 plus pickup or shipping)
paint (est <$100 for 1 pint, plus $100 to my local mechanic to come over and assist in paingint with my own equipment; he will provide hardener & clearcoat. Currently planning on only painting the fender, but I may decide to do the front bumper cover as well.
$250 additional
Semi-optional:
1 bumper center honeycomb (broken at salvage) (tbd)
1 front tow hook knockout plug
$TBD
And titling, rebuilt title inspection, tax, and registration expenses. $??? Should be under $500... I hope....?
It saddens me that the insurance companies are so willing to total a vehicle for what seems to be very minimal damage.
I'll grant that I plan on buffing & polishing the door and front bumper (possibly repainting the bumper) and not color blending with the hood or door (which would require a LOT more prep & labor).
I do think that I looked at the damage VERY differently than the insurance adjuster, anc certainly, I'm value shopping parts compared to "new" but I am getting parts at least equivalent to the age & (very good) state of the car). And I've definitely lucked out with no significant door damage (there are a few VERY minor scuffs that look like they will polish out), no hood damage, and most likely, JB-welding the corner of the front bumper that pulled out. (unless there's a better adhesive for that location).
Disappointing that the salvage process damaged the front bumper (though the honeycomb may have gotten fractured in the accident. I definitely wouldn't have noticed it at the time)... but other than that, the salvage process doesn't seem to have caused any other ill effects..
They total based on cost of making it basically like new, often a totaled car can be repaired.
Once done with the repair, you will need a enhanced inspection, typically it's a $200 fee. They should provide pictures of the repaired car, which will be submitted with the paper work.
Then you submit paper work for the reconstruction title. They are mostly concerned with state sales tax for all the parts you bought. If you don't have proof of sales tax, that is ok, but there will be a fee for state sales tax for all the parts that you don't have paper work that shows state sales tax.. I used AAA for the paper work, but I am sure there are other places that can help.
The damage on my NC from a minor rear end collision last year was over $3,500. They did not total the car, but that included new rear bumper cover, two tail lights, repairing the dent in the trunk, repairing the hood (dent) and front bumper cover (scuffed) and painting the front and rear of the car. In my case, it was all cosmetic, as nothing mechanical was damaged and nothing was bent in the frame rails as I was hit high in the rear.
Your damage estimate was probably much higher because of the broken suspension and wheel assembly that lead to the "assumption" that the front end frame rails were damaged. All the body and paint work, plus new fender, headlight and trim are easily $3-4K but the assumed frame damage was likely the kicker. Fingers crossed that you are good to go, looks like it is assembling well with the replacement parts. That really is a nice car and shame not to save it!
Title arrived in the mail today from Penn DOT
...and the application for a Non-repairable or Salvage Title is sent.
(Thank you, local AAA office.....)
...and the application for a Non-repairavle or Salvage Title is sent.
(Thank you, local AAA office.....)
The headlamp arrived very early. HID ballast may or may not be functional but as advertised had a broken connector. So I transplanted the one off my working headlight
... And went ahead and installed it in the car. Started the engine so I don't kill my battery and fired up the lights to test.
wonderful! The turn signal bulb in my unit had blown, but the one from eBay included a working bulb. I guess I will hang on to my old headlights just for the rather expensive hid and halogen bulbs, since they are still working.
