Second accident in 10 weeks
 

So on May 21st I get hit when I'm sitting at a red light after leaving work on a beautiful Friday afternoon, looking forward to the weekend. That ends up in $8300 of damage and seven weeks of repairs but, happy ending, the car is perfect again (except for the fact that I guess I have a salvage title now since the frame was damaged...? Not sure how that works.)

Last Friday, August 6th, after leaving work on a beautiful Friday afternoon, looking forward to the weekend, I'm sitting on my own street, waiting to turn into my own driveway, and an EMT on his way to a call comes flying up the road, tries to pass me on the left, catches my front driver's side, he hooks onto me and drags me about 10 feet, and then he hits a tree, which causes his back end to pivot out and end up on top of my fender. Initial estimate is $7300. He had to be cut out of his truck with the Jaws of Life, but I hear he's okay, just banged up. Channel 3 News was there, filming it, but I don't think it made it to actually being broadcast.

Funny thing, too... the cops didn't take my statement. Luckily, two witnesses wrote out what they saw, me sitting still with my blinker on, the guy flying up the street and weaving around people. The cops never told me the other driver's name or insurance company, and the newspaper article said "Emergency officials reported a one-vehicle accident." Interesting, huh? Since then a police sergeant has called me and took a written statement from me and said I'll get the report in 7-10 days.

I've been too depressed to put pics up 'til now. On the other hand, if I had started the actual turn into the driveway instead of still being straight on the road, the guy could've hit me in the door and probably killed me since the neighbors estimate he was doing 50-70 mph. :eek: Looking at the pic of the tree that got hit, that may end up not being so lucky.

All in all, I'm pretty happy :) And, yes, lawyer has been contacted. lol

holy crap
good thing cities have great insurance and your lawyer should get you a good chunk of money

Holy crap Beth!!!! I am glad you are okay and didn't start the turn. I am surprised that they only estimated $7300. I hope everything works out with the insurance. You have witnesses and his license plate, so I think you will be just fine :)

Wow, those pictures are absolutely horrific. Sorry to hear about the accident :( Hope everything works out

Three questions:

1.) Did they give him a drug test or sobriety?

2.) Did he have any sort of lights on the vehicle? Can't tell in that 2nd pic if that's a blue light on top of his truck or not.

3.) Did they give you any crap for not immediately pulling off to the right?

By the way......glad to know you are alright.

Thanks, everyone.

1.) I don't know if they tested him, but he did get a ticket for careless driving. I'm still waiting for the report to see more details.

2.) He didn't have any lights. The neighbors said he was honking his horn, but I had the windows up, A/C on, and salsa music playing and never heard a horn. I never even knew he was there until all of a sudden all I could see out the left side was a mass of silver.

3.) Not only did they not give me crap, they didn't talk to me at all except to say they'd have an ambulance squad come check me out, which never happened. Also, it's a skinny street as it is and no place to even pull to the right.

I'll def keep you guys posted. Thanks for the well wishes :)

Damn... Id be so pissed... glad your okay but I would take every penny I could

You might want to retain a lawyer ASAP. Fire/Police/EMT is a very tightly-knit community in most towns and they tend to protect their own even when their own are 100% wrong. The fact they didn't get your statement or give you the culprit's information at the scene makes me very, very nervous.

Watch your back.

Oh, I am very, very nervous. lol I hope I don't need a medic for anything anytime soon!

It's not close knit here, and we are surrounded by them on our street. He was in the wrong anyways so I wouldn't worry about it. What I would worry about is moving to a safer area lol, or make your 8 come to life like Christine. I'm glad your ok, and hope everything works out for you.

Thats f***ed up !! Most important thing is youre okay. It couldve gone worse like you said if you had made the turn. Shit happens.

Exactly... I cant stress how true this is... Ive heard so many stories man... Get a good lawyer...

Stopped by the body shop on the way home, and repairs are under way. No engine damage. The only frame damage is a radiator support. They're trying to figure out how to replace my Tenzo wheel since I got it from an eBayer and don't have any order information. All in all, prognosis is good! :)

wow Beth I'm glad to know you ok, I'm surprise they didn't totaled the car, I hope everything works out for you!

Thanks, Oscar. They're still finding damage, but it has to go over $10,400 to total it, and they don't think it'll get that high. It's going to make the total repairs in three months over $16,000, though! lol They also said I won't have a salvage title, either, which I thought with frame damage that I would. ?

A salvage title is something that is issued by a state when a vehicle is severely damaged and the costs of repair can exceed the vehicle’s value. Usually, this happens when an insurance company has deemed a vehicle covered by a policy a “total loss.” When these vehicles are salvaged, or repaired, the state issues a salvage title. Even cars that have been in floods or stolen can fall under the salvage title distinction.

Just saw this! Glad you're OK, Beth.
I thought silver 8s were the accident magnets!

damn, that's a nasty streak of bad luck you've had lately...

with all the damage to that car, if it were me, i'd prolly sell it and start over.

there's an old chinese proverb that says something to the extent that bad luck streaks never come in singles and good things never in doubles.

good to hear that u r ok and weren't hurt. and, hope u get things resolved.

Thanks, Duke. One of the firemen at the scene said red vehicles cause accidents, and I tried to educate him about the silver curse but he wouldn't listen!

And thanks for the explanation, Laythor. I saw an '08 phantom blue on eBay for sale that said salvage title, but that it just had a rear-end hit with "no frame damage," so I started thinking, well, then, I guess mine will be salvage because I sure as hell had a bunch of frame damage (considering they cut out and replaced the rails after the first accident!) But now I guess that eBay ad was a little, um, disingenuous, huh? What a surprise! :)

I don't know what the Carfax is going to show after all this, but I doubt I'll ever be able to sell the car now, and part of me doesn't mind because Faulkner fixed it perfectly the first time and I believe they will again, and I have the car just the way I want it (except for still lusting for the RB exhaust!) so I'm really not ready to part with it. Now, if they totaled it and I was FORCED to get into an '08, I guess I would have to learn to live with it. lol

Salvage title usually only happens if the insurance company takes possession of the vehicle. Can't get a salvage title if they don't have the original title!

I had an RX-7 totaled out from under me when I got hit from behind at about 30 MPH. Car was about bent in-half. Both the other idiot and I were OK, fortunately. Happened right in front of my apartment complex so I limped it in, grinding, dragging, crabbing and parked it. Insurance company totaled it. I bought it back so I could keep the car. They never physically had the car or title. It still had a clean title when I sold it.

Carfax may show "accident reported" if there is a police report and if the town/city allows Carfax access to those records. They probably do. My RX-7 had that on the Carfax. But even so that's not always a problem selling.

Cool! Nice to start my day off with good news :)

omg thats freaking brutal.

Hey Francesco, how did all your repairs work out?

Well i still have yet to see my car. It was done at the body shop on 7/30...while i was on the tarmac at philly international leaving for vacation. So my friends drove it from north penn to JPR in NJ.

From what ive heard, you wouldnt have known that $7,500 damage happened. But now the engine is being rebuilt and ported due to a oil leak and low compression.

So i haven't seen my car since 7/4...I should get it back early next week.

YIKES. Well, happy reunion, in advance! :)

holy crap i don't believe it.. another accident!.. i'm glad you're alright.. that's some tough relationship you have with your 8!

Thanks. Yeah, almost two years with barely a scratch, and now these. lol Oh well, gotta roll with it. Maybe with the lawsuit settlement I'll get your wheels, finally, Gundar! :)

lol well hopefully not the same ones but something equally as nice hehe

omg

Update: Supposed to be going in for paint on Monday. Hoping they can find a replacement Tenzo! :( (If they can't, I wonder if I could get them to get me a whole set of wheels like Gundarx's. lol) I'm really hoping to have it back for the car cruise at Shady Brook Farms.

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes. As dedicated as volunteers are around here they are NOT allowed to exceed the posted speed limit (I am sure the max on any residential is 30mph)Not allowed to ignore traffic signals or any other means of traffic control. Plus a volunteers vehicle is NOT considered a safty vehicle (by law)no matter how well equipped it may be. It is obvious by the dammged inflicted this well meaning a-hole is seriously in the wrong and maybe shouldn't be driving period. In his hopes of "getting a good call" he caused one and needlessly put lives in danger. I hope it's HIS insurance that is paying for the damages you do not deserve the hit on your record. And if red is a bad color than why are fire trucks that color (maybe he's color blind)? Glad your OK but you must be suffering from emotional duress, a fear of silver trucks with lunitics behind the wheel perhaps?

Thanks a bunch, Sour :) Yeah, I was never a fan of lunatics, but now the ones in silver trucks that are behind me Definitely make me nervous! lol The auto insurance is still investigating but it looks 99.9 percent sure that the other guy will have to pay for everything. I know he got a ticket for careless driving, too, so this is going to be really expensive for him.

PS Still laughing at "Lawn Guyland" :)

are you sure your car wasn't silver at some point?

LOL Nuke :)

I stopped in today and -- AAARRRGGGHHH -- the car is done except they can't find a replacement wheel (Tenzo) and so I'm without my car for the holiday weekend :( Sooooooo close! Grrr!

At least it will be safe from the drunk traffic gonna be out for labor day weekend. Gotta get some pics of it up when you get it back, and hope you can get the wheels you want, or replacement.

LoL

It had to Silver at one point. The Curse is back in full effect

Yeah, it's crossed my mind that a curse got put on it, but it had nothing to do with silver. lol

I even put a post out asking for ideas for good luck charms, but no one had any ideas! :( I guess I'll just start with the ole rabbit foot idea and put ten or twelve rabbits' worth of feet in the glovebox! :)

just have it painted winning blue. :)

Oh noes! No curse on Velocity Red, please! :scared:

Glad they got it all fixed up! If you were closer, I'd lend you one of my sets of wheels. Somebody lend this woman a set of wheels! Won't somebody think of the rotors!?! :D:

Sorry to hear that Beth.

I would recomend selling the car via trade in for a new 09.

Awww, Wank, my new bff! :bowdown: lol

Oh, and PS to Nuke and Razz: Winning Blue is def a cool color, that's what I originally went to the dealer. But I love my VR :) And Razz, I have a really stupid reason for not wanting an '09... I don't like the little changes they made, like where would I put my awesome paint-matched strakes on an '09???? :(

Update: Five weeks later, car is still sitting at the body shop. It's completely fixed and gorgeous again, better than ever (door dings and stuff removed too!) The problem: NO replacement wheel for my Tenzo that was wrecked in the collision. They've looked for two weeks, and it seems it simply doesn't exist. So I have a three-wheeled car :(

Anybody got any ideas? I can't imagine the insurance company will agree to replace all four just because they can't find the one. Plus I'm going to end up with three wheels, and what the heck will I do with them??? This stinks so bad :(

um.. yes his insurance will. if he damaged something that cannot be replaced and the only way to get the car moving again is to replace all four wheels.. guess what, he's replacing all four wheels

And if they refuse you should make them pay for four new wheels and a lawyer... Don't take any crap from insurance companies. They are weasels just a tiny step above lawyers in the hierarchy of bottom-feeders.

Yeah, they suck, been a pain through this whole thing. What a way to spend the summer! Bleagh :(

I'm meeting with a new lawyer today, someone I'm hoping is a little more aggressive.

I met with the new lawyer yesterday, and he said that, too... YAY! :smoker: I'm sure it'll be a slow, difficult process, but that's what I'm aiming for now.

glad to hear your new lawyer knows the law :)

can't wait to see the phoenix rise again

I never had a name for my car, but I think now she's officially Phoenix :)