Pix 2

Wow. That u in the car. You look really young dood. Hope the insurance doesnt kill you on this...

Time

The bra didn't help a whole lot...

Ha ha...that's my 13 year old son. Wish i looked that young!

Thanks, I needed that laugh!

:Eyecrazy:
i know the exact spot!
when i went to rutgers i would take turnpike exit but then to route 18 north, that whole section of road needs to be redesigned as soon as possible(hell they revamped the route 130 connection to route 1 before they touched that area.) i feel for ya man, glad you're alright.

ouch hopefully you'll get your 8 back like it was or get into a different one soon without much financial loss.

Oh man...your beautiful car. That just pains me. The important thing is that YOU are OK though. Hope you get back behind the wheel fast!

OH man. As an owner of a WB myself, I cringed/cried for you big time.

I think it's amazing that on the smashed side, everything from the door back looks pretty straight.

Sorry your 8 is jacked, but I'm glad you lived to tell the tale without injury.

I hope for your sake that it's totaled. I don't think I would want it fixed from that kind of mess.

Those pics are heartbreaking. I'm very sorry that happened to your 8. Hopefully, it will all get fixed up right.

looks bad but my freind had a similar encounter and went down the hill...the 8 it totaled :( oh and his airbags did not go off either

have you tried to start it? i wonder if the PCM is dead?

wow, hope you/everyone is alright... and look at the best of this situation, new car!, did u have navigation?

whats gonna happen to the car now?? insurance say it was a total loss?? If u want to i got dibs on the rims and tires....might as well make what you can.

Car starts no problem. Auto body shop found some more damage than the original appraisal. I gues we're up to 14k in damage. They're still going to fix it.

After the work is done, I'm going to Mazda to do a complete check on the engine and mechanicals. If there's anything wrong, I'm going to submit that to the insurance company and have them fix it on their nickel.

The body shop is being really cool and helpful and tolerating my constant questions. (County Line Auto Body in Howell.)

Sorry to people who want parts, looks like that's not going to happen.

Be safe everyone and thanks for all of the good wishes.

Update: Car repair is still not complete. God I miss my car. I'm now driving a beater Intrepid with 113,000 miles on it until the 8 is fixed.

A bent cross member and broken engine mount was discovered last week by the body shop. Parts are being ordered. Not feeling too confident about getting my car back in pre-crash condition.

This sucks.

Why oh why won't the insurance people just write it off and cut you a cheque? $14K damage has to be at least 50% of the value. And they make $$$ back auctioning it off for salvage. I wouldn't want it back either! Good luck. You really need the DSC in northeast weather year round.

Hope it feels the same to you when you finally get it back!

Be sure to have the cf driveshaft inspected. Easily overlooked hidden damage spot.

I have to echo this why havent they just totaled it and given you a check yet???? From the amount of damage you've listed it seems like its gonna take a long time to repair this and most of us know cars after accidents never behave the same afterwards.

Per my wonderful insurance policy: They won't consider it totalled until the damages are equal to the actual cash value of the car. That's at least $20k. New Jersey sucks for auto insurance.

And thanks beachdog, I'll keep that in mind about the driveshaft.

The airbags probably didn't go off because he hit on the passenger side and I he didn't mention there being a passenger in the car. Mine has a light that will say "passenger air bag off" when I turn on the car if there isn't enough weight in the seat. The manual says it needs 69 pounds in the passenger seat to trip the sensor for the airbag to work. I don't know if this is a new 06 feature or not. I just noticed that in jisoo26's car that where I have the light-up button it is just a plastic circle that looks like a plug where something could go, which would be my light. He has an 05.

we do?

not me.

your airbags didn't go off with the engine bay pushed 2 inches back? something isn't right there....

also with that amount of damage you should seek diminished value damages as well.