valpac

iTrader: (2)

TOTALLED!Couldnt be happier unless I could turn back time.

Now the back and forth begins.

RXMAN16

Congratulations. Time for an '05?

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Another one.

RXMAN16

Sweeeeet.....

Aratinga

I'm glad they totalled it for you... you'll be back on the road in an RX8 MUCH sooner that way! It's a shame about your car, but somebody out there's gonna get a really nice renesis drivetrain for cheap. Or maybe someone will buy it and fix it themselves.

Are you going to scavenge all your goodies off the car? I'll take those strakes off your hands if your new 8 doesn't need 'em.

SilverEIGHT

Congratulations! One really great thing... my insurance company paid my tax on my new car which amounted to approximately $1700. Ask them about that as well.

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Aratinga - I think I still want the strakes on my new car. Gonna go get them off my car today, actually.

SilverEight- Yep, they will add sales tax, too. Thats good. I thought I'd lose that money too. Looks like Im gonna be out about 3K.

I really think if your car is that new (mine was 5 months old) insurance companies should be required to replace the car rather than just give you a "fair" mkt value for it. And if they cant find a comparable replacement they, not us, should have to go through the aggravation of buying a NEW one. I know... it'll never happen that way. Oh well. The good news is I didnt haggle on the first one and I wont have to haggle on the next one either.

L8APEX

Congrats, I am glad they totalled it. Good to see you will get another one too. I always tell people, if my car got totalled today, I would buy another one tomorrow. Never said that about my other cars.

dknv

So glad to hear it! And at least it did not take too long.

When you say 'back & forth begins', do you mean your negotiation for the payoff amount?

I had my car just under 6 months when I was hit so I went for the fight to reclaim as much as I could. Isurance company computed a value based on NADA, then I asked them to confirm it with an independent local adjuster. The two figures were pretty close. They would only offer me $100 more for my RB catback, so I swapped the stock one back.

Good luck.

SilverEIGHT

OK, you are in GREAT hands. Take a visit over to MAZCARE in Marietta. Charlie (the owner) is great and is a member of our board, "Marietta 8". He can take care of any issues you may have with maintaining your 8. I visited his shop not long ago and he will treat you like family. Tell him you read about his shop on the RX8Club site. I met him originally because i wanted to get my wrecked RX-8 approved by him before I accepted it from the body shop. As it turned out, I didn't need him after all. :D

valpac

iTrader: (2)

For those of you that enjoy (?) looking at wrecked RX-8 here are the pictures I promised.

Here's something weird.. I went to the body shop to get my strakes, clear corners, bulbs and sunshield along with the pictures. David at the shop helped me take thse parts off. Here's the weird part... When he started taking of the side vents to get the strakes he payed little caution to the fender. I know the car is totalled but it still made me cringe as I saw him pry the side vents off with a screwdriver with little regard for the paint or fender. I guess its still my car (and my baby) and to see further injustice to her is difficult to watch. I felt the same way when the cop kicked the rear bumper cover off the road skidding it along like junk (which it really was). Just hard to take, thats all.

SilverEIGHT

You should be a happy man. You were not hurt and you get a new car. I don't recall reading, did you say how many miles you had on it?

I know what you mean about "Just hard to take". I went through that too. Here is my experance from going to pick up my belongings from my car after the shop had tried unsuccessfully to complete the restoration and it had been deemed a total. I posted it in February:

"Today I pulled up to the shop and saw her outside. I have to admit, it kind of took my breath to see her shining in the sun. I got out of my Maxima and walked over to her, softly touched the beautiful Sunlight Silver trunk lid, walked from the back around the drivers side to the front never letting my hand release it's contact. Oh, how beautiful it is. My finger followed along the perfect seam between the hood and the fender around to nose... WHAT THE F*@%... there was a outie ding in the nose where something underneath was out of place and pushing on the nose like it wanted to pierce it's way through. So much for that sexual encounter with my old flame! I barked a quick belly laugh and just walked inside to thank them for their superb workmanship and timely repair. Who cares now, Wednesday it will belong to someone else. I extricated my personal items and tag from the car, shook the guys hand and drove straight over to the Mazda dealer to look at new cars."

valpac

iTrader: (2)

happy noone got hurt- absolutely. happy to have a new car? well, yes & no. Cuz I HAD a new car and was fine with it. Happy to have to search for another red, fully loaded rx-8? No, there are fewer of them around. I had to wait two months for my last one. Happy to have to lose 4000 in depreciation? Again, no.

All in all, I certainly could have done without the experience.

The best 7145 miles I have ever spent in an auto though...

SilverEIGHT

The inventory shows Jim Ellis Mazda in Marietta has a 2005 GT M/T, Black leather, Rotary Accent Pkg, Cargo Net. VIN JM1FE173250148949 MSRP: $31,849. Don't know if it has Navi.

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for looking Silver8. Yeah, thats funny, just saw that car in person a couple days ago. No Nav. And the other VRed doesnt have NAV either.

I'm back to scanning MAZDAUSA for inventory again. Last time I got a list of big city zip codes nearby and did an exhaustive search. And I do mean exhaustive. One problem with MAZDAUSA inventory search, sometimes those cars are sold/traded to other dealers so you have to end up calling them anyway. Then you get called alot by the sales staff trying to sell you something you know you dont want. That has already started w/ Jim Ellis.

I finally had to call Mazda, CA. directly. They found one coming to the area but I'd have to wait for it. (8 weeks ) Mazda could only find a few (2004's) but they were far away and the VIN's were too old.

There are two problems working to foil my attempts at finding the exact car.

1) Mazda overproduced 2004's, so they have scaled back production of 05's

2) NAV was not a big seller in '04. Dont know why, I thought it was much better than mounting a stalk or stickin something to the dash. Anyway, since NAV can only be installed in Japan, that really cuts down the number of models with that option.

Carsdirect.com is searching for one for me but I dont have much hope they can do any better than me.

I'm probably going to have to do the same thing as last time. Call California and wait for one to be delivered hopefully closeby.

Again thanks for the effort. I do appreciate it.

SilverEIGHT

Ummmm....It's not that they overproduced 04's and scaled back 05's. The 04's just didn't sell and the 05's halted production because of a fire in the plant in Japan that stopped production in December. There are none being produced so if you can't find one now, good luck! I'm not sure when production will start back up. Maybe you should do a little research into that. It could be longer than 2 months if you are dead set on that specific car. I've been expecting the price to start going up soon due to supply and demand.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...re+japan+plant

Good luck!

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Undersell, overproduce.. Kinda the same thing dontcha think? Either way they made too many in 2004.

SilverEIGHT

Yep, good luck!

HiTMaNN

Here in vancouver they have an extra option for new cars that if you get an accident that causes severe damage they will write it off and get you a new one.

SilverEIGHT

Are you referring to an option from the dealer or the insurance company?

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Gap insurance?

SilverEIGHT

Doesn't sound like Gap. Gap comes from your lender and covers the difference between what the insurance company pays you and what it cost to replace. There is a limit as to how much they cover. When I totaled mine, I had paid off so much that it didn't apply to me for some reason. Not really sure but now that it has been brought up, I'm looking into it tomorrow. It would be nice if I could go back and collect on my Gap Insurance.

Glyphon

Gap insurance only pays the amount that you are upside down on the car, so that you break-even, instead of lose money.

crazy thing, since i bough my 8 back at the end of march, i have yet to see one driving around. saw tons before, but now none. the only ones i see other than mine now are at dealerships and at my office parking lot...i'm the 4th person to get an 8. we out number the 350s 2 to 1 :D

rx8s:
red
silver
titanium
black (mine)

350zs:
titanium
white (with black wheels, ewww)

and good luck with you're new 8 search.

oh, and someone said that the nav can only be installed from the factory in japan, so that means pretty much no chance of retro fitting one later, which i was contemplating.

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Happily I will really only lose about $2700. Originally paid $35402 (ttt) and insurance is giving me $32,700. I guess $450/ month to drive a car this awesome is ok with me. Can't wait for my next one. If I cant find red, I may have to settle for a white one. Thoughts?

Oh, and since I am technically not an RX-8 owner anymore, do I have to turn in my avatar and stop posting?

Gambit

White with a red interior looks awesome. I guess on the plus side your resale value will be slightly higher if you get an 05

You may keep posting, but turn in your avatar until you get a new car