BRZ Rear Ended by Jeep

[schoenberg]

Hey all,

I've lurked this forum for ages but I joined today to share my tragedy.

I was driving southbound on 1-95 yesterday when a 19 year old in a Jeep Wrangler reached down for a cigarette and rear ended my World Rally Blue BRZ that I've had for less than 2 weeks.

Here's the full album from the accident.

I also made a reddit post about it here but I'll repost the general description.

To the credit of the car, the whole accident felt like he had tapped me, and I was amazed at the damage when I got out of the car. My cello which is a HUGE part of my life was barely fit into the trunk of the car, and it was completely unharmed.

It was drivable, so I went straight back to the dealership (Competition Subaru of Smithtown) where I received the most amazing service I've had anywhere let alone at a car dealership. The rep (Richard O'Brien) who sold me the BRZ was just as furious as I was and he sat down with me for a whole hour while I spoke with the insurance company. He would grab the phone to add details about the car and to ask questions to the insurance company that I wouldn't have thought of.

Made me really glad I bought the Subaru.

Actual quote from the kid, "I know how you feel man, I just got this car back from my last accident!"

His insurance is going to pay for everything, but It's going to need the whole back end replaced including the metal in the trunk.

It was a sad, sad day.

[cobrabyte]

Ugh. Hoping you get your car back to brand new condition, man. Sorry!

[LivingLegend]

That sucks man! Glad you and your cello is ok. And for the kid for doing that right after he got his car back from getting it fixed...

[schoenberg]

Does anyone know if my eventual resale value will suffer because of this?
I'm not planning on selling it...ever. I'm just curious.

[Trojan_SC]

Hey man, sorry about that. Hope you get it back looking good as new ASAP!

[Gen]

Originally Posted by schoenberg

Does anyone know if my eventual resale value will suffer because of this?
I'm not planning on selling it...ever. I'm just curious.

Yes, it will, and it would be fair for you to receive diminished value.

[#87]

Of course resale suffers. The older the car the less resale suffers from accidents as long as the car is in good mechanical and physical condition. It especially hurts trade in value because dealers cant sell as certified used and have to sell whole sale. I was selling a used car and dealer offered me 2k less than he could have because of a minor 2k damage accident it had in the past.

[wallace03]

ughhhhhh i always said the driving age should be moved up to 18, but not i think it should moved up to 20. teenagers just dont understand that you can kill yourself along with others causing many friends and family unnecessary pain. this one clearly didnt learn after his previous accident to be extra cautious, and HE DOESNT UNDERSTAND! BECAUSE YOU CAN ROLL INTO ANY JEEP DEALERSHIP AND PICK UP A WRANGLER! WE HAVE TO WAIT A MILLION YEARS OR DRIVE TO JUPITER TO GET A BRZ!!

[cobrabyte]

Originally Posted by Gen

Yes, it will, and it would be fair for you to receive diminished value.

This.

Make sure that the insurance company compensates you for the lowered value of your vehicle. It should be pretty cut-and-dry because it's a brand new vehicle. Hell, you probably don't even have your license plates yet. It's not enough to get your car fixed back to pre-accident condition. You have to think about that CarFax in the future.

[schoenberg]

I'll definitely mention this to the company. The car is back at the dealership and they're sending an adjustor over tomorrow.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by cobrabyte

This.

Make sure that the insurance company compensates you for the lowered value of your vehicle. It should be pretty cut-and-dry because it's a brand new vehicle. Hell, you probably don't even have your license plates yet. It's not enough to get your car fixed back to pre-accident condition. You have to think about that CarFax in the future.

My limited experience has been that insurance companies rarely pay out on this willingly. They will either throw bogus case law at you telling you that you do not qualify or bury you in paperwork. I ended up in court over diminished value, which I won. Worst case scenario, if you pay for a diminished value appraisal (few hundred bucks, and it's always a joke because they'll come back with something like $10,000 in lost value), the loss in value is tax deductible.

You CAN win in court and most likely for the maximum allotted amount in your state for small claims court. It really comes down to how far you are willing to take it.

[schoenberg]

Originally Posted by Gen

My limited experience has been that insurance companies rarely pay out on this willingly. They will either throw bogus case law at you telling you that you do not qualify or bury you in paperwork. I ended up in court over diminished value, which I won. Worst case scenario, if you pay for a diminished value appraisal (few hundred bucks, and it's always a joke because they'll come back with something like $10,000 in lost value), the loss in value is tax deductible.

You CAN win in court and most likely for the maximum allotted amount in your state for small claims court. It really comes down to how far you are willing to take it.

I really hope that because the other driver admitted fault I won't have to jump through any of these hoops...

[Snoopyalien24]

Originally Posted by schoenberg

Does anyone know if my eventual resale value will suffer because of this?
I'm not planning on selling it...ever. I'm just curious.

Also the VIN number is on the trunk, and your trunk most likely will be replaced. Sorry bro but money doesn't matter! What's important is that everyone was okay!

When does the Narwhale Bacon?

Thats right, fellow redditor here

[schoenberg]

Originally Posted by Snoopyalien24

Also the VIN number is on the trunk, and your trunk most likely will be replaced. Sorry bro but money doesn't matter! What's important is that everyone was okay!

When does the Narwhale Bacon?

Thats right, fellow redditor here

It Bacons at Midnight!

Everyone is fine, except I probably had a mini aneurism immediately following the impact...

I'm not interested in milking anyone, just in a fair reimbursement for damages.

[mattles]

I came for the narwhal baconing (lolz how many redditors are among us anyways) and stayed to show my support. Stay strong, and I hope you Subaru dealership has your car back to almost-new soon.

[schoenberg]

Here's a pre-accident pic of my BRZ.

I've been trying to come up with a good name for the car, but so far everyone's just been calling it "The GAX" because of the license plate...

[Snoopyalien24]

Originally Posted by schoenberg

It Bacons at Midnight!

Everyone is fine, except I probably had a mini aneurism immediately following the impact...

I'm not interested in milking anyone, just in a fair reimbursement for damages.

Don't worry bro, it was probably from many factors at once, high blood pressure, sudden shock, nerves, fear, anxiety. Just chillax, everything is going to be fixed soon enough, and you'll still have one of the coolest cars of the decade! You'll be laughing about it in a few months

EDIT: LOL at the tags

[ngabdala]

Damn , that heart my heart. Especially so since it's WRB and I'm waiting on mine.

Question: What was that kid thinking when you took a picture of him? It made me lol that you snapped a photo. If I were you I would have smashed the cello over his face and said it was damaged in the accident. They might ask why it's bloodied though.

BTW glad you didn't get injured.

[Lonewolf]

Son of a BI***! I'm sorry to hear about this...

Does New York allow for diminished value claims?

[schoenberg]

Originally Posted by Snoopyalien24

Don't worry bro, it was probably from many factors at once, high blood pressure, sudden shock, nerves, fear, anxiety. Just chillax, everything is going to be fixed soon enough, and you'll still have one of the coolest cars of the decade! You'll be laughing about it in a few months

EDIT: LOL at the tags

Thanks...

At least I got to have fun for two weeks!

The beta test with the ladies went....*COUGH*....

[schoenberg]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

Son of a BI***! I'm sorry to hear about this...

Does New York allow for diminished value claims?

Not sure but I'll update you once I speak with the adjustor tomorrow.

[schoenberg]

Originally Posted by ngabdala

Damn , that heart my heart. Especially so since it's WRB and I'm waiting on mine.

Question: What was that kid thinking when you took a picture of him? It made me lol that you snapped a photo. If I were you I would have smashed the cello over his face and said it was damaged in the accident. They might ask why it's bloodied though.

BTW glad you didn't get injured.

The kid obviously had no idea what was going on. The first thing he did was to call his parents and have them race over. They wanted to go out of insurance, which made me lol.

It was my first accident ever as well, so I had no idea what to do except to take pictures of everything. I thought for the sake of the story I better have a picture of him as well.