R.I.P BRZ
 

Unfortunately I got t-boned on the way home recently. I'm ok, but the car will be a total loss.
This was after I spent almost 2 weeks putting in time, money, and effort to learn how to swap out my clutch/flywheel too. Thanks to everyone on here who helped me accomplish that.

Another 86 might be in the future for me down the road, but I need a 4-door hatchback (or crossover/suv) for now. I'm probably only going to get $11-12K for my BRZ, so I need a replacement car that's enjoyable to drive daily for around that price range.. and decently reliable. I don't want to spend more than that because I'd rather save up for a house or future 86 if possible. I don't like turbos or big engines, so I'm looking at a used, high-mileage '14-15 Mazda 3 or CX-5 for now.
I considered a '12-15 Impreza, but that car screams 'blah' to me. In fact, all the non-turbo Subarus aside from the BRZ are disappointing to drive.

One last thing.... black friday is coming up, so it's a perfect time to invest in a dash cam for your car! $100 now will save you possibly $10K+ worth of headaches later. The other driver claimed it was my fault, and also found 2 witnesses who told the police it was my fault. So the police concluded in their report the accident was my fault based on the testimony of witnesses. No one was issued a citation either. Once I showed the dash video to the insurance company, it was game over. I'm submitting it to the police to get them to update/change the police report too. Just wanted to emphasize the importance of a dash cam with all these crazy drivers out there.


https://i.imgur.com/hN60uGd.jpg

Ouch, sorry to hear that.


I've also been running dash cams on my cars for the past 10 years, they are so cheap now there's no excuse not to get one.


Good luck with your next car, I've owned 3 Mazdas and loved them all.

If 4 doors isn't an absolute requirement look for a Volvo C30, if it is look for a V50, with the T5 motor and if you're lucky an R Design so you get the better suspension these cars are a hoot to drive and are super safe.

I really enjoyed my previous 2012 Scion TC.
That is a bad hit btw...good thing it wasn't on the driver side.

Good on you for having a dash cam, people are sheisters and witness testimony is awful ( bias against sports cars). Very sorry for the loss - Why not contemplate something older than suits the bill. Does it have to be a relatively new car? I think the Rav 4s from the early 2000s / late 90s were stout, come in a 5 speed, are not too big and are reliable enough. One can be had for between 3-5k..

I am curious as to what witness statements were countered by the dash cam video. How did it differ from the "witness" descriptions?


In three decades of investigating accidents I have found that it is a very, very rare occurrence when a "witness" actually sees the whole event and what happened from start to finish. In most cases their attention it not on what happens until something catches it. This means they see the immediate result and then their imagination fills in the gap of what they didn't notice from these results. Their imagination doesn't always reflect anything even close to reality though.

Even though you don't like turbos, go test drive a Fiesta ST. It may just be the ticket.

The cx3 is very fun to drive for what it is. The mazda 3 hatch should also be on your list. I also owned a cx5 previously, very nice car and handled well for being an suv.

I'd go with a loaded mazda 3 skyactive hatch for the 10-12k range. 35ish mpg, awesome interior for the money, and tons of fun to drive.

If I hadn't swerved into the middle lane to avoid him, I would've t-boned the other car directly on the driver's side door. He's lucky I "let" him t-bone me on my passenger side instead.

I don't mind a Rav4, but unless I can find one in really good condition I'd rather just get something newer to not have to deal with older car's possible problems. The 35-40 MPG of the Mazda is hard to beat too. And I do plan to drive the car a lot.

In this case, the witness's statement was a straight up lie. It's easier to sketch out what happened. Basically, they claimed I sped out of the apartment/housing complex (blue) across the street, turned into the middle turning lane (yellow), where I hit the other driver. I'd been traveling down that road for the last 15 minutes btw.

There was a good amount of traffic at the time too. Two cars turned into the gas station, passing in front of him, so I don't blame him for NOT seeing me. I'm just annoyed he found witnesses to lie for him.

https://i.imgur.com/mzh1FiB.jpg

Thanks, the Mazda 3 hatch is at the top of my list.. in that exact price range! I don't really want the cx5 but I'll settle for one if someone's selling one for below market value, and I can't find a 3. The cx3 is too new and out of my price range... unless there's someone out there who's already put close to 100K miles on theirs and wants to sell it for $10K lol.

I'd rather light my car on fire than ever drive a Ford again. No offense, it's not you.. it's them.

If I were in your position with that budget, I would be looking at a Juke. It's butt ugly, but it drives great with a tight turning radius, AWD and great maneuverability. It obviously won't corner like an 86, but it still feels oddly similar to the 86 in normal everyday driving despite its larger size. As long as you're driving it and don't have to actually look at it, it's a great car.

Blackboxmycar.com is running some pretty good Black Friday specials this entire week, and if you sign up to let them send you spam email, they'll also give you a 48 hour code for an additional 5% off. i just bought a dual channel system and saved at least $110 off the next best prices I could find.

Sorry for the loss!

Glad that you're OK and that you had a dashcam to help your case! :cheers:

Haha, I've owned like 12 cars. Mazda(speed) 3 was one of my favs. Can't go wrong with it.

Damn bro sorry for your loss. Could’ve been worse man good thing you’re alright. Hate that police listened to those bullshit “witnesses”. Glad you had a dash cam to shut them up. Mazda 3 is a great option for your needs and budget. Would personally go with the 4Runner but that’s just me lol good luck with everything bro

soooo where is the dash cam footage?

rear fitment on point.

Dash cam
 

I would like to see the Dash cam footage if possible.

I would keep that dashcam footage and delete this thread until your lawyer settles everything up. They can always find things that you have said and use it against you later on. This will probably get messy with the witness / police report issues..... yeah.

Sorry about your loss and the following headaches.

Which year and mileage of your brz? You should get way more than 10k if mileage is not crazy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rule one of accidents: don't talk about it in public until you've resolved the case to all parties' satisfaction.

Otherwise, threads like this can be used against you.

How will they find out about this thread? Google BRZ?

The new Corolla hatchback looks pretty decent and the Civic hatch can be pretty lively with just a rear swaybar change and alignment, both above your budget (around $20k new) but if you put ~$10k down you'll only be financing around $10k which should be <$200/month over 5 years. Both available with a MT if that's your bag.

The Mazda 3 with a 2.0L was not very impressive imo, better off with an older upmarket car. I found a way to have fun with it but it took more effort than I'd like.

BRZ, ATL crash, even taking the image posted by OP (assuming it was passed to the other insurance company) and searching for it.

On the back of my AAA insurance card has a line that states "Do not admit responsibility for or discuss the circumstances of the accident with anyone other than the police or an authorized Auto Club claims representative." I'm sure OP's insurance will have something similar.

Whether you are absolved of fault or not is not the issue at play here, it's protecting ALL of your legal rights.

There are many cases where insurance companies have found incriminating evidence off of forum postings. Social media is more famous for it, but it still happens. The first time I got a lawyer involved in anything he said to never say anything about it until it was completely settled. The reasoning is sound, and it makes perfect sense to me.


I'm sure you've seen the national postings about warranties being voided after a photo of someone at an HPDE or drag racing event or even talking publically on a forum about activities of that nature. Jalopnik has had several stories in that vein, this would be no different.

Glad you were unhurt reeves. More BRZ's coming off the line every day.

Makes sense. What exactly will be used against him though? Didn't read anything that would "incriminate" him. Pretty sure he told the insurance and his lawyer the same thing he posted on here too.

He said "let him" tbone me.... he has a drawing, he has his own account which may or may not differ in a small way when talking to enthusiasts vs insurance company or police. Lots of things you dont think could be used against you can be. Its insurance companies, police, and courtrooms.... what dont you get? He already admitted issues with the police report. Just settle the case one way or another then talk.

Yeah you’re right. Never been part of anything like that (thankfully) but it’s good to know. Crazy how they can find pretty much any little thing to use against you. Hope that’s not the case for OP

Dash camera on sale for $24.99

Amazon

C30 is FWD , and most are automatics ( manual is tough to find, if memory serves). Volvo parts aren't cheap... they're in BMW stratosphere!

++on the dash-cam!! Glad you had one mounted and rolling! I've got a Transcend wide-angle glass lens (older version, but can be had on Ebay) that seems rock solid

There are more V50 AWD around here than fwd and the parts cost isn't as bad as you think. They made a ton of V50's and S40's and made them for a bunch of years so parts are more readily available than for a lot of other Euro cars and those were the "economy" models and share the platform with the Focus and Mazda 3 so there are quite a few shared parts. I can also say, from experience, that these cars are exceptionally safe for small cars. I took a 25mph broadside hit on the drivers door in my C30 and other than having to crawl out the passenger side was totally fine and with the laminated side glass the window didn't even pop so there was no loose glass either. It's the ONLY fwd car I'd buy, I really really don't like fwd but there is so little understeer in these they almost don't feel like one and they're soooo comfy you'd think you're in a much bigger, longer wheelbase car.

Well turns out the other guy didn't even have insurance at the time of the accident. His insurance says his policy expired a week before the accident. Funny thing, he never called to notify his insurance of the accident (or at least that's what I was told when I called them). Instead, he tried to file a claim with my insurance to get them to fix his car.. I guess he thought all he needed was the police report and his 'witness' to get things rolling.

This may actually be a good thing for me, now I don't have to deal with his insurance. I'm filing an uninsured motorist claim under my own insurance, so I only have to deal with my insurance which should expedite things. I'll get paid for my car upfront, then my insurance will try to recoup the money from the other driver, whatever process that entails I'm not sure.

They haven't gotten back to me about the value of my car yet. Any advice from those who've been through a total loss before? Can I get them to cover my aftermarket stuff? I had 2 new wheels + summer tires put on earlier this year. Plus my headers, over/front pipe, intake, weathertech mats, and oil pressure gauge. I know it's not that much compared to the car's value, but every bit helps.

It's not even the money really... it's all the TIME and EFFORT I put into my car! Makes me feel depressed just thinking about it. Almost makes me not want to do any of that again if I buy a BRZ in the future. Researching products, installing them, tuning, tuning again.. in the end it made my BRZ a better car for me and I was happier for it, but it's all just wasted effort now.

Did you report all the aftermarket stuff to the insurance company as you installed it? If not the premiums you paid were for book value of the base car and they will not pay you one cent for the stuff you added. In other words the mods were not insured. Your policy may have covered contents so things like the floor mats would be covered if they were destroyed.
There have even bee rare reports where companies would not pay out any lose since the car had been modified and not reported but that usually involved much greater changes than you had.
Some companies will let you go and strip the modded parts off the wreck but you have to replace anything you remove with the stock parts. Once they agree to total the car then it no longer belongs to you and they want to get as much for the remains as possible so how lenient they are depends on your company.


The only constant in life is change. It wasn't a waste of time anymore than anything else you do that changes in your life.

I see you are in Georgia, and some of what is paid out is based on your location since insurance requirements vary from state to state.

I dealt with this last summer when my Son's car was totaled (not his fault, but both driver's had the same insurance company) in Georgia.

If you have made recent "repairs or improvements" to the car you may be able to get some reimbursement for it. For example, we had recently purchased new tires, had some mechanical work done to repair the engine, and had had the trunk lid repainted. The insurance company added the new tires and the repaint to the value of the car, and gave us a percentage of the repairs done in the last 12 months. Overall, it added about $700 to the payout of what started as a $3,500 total (it was a '95 Volvo C70). In one of those rare cases involving low price cars purchased at a good price, we managed to get back more than we originally paid for the car.

Wouldn't hurt to submit it to the insurance company or see if they cover recent repairs.

1st time post - not sure what goes here
 

the coverage of aftermarket parts depend on your insurance company. like what the person above said, if you didn't mention that the aftermarket were installed and your premium didn't go up because of increase risk then it's at their discretion. they may just write off most of the part's as wear/ tear/ replacement items. i had a i/e/h/ coils/mm/clutch full aspec rsx stolen / total lost and they only gave me 80% h/e value and thats after getting the invoice for everything.

Thanks for the input guys. I just spoke with the adjuster and mentioned my recently bought wheels/tires, he said that'll be covered and put into the valuation of the car, but the recent clutch change I did is considered "maintenance" and won't be covered. I didn't bring up any of the other mods I did because I never reported it to the insurance so I don't want to get into a grey area of coverage that might not benefit me.

Appreciate the advice about not incriminating myself Summerwolf. I proabably shouldn't have posted until the case was done, but at this point I doubt the other driver will even lawyer up. There were no injuries and he had no insurance.

I even called around to some lawyers myself just to see what they had to say about my case. All of them didn't want to give any time to me. Two of them were nice enough to tell me it's gonna be hard for me to find any lawyer to take up my case OR the other guy's case because we're just dealing with car damage, which basically boils down to a negotiation between me and the insurance company. If the case doesn't involve injuries, it's not worth their time to even meet up for a free consultation.

I have 81K miles on my 2013 BRZ. I thought $11-12K was good, but some are saying it's worth more? What's a good value to target?

I drove it hard everyday, but never had a mechanical problem. And it was still in pretty nice condition, paint-wise. Mostly because I had it professionally washed, polished and coated with that hard body sealant when I first bought it. Not that you can tell now since it's been sitting in the rain in the tow yard for 2 weeks now.

How does it compare with the 2.0L in the 86? I'm debating between the 2.0 or 2.5L for the Mazda3. I don't need alot of HP or torque, just an engine that's willing to rev everyday to redline. :D

I actually drove an old Volvo sedan for a year back in the '90s. They were decently reliable, but they much more expensive to fix compared to a Honda, Toyota, or Dodge that we had at the time. I had to pay $60 for a new gas cap to pass emissions once. I don't know how much that is today, but that was ridiculously expensive in 1994. I'll pass on buying a Volvo today just for that lol

So did you have full coverage on your BRZ ? If so, your insurance will take care of you.

If you just had liability (and uninsured motorist) coverage, then most insurance companies have a clause built in that they will only pay out usually $3-4k on any used car that gets totaled.

Yea I'm not worried I have full coverage. Just wanted to ask around about a fair value for it, in case the insurance lowballs me on the payout.

the 2.0 skyactiv with a stick is fine and IMO has a smoother powerband than the twin. 2.5 skyactive is awesome with a manual though, spring for it if you can find it.