http://home.mn.rr.com/msaeger/car/

I was stopped at a light and some old woman didn't bother slowing down let alone stopping and rammed into the back of my car pushing it into a explorer and pushing the explorer into another car.

My empeg went flying out of the dash into the space between the front seats my laptop and pda also went flying. (all electronic devices were unharmed )

Hopefully it will be total but I doubt it the car is too new.
(it's a 2004 Mazda 3)

Mmm... messy, but perfectly repairable.

Body shops do pretty amazing stuff with dings like those!
Mostly new metal, too.

Cheers

your not banged up eh? From the looks of it you'll be a little sore tomorrow.

I didn't think I was but I have started feeling a little stiff. I was lucky in that respect.

Where I work we had another tech that got hit and had a fuser roller (think ten pound couple inch diameter aluminum tube) hit him in the back of the head. That was a couple of years ago and he still hasn't recovered.

I think given the demographic of this group, most of us know what a fuser roller is. And no way they'll total that. I wish I had photo's of my jeep when I was involved in a head-on. They should have totalled it, but didn't. In the end they spent more than if they just cut me a check.

Just crush all my dreams why don't ya

Yeah I don't really think it is a total but I don't want it back after it getting in an accident because I will probably have something broken from the accident that they didn't find and will end up paying for it later.

Hmm, I'm not sure I'd want to keep a car that had been in a head-on and then repaired. The crash structures in the car are only designed to deform once

Just make sure they fix the frame. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but everyone always complains about it after the fact.

Jim: Wow, man, your car looks good! That body shop did a great job.
Bob: Yeah, it looks good on the outside, but the frame is still bent. Guess they figured that I would never know.

I'm quite sure I didn't want it back. I had little choice in the matter. There were a few things wrong from that point on. Every time I turned left, the frame made the popping sound. One of the hydraulic arms that held up the rear door (it was a cherokee) stripped out of the frame. There was a rip on the back seat. The spring that held the passengers seat adjust lever closed broke. That last one was at least a little fun. I'd be driving along with an unsuspecting pasenger and wham! They'd be propelled into the dash. After a few months of finding things, it just wasn't worth fighting the insurance company to fix them.

What frame

I don't think they really can fix unibody damage. I have seen where they chop out a section and weld a new one in or they try to straighten it but that's like trying to straighten out a crushed pop can.

Today I got a call from the insurance company of the cause of the problem. They told me they may have to total the car because the parts are not available yet since it is a new model.

I suppose that's good news, then! Have you any thoughts on what's going to replace your car?

Well I don't want to get my hopes up too high yet but it would be nice.

I would like the get the 2004 prius like I originally wanted when I bought the mazda 3 but it looks the they are still having the same problem of not making enough of them.

I looked at one of the new scion xAs. I like the size but the interior is pretty cheap looking and feeling. I supposed that is to be expected though

Well they totalled it. The estimate was already at 10K and there were some structural parts the were on back order with a two month eta. The insurance said they would rather total it than pay for a rental for two more months.

So today I had to go rip out the empeg seld, the other head unit, and the XM stuff. Next week it's buy a new car time.