Is my car considered totaled?

[2slowMX5]

Got in an accident with the miata. LIttle shook up and Icant type much now I have to go out with family soon. More pics later.

For now, what determines if a car is totaled or not?

I will find out later the payout (its a loan but not much is still owed). I will show pics of the damage (drivers door is buster, door sill area (body) is dented in).

What else info should I provide.

From memory: 2000 miata, base model, 97500 miles, 5 speed, I think i owe 3500...

[CleanNeon98]

Post a pic...if it is totalled, I want some parts off of it if you part out.

[CHAOS]

if the monetary amount of damage caused is more than the valuation of the vehicle for the insurance company, they call it a total loss.

[2slowMX5]

Ok so what next then. Say its totaled. What to I need to do to take complete ownership so I can part it to to say Cleannon above and craigs list ect...

[oneday]

It really doesn't take much to total a Miata. If the door sill is really whacked then it it possible the frame rail is tweaked and that is no fun to try and fix.

For your sake, I hope it's totaled.

[AWD GS]

Ok so what next then. Say its totaled. What to I need to do to take complete ownership so I can part it to to say Cleannon above and craigs list ect...


you buy it back from the insurance company. if they total the car, they will cut you a check for the value of the car. from there you can go get a new car or buy it back. if its totalled bad enough, theres no sense in buying it back.

sometimes with cheaper cars, it doesnt take much to "total" the car, like mentioned the damage exceeding the blue book value and you can usually buy it back and fix it to get it back on the road.

[CleanNeon98]

I wouldn't want much from it....floormats, maybe the wheels and tires, interior tidbits.

[fballman1987]

best way to tell though is to post pictures.

[2slowMX5]

Uploaded som epics to tinypic:

http://i37.tinypic.com/28gtl3t.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/wbusxw.jpg
http://i34.tinypic.com/2e2nhw2.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/imid8n.jpg

Door will not close enough to trigger the interior light switch. I pulled the fuse to save the battery.


BTW: Payout is 3700 (I know its really high, i am in debt up to my eyballs)

car is stock basically, sans some ine car entertainment and xenon projector headlights.

BTW: I posted in the BST forums some stuff for sale. Most didnt sell, well im going to reup that thread, everything has to go go go go:)

[2slowMX5]

I wouldn't want much from it....floormats, maybe the wheels and tires, interior tidbits.

It didn't come with any floormats when bought. I have a range rover (yes really) rubber floormat that I cut to fit (was free).

One wheel got damaged so the snows are on now. Interior tidbits I can def help you with :)

[CleanNeon98]

That doesnt look too bad, needs a door and to bang out the rocker panel a bit...doesn't look like it got deep enough to hit the frame rails though IMO. All you can do is wait for the insurance adjuster to help you out.

[Jeffros Spec V]

I don't know how much a Miata is worth but here is the estimate I would write.

Set up and Measure - 2
Rough Pull Rocker -1
Repair left rocker - 6
Replace Left Door Skin (Used) -
Replace Rear Bumper Cover (used or Aftermarket)
Blend Quarter
Blend left Fender
R&I left tail lamp, left headlamp for paint.


Say the car is worth $5,000.00 and you owe $3700.00 and you have a $500 deductible. The insurance company will keep the car and pay you $800.00 If you wish to keep the car they will deduct salvage value (what they could retian if they sold it at auction) and for a little Miata lets say they would get $1,000.00 considering the condition and the amount of repairs to be made on this thing. (You have to think what a shop that has tools and parts accounts could fix that car for then turn around and sell it) So you would owe the insurance company $200.00 and get to keep the car and register it as a salvage title. Then you could part it out.

Got it?


Edit: Most insruance companies deteremine a total loss at a 70% threshold. If the cost to repair the vehicle exceeds 70% of the total fair market value the car is considered a total loss.

[2slowMX5]

Hey that is really helpful, thanks.

for some really odd reason, the drivers electric window works BETTER now.... Impact must of knocked all the gunk off the regulator gears lol

[CleanNeon98]

Does the car drive straight and stuff?

Fortunately for you, if it does get totalled, there are so many of these cars on the market that you can find another one within an hour, plus they are out of season and cheaper now.

[2slowMX5]

Ive already been lusting for a while, a 1st gen, white with gold equips & color matched hardtop. Nothing else matters!

[CleanNeon98]

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/images/mazdaspeed/large/img_mazdaspd_tuning_personal46_lg_05.jpg

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/images/mazdaspeed/large/img_mazdaspd_tuning_personal46_lg_16.jpg

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/images/mazdaspeed/large/img_mazdaspd_tuning_personal46_lg_04.jpg

..............do it!

[pearl]

how is a car out of season? does it hibernate?

insurance will total it.

[CleanNeon98]

how is a car out of season? does it hibernate?

insurance will total it.
Some convertibles and sports cars go out of season now when they become less desirable because of the weather...you will generally see convertible prices jump in the warm months and fall in the cold....that's reffered to as in-season and out-of-season.

[motorvated]

How much for the motor?....

[oneday]

Just for point of reference, the EVO is a very rare color and is either loved or hated by the Miata community.

A very clean, low mileage example just popped up on a local board...with a HT, and unfortunately a automatic...but it's expected to fetch $9-11K.
Link to LVMOC (http://www.lvmoc.net/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=7&showtopic=51318)

Let them total it, then make sure they know it's very difficult to replace due to limited edition color...might net you a better payout.

[2slowMX5]

Yea I know about the evo color... unfortunatlely... I love it, only ever saw one in the greater philly area, it was a dealer trade in at some dealership in the northeast and had a FACTORY HARDTOP... color matched to boot. Dealer was not interested in selling the hardtop (cant really blame them).

Can does not hibernate, its my daily and driven all year. What you see in the pics are the snow tirye. The summer I took to a shop to have the tires removed from the wheels.

Engine Im not sure, but if you want it i will look into parting it...

[2slowMX5]

Ok I just took the car to 2 body shops, one reasonable, one expensive. Both have to get back to me on specific quotes. I didn't call the insurer yet.
The first place I used before (twice), they do good work and are afordable. The expensive place Im sure does great work also, but you never see a car as inexpensive as mine at a place like this and I have a feeling the insurer (Progressive) wont want to use them.

[2slowMX5]

Found this on Craigslist... WOW 25000 miles! http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/952920130.html

Rare 2000 Miata with only 25,500 miles, brother in-law passed away and I have the car in my Skippack Pa. garage. Mazda receipts for everything done from day one. Viper alarm. Power windows, locks,CD. Black seats and top.$2,000 factory hard top. Auto trans with overdrive. Wheels perfect. Mature non smoker.
Evolution Orange introduced for the 2000 Miata, then was discontinued worldwide with only 644 produced for the U.S. That makes it the the shortest production run ever.
Evolution Orange is far rarer than any of the other Miata. A collector car.

Car is open to offer. Kelly lists private sale value at $8,195. dealer price on the lot $9,895 but in reality many priced higher on the web. I expect it to sell somewhere in between.

Let me know if you want to see and drive it. I am getting ready to place a few web adds and submit to Miata newsletter classifieds. Email is my work, Mon-Fri 7-4pm only. 215-323-2186 day 610-489-2924 eve

http://images.craigslist.org/1f21271g83k73p23ld8cabe029837507f16c9.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/1161fa1323nd3k73p78ca6c09fb31dd151036.jpg

[87fierogt]

its the car posted on the link on the first page

[2slowMX5]

Oh wow. I didn't read that link earlier, I was just browsing Clist like usual and came across it!

[01 Trans-Am WS6]

Doesn't look bad AT ALL in my opinion. Don't see why it will be totalled..

[Scapegoat]

any time a car is orange... it gets cooler...

good luck with insurance, damage doesn't look to bad

[boostedmr2]

It doesn't look to be enough damage to be totaled. If insurance totals it fix it yourself, tons of donor miata'a out there im sure

[Soon2bBoosted]

dont insurance companies total cars based on body shop repair ammounts, not self repairs?

[CleanNeon98]

dont insurance companies total cars based on body shop repair ammounts, not self repairs?
They total them based on the repair estimates. At that point, you get a payout and can buy the car back from insurance for a given ammount and fix it on your own, but I think it will wear an R title at that point. What some people do is get a check from insurance if the car isn't totalled and then take it to a cheaper shop to get repaired, that way you can make a bit of money for the headache.

[CleanNeon98]

So what happened with this?

[gorabbit]

i doubt its totaled. get an estimate and check the bluebook value. if the estimate is more than the car is worth then its totaled

[CleanNeon98]

If it is, wanna sell me the rear subframe and control arms and other bits?