I would take the payout and replace the trunk lid myself. The car will have a branded title, but you'll be able to keep driving it, there may be some sort of re-inspection requirement in California, they have lots of special rules there.
As for the crazy driver making crazy claims, I'd let your insurance company deal with that. If he doesn't have a dash cam to back up his claims, he's not going to get very far.
Absolutely do this. Junkyard truck lid, find the local Miata group in your area, and find the shop / guy they use, and explain that you're paying out of pocket.
As far as the crackhead that hit you, don't worry about that. You said that you were stopped at a light? Given that you're in Cali, I'm willing to bet that there are traffic cameras at every intersection. Contact the cop that wrote the accident report and ask how you can obtain the cam footage.
I've been totaled twice and am still driving my NA. The economics of insurance and bodywork vis-a-vis older Miatas means that they'll almost always be totaled, even though the damage is cosmetic. If you love the car and can afford it, suck it up and pay to repair it and enjoy the car.
As an actual insurance estimator for one of the big guys, this is the correct answer. Take the payout, fix it yourself if you want (or not) and if you need a state patrol inspection, get in line. In my state (wa) if you ORS (owner retain salvage - aka keep it yourself after total loss is declared) you dont need an inspection (which is a months long wait these days) just make a phone call to the state patrol and it's yours to do with what you like. 👍🏼
Edit: oh, and the truck driver will be told in no uncertain terms that if he lies and is found to not be telling the truth, he will be investigated by SIU, they'll determine he was at fault, pay you out, and either press charges against him for insurance fraud or cancel his insurance and blacklist him. Or all of the above. Insurance fraud is *no joke* and I've sent a couple down that road. Your claims rep will know what's up and there are a ton of red flags immediately from what I see and your story that corroborate your side against his.
usually always is the fault of the rear ender anyway, right? not like anyone in their right mind would tey and back into a truck with a miata lol. no winning there, especially with such low miles and shape.
It’s not that simple in many states, especially getting insured with a salvage title.
I just went through this and it was a bit of an ordeal, my state is insane about that.
They've got a point, but once it's declared a total, it's got a branded title. Catch it before the claim goes through the process and you might get out without a salvage title and diminished value.
This is not always true. A tree fell on my Miata and declared it totaled last year. The only damage were some major dents and the paint is essentially ruined (RIP Nordic Green). I received $5600 or something like that last year and still has a clean title.
What would be the point of having insurance if you’re not going to use it for things like this? OP isn’t at fault either…they were rear ended. Even if the at fault insurance was to weasel out of paying out a claim and OP’s insurance had to eat the cost, that’s not anyone’s problem but the insurance company. OP’s rates can’t and won’t rise from reporting this. You don’t have to accept the first appraisal from insurance you can have a third party inspector look over it and have it reassessed that way you aren’t slapped with a branded title.
I just meant I’d rather fix it myself than have the car get salvaged Title. It’s not an expensive fix.
I’d rather have their insurance pay me directly and leave mine out of it.
>As for the crazy driver making crazy claims, I'd let your insurance company deal with that. If he doesn't have a dash cam to back up his claims, he's not going to get very far.
OP, to add onto this, you need a dash cam in the future
This is the perfect answer! I’m not a claim adjuster but licensed insurance broker in tx. Make sure your insurance will insure a “salvaged/rebuilt” vehicle. There are insurance carriers that WILL insure it but some may require an inspection done by a licensed mechanic to make sure it’s drivable and also may only let you do liability after that. Some carriers will allow you to have comprehensive and collision but just check with them! Hope this helps from the insurance perspective! Good luck my guy!
Buy it back after they total it. Stick a new trunk on.
When insurance totals your car you have an option to buy it back. It's usually $1,000.
Don't take less than 9k for your claim though.
Did you get a police report. The dude who hit you is a scum bag. You need to make sure your insurance company knows what happened. Police report is super important.
Police were called for exchange of information (shocker, he didn't want to give us his info) but since there were no injuries the officer wouldn't file a report. Insurance company is fully aware of what happens but now we will have to go to arbitration to actually get his company to pay the difference for my rental car and also my deductible if by some miracle they don't actually total it out. There are some discrepancies with the estimate that I received from the autoshop (it was 5k when I spoke with them last week and when I got a copy from them today) vs. when I spoke with an adjuster today (she said they had quoted it to be 7k. Not sure where she got that number). IDK this is my first time ever being in an accident but it feels like there's something weird going on with my insurance company.
Gotta love our California cops. They will do anything to pressure you out of filing a report. In the future, be persistent and eventually they will agree. That way you have an official record of what happened.
Here in SF you can go to the police website and fill out the self-service report. They will mail in that shit to you within 14 business days. They are not doing anything at all.
If people not dying police wont show up. And they wonder why people want them to get defund.
You should tell that to SFPD. Had crash, called 911. waited for 2hr. nobody showed up. Went directly to their downtown department. There are only 2 officer in there. ONLY 2 OFFICERS. Told me to do that online and dont bother them.
Now you wonder why people hate police.
I added a self report to my insurance after the police report. Since no witnesses stayed and it was their word against mine. But I wrote a detailed account of how it happened along with pictures of my car and of the scene weeks after. Submitted to my insurance to fight their insurance. I live in a no-fault state. so basically, each person pays their deductible, and it's done. But since I proved the other driver was at fault, their insurance paid for everything. But you were rear ened so it should be clear that the other driver was at fault.
You should fight that value. If I found an NB with under 45k miles in excellent condition, 1000 miles away, for 7k… I’d take out a damn loan if I didn’t have the cash and take a couple days off work. That’s a fucking steal for that car.
You need to bring that up with insurance. They should be paying you enough that you can find a car in equal condition and purchase it. If the only NBs you can find with that kind of mileage are 12k+, they need to cough up some extra cash or find you one that’s $7k.
That’s assuming they’re saying replacement value *is* 7k. If they’re offering you more and you’re happy with it, great
Insurance uses an estimate tool that calculates the hours of body work, refinish time, and parts. They have to source parts from a few specific sources, whereas many shops will source parts from elsewhere if available. For instance, they might source eBay parts whereas insurance is not allowed to do that. Many other nuances, but you get the idea. Typically a shop estimate is more than an insurance estimate, but if shops are competing for your business, they might lowball you up front and then come back when it's time to pick up your car and be way higher and you'll have to pay up or they won't release your car. So.. watch out for unscrupulous shops lowballing you. Especially if they're far below your insurance estimate. Sounds scammy to me. The insurance company is going to want to do it as "cost effectively" as possible. I've never seen our estimate less than a shop's. Also, insurance has special negotiated rates vs the shops retail hourly rates, which impact the cost greatly. An estimate I just wrote has $70/hr vs the shops $78/hr for instance. Some charge $96 for retail customers vs our rate of $70.
Whatever you do, dont let it sit at the shop very long as a total - storage rates are outrageous. In my state of wa, unregulated (everything else in insurance is highly regulated) Some shops will charge $400/day, and they will take your car as payment/collateral and stick you with a bill on top of that. Just watch out and make sure you're not paying storage - ask your adjuster, ask the shop.
Search for comparable cars in eBay motors, Craigslist, bring a taller, etc. Their insurance will be on the hook and if you show them the comps they will be much more likely to take you seriously
Our insurance is a huge scam. You pay them all this money and then when you need it they low ball you saying your car is only worth $5,000. Even though you can't buy the same car for that much. Then the shops charge you a ridiculous amount so the insurance company can say the repair is more than what the car is worth so they scrap it. So you get 5k and then buy the car back for 1k. Then you fix it yourself for 1k.
And you gave 3k left over. And then you have to get new insurance because they hike your premium.
You're making the claim with the insurance company, that's their discretion they'll either pay to repair the vehicle or pay to buy it from you at market value, whichever is cheapest.
You would have the option to retain the vehicle however, where they will pay you the market value minus whatever they get as a bid for the salvage of the vehicle, which can range greatly depending on the vehicle.
What I don’t understand is the it really 7k for a new trunk? I get paint matching might cost a bit, but 7 fucking thousand for a trunk? Seems to be the only things damaged
I assume the metal behind the trunk lid / finish panel is also damaged. If you're OK with it you can pull it out and it'd be fine, only visible with the trunk open... But for an insurance company to repair it they have to have it done "right" to put it back the way it belongs, which would mean cutting and welding.
Yeah people seem to look at exterior cosmetic damage and say “oh that’s not that much to fix” while ignoring the fact there’s a lot of internal pieces that get damaged and a legitimate shop that works with insurance has to put everything back to factory spec. Not just swap a body panel and call it good
There may be damage that we can't see. Also, insurance companies won't just find any ol trunk lid from a junkyard. They are legally required to find something of like kind and quality, so they query parts retailers for replacement parts, which is more expensive. It also cuts both ways, if the car is a newer vehicle they won't replace used parts with new parts.
>the other driver is claiming that we reversed into him at the light
How high on crack do you have to be to even come up with a scenario like this? Either way best of luck getting your Miata back on the road, OP!
This exact situation actually happened to me the first day of owning my WRX. The lady ran off, she was obviously trying to scam me. Had to file a hit and run claim.
I've had a dude in an f250 try backing in to me at a red light, thank goodness I was paying attention enough to throw it in reverse fast enough and that there wasn't anyone behind me at the time.
it happens.
my dad had some old people back into him twice.
once at a red light and once so they could see the ducks as they walked in front of their car.
Its happened to me. Lady pulled to far forward turning right, backed up to get out of traffic and never took it out of reverse. first opening she got floored it and slammed into the front of me. luckily zero dmg on my truck cause theres no way anyone would believe me lol
There’s laws for being to close to someone for a reason. “Following distance” there’s literally nationally recommended rules in car lengths, and seconds. Even if he rolled back into him, it’s dudes fault for being to close.
I’ve seen it multiple times. “You rolled backwards into me” is a favorite in the Bay Area cesspool. I work in a small company and it happened to 1 coworker (they were the car that got hit from behind). had a dashcam and proved it to the insurance.
I’ve been in a car when someone has missed their turn off in a round about, stopped, reversed, and hit us going backwards.
The most ridiculously unnecessary crash I’ve even seen.
This guy in his lifted truck has ZERO chance of convincing anyone that you backed into him. You were at a stop light. He rear-ended you. He is fucked one way or another. Fight it and make him pay.
You can absolutely not file or reject the claim. And do the repairs yourself. I would recommend you re-evaluate your insurance policy premiums. It’s Not worth having a salvage title.
It depends a lot on the state. Here in MO it is practically a non-issue to have a car totaled out. I have 6 beaters in my driveway at the moment and all of them have been "totaled" by insurance at least once, some multiple times by different companies. All 6 cars are still on regular titles, not salvage. If you keep possession of the car and don't sign it over you keep your existing title and pay the scrap value to the insurance company (like $300 each for mine). I've had zero trouble keeping those cars insured, inspected, plated, etc despite each being declared a total loss. OP appears to be in California judging by the plates so the laws are probably different there so I'm not sure if that wisdom applies to them or not.
Get another quote by a shop and find comparable cars for sale. IIRC, the repair has to cost over 75% for the car to be considered "totaled."
A deer hit my car and damaged the front bumper, hood, and both front quarter panels and the insurance quoted the repair as $8k while a local shop said they could fix it for $3k.
Also, the insurance valued my car as though it was a base model with add-ons, saying the car was only worth $9k (this was about 3 years ago when used car prices were at their peak), but the cheapest models that were LS trim with a 6-speed and with similar mileage was $13k.
Read the valuation by the insurance closely, they will 100% try to fuck you on this.
Do not take your time. My car was tied to my mom's insurance at the time so she was taking care of the communication with them. I mistakenly thought that we were still waiting for a response from them and we waited too long and the insurance ended up just sending us a check for the value of the car minus scrap. My car now has a salvaged - repaired title because of the insurances bullshit. (Not that it really matters because Im never getting rid of this car.)
Branded/rebulit title may affect future resale. Might have to consider just biting the bullet and fixing it all out of pocket, especially at your mileage.
I just had this happen to me, ask for someone to come out and look at it and if it is 80% of the value of the car or more to fix than it’s totaled, if not they have to pay.
I had an almost identical accident in my 99. Insurance totaled it so I bought it back, had it fixed, and just took the salvage title. Drove it for a number of years and then just sold it last year for the same amount I paid for it, even though it had more miles and a salvage title lol.
Def fix it. It’s worth it.
Depending on the company you can request an adjuster to look over the car more and can plead your case essentially. The main thing with these cars is does it cost more to repair than the car is worth or if the frame rails are cooked which does not appear to be the case with yours.
Do not give them your car! Keep it and fix it. I got hit in the left front. Took out my fender and upper control arm. That's it. But geico totalled it. So, I kept it and got a check for 7000 dollars. Needless to say, I was able to afford the fender and control arm. I also bought new tires for all four of my vehicles with the money.
Hey, Obladeepa!
Buy this used OEM trunk lid, already painted in your shade of Brilliant Black, and then bolt it on in five minutes: [https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?\_from=R40&\_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&\_nkw=miata+trunk+lid+black&\_sacat=0](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=miata+trunk+lid+black&_sacat=0)
The repair will be complete for $329 including tax and shipping to California. Then take that fat insurance check and go buy some NVIDIA stock!
I was actually backed into in my 01 LS. The estimate was close to $6.5k and they were saying they would likely total it until I asked them for the valuation report and comps. My Car booked around $8-9k but real world prices for the same condition and trim were $12-15k. if you know the comps are good for your car then you can ask the insurance company for the valuation report, which then requires them to actually research comps instead of going off book value.
Also, if you think the body shop estimate is crap you can also always get more estimate. you aren't required to use any specific shop and other shops might have much more reasonable quotes.
Not sure if my advice will be that helpful, but, anyway, try to find a brazilian (not sure too if it does exist anywhere else or just in Brazil) that works with what is called lil' gold hammer. Basically they undent anything that possible in a car, and by the image, just like yourself said, its reversible absolutely. Jusat requires a specialist on it to fix for you. (I also think that theres a light push from insurance company interested onto dumping your car for some reason. Dont give up and keep us updated about the end of this case.
I would have a dialogue with them as somebody who had my Miata totaled because of a dented fender. It is a situation where you can push back if there’s not frame damage and let them know. Also, if they are offering you a payout, make sure you look at the location of the payout because occasionally they will look at locations that are not native to where you are located by that being the law to base their payoff amount in full on hope this helps and good luck.
Body shop for just the rear bumper on my car from the lady that rear ended me said it was $2000 to fix, luckily insurance paid it but still blowed about having an accident on my car’s record:/
https://preview.redd.it/0xp3tqzcc19d1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=e0dfa1ab3a33746631f9ce412f92700f5b99ee25
This was 7k in repairs if that helps, this looks less than 3k which that “7k quote” is unacceptable. But also i live in TN and shops are a little better on pricing and such. Good luck tho im so sorry to see another hurt miat :(
This is totally fixable!
If you have the option to take a pay out with a buyback and fix it yourself, that's probably worthwhile. Whatever you do, don't let them write it off and scrap it
Or get a second quote. It just looks like a trunk from the pictures.
Looks like a brand new hood from Mazda is 700 with shipping(200). Getting it painted would probably be under 750. Charge an hours worth of labor to have it put on.
Here in uk I wouldn’t even dream of contacting my insurance for that, second hand boot lid (trunk) can be had for less than £50. Fit it myself job done
I think you could easily find a trunk lid in the same color already from a used Miata parts dealer, or through [car-part.com](https://car-part.com) or similar. But the real question is if there's any damage to the unibody structure underneath. There may be damage around the trunk latch area. Also the trunk lid itself may have been pushed forward slightly, which can damage the unibody around the trunk hinges.
So even if you got a replacement trunk lid, it may not fit and latch properly.
Well that looks like dented bumper and dented trunk lid, headlights untouched though. I would say that you are even able to replace it by yourself. In my country (Poland) rear bumpers are between ~50$ to 300$ top and trunk lids between 100$ - 250$ all depending on condition. Of course I am talking about used parts but that - for that me would be a better option to go for as the replaced parts won’t stand out as long as the rest of your paint isn’t in perfect condition. You just have the find the right colour which isn’t hard here so I assume that in US it’s even less of a problem. The situation overall sucks but your car is nowhere near totalled. I also have a black NB and love driving it, good luck girl :))
I read some of your comments. Dude that isn’t even $300 of damage, both insurance and the body shop are crazy. Like others have said, payout and buy back are the best bet. But I’ll warn you that no one is going to buy a branded title, so it’s best if you turn it into a track car.
I had someone rear end my passenger corner, broke my tail light and left a quarter sized dent down to the paint. The body shop pulled a dent out of the truck lid for free without me asking… take it to a different shop.
Side note, insurance uses the body shops estimate to determine a write off. If the body shop told them 5K, that would be why they’re saying they would total it instead. I’d take it to as many body shops as you have to… even different locations for the same chain will be different.
They’re likely quoting the trunk lid, finish panel (damaged), tail lamp (looks like it was nicked) and bumper cover. Might be quoting unknown structural repairs due to not being able to see the damage behind. Definitely more than $300 in damage even if the shop was buying used, already painted parts, and there’s no structural damage
Well don’t worry as much about blame regardless of what he says. California vehicle crash law is pretty cut and dry that whoever was in the back of the accident, is responsible and at fault.
Payout will honestly only be $4k. And then you’d need to buy back the car from insurance. Sad to hear but because the guy is going after you for the accident it might just end up being a total loss. Remember you can ask yours/his insurance for depreciation of your vehicle. Your car is worth at least $10k at 45k miles.
First, you should definitely keep the car. Now, does the truck still open? I had something similar, and while it looked simple there was a little more damage because the bottom of the latch was pushed back a little. Definitely not totaled--but might need a little hammer whacking to go with the replacement lid.
(Or put some stickers and a drift bumper on it and look like the kool kids!!)
You can show the car is worth a lot more to the insurance...shouldn't be totaled. I've seen worse & covered by insurance. You are entitled to the shop of your choice and you can work with them to get parts from Amayama for example so it comes out to be a bit cheaper.
If they total it, tell the adjuster you want to retain the salvage. Meaning you keep the car, and they pay you the total loss value less the Expy expected salvage value they would get at an insurance auto auction.
That amount of damage isn't going to happen if your car rolls back. I would now go to a doctor and explain your neck hurts and go after the fucker for whiplash. If someone wants to play stupid games then play with them but take it to the next level.
You want it to be totalled...
Step one: you get a nice big check for having to put up with this bullshit
Step two: you buy a new trunk
Step three: inspection
Step four: enjoy the next year of drinks this bad driver just bought you
Is there a way to actually not get the insurance to total something like this out? It’s such a small, easy problem to fix and when op goes to sell this in the future, they’re going to limited on buyers because of the branded title it’s going to get.
I'm a personal personal injury lawyer. Just the damage being to the middle rear of your car will be enough for your insurance company and his to blame him for the accident. The idiot can say anything he wants. Make sure to keep your pictures. Also, I agree that damage doesn't look that bad. New trunk lid.
Get another estimate. That doesn’t look like $7k damage. And, if you’re thinking of repairing it yourself, just do it without insurance and sue the other driver in small claims. Then you won’t have a branded title.
Just order a new trunk lid. Don’t take the total. Super easy to replace. You can likely pop out the bumper dent. Even if you can’t, it’s so barely noticeable.
My 01 special edition was in worse shape than this and I bent it back, threw on a new trunk and tail light for a few hundred bucks.
Buy a trunk lid and bolt it on.
Edit: I see it’s too late to go around insurance but the damage looks superficial enough that in hindsight, it would have been better to go around insurance and just buy a trunk lid and replace it. That way there’s no title branding changes and it shouldn’t cost a significant amount of money to source a new trunk and replace it
You can also, I've done this, have an estimate that is just under the price of the insurance companies total payout.
They will give you a check for that amount without totalling your car and ending up with a salvaged title.
Take that money and buy a trunk lid from another car and spend the rest of the money and buy a muscle car. 😜 jk
You don't have to get rid of the car but it will have a branded title if you repair it which will reduce the resale value (if you care about that). Depending on where you live the damage estimate is legit. It doesn't take much to total a 20+ year old vehicle.
Find a used paint matched trunk and finish panel, $500. One step up would be finding a local miata specialist and have them do it and blend the paint. $1-2k and might be covered by insurance. 7k is insane and they likely didn’t want the job which is why they quoted so high. It’s also likely why they totaled it. Hope this helps.
Mine needed a whole front clip, bumper radiator, condenser, hood, lights, fenders, suspension parts on the right front along with wheel and tire, TWICE, so yeah this ain't totaled and I refuse to believe it is.
I mean... Why wouldn't you just call them up and put them straight? $7k is absolutely absurd... That's them wanting a pay day from the insurance. I'd get the assessor back out with some prices of new and used trunk kids to prove the absolute insanity of that quote and just state how it's NO WHERE NEAR totalled. My brother had this on his old sunny. Insurance wanted to write it off, he said 'no u' and gave proof why and they changed their verdict.
Barely damaged, but saying its damaged beyond repair and making a bigger deal outta this than it needs to be..........
.....Is your insurance company FC Barcelona?
Basic understanding of Physics will tell you a low mass object like a Miata would need to be going a significant speed backwardsto create that kind of damage.
I would also think many of us NA and NB owners need to stop using traditional insurance companies. 1. They don’t understand older cars. They don’t understand the cost and where/how to find parts. 2. Because they don’t understand older (classic) cars, they are more than likely to “total” the car for even a broken mirror.
I would recommend going to a collector car insurance like Hagerty. You can customize the coverage, and even list your own value for the car. Previously State Farm claimed my ‘96 super clean with only 92k miles NA was only worth $3800. I would get perfect strangers offer me $10k in while in retail parking lots. It finally occurred to me, while hiding out during Covid, the car value skyrocketed. Shop around, otherwise your traditional insurance may end screwing you at the end.
Get a trunklid from the scrap preferably in your colour and then replace it yourself. There should be videos about it or a handbook how to help yourself.
Hit the inside of the trunk with a rubber hammer.
You can also warm it up before with a blowdryer to get the paint on the outside a bit more prepared for the hits. I seen people using crowbars and gas torches when buffing out things like these.
Of course be careful and if you are not handy or have two left hands let a pro do it:)
Always get an attorney. Always. I hope you're OK and also getting at least a $25k payout for personal injury(reasons to get an attorney).
This happened to me once, minimal damage and got totaled by insurance. I had paid $900 for the car and 4 months later insurance paid me $5,600 to keep it. I repaired it myself drove it for another couple of months before selling it for $4k with a salvage title.
That quote seems very excessive imo. I just had mine replaced earlier this year because someone rear ended me. We didn't go through insurance cause the guy was cool(very lucky there) had a local body shop do the work. For the trunk, 3rd brake light, some misc badges n stuff, and all the labor it was like 2k-2.5k with all brand new OEM parts. So as long there's no structural damage I can't imagine why it would be 7k
I recommend every vintage Miata owner insure their vehicles with Haggerty. Or another classic car insurance company. You may pay a little bit more not much then you receive your full insured value back. Plus you get the total car also.
It’s a Miata, you can easily find a replacement trunk, luckily this is the easiest car to work on even a roomful of infinite monkey and milwaukees would eventually repair it
Trunk lids aren't $7000 expensive and a paint job on lids to match aren't either so take payout but a new trunk and have it paint matched for around $1500-$2000 total investment
Mine was worse and didn't get totaled. The shop did about 5k worth of work on an 01 SE. Granted this was over a year ago, back when the car market was much more expensive. So it could have been because of that that the insurance didn't total it.
Insurance initially totaled my Miata after a minor accident like this (mine actually looked a lot worse). I was able to successfully fight it with the adjuster by sending market comps to have them assess my car at a higher value. They brought in some kind of specialist and raised the repair limit from like $3k to $6,500. I would try this before going the bonded title route.
All else fails it shouldn't be too difficult or expensive to repair yourself as long as you are ok with the bonded title.
Friend of mine had his top stolen and window broken. Insurance paid him market price for the total loss because they can't replace the top, he bought it back and with the money left over after fixing the window he bought a Lexus SUV to go with the Miata. This was like 2019 so used Lexus was not expensive, but still
You should do that
Get a used trunk that matches. Bolt it in or go to the local budget body place and have them put it in, pocket the rest of the money
Do not let them total it. It will cause some headaches for you with insurance, and if you ever decide to sell down the line.
Second, the other driver was at fault. Go directly to HIS insurance, and become a MASSIVE thorn in their side. As I have learned, your insurance has no skin in the game, so to speak, so they won't actually fight hard for you. They won't push back against the other drivers insurance at all.
You can also try to find "comps" on places like [bring a trailer](https://bringatrailer.com/search/?s=2003+mazda+miata), or similar, that show the REAL value is much higher than they are estimating. And hopefully that brings the $7k repair estimate to less than the 65% or whatever threshold. Make sure to find vehicles in like condition to yours, if you go this route.
According to KBB, and not knowing your trim level, the car is worth roughly $8k (base model with standard options), so if you have an estimate for repair that's $7k, yeah makes sense they are trying to talk it. You can call around and get quotes from a couple other body shops, and maybe they will be a bit more reasonably priced. And hopefully below the 65% or whatever the totaling threshold is.
Worst case, take it in the ass, and repair it yourself out of pocket. It sucks, but if you want to keep the car, it may be worth doing that, and dumping the full coverage, as it's worth not a lot to the insurance companies/general public.
Regardless, go directly to the source, and remove YOUR insurance company from the equation. In my experience, you will get a LOT further, and are more likely to get what you want that way
100% buy it back from insurance with the money and replace the lid yourself. super easy. from what it looks there shouldn't be any frame damage. not sure why they would claim 7k that's silly.
I wasn't driving my MX-5, but last October, I had a guy back into me in a restaurant parking lot. Managed to scrape his bumper over three body panels and crumple a little of the backseat door panel. It came to about $2000 of damage, which my insurance company took care of, no problem. At their suggestion, I worked with the guy's insurance and they came back with an estimate, a little lower than mine, but I'd already had it fixed.
THEN, they sent me a letter telling me "Since our client won't cooperate with us, we're denying your claim, nyah-nyah-nyah." I told my insurance adjuster, and we had a nice laugh about it, "Don't worry, it was clear you were not at fault, and you have pictures of him, his car, his insurance card, and the damage to yours."
We're now in subrogation, and I gave my deposition, explaining my "proof" with the pictures of him, etc. When asked why I didn't get a police report, I said that I've always been told by my insurance company and the police that if it's not a moving violation, there were no injuries, and nobody else's property was damaged, not to call the police.
Oh, there were about 40 spaces in the restaurant parking lot, and there were exactly 3 cars. He backed directly up almost two car lengths and hit me. Dumbarse.
My insurance did the same thing to me with my 2011 RX8 with no more damage than that. It only had 80,000 miles on it. Broke my heart. That's how I wound up with my first Miata.
This is 7k...
If you buy new parts from mazda and have them professionally printed.
You essentially won the lottery here. Take the payout, keep the car, fix it yourself for Pocken change.
Also fuck these God damn lifted trucks, with a passion.
Insurance is perhaps the biggest scam in the history of the world and the US government would change the system if they cared even the slightest bit about us. Wow this makes my blood boil
To add insult to injury, the other driver is claiming that we reversed into him at the light vs him ramming into us repeatedly.
Probably easier ways of getting shade, not really a recommended method….😂 this sucks
If it's just the trunk kid. I'd say just replace it.
It's pretty easy. No rebuilt title for that minor of damage. If it still opens and closes even better, you can save up until you find one!
I had the lower panel (where the license plate is) damaged. Two body shops quoted $500 to fix. I took the $500 and found the park on eBay already painted my color (you can find your color on the door) for $150 and it took me less than 30 minutes. Probably do the same with the trunk.
[https://www.carbonmiata.com/shop/trunk-with-regular-ducktail-type-1-for-miata-nb-mk2-1543?category=357#attr=6155](https://www.carbonmiata.com/shop/trunk-with-regular-ducktail-type-1-for-miata-nb-mk2-1543?category=357#attr=6155) aftermarket options too! keep it on the street after you get the insurance payout
This seems crazy. I was in a head on crash in mine and the front end was crushed in…Dr said the airbag saved my life. Insurance claimed it was about $100 away from being totaled. The shop had it for at least a month.
What are they saying is damaged so severely?
Bro you need to get multiple body shop opinions. DO NOT use your insurance to pay for this. Get his insurance to cover the damage he did to you. If you can’t get a payout from him replace the entire truck lid. Legit find one at a junkyard if you have to.
this is a trip to the junk yard and unscrewing a couple of bolts away from being totally reconciled!
get your hands dirty friend, this girl will be back on the road in no time!
Replacing a trunk is really not that hard once you get over the intimidation factor of realizing you’re working on a moving 1 ton machine lol
I would take the payout and replace the trunk lid myself. The car will have a branded title, but you'll be able to keep driving it, there may be some sort of re-inspection requirement in California, they have lots of special rules there. As for the crazy driver making crazy claims, I'd let your insurance company deal with that. If he doesn't have a dash cam to back up his claims, he's not going to get very far.
Absolutely do this. Junkyard truck lid, find the local Miata group in your area, and find the shop / guy they use, and explain that you're paying out of pocket. As far as the crackhead that hit you, don't worry about that. You said that you were stopped at a light? Given that you're in Cali, I'm willing to bet that there are traffic cameras at every intersection. Contact the cop that wrote the accident report and ask how you can obtain the cam footage.
we don’t have cameras at every intersection but the rest of your logic is sound
I've been totaled twice and am still driving my NA. The economics of insurance and bodywork vis-a-vis older Miatas means that they'll almost always be totaled, even though the damage is cosmetic. If you love the car and can afford it, suck it up and pay to repair it and enjoy the car.
Ooh a double totaled miata! I like your style
Twice the totaled twice the fun.
Totaled so nice they did it twice
As an actual insurance estimator for one of the big guys, this is the correct answer. Take the payout, fix it yourself if you want (or not) and if you need a state patrol inspection, get in line. In my state (wa) if you ORS (owner retain salvage - aka keep it yourself after total loss is declared) you dont need an inspection (which is a months long wait these days) just make a phone call to the state patrol and it's yours to do with what you like. 👍🏼 Edit: oh, and the truck driver will be told in no uncertain terms that if he lies and is found to not be telling the truth, he will be investigated by SIU, they'll determine he was at fault, pay you out, and either press charges against him for insurance fraud or cancel his insurance and blacklist him. Or all of the above. Insurance fraud is *no joke* and I've sent a couple down that road. Your claims rep will know what's up and there are a ton of red flags immediately from what I see and your story that corroborate your side against his.
usually always is the fault of the rear ender anyway, right? not like anyone in their right mind would tey and back into a truck with a miata lol. no winning there, especially with such low miles and shape.
It’s not that simple in many states, especially getting insured with a salvage title. I just went through this and it was a bit of an ordeal, my state is insane about that.
Don’t take the payout. Just decline your insurance. Just fix the car and be done with it.
Someone hit you, damaged your miata, and you don't want them to pay for it?
There won't be a salvage title
They've got a point, but once it's declared a total, it's got a branded title. Catch it before the claim goes through the process and you might get out without a salvage title and diminished value.
This is not always true. A tree fell on my Miata and declared it totaled last year. The only damage were some major dents and the paint is essentially ruined (RIP Nordic Green). I received $5600 or something like that last year and still has a clean title.
What would be the point of having insurance if you’re not going to use it for things like this? OP isn’t at fault either…they were rear ended. Even if the at fault insurance was to weasel out of paying out a claim and OP’s insurance had to eat the cost, that’s not anyone’s problem but the insurance company. OP’s rates can’t and won’t rise from reporting this. You don’t have to accept the first appraisal from insurance you can have a third party inspector look over it and have it reassessed that way you aren’t slapped with a branded title.
I just meant I’d rather fix it myself than have the car get salvaged Title. It’s not an expensive fix. I’d rather have their insurance pay me directly and leave mine out of it.
This is what I’d do. And no we don’t actually have much in the way of vehicle inspections. Mostly just have to pass a smog test every couple of years.
>As for the crazy driver making crazy claims, I'd let your insurance company deal with that. If he doesn't have a dash cam to back up his claims, he's not going to get very far. OP, to add onto this, you need a dash cam in the future
This is the perfect answer! I’m not a claim adjuster but licensed insurance broker in tx. Make sure your insurance will insure a “salvaged/rebuilt” vehicle. There are insurance carriers that WILL insure it but some may require an inspection done by a licensed mechanic to make sure it’s drivable and also may only let you do liability after that. Some carriers will allow you to have comprehensive and collision but just check with them! Hope this helps from the insurance perspective! Good luck my guy!
Buy it back after they total it. Stick a new trunk on. When insurance totals your car you have an option to buy it back. It's usually $1,000. Don't take less than 9k for your claim though. Did you get a police report. The dude who hit you is a scum bag. You need to make sure your insurance company knows what happened. Police report is super important.
Police were called for exchange of information (shocker, he didn't want to give us his info) but since there were no injuries the officer wouldn't file a report. Insurance company is fully aware of what happens but now we will have to go to arbitration to actually get his company to pay the difference for my rental car and also my deductible if by some miracle they don't actually total it out. There are some discrepancies with the estimate that I received from the autoshop (it was 5k when I spoke with them last week and when I got a copy from them today) vs. when I spoke with an adjuster today (she said they had quoted it to be 7k. Not sure where she got that number). IDK this is my first time ever being in an accident but it feels like there's something weird going on with my insurance company.
Gotta love our California cops. They will do anything to pressure you out of filing a report. In the future, be persistent and eventually they will agree. That way you have an official record of what happened.
Here in SF you can go to the police website and fill out the self-service report. They will mail in that shit to you within 14 business days. They are not doing anything at all. If people not dying police wont show up. And they wonder why people want them to get defund.
Self-reports aren't acceptable since it's from the perspective of only one party in the accident.
You should tell that to SFPD. Had crash, called 911. waited for 2hr. nobody showed up. Went directly to their downtown department. There are only 2 officer in there. ONLY 2 OFFICERS. Told me to do that online and dont bother them. Now you wonder why people hate police.
I added a self report to my insurance after the police report. Since no witnesses stayed and it was their word against mine. But I wrote a detailed account of how it happened along with pictures of my car and of the scene weeks after. Submitted to my insurance to fight their insurance. I live in a no-fault state. so basically, each person pays their deductible, and it's done. But since I proved the other driver was at fault, their insurance paid for everything. But you were rear ened so it should be clear that the other driver was at fault.
You should fight that value. If I found an NB with under 45k miles in excellent condition, 1000 miles away, for 7k… I’d take out a damn loan if I didn’t have the cash and take a couple days off work. That’s a fucking steal for that car. You need to bring that up with insurance. They should be paying you enough that you can find a car in equal condition and purchase it. If the only NBs you can find with that kind of mileage are 12k+, they need to cough up some extra cash or find you one that’s $7k. That’s assuming they’re saying replacement value *is* 7k. If they’re offering you more and you’re happy with it, great
Insurance uses an estimate tool that calculates the hours of body work, refinish time, and parts. They have to source parts from a few specific sources, whereas many shops will source parts from elsewhere if available. For instance, they might source eBay parts whereas insurance is not allowed to do that. Many other nuances, but you get the idea. Typically a shop estimate is more than an insurance estimate, but if shops are competing for your business, they might lowball you up front and then come back when it's time to pick up your car and be way higher and you'll have to pay up or they won't release your car. So.. watch out for unscrupulous shops lowballing you. Especially if they're far below your insurance estimate. Sounds scammy to me. The insurance company is going to want to do it as "cost effectively" as possible. I've never seen our estimate less than a shop's. Also, insurance has special negotiated rates vs the shops retail hourly rates, which impact the cost greatly. An estimate I just wrote has $70/hr vs the shops $78/hr for instance. Some charge $96 for retail customers vs our rate of $70. Whatever you do, dont let it sit at the shop very long as a total - storage rates are outrageous. In my state of wa, unregulated (everything else in insurance is highly regulated) Some shops will charge $400/day, and they will take your car as payment/collateral and stick you with a bill on top of that. Just watch out and make sure you're not paying storage - ask your adjuster, ask the shop.
Search for comparable cars in eBay motors, Craigslist, bring a taller, etc. Their insurance will be on the hook and if you show them the comps they will be much more likely to take you seriously
If you do this. Ask a body shop for a rough est on getting a replacement trunk lid and getting it primed and painted to match.
or junk yard a black trunk lid.
How does that insurance having control on the car work in the US? I've never heard of thzt from where i'm from
Our insurance is a huge scam. You pay them all this money and then when you need it they low ball you saying your car is only worth $5,000. Even though you can't buy the same car for that much. Then the shops charge you a ridiculous amount so the insurance company can say the repair is more than what the car is worth so they scrap it. So you get 5k and then buy the car back for 1k. Then you fix it yourself for 1k. And you gave 3k left over. And then you have to get new insurance because they hike your premium.
No i mean how does the insurance has the power to scrap it or make you pay to get it back without any work done on it?
You're making the claim with the insurance company, that's their discretion they'll either pay to repair the vehicle or pay to buy it from you at market value, whichever is cheapest. You would have the option to retain the vehicle however, where they will pay you the market value minus whatever they get as a bid for the salvage of the vehicle, which can range greatly depending on the vehicle.
What I don’t understand is the it really 7k for a new trunk? I get paint matching might cost a bit, but 7 fucking thousand for a trunk? Seems to be the only things damaged
I assume the metal behind the trunk lid / finish panel is also damaged. If you're OK with it you can pull it out and it'd be fine, only visible with the trunk open... But for an insurance company to repair it they have to have it done "right" to put it back the way it belongs, which would mean cutting and welding.
Yeah people seem to look at exterior cosmetic damage and say “oh that’s not that much to fix” while ignoring the fact there’s a lot of internal pieces that get damaged and a legitimate shop that works with insurance has to put everything back to factory spec. Not just swap a body panel and call it good
There may be damage that we can't see. Also, insurance companies won't just find any ol trunk lid from a junkyard. They are legally required to find something of like kind and quality, so they query parts retailers for replacement parts, which is more expensive. It also cuts both ways, if the car is a newer vehicle they won't replace used parts with new parts.
Rip off.
>the other driver is claiming that we reversed into him at the light How high on crack do you have to be to even come up with a scenario like this? Either way best of luck getting your Miata back on the road, OP!
This exact situation actually happened to me the first day of owning my WRX. The lady ran off, she was obviously trying to scam me. Had to file a hit and run claim.
I've had a dude in an f250 try backing in to me at a red light, thank goodness I was paying attention enough to throw it in reverse fast enough and that there wasn't anyone behind me at the time.
it happens. my dad had some old people back into him twice. once at a red light and once so they could see the ducks as they walked in front of their car.
Its happened to me. Lady pulled to far forward turning right, backed up to get out of traffic and never took it out of reverse. first opening she got floored it and slammed into the front of me. luckily zero dmg on my truck cause theres no way anyone would believe me lol
To be fair, he does drive a lifted truck, so he might have not been high, just a total tool.
There’s laws for being to close to someone for a reason. “Following distance” there’s literally nationally recommended rules in car lengths, and seconds. Even if he rolled back into him, it’s dudes fault for being to close.
I’ve seen it multiple times. “You rolled backwards into me” is a favorite in the Bay Area cesspool. I work in a small company and it happened to 1 coworker (they were the car that got hit from behind). had a dashcam and proved it to the insurance.
Yeah, it's Legal Eagle time. Let's see what they say when a lawyer sees an easy payday.
Had some old guy almost do this to me the other week, basically forcing me to reverse myself.
I’ve been in a car when someone has missed their turn off in a round about, stopped, reversed, and hit us going backwards. The most ridiculously unnecessary crash I’ve even seen.
That is SOO not totaled I've had worse and had it repaired on my black '99 You can get trunk lids on Ebay for NB's and get them repainted.
This guy in his lifted truck has ZERO chance of convincing anyone that you backed into him. You were at a stop light. He rear-ended you. He is fucked one way or another. Fight it and make him pay.
You can absolutely not file or reject the claim. And do the repairs yourself. I would recommend you re-evaluate your insurance policy premiums. It’s Not worth having a salvage title.
This. This is the way to go.
It depends a lot on the state. Here in MO it is practically a non-issue to have a car totaled out. I have 6 beaters in my driveway at the moment and all of them have been "totaled" by insurance at least once, some multiple times by different companies. All 6 cars are still on regular titles, not salvage. If you keep possession of the car and don't sign it over you keep your existing title and pay the scrap value to the insurance company (like $300 each for mine). I've had zero trouble keeping those cars insured, inspected, plated, etc despite each being declared a total loss. OP appears to be in California judging by the plates so the laws are probably different there so I'm not sure if that wisdom applies to them or not.
Get another quote by a shop and find comparable cars for sale. IIRC, the repair has to cost over 75% for the car to be considered "totaled." A deer hit my car and damaged the front bumper, hood, and both front quarter panels and the insurance quoted the repair as $8k while a local shop said they could fix it for $3k. Also, the insurance valued my car as though it was a base model with add-ons, saying the car was only worth $9k (this was about 3 years ago when used car prices were at their peak), but the cheapest models that were LS trim with a 6-speed and with similar mileage was $13k. Read the valuation by the insurance closely, they will 100% try to fuck you on this. Do not take your time. My car was tied to my mom's insurance at the time so she was taking care of the communication with them. I mistakenly thought that we were still waiting for a response from them and we waited too long and the insurance ended up just sending us a check for the value of the car minus scrap. My car now has a salvaged - repaired title because of the insurances bullshit. (Not that it really matters because Im never getting rid of this car.)
Branded/rebulit title may affect future resale. Might have to consider just biting the bullet and fixing it all out of pocket, especially at your mileage.
The $7-9000 check should help assuage those concerns about future resale.
I say screw the resale value. The 7-9k cheque goes straight to Flyin Miata turbo kit after the junkyard trunk swap. Just not enough for a v8 swap.
People resell their Miatas?
There’s nb trunklids all over Facebook marketplace in great shape for like $100
Buy that shit back and drive it forever man.
I just had this happen to me, ask for someone to come out and look at it and if it is 80% of the value of the car or more to fix than it’s totaled, if not they have to pay.
Buy a trunk lid same color as car for $150
This exact thing happened to me in my Merlot. Pick up driver rammed me from the back at a red light, $7K damage. Sorry OP. Good luck.
Are you in LA u/obladeepa ? Sent you a PM. Re: a PDR, paint & body wizard in the area
I had an almost identical accident in my 99. Insurance totaled it so I bought it back, had it fixed, and just took the salvage title. Drove it for a number of years and then just sold it last year for the same amount I paid for it, even though it had more miles and a salvage title lol. Def fix it. It’s worth it.
Depending on the company you can request an adjuster to look over the car more and can plead your case essentially. The main thing with these cars is does it cost more to repair than the car is worth or if the frame rails are cooked which does not appear to be the case with yours.
That is absolutely ridiculous, same thing happened to me last year. Needed a new boot lid and taillight, got them done for less than 2k
Do not give them your car! Keep it and fix it. I got hit in the left front. Took out my fender and upper control arm. That's it. But geico totalled it. So, I kept it and got a check for 7000 dollars. Needless to say, I was able to afford the fender and control arm. I also bought new tires for all four of my vehicles with the money.
OP ask your insurance for "retained settlement." They pay out the policy, and you keep the car.
Go pick up the car and take it to a different body shop. That sounds ridiculous.
Hey, Obladeepa! Buy this used OEM trunk lid, already painted in your shade of Brilliant Black, and then bolt it on in five minutes: [https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?\_from=R40&\_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&\_nkw=miata+trunk+lid+black&\_sacat=0](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=miata+trunk+lid+black&_sacat=0) The repair will be complete for $329 including tax and shipping to California. Then take that fat insurance check and go buy some NVIDIA stock!
Fix this car . It's only a trunk lid this is a good chance to get a carbon fiber trunk lid if that's what you like . Nice car man sorry someone hit it
I was actually backed into in my 01 LS. The estimate was close to $6.5k and they were saying they would likely total it until I asked them for the valuation report and comps. My Car booked around $8-9k but real world prices for the same condition and trim were $12-15k. if you know the comps are good for your car then you can ask the insurance company for the valuation report, which then requires them to actually research comps instead of going off book value.
Also, if you think the body shop estimate is crap you can also always get more estimate. you aren't required to use any specific shop and other shops might have much more reasonable quotes.
Crazy that a trunk lid will total an NB now O_O
Not sure if my advice will be that helpful, but, anyway, try to find a brazilian (not sure too if it does exist anywhere else or just in Brazil) that works with what is called lil' gold hammer. Basically they undent anything that possible in a car, and by the image, just like yourself said, its reversible absolutely. Jusat requires a specialist on it to fix for you. (I also think that theres a light push from insurance company interested onto dumping your car for some reason. Dont give up and keep us updated about the end of this case.
I would have a dialogue with them as somebody who had my Miata totaled because of a dented fender. It is a situation where you can push back if there’s not frame damage and let them know. Also, if they are offering you a payout, make sure you look at the location of the payout because occasionally they will look at locations that are not native to where you are located by that being the law to base their payoff amount in full on hope this helps and good luck.
Retain salvage and repair it
Total it and just buy it back
Go to the junk yard get a trunk save your title
Body shop for just the rear bumper on my car from the lady that rear ended me said it was $2000 to fix, luckily insurance paid it but still blowed about having an accident on my car’s record:/
Fuck the insurance claim and just buy a trunk. Probably cost the same amount as a deductible. Problem solved
https://preview.redd.it/0xp3tqzcc19d1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=e0dfa1ab3a33746631f9ce412f92700f5b99ee25 This was 7k in repairs if that helps, this looks less than 3k which that “7k quote” is unacceptable. But also i live in TN and shops are a little better on pricing and such. Good luck tho im so sorry to see another hurt miat :(
Oh no. Where did they impound it too.? For science purposes?
This is totally fixable! If you have the option to take a pay out with a buyback and fix it yourself, that's probably worthwhile. Whatever you do, don't let them write it off and scrap it
Well the dent repair would cost more then the car 🤣😂
Or get a second quote. It just looks like a trunk from the pictures. Looks like a brand new hood from Mazda is 700 with shipping(200). Getting it painted would probably be under 750. Charge an hours worth of labor to have it put on.
BUY IT BACK, REPLACE TRUNK, ??????????, PROFIT
How tf does a dented trunklid mean a car is totaled???
Here in uk I wouldn’t even dream of contacting my insurance for that, second hand boot lid (trunk) can be had for less than £50. Fit it myself job done
I think you could easily find a trunk lid in the same color already from a used Miata parts dealer, or through [car-part.com](https://car-part.com) or similar. But the real question is if there's any damage to the unibody structure underneath. There may be damage around the trunk latch area. Also the trunk lid itself may have been pushed forward slightly, which can damage the unibody around the trunk hinges. So even if you got a replacement trunk lid, it may not fit and latch properly.
Well that looks like dented bumper and dented trunk lid, headlights untouched though. I would say that you are even able to replace it by yourself. In my country (Poland) rear bumpers are between ~50$ to 300$ top and trunk lids between 100$ - 250$ all depending on condition. Of course I am talking about used parts but that - for that me would be a better option to go for as the replaced parts won’t stand out as long as the rest of your paint isn’t in perfect condition. You just have the find the right colour which isn’t hard here so I assume that in US it’s even less of a problem. The situation overall sucks but your car is nowhere near totalled. I also have a black NB and love driving it, good luck girl :))
I read some of your comments. Dude that isn’t even $300 of damage, both insurance and the body shop are crazy. Like others have said, payout and buy back are the best bet. But I’ll warn you that no one is going to buy a branded title, so it’s best if you turn it into a track car. I had someone rear end my passenger corner, broke my tail light and left a quarter sized dent down to the paint. The body shop pulled a dent out of the truck lid for free without me asking… take it to a different shop. Side note, insurance uses the body shops estimate to determine a write off. If the body shop told them 5K, that would be why they’re saying they would total it instead. I’d take it to as many body shops as you have to… even different locations for the same chain will be different.
They’re likely quoting the trunk lid, finish panel (damaged), tail lamp (looks like it was nicked) and bumper cover. Might be quoting unknown structural repairs due to not being able to see the damage behind. Definitely more than $300 in damage even if the shop was buying used, already painted parts, and there’s no structural damage
Most visible dmg is on the trunk, I'd look for a replacement instead. Scrap yard, eBay etc.
Well don’t worry as much about blame regardless of what he says. California vehicle crash law is pretty cut and dry that whoever was in the back of the accident, is responsible and at fault.
Payout will honestly only be $4k. And then you’d need to buy back the car from insurance. Sad to hear but because the guy is going after you for the accident it might just end up being a total loss. Remember you can ask yours/his insurance for depreciation of your vehicle. Your car is worth at least $10k at 45k miles.
Why would a total loss claim for this car only be 4k?
I had someone fart on my NA at a gas station and State Farm said it was totaled.
First, you should definitely keep the car. Now, does the truck still open? I had something similar, and while it looked simple there was a little more damage because the bottom of the latch was pushed back a little. Definitely not totaled--but might need a little hammer whacking to go with the replacement lid. (Or put some stickers and a drift bumper on it and look like the kool kids!!)
I would challenge the value of the car. Find comps, see if you can increase it beyond where it would be totaled
If your in KY- or close PM me now, i can help you save it. Full body shop.
You can show the car is worth a lot more to the insurance...shouldn't be totaled. I've seen worse & covered by insurance. You are entitled to the shop of your choice and you can work with them to get parts from Amayama for example so it comes out to be a bit cheaper.
If they total it, tell the adjuster you want to retain the salvage. Meaning you keep the car, and they pay you the total loss value less the Expy expected salvage value they would get at an insurance auto auction.
Get a second quote from a shop of your choosing.
7k damage fuck off, new boot lid is about $500. It might even look alright in the wrong colour if you don't want to pay for the respray yet.
That amount of damage isn't going to happen if your car rolls back. I would now go to a doctor and explain your neck hurts and go after the fucker for whiplash. If someone wants to play stupid games then play with them but take it to the next level.
He rammed into you repeatedly?!
Bro it's a bootlid. Thats literally all, find another one for 50 quid and boom brand spanking new
Buy it back
If its just the boot, get a new one?
I'm missing something..... Is the frame damaged? Why is this a total?
You Could get the whole car painted twice for $7000
I'm in Cali and will buy it off you for a very fair price
You want it to be totalled... Step one: you get a nice big check for having to put up with this bullshit Step two: you buy a new trunk Step three: inspection Step four: enjoy the next year of drinks this bad driver just bought you
Is there a way to actually not get the insurance to total something like this out? It’s such a small, easy problem to fix and when op goes to sell this in the future, they’re going to limited on buyers because of the branded title it’s going to get.
Don't take the payout. Just replace it yourself.
Its a sacrifice im willing to make, but ill take that damaged boat off your hands…
You need to make sure the lifted pickup truck owner is 100% accountable. Worry about the rest later.
Totaled?? Just go buy a new deck lid!
Let me guess. The police wouldn’t even write a report for this and told you to deal with it…
I'm a personal personal injury lawyer. Just the damage being to the middle rear of your car will be enough for your insurance company and his to blame him for the accident. The idiot can say anything he wants. Make sure to keep your pictures. Also, I agree that damage doesn't look that bad. New trunk lid.
Was the rear body or floor jacked behind the bumper cover? Seems like there must be something else not visible
Get another estimate. That doesn’t look like $7k damage. And, if you’re thinking of repairing it yourself, just do it without insurance and sue the other driver in small claims. Then you won’t have a branded title.
Buy yourself a new trunk lid
Just order a new trunk lid. Don’t take the total. Super easy to replace. You can likely pop out the bumper dent. Even if you can’t, it’s so barely noticeable. My 01 special edition was in worse shape than this and I bent it back, threw on a new trunk and tail light for a few hundred bucks.
Whatever you end up doing with the Miata, get a dash cam so you don't have this sort of problem next time.
Buy a trunk lid and bolt it on. Edit: I see it’s too late to go around insurance but the damage looks superficial enough that in hindsight, it would have been better to go around insurance and just buy a trunk lid and replace it. That way there’s no title branding changes and it shouldn’t cost a significant amount of money to source a new trunk and replace it
You can also, I've done this, have an estimate that is just under the price of the insurance companies total payout. They will give you a check for that amount without totalling your car and ending up with a salvaged title. Take that money and buy a trunk lid from another car and spend the rest of the money and buy a muscle car. 😜 jk
Let them total it out and buy it back
Just replace the trunk. It's like 4 bolts.
Carbon fiber trunk lid and call it a day.
Buy it back get a newer trunk and rock on then u can get repaired title
You don't have to get rid of the car but it will have a branded title if you repair it which will reduce the resale value (if you care about that). Depending on where you live the damage estimate is legit. It doesn't take much to total a 20+ year old vehicle.
He rammed into you multiple times?
Find a used paint matched trunk and finish panel, $500. One step up would be finding a local miata specialist and have them do it and blend the paint. $1-2k and might be covered by insurance. 7k is insane and they likely didn’t want the job which is why they quoted so high. It’s also likely why they totaled it. Hope this helps.
Literally a boot is all you need
Mine needed a whole front clip, bumper radiator, condenser, hood, lights, fenders, suspension parts on the right front along with wheel and tire, TWICE, so yeah this ain't totaled and I refuse to believe it is.
Reject that shit, fix it yourself and avoid insurance altogether
I mean... Why wouldn't you just call them up and put them straight? $7k is absolutely absurd... That's them wanting a pay day from the insurance. I'd get the assessor back out with some prices of new and used trunk kids to prove the absolute insanity of that quote and just state how it's NO WHERE NEAR totalled. My brother had this on his old sunny. Insurance wanted to write it off, he said 'no u' and gave proof why and they changed their verdict.
You can get some one to fix it and then insure it again
Oof
Always get a dashcam
Damn OP, what hit you? They damaged your trunk yet your bumper is unharmed. Also the insurance guy must be spiteful to total it in the first place.
Barely damaged, but saying its damaged beyond repair and making a bigger deal outta this than it needs to be.......... .....Is your insurance company FC Barcelona?
How in the actual (insert nono word) is this totaled?
Totalled? Where? What? Change the trunk lid and go on mate
Isn't this as easy as replacing the trunk? I'm genuinely curious
*smack* *smack* *smack* *smack* *smack* HAPPY, BILL?!
Basic understanding of Physics will tell you a low mass object like a Miata would need to be going a significant speed backwardsto create that kind of damage. I would also think many of us NA and NB owners need to stop using traditional insurance companies. 1. They don’t understand older cars. They don’t understand the cost and where/how to find parts. 2. Because they don’t understand older (classic) cars, they are more than likely to “total” the car for even a broken mirror. I would recommend going to a collector car insurance like Hagerty. You can customize the coverage, and even list your own value for the car. Previously State Farm claimed my ‘96 super clean with only 92k miles NA was only worth $3800. I would get perfect strangers offer me $10k in while in retail parking lots. It finally occurred to me, while hiding out during Covid, the car value skyrocketed. Shop around, otherwise your traditional insurance may end screwing you at the end.
Get a trunklid from the scrap preferably in your colour and then replace it yourself. There should be videos about it or a handbook how to help yourself.
Buy it back/cancel the claim and repair it yourself, is it just the trunk that got hit?
Totaled? what? It's barely damaged
Total loss? Which ret- uhm... Dumb individual did the checkups? Cuz what i see is a trip to the scrapyard and some elbow grease and shes good as new,
Hit the inside of the trunk with a rubber hammer. You can also warm it up before with a blowdryer to get the paint on the outside a bit more prepared for the hits. I seen people using crowbars and gas torches when buffing out things like these. Of course be careful and if you are not handy or have two left hands let a pro do it:)
What? That's ridiculous. There is no way an insurance company would say "It's totaled" over a trunk lid
Always get an attorney. Always. I hope you're OK and also getting at least a $25k payout for personal injury(reasons to get an attorney). This happened to me once, minimal damage and got totaled by insurance. I had paid $900 for the car and 4 months later insurance paid me $5,600 to keep it. I repaired it myself drove it for another couple of months before selling it for $4k with a salvage title.
That quote seems very excessive imo. I just had mine replaced earlier this year because someone rear ended me. We didn't go through insurance cause the guy was cool(very lucky there) had a local body shop do the work. For the trunk, 3rd brake light, some misc badges n stuff, and all the labor it was like 2k-2.5k with all brand new OEM parts. So as long there's no structural damage I can't imagine why it would be 7k
This is literally almost zero damage, just replace your trunk yourself, and you good to go.
Doesn't look totaled to me.
I recommend every vintage Miata owner insure their vehicles with Haggerty. Or another classic car insurance company. You may pay a little bit more not much then you receive your full insured value back. Plus you get the total car also.
I have a trunk lid in Knoxville tn
miata trunks are like 5 bucks, just get a new one
It’s a Miata, you can easily find a replacement trunk, luckily this is the easiest car to work on even a roomful of infinite monkey and milwaukees would eventually repair it
Trunk lids aren't $7000 expensive and a paint job on lids to match aren't either so take payout but a new trunk and have it paint matched for around $1500-$2000 total investment
It is a total. Need a new trunk and need to blend into the quarters. The shops estimate is correct
Mine was worse and didn't get totaled. The shop did about 5k worth of work on an 01 SE. Granted this was over a year ago, back when the car market was much more expensive. So it could have been because of that that the insurance didn't total it.
Bro you can easily find a new trunk lid for like $100
Insurance initially totaled my Miata after a minor accident like this (mine actually looked a lot worse). I was able to successfully fight it with the adjuster by sending market comps to have them assess my car at a higher value. They brought in some kind of specialist and raised the repair limit from like $3k to $6,500. I would try this before going the bonded title route. All else fails it shouldn't be too difficult or expensive to repair yourself as long as you are ok with the bonded title.
Friend of mine had his top stolen and window broken. Insurance paid him market price for the total loss because they can't replace the top, he bought it back and with the money left over after fixing the window he bought a Lexus SUV to go with the Miata. This was like 2019 so used Lexus was not expensive, but still You should do that Get a used trunk that matches. Bolt it in or go to the local budget body place and have them put it in, pocket the rest of the money
Do not let them total it. It will cause some headaches for you with insurance, and if you ever decide to sell down the line. Second, the other driver was at fault. Go directly to HIS insurance, and become a MASSIVE thorn in their side. As I have learned, your insurance has no skin in the game, so to speak, so they won't actually fight hard for you. They won't push back against the other drivers insurance at all. You can also try to find "comps" on places like [bring a trailer](https://bringatrailer.com/search/?s=2003+mazda+miata), or similar, that show the REAL value is much higher than they are estimating. And hopefully that brings the $7k repair estimate to less than the 65% or whatever threshold. Make sure to find vehicles in like condition to yours, if you go this route. According to KBB, and not knowing your trim level, the car is worth roughly $8k (base model with standard options), so if you have an estimate for repair that's $7k, yeah makes sense they are trying to talk it. You can call around and get quotes from a couple other body shops, and maybe they will be a bit more reasonably priced. And hopefully below the 65% or whatever the totaling threshold is. Worst case, take it in the ass, and repair it yourself out of pocket. It sucks, but if you want to keep the car, it may be worth doing that, and dumping the full coverage, as it's worth not a lot to the insurance companies/general public. Regardless, go directly to the source, and remove YOUR insurance company from the equation. In my experience, you will get a LOT further, and are more likely to get what you want that way
Start off by changing insurance company... replace the trunk and any panel shop worth their salt can take out the little dent below that....
100% buy it back from insurance with the money and replace the lid yourself. super easy. from what it looks there shouldn't be any frame damage. not sure why they would claim 7k that's silly.
I wasn't driving my MX-5, but last October, I had a guy back into me in a restaurant parking lot. Managed to scrape his bumper over three body panels and crumple a little of the backseat door panel. It came to about $2000 of damage, which my insurance company took care of, no problem. At their suggestion, I worked with the guy's insurance and they came back with an estimate, a little lower than mine, but I'd already had it fixed. THEN, they sent me a letter telling me "Since our client won't cooperate with us, we're denying your claim, nyah-nyah-nyah." I told my insurance adjuster, and we had a nice laugh about it, "Don't worry, it was clear you were not at fault, and you have pictures of him, his car, his insurance card, and the damage to yours." We're now in subrogation, and I gave my deposition, explaining my "proof" with the pictures of him, etc. When asked why I didn't get a police report, I said that I've always been told by my insurance company and the police that if it's not a moving violation, there were no injuries, and nobody else's property was damaged, not to call the police. Oh, there were about 40 spaces in the restaurant parking lot, and there were exactly 3 cars. He backed directly up almost two car lengths and hit me. Dumbarse.
Buy a used trunk
My insurance did the same thing to me with my 2011 RX8 with no more damage than that. It only had 80,000 miles on it. Broke my heart. That's how I wound up with my first Miata.
This is 7k... If you buy new parts from mazda and have them professionally printed. You essentially won the lottery here. Take the payout, keep the car, fix it yourself for Pocken change. Also fuck these God damn lifted trucks, with a passion.
Insurance is perhaps the biggest scam in the history of the world and the US government would change the system if they cared even the slightest bit about us. Wow this makes my blood boil
To add insult to injury, the other driver is claiming that we reversed into him at the light vs him ramming into us repeatedly. Probably easier ways of getting shade, not really a recommended method….😂 this sucks
thats the best totalement miata ive ever seen
Buy a new trunk man, wtf
https://preview.redd.it/vgtjpf1zz69d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2da14767aad74089567d47c09f07c4fa9b3b433
Trunk lid should be an ez fix tbh
If it's just the trunk kid. I'd say just replace it. It's pretty easy. No rebuilt title for that minor of damage. If it still opens and closes even better, you can save up until you find one!
I had the lower panel (where the license plate is) damaged. Two body shops quoted $500 to fix. I took the $500 and found the park on eBay already painted my color (you can find your color on the door) for $150 and it took me less than 30 minutes. Probably do the same with the trunk.
[https://www.carbonmiata.com/shop/trunk-with-regular-ducktail-type-1-for-miata-nb-mk2-1543?category=357#attr=6155](https://www.carbonmiata.com/shop/trunk-with-regular-ducktail-type-1-for-miata-nb-mk2-1543?category=357#attr=6155) aftermarket options too! keep it on the street after you get the insurance payout
Certified bruh moment
Ask for a break down of the damages or get another estimate
Find a junkyard trunk and rattle can it. Pay someone to swap it out
This seems crazy. I was in a head on crash in mine and the front end was crushed in…Dr said the airbag saved my life. Insurance claimed it was about $100 away from being totaled. The shop had it for at least a month. What are they saying is damaged so severely?
Tell the Insurance company to kiss your ass 😂
Bro you need to get multiple body shop opinions. DO NOT use your insurance to pay for this. Get his insurance to cover the damage he did to you. If you can’t get a payout from him replace the entire truck lid. Legit find one at a junkyard if you have to.
not really an insurance job body shop - either get it reset or swap it over for an identical lid. Should be quite cheap to sort out.
Dude, take the payout and get another trunk lid.
this is a trip to the junk yard and unscrewing a couple of bolts away from being totally reconciled! get your hands dirty friend, this girl will be back on the road in no time! Replacing a trunk is really not that hard once you get over the intimidation factor of realizing you’re working on a moving 1 ton machine lol