Totalled my S13...

[justaguy]

Hey,

Driving home the sunday after Thanksgiving, I was on the highway in heavy rain and some pretty crappy road conditions.  There was a decent amount of traffic on the road, and the cars in front of me stopped short all of a sudden.  I stopped quickly to avoid hitting the car in front of me, but by the time I came to a stop, a Pathfinder behind me plowed into me.  It really pisses me off, btw, that people buy trucks without knowing how to drive them, but that's another rant and I'm probably preaching to the converted here.  So anyway, we pull off to the side of the road, swap information, and so on and so forth.  We both drive away from the scene.

At roadside, I saw that his car had about a 5" dent in the bumper.  My '90 S13 hatchback had the bumper twisted into a very interesting shape, the passenger rear quarter panel was bowed out widebody style and pushed forward into the passenger door a bit, the hatch was dented and twisted a bit, etc. etc.   The rear lights were bent with the body, but amazingly worked just fine.  Like I said, I drove away from the scene, and I've been driving the car sparingly since.  Mechanically it seems just fine, which impressed me a lot.  Cosmetically the rear of the car is a mess.

So a week or so later the guy's insurance sent out an "independent adjustor" to evaluate the damage to the car, and I just heard back from him that they're advising that it's totalled.  The final decision will rest with the insurance co, but that seems to be the initial call.  Those of you with S13's take note, especially the earliest SOHCs - bluebook on our car is like $2k these days, so you only need to bang up a few body panels before the repairs exceed the value of the car.

What sucks now is that I'm figuring I'll get like $2 - $2.5k tops from these people, and that's barely enough to buy a decent '90 S13 like I had.  I'm considering my options now, probably in the $6k (tops) or so and (well) under price range.  Anyone have any good suggestions for a next car?  I had that S13 since '97, so I'm kind of in the mood for something new.  But at the same time, I definitely might go back to one.  

Other cars I'm thinking of are '91 MR2 turbos or NAs, but the T's are hard to find at a reasonable price and NAs seem slow.  Also maybe a 2nd gen RX7 T/NA.  I'm thinking RWD 2-seat sports cars would be cool.

And of course I'm considering another S13 or a '95 S14 or something... but all the S14 reviews I've read have really maligned its suspension, so I'd wanna be sure that I could fix that with the appropriate aftermarket parts.  Can any S14 owners clue me in on what it takes to bring the cushy suspension back to sport life?  

So are there any other relatively inexpensive cool cars are there out there that I've forgotten?  

I guess I got a bit off topic here, but now I'm stuck trying to find a new ride.  Ancillary pain in the ass: the day before the accident I spent $350 on new tires and an alignment.  Talk about cash down the drain.  

Sorry for the book.  Moral of the story: beware stupid people driving trendy tanks, because even if it's their fault, you're still probably gonna get screwed.

[DragonReborn214]

Just buy the car back from the insurance company as a totalled car, which should be cheap, then fix it and use the rest of the money for mods.

Also, make sure you ARGUE with them on how much your car is worth. You can get a better cash amount for ur car.

[HippoSleek]

What dragon said!  I know a guy who bought his CRX back for $150 and then sold it for $1500 - disclosing all damage (although if you do it quick and get lucky, you won't even get a salvage title).  

But, if you should be shopping for an s14, rest assured our chassis is better and the suspension is replaceable.

[jay]

Yes, you need to argue with them like ####. When I totalled my cougar before I got my S14 they were offering a rediculous amount for my car and my dad and I -I was living at home at the time- argued with them and actually got more for my car than I could have if I sold it. I don't regret getting my S14 an I do not think that you would either.

[Nismos14]

id say the suspension on my s-14 is not timid at all its really really rough and the car handles like a dream all i have on it is a front strut bar taking off-ramps at 50.. so.. not that bad...

[alchemist]

To get more money out of insurance,  find out what the same car goes for in your area.  I learned an interesting thing,  you are entitled to the real value of the car.  That is, what it would cost to replace it with another one in similar condition/miles/etc.  If you were listed as not at fault in the accident and someone else was,  that person/insurance co is liable to put you back in the same position as you were in prior to that person hitting you.  I'm sorry I dont have the terms, but it goes like this,  A thief steals your big screen TV,  that person is liable to replace that TV to you and punishment under the law.  
...now if you caused it and your ins co is the one you're fighting with,  you have to read the policy, but if someone else is at fault you are entitled to be justly compensated for your loss.

Look at prices in the local paper,  and on autotrader in your area........Did that on a sentra once.....the ins co offered 1500 for it,  we got 3400 on it......this is for a car that had 170K on it and a lot of rust......Just fight the ins co, they want a quick settlement and figure you need a car now, so they lowball you because they are under pressure.  

Tell the ins co to buy you a car just like yours....they never will, but they will get the point quickly


You can always buy her back and buy a S13 with front end damage and put her back together.....and have some cash for toys

[jdm togue]

seriuosly though, I have owned 4 rx7s and while they are sweet they are not an s13.  I had a sweet car that would run with the best of them.  Dyno verified at 330 at the rear wheels (10th anny), but they lack the refinement of my s13 and the maintenance and upkeep is horrendous.  believe me after 6 yrs of driving nothing but rotaries, it is nice to go outside and not wonder if she will crank today.  One point on the suspension side, the 2nd gen rx7's have rear toe steer which helps the car turn in under cornering, you never know when it will let lose until you have already lost it..Just thought I would share my point of view.........

you said you are looking to spen 6 grand or less if i were you i would find an nice 91-93 s13. you should beable to find one for around 4000 or so. then take a little more cash and do a few mods... intake,rims,mabey a body kit if thats your thing. you shold beable to find a nice s13 with fairly low miles for around 4 grand.

[misnomer]

Yeah, don't take two grand, they're trying to dick you. Go to kbb.com, and get a retail value for what you had. In my region, a decently equipped '90 fastback retails at just under five grand, private party for $3700. Anybody know of a more official place to get a more official value report? The bank maybe? Keep in mind cars are a bit spendier in my region. Check it out for your ZIP.

But yeah, don't let the insurance company give you two grand for it, that is bullshit.

Also, like everybody's saying, buy back your old car, it still has plenty of good parts on it :-)

[mistert]

bluebook is 4g's round here with a manual and 92k miles (i guess this is what they figure the average is on the car). take every last bit you can for it, go on and on about the great condition, the new tires and alignment and shit and how you had spent money on it and what not. if you have any frame damage at all repairs should definately come in at over the value, and you should be able to get full value when they decide they just dont wanna deal with you. just be a pain in the ass, call 'em alot and what not

[misnomer]

Well, try being nice before being a pain in the ass. You'll get more if you work with them then against them. If you find they still won't give you what it's worth, then start being a pain in the ass.

[DuffMan]

Hey man, that sucks. But on the other hand, I WISH some suv had plowed into the back of my old car. I only was able to sell it for $1300 but I would have gotten more if it was totaled.

[justaguy]

Yeah, I double checked and kbb dealer retail for my car and current milage is actually $4k even.  They haven't thrown a number at me yet, so we'll see where this goes.  I am calling a lot and courteously bugging them, but this is sooo slow and it's going nowhere.  

Ugh. &nbsp;We'll see. &nbsp;Right now I'm figuring on another S13 or maybe an '95 S14 if I can find a cheap one. &nbsp;I was diggin around on 240sx.org the other day and read an old C&amp;D review that had the '95 doing 7.5sec 0-60. &nbsp;Blew my mind. &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> &nbsp;Apparently it was a result of retuning the hp/torque curves, so that even tho the peak power was the same as the DOHC S13s, having more across the whole band made it quicker. &nbsp;I think they upped the compression and changed the cam timing or something. &nbsp;Anyway, that's over a second faster than a '90. &nbsp;Sounds good to me. &nbsp;All these years and I never heard they did that. &nbsp;I thought the '93 and '95 engines were identical. &nbsp;I assume the S14's got slower again up to '98, cuz I think they kept getting heavier, right?

[alchemist]

wait and see what they offer, &nbsp;do they have good insurance or a fly by night company? &nbsp;Depending on how much you get, you might want to look into a high mileage s14, &nbsp;or save some cash for now and buy an older s13

[DragonReborn214]

7.5 0-60 eh?

Jun Auto has a 95 that does the quarter mile in 7.8 seconds.

[misnomer]

The 91 and laters will all have similar 0-60 times. Your '90 is a &nbsp;12 valve SOHC, pushing 140 HP and ~156 lbs torque. the '91 and later have 16 valve DOHC engines, boosted to 155hp and 160 torque. When I got my 92 (up from my '89), I was just &quot;####, this thing doesn't feel like the same car&quot; <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'> I'm thinkin' you'll love any of the DOHCs :-)