Another one bites the dust...........

twintrbo

Member
I think a few of you may know but Id like to make an official announcement of terrible news. Im very sad to report that 5/11/2016 at about 1:30 PM, my beautiful Stormy Blue companion met its demise at the hands of a silver Chevy Equinox. Even sadder is this seems to be a theme here on the forum, whats going on?!

It was parked in the middle of my extra wide block on the left side of the street when this guy came speeding down and hit it on the passenger rear quarter panel. He had to be doing at least 40 mph as it managed to push the 5 roughly 40 and nearly into a fire hydrant. His story was a squirrel ran out..the story later evolved to be a child even though there are no children living in the houses there and it was before schools let out. In the interest of making sure I got paid, I didnt pursue any investigation or anything that would put his coverage in jeopardy, especially since I found out his policy was only 2 weeks old. Luckily we shared an insurance company so they were going to have to pay no matter what lol.

It took the hit like a champ; I have to give it that. I always wondered what would happen with a good solid hit in the rear and I was very impressed to see there was zero intrusion to the 3rd row. The impact as near as I could tell, absolutely bent the frame as I noticed the front fender had popped out from the impact as well. In addition to the obvious body damage, it also curbed the drivers front rim when it hit the curb, bent the sliding door track and some interior plastics were crushed as well. The estimate for repair, which was done curbside, came out to just over $7,700, lord knows how much more it would have been once up on lift or if the tranny were damaged. The vehicle evaluation with my rear view camera and remote start options was only $8977 so it was over before it started.

As good as the offer was for the car, I started searching for new vehicles and realized it wasnt that great of an offer. It was an 09 Touring, 1 owner, clean history with no paintwork or accidents, nearly new tires and only 37,442 miles. It was literally irreplaceable, you couldnt find an equivalent anywhere for any price and I saw a few close ones for sale for $11k plus! I made a quick call to insurance and plead my case, the agent listened and searched and agreed to add $1,011 to the offer! $9,988 was now the amount and with taxes added, payout was a substantial $10,875! Needless to say, Im very happy with that! Even better was I had no deductible since it was parked and I was not at fault. Given that the negotiated price when I bought it new was $18,200 and I hardly put anything into it, the value I got out of it was exceptional.

Now for more bad news, we were going to replace the 09 with a 14 or 15 GT model but after living with a full size rental with 260 hp, my wife decided we should upgrade instead. Enter the 2016 Honda Pilot EX-L in Steel Sapphire! No its not a 5 but its a hell of an SUV and its got way more room, more power and the AWD Ive been after for a long time. So its with a heavy heart Ill be leaving the 5 family behind, my legacy of rear view cameras, remote starters, revised seating angles and heated mirrors my only legacy lol. Thanks for all the memories, advice and idea exchanges. This was one of the best communities Ive been a part of, lots of good advice, no bashing and just pure love of the vehicle. Ill be a lurker for sure so Ill see you around, thanks again for 6 years of fun guys!
 
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What a loss :-(
But glad that no-one got hurt. (I understood that the driver from the Chevy got out OK)
And very nice to see how the 5 handled this brute force. My 2005 is still going strong and probably will for some more years.
 
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For reference, it was parked in the shade when it was hit and pushed to its current position. The fat guy is the one who took it out. He was also eating at the time and had the nerve to ask my wife to dispose of the garbage!

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Good grief...that's a long way to be "pushed." Enjoy your new family hauler...glad you're satisfied with how the insurance stuff panned out.
 
Sorry to see you and the car go.
Hope you enjoy your new ride, but I wonder if there is even enthusiast forum for that car at all :)
 
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