Hit a snowbank! :(

[ZoomVT]

Hey guys, last night i was driving home and hit a patch of ice and wasnt able to recover control of the car on time. Ended up hitting a very high snowbank pretty hard. The car went into the snowbank the whole way, and it being so high it got stuck. Tried to clear the snow from under the tires but all 4 wheels were sitting on air; the car was not going anywhere...

In any case. Mazda Roadside Assistance had a 2 hour delay to get a tow truck out to get me so i got a ride and went home as it was cold and miserable. This morning i got the tow truck to get me out of the snowbank. I didnt hit anything solid other than fresh and packed snow...
and there is quite a bit of damage on the front bumper as well as the splash shield.. and that is all i can see... i havent looked under yet.

I will post some camera phone pics soon, but i wanted to ask everyone what they thought. What should i check and what is the approx cost of repair.

The damage is on the front bumper, under the grill. The whole pastic honeycomb grill got destroyed to pieces andand the area surrounding it got pushed in. It is not a big area thoug as the fogs didnt get affected at all.
The splash shield under the car also got destroyed to pieces and i was worried that something got punctured underneath.
Also the snow was hit so hard that it got packed right throught both front grills and it sort of seems like the frame of the radiator got pushed in slightly; especially at the bottom.. so the fan and the radiator look like they are at a slight angle....

I'll post pics shortly...

 

[03promaz]

Are you ok? Sorry to hear that man.

 

[ZoomVT]

yeah my friend and I are fine. it wasnt even close to bad... its kinda weird cause it was like hitting a bunch of cotton... it was very soft.. i didnt even feel my body shake up or anything... it was smoother than me slamming the brakes really hard...
so in reality it was kinda fun cause the snow just kinda exploded and went everywhere sort of like the movies lol...

 

[Karma_hunden]

damn dude, that sucks...at least it wasnt nothing serious. If you ever feel bad, you could always move down here...we got girls going wild here on spring break everywhere...60-70 degree weather, sunny skies, clubs...

 

[roadie]

Ft. Lauderdale? Nice. I've been in Tampa quite a bit lately myself (not to go completely off topic)

 

[RPI-Speed3]

I'm sorry to hear that Zoom. My girlfriend and I just got back from spending the weekend at her parents in Essex Junction. We got back to the house on Friday just before the storm started. We woke up on saturday and drove to sugarbush and the roads were horrible, saw a lot of cars off the road on 89. Hope things go well.

 

[ZoomVT]

thats cool man, did you bring the ms3? there is only one around here and i never see it. Would have liked to see it...
your gf is from here?

 

[RPI-Speed3]

yup, she grew up in Essex Junction and went to Essex high. She played golf and I think placed 2nd in states around 5-7 years ago.

I brought the MS3. Its funny you mention you don't see the other MS3. I haven't seen another one on the road yet anywhere. I'll let you know next time I come up there, prob in about 3-4 weeks.

 

[ZoomVT]

yeah man let me know. If i am around we could get together. I would love to check out the ms3 and hopefully i still have my 3.

 

[ReFlex]

That sucks man...I remember when i hit a snow patch in my area and ended up drifting about 50 yards and got the car under control somehow...Sometimes we get lucky...post some pics

 

[Astral]

sorry to hear that! i have no idea how bad the repairs would be, can't help with that. hopefully she'll get fixed up alright!

 

[ZoomVT]

yeah i dont have digital camera with me but i'll use my cell tomorrow and get some pics.
since i have been looking at it i have noticed more damage.
the bumper is definitely gone and i can see parts where it has been pushed off the frame; now i am worried that the impact was hard enough for the frame to suffer some damage... i dont know... it is like it can hear all kinds of noises now...

i am looking into trading it instead of dealing with repairs...
what does people think about that?

 

[bazooka joe]

ya, ms3!!

 

[ZoomVT]

haha yeah if it was a sedan i would give up my left nut for one.
but since i am not a huge fan of the hatch, i will have to settle for an ms6... like chuyler1 did. We'll see what i can do, it will be tough because there are no ms dealers in my area... In the worse case scenario i will take a 07 mz3 with the options that im dying for... heated leather seats, hid lights, air bags, etc

I have also looked at leasing... bmw and volvo s40 are on the list... but iut would have to be a hell of a deal to pry my hands off a mazda

 

[Astral]

ZoomVT, how far away is the nearest MS dealer? I bet you can work out something where they deliver the car to you, so you only have to drive there once.

 

[ZoomVT]

well i think the closest ms dealership is in bow, nh or around that area... so it is approx 100-120 miles away.
It is not bad but it is difficult to go and negotiate when they know you just drove 120 miles there... what do i tell them? than i am going to walk away?...

 

[Astral]

tell them that you're staying in concord, nh for a few months, but permanently live in maine. dont' give them the impression that you live far away and it's trouble for you to come back. find the car that they have on the lot, price it out using invoice price, minus incentives, add in tax + $200 for fees, and bring a check for that amount. OK, so your trade's front bumper is wrecked, so that will really be the sticky point for negotiation. They will accept your invoice price, but may screw you over on the trade.

 

[ZoomVT]

yeah thats what im thinking.. and i am going to tell them straight up. It will cost me 1k to fix it (ins. deductible); so im willing to go down 1k on the trade; but thats it. I know it costs them much less to fix it that it would cost me.

I was also thinking about my local dealer; they are not ms delaers bnut they have 3 in the lot. they are 06 ms6 that have only like 2500 miles on them. According to them, they were driven by MNAO reps; not sure though. Kinda weird, why would they have these cars if they are not ms dealers? Unlike chuyler1's deal; these are not being sold as new so there is no incentives and there is no warranty; but they are selling at 24k; i will check them out anyway.
I may be able to talk them into dropping it to close to 21... i can get a 0 mile 06 for 24k; and with warranty... so that is at least 2k less right?

 

[Astral]

Are those MS 06's GT or Sport?

Why would you not have the warranty? You should have full manufacturer's warranty anyways, so it should not be any different from chuyler1's purchase. When you buy a used car that's in the warranty period, it's still warrantied just the same.

If you can get a 0 mile 06 for 24K, you can probably get them to drop it to 23K or 22K.

 

[ZoomVT]

yeah i wasnt thinking straight you are right; i dont know why i thouhgt there would be no warranty.
They are GTs and i think they have one that is basically loaded minus the navi.. which is what im looking for...

I am going to stop by after work... i have a lot of positive equity on my car (well, *had*, until the little encounter with the iceberg) since i only owe like 6k or less. it is a 04 mazda3 titanium grey. 47,500k miles. Well maintained till recently. they can even have the 3 sets of tires; with the stockers basically brand new. Recent research showed me about 12k for my car. I want to get 4k equity out of my car... do you think is possible? The resale value of this car is high; dealer can turn around and sell it for 13 easy