I was very close to not having an easy time recovering the parts. My insurance company was almost sneaky and had me release the car to them so they could transfer it to a "salvage yard" I.E. an auto auction yard in Las Vegas. They didn't want to pay the tow company storage fees.
Tow company owner is a customer of mine and clued me in on how hard it is to get your car back from these companies due to them being the unholy spawn of dicks when it comes to releasing the car.

So I managed to keep the car in town before they sent someone down to take the car 3 hours away.

Thanks for the offer to help, I'm in Cedar City, UT, far away from most people. I'll manage but it will take me a while. Agreed on it being easy but time consuming. Miatas are stupid easy to work on after owning a VW Jetta diesel wagon.

 

Just make sure the car stays put until you have claim to it.

 

Take it home now if they'll let you. I always have them take the car to my shop instead of the impound lot so the insurance company can't make off with it and the impound lot apes can't mess with it.

 

yeah. when i wrecked mine the adjuster came to our house. it's hard to pull parts off a car in a yard; let alone personal belonging.

 

Going to get it transferred to a storage facility today to avoid more fees. I would put it down in my driveway but I'm now worried about thieves in my area.

I figure one month @ $45 to strip the parts and scrap the body isn't the worst thing ever.

 

Having a hard time finding an answer to this via google...will the insurance adjusters be angry if I pull the body panels/bumper/hood/wheels off the car and a couple other pieces to get a good view of damage?

My parents were very kind and are letting me store the car in their vacation house garage for a couple of months(just has to be gone before the holidays start up). It is 45 miles south in St George, but it is better then paying for a storage unit with no electricity or lighting.

Getting it moved down there tomorrow. Should have pictures in the afternoon.

 

I don't think I would pull anything until the adjuster got there, but I don't have any supporting data to suggest that it will cause a problem

 

You are probably right, I just wish they would get off their asses and get it done so I can strip it. I have all of today and tomorrow to do so and it is a waste in my eyes.

 

Picture update.

Doesn't look as bad as it did at night. Definitely a lot of body damage but no engine damage from the outside and no fluids are leaking(for now).

Tire lost its bead
Roll bar slightly bent
Lots of panel damage.
Struts look ok but I haven't had a chance to put it on jack stands yet and look underneath the car.
car rolled off the flatbed no problem
steering lock disengaged after turning the key 1/2 way on

 

Those seats look oddly familiar. Sorry for the loss and headache

 

I'm strangely over it already. In the "lets get the insurance **** finalized" mode so I can tear the car apart and put it in something else.

 

Wow

 

How did the door bars hold up?????? As long as they haven't been switched pretty sure they are the ones I built and sold to djp. I'm very curious to hear how they held up, especially the welds.

 

Really really well. I'm not sure if the passenger side bar was pressed against the seat as much as it is now but I figured I'd get a shot of it for you.

In the rear picture of the roll bars you can see it is tweaked to the left slightly.

 

Oh woops you wanted a close up of the welds. Bad light so its a little grainy but I don't see and cracks or any flaking from the paint around the area.

 

Also the fuel pump is still priming when I turn the key. Should I pull the plugs and turn the key a couple times just in case the engine is flooded? Then try to start it? Or just wait until I pull the engine to inspect for real damage.

 

Awesome man thanks for checking that out! I'm glad they held up even though it was in such a crappy circumstance.

In the end of this whole madness I think you could end up in a good place miata-wise. As long as you get all of your parts and don't get screwed money wise by insurance.

A huge aspect of having a turbo miata, especially for the guys on this site, is that by putting the car together yourself you know EXACTLY what everything is, where everything is, and what is happening if something goes wrong. Simply switching over all the parts will get you so much more comfortable with the car and all of its pieces, and you can also fix anything that wasn't perfectly set for you on the old car. I guess i'm just trying to look at the situation glass half full, though that is easier from my position than yours.

Hope everything works out smoothly!

Evan

 

Evan funny you say that. I was doing some math and I will come out ahead of this regardless of what I get from the insurance company.

I bought it from Dave for $7,500. If I get 75% of that plus the cost of buying the car back, plus my deductable, plus the cost of a donor shell(+/-$500), I'll have a running car for roughly $4,000; depending on mechanical damage to parts.

I was really down in the dumps until I realized it was a weird blessing in disguise and after that epiphany it really doesn't bother me at all anymore. Mostly will be a waiting game on the insurance company, finding a donor shell, and finding the time between running a business and stripping the parts off.

Do you guys think it will be easier to just lift the body off the subframe? Or should I pull the parts off individually to inspect for damage.

I have several pullys, 200 ft of climbing rope, autolocking belay devices, and a come-along to lift it.

 

That roll bar saved the thief's life.

If the roll bar is a Hard Dog (looks like it is), if you send Bethania Garage pictures I think they'll send you a replacement roll bar gratis!!

 

Yea, too bad there was a roll bar, door bars, and hardtop in the car. Otherwise maybe the theives would have got what they deserved...