New Mazda, 4 Days Later, Not so New

[LeMoeCND]

Good Day to all

After about 6 months of research and talking with a number of people, my wife and I decided that the Mazda5 is the best bang for the buck.
I pick up the car on Oct 2. 2010 M5, GT Lux, 5sp. Aluminum, with dealer tinted windows. This car came off the show room floor as there was not other 5sp available in the area.

4 days later... A 1996 Toyota Camry decided that it would be a good idea to perform a left turn across oncoming traffic. Unfortunately I was cursing in the right curb lane and there was not enough time or space to avoid the collision. I hit him in the passenger side rear fender, right on the rear wheel. Low speed collision as the air bag did not go off but enough of a hit to crack the bumper and cause frame damage. Fault has been assessed 100% towards the driver of the Toyota.

What a shame...

On a good note, I was the only one in the car and no other person was injured and I have to be thankful for that. The car can be fixed...bodily injuries, no so much.

LeMoeCND

 

[thaxman]

Bummer. There's actually some guys blog about bad Camry drivers. You should look it up & add your experience to the loooooooong list of infractions.

 

[kyoshiro]

Good Day to all

After about 6 months of research and talking with a number of people, my wife and I decided that the Mazda5 is the best bang for the buck.
I pick up the car on Oct 2. 2010 M5, GT Lux, 5sp. Aluminum, with dealer tinted windows. This car came off the show room floor as there was not other 5sp available in the area.

4 days later... A 1996 Toyota Camry decided that it would be a good idea to perform a left turn across oncoming traffic. Unfortunately I was cursing in the right curb lane and there was not enough time or space to avoid the collision. I hit him in the passenger side rear fender, right on the rear wheel. Low speed collision as the air bag did not go off but enough of a hit to crack the bumper and cause frame damage. Fault has been assessed 100% towards the driver of the Toyota.

What a shame...

On a good note, I was the only one in the car and no other person was injured and I have to be thankful for that. The car can be fixed...bodily injuries, no so much.

LeMoeCND

Good to hear you're uninjured. One thing I dont like about driving in NA is the fact that you can do left turns with oncoming traffic cuz theres always people with bad judgement.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

I'm glad everyone is ok.

I hope they can fix it to drive like new. It would suck to have a new car that didn't drive well. Totally the worst fear of any new car owner!

 

[superbike7]

Damn that sucks. Glad no one was hurt.

 

[Robotazky]

Bummer. There's actually some guys blog about bad Camry drivers. You should look it up & add your experience to the loooooooong list of infractions.

That's because Camry's are the most boring cars, by far, and only the most brain dead, personality-devoid idiots drive them. Of course they cause the most crashes.

 

[DKaz]

Yah I'm glad everyone is ok! I crashed my Civic 4WD 12 days after I got it, was really sad that I had to write it off as those things were rare. Did you get an estimate for the damage yet? They can fix it all they want but the fact remains that the value of your car has been permanently lowered. Depending on how much it'll cost to fix it of course.

 

[thaxman]

That's because Camry's are the most boring cars, by far, and only the most brain dead, personality-devoid idiots drive them. Of course they cause the most crashes.

I find that braindead drivers cause a whole lot of accidents they actually are not involved in...like crossing 3 lanes to make a turn causing a 4-car pileup behind them while they go on their happily-ignorant way.

 

[mazdadude]

Oh my! Not even a chance to burn up your first tank of gas! So sorry to hear about this, and thankful there was no injuries.

Diminished value is in your right and important to fight for. Please keep this thread updated so we can follow the progress. I am not sure if I want to see pics, I don't like broken Mazdas.

Good luck!

 

[Robotazky]

I find that braindead drivers cause a whole lot of accidents they actually are not involved in...like crossing 3 lanes to make a turn causing a 4-car pileup behind them while they go on their happily-ignorant way.

Haha! Well, it would have to work like that or they would've already been removed from the herd a long time ago.

 

[LeMoeCND]

Follow up...

To bring you all up to speed, you need to understand that Manitoba has only one Auto insurance provider, Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) also known as Autopac, operated by the Provincial Government. [ www.mpi.mb.ca ] On their main page they have a rate calculator if youre interested in finding out how much it costs to drive here. Use (R3T3A9) for location. When you have an accident your only obligation is to the insurance company is to report it. If you estimate the damage to be greater than $1000 including the damage to the other car a police report needs to be filed.
Then you book and appointment with one of the assessment centers. They assess and estimate the price of repair. In my case they estimated about $3300 but stated that this is damage that he can see and it may increase as the body shop discovers other issues during the repair. The body shop submits an adjustment on my behalf. In the end the car gets fixed.

Recently in the news all cars 1995 or older regardless of condition are on the write off list. That is if a car is in an accident then the car will be written off. Some exceptions always apply. The goal is to get problem cars off the road. Unfortunately getting rid of problem drivers is a little more difficult.

I've added a few photos, one showing the damage to my car and the other as well as a photo of how it happened.
I hope this works....

 

[mazdadude]

Looking at the pics of the Toyota Camry, is that fender lip and rear quarter built out of Body filler?

It looks funky!



Thanks for the information on how the auto insurance system in Canada works, very interesting!

 

[DKaz]

^^^ Well half of Canada at least.

BC and I believe Saskatchewan as well as a few other provinces also have a similar government run public auto insurance system. Every vehicle on the road is required to have basic insurance through the government and the license plates are tied to the insurance policy not the vehicle. No insurance = no plates, although some people may still have plates after insurance has lapsed but the stickers will show that they've expired. It's a $598 fine to drive without insurance in BC, without plates or with expired plates. Of course you can keep the plates when you renew, and you can transfer the plates when you sell your car and get a new one, just go to an insurance company to update the policy or else you can be fined for having the wrong car on the plates if caught. If you cancel the insurance completely, you have to return the plates. Most landlords will not let you keep a car on premises without a storage insurance and cars without regular insurance cannot be on a public road -- must be on private property. If you cancel insurance in these provinces, you will not lose your insurance discount... you will continue to accrue an additional discount for each year you don't get into an accident as long as you hold a valid drivers license as they assume that even without a vehicle in your name, you may still drive vehicles belonging to other people or rent vehicles either through a traditional car rental facility or through one of the various car share programs.

Some provinces like Alberta and Ontario have an insurance and licensing system much like the US, private insurance companies like State Farm and Family Insurance, a DMV type deal, and pink slips for registration.

I don't older cars automatically get written off yet in BC.

Anyway... the damage doesn't look THAT bad but sucks there is frame damage. Amazing how much repairs cost these days.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

that is interesting to hear about the insurance in some of canada. how are the rates then?

also... your 5 has a boogie hanging right there in the front.

 

[DKaz]

For my Mazda 5 I pay $925 a year for basic insurance ($200k liability only) @ 30% safe driving discount with ICBC (BC's government run auto insurance) and $700 a year for optional insurance through a private company called Canadian Direct Insurance (collision with $500 deductible, comprehensive with $200 deductible, $3 mil total extended liability, $2mil under-insured protection, rental car coverage, and a few other things), about $400 less than ICBC. I think I would pay about the same in Alberta... but the safe driving discount maxes out at 43% so as I get older provided I am accident free, the private insurance company provinces would be cheaper for sure. The unique thing is that ICBC (and I think the other government insurance companies) starts EVERYONE at the same base rate, depending on the car and where you live, there's no personal profiling. You get an additional 5% a year discount for every year you go accident free, you get a 30% surcharge above base for three years for each accident you are at fault with (each surcharge has an expiration date so it doesn't compound), and after they all expire you go back to the discount you had before you got into an accident.

Oh and that boogie is a block heater, in case you didn't know, disregard if you were making a joke.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

hmm... so good drivers pay a little more, and bad drivers pay less... unless they really mess up then they pay a lot more.

and before i had a garage i had a block heater. was really handy in bemidji, mn with -30F temps all winter.

 

[WhiteStar III]

View attachment 176780

You don't mention, and I hope you got lucky, but you came pretty close to losing your power steering pump. ($$$$)

 

[LeMoeCND]

The parts are in and the car is going in for repair this Sat. It will likely take a week. Good thing the courtesy car is free... Now that you mentioned it the power steering pump is whinning...

LeMoeCND

 

[Robotazky]

OP, don't get too upset. You have a good dealer and all makers have problems these days. Honda and Toyota have about 130-135 problems reported for every 100 cars they sell. Mazda is up around 190. Scion is 200 and VW is 225. Regardless, almost every single buyer of a new car will have a problem. If you have a good dealer who is committed to your happiness, you really can't ask for more. You would think buying a new car means you avoid tons of headaches, etc, but it's just not the case. Cars are a headache no matter their age.