so, she's gone
 

I haven't been on 318ti.org for a long while (i normally post at bfc under the name bellavus), but I wanted to let you guys know that I will be leaving the ti community :(

My beloved ti was in an accident Thursday night on a local freeway. I was driving in traffic and checking my gps for directions back to my office. A mistubushi eclipse (who was 2 cars in front of me) decided to stop for no apparent reason, and it happened to be the exact time that I looked down at my gps. I hit the volkswagen passat in front of me, who in turn, hit the stopped mistubushi eclipse.

The collision occured at 5mph; the mitsu eclipse sustained minimal damage (a scratch on the bumper), the passat had a chipped bumper, broken tailight lenses and a bent quarter panel. The front end of my car was smashed completely, the bumper cracked, the headlights popped out, the hood buckled, and the radiator busted. My car was the only one that sustained serious damage, and I got the call today that it will be totalled.

I will not be posting after pictures, as it's too painful for me to even look at the car when I've visited it.

Some before pics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...813/318_02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...813/318_01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...13/compact.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/DSC00498.jpg

Maybe you can finance this one?
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...=1&cardist=513

Sorry to hear abou your car. That Eclipse driver is a dumbass.

I'm located in california, but man, that is a beautiful ti. It has somewhat more mileage than my ti had, and it's a manual. I'm supposed to be bringing my m3 to California in the meantime to drive.

i've owned the car for 5 years. It's been my constant companion as I've moved, changed jobs, and left the east coast for california. It's the only thing that has been constant in my life over these past 5 years. It's a very sentimental thing, and I've been crying ever since I found out today that the car was going to be totalled.

omg I am so sorry to here that! I love your car! Dont listen to 1996bmw318ti he never seems to say something nice when it comes to these things. I cant believe it sustained so much damage at 5mph.....that kind of scares me even though I know cars are made to crush to take the impact I mean come on 5mph? Hopefully one day maybe you will come across another ti you can purchase. Dont you have an e36 m3 also? Good luck!

I really wish they weren't going to total it. I just bought a 'totaled' '96 318ti probably looks about the same as yours does. but after 2 days of love now the car is looking pretty good and I'm not regretting my decision to do the body work. I'll admit my radiator is fine but my hood looks like a crumbled peice of alluminum. but hey, do what you gotta do. at least it was fun while it lasted. it's a shame, sorry to hear about your loss.

What was rude from me saying common post pics?

the car was lowered and "submarined" underneath the passat's bumper, which is why it sustained so much damage. I do have an E36 m3; it's currently located in NY, and I'm debating on whether or not to bring it to San Francisco. I drive a lot as part of my job, and I have to park in sometimes small spaces and questionable locations.

The car does NOT have any frame damage, just front fascia and radiator damage predominately. What kills me is that the car CAN be fixed to like new condition, it's just not worth the $ to the insurance company to fix it.

:useless:

i understand it may be "common" to post pics after an accident, but it's rude to ask multiple times when I've already indicated that there won't be any pics posted. I would post pictures if the car wasn't totalled, but I will never see the car after it goes to a scrap yard. Maybe that doesn't mean much to you, but it means a lot to me. There exists 1 pic of the car after the accident, which is on my cell phone and unable to be downloaded to my computer, nor sent to anybody, as I don't have picture messaging service on my phone.

so how much is the insurance company going to give you for the car? what if you at least part the car and earn some extra cash, or worse case scenero, can you afford to fix the damages yourself? I know with our cars that almost out of the question because it can be costly, but buy new headlights, a working used radiator for now, a new hood and see if you can find a bumper in good condition from someone who is parting out their car. BFC has people doing that all the time, couldnt hurt to see how much it would set you back for the time being.

they are probably giving me between 7-7.5k for the car. I don't have a place to store a non-running car (the ti doesn't run right now), nor the $ to fix it. Parting out the car wouldn't be nearly as profitable, because there is a low demand in general for the ti parts, and vice versa, it's going to be harder to come across stock parts for the ti.

If it was my m3, it would be completely different.

I want to see some pics.

So its not just me :biggrin: