Aphrodite, my first Empeg (now my wife's) sadly lost her home this morning.




Most importantly, my wife is fine. The car is replaceable. I'm feeling a little weird at the moment so I don't know what else to say... I pulled the empeg and sled out of it at the towing place before they could declare it totalled and haul it away.
Hope your day's going better than mine

Wow, very sorry to see this tragedy. Glad to know your wife is OK. I see your priorities are straight: Wife's safety and health first, Empeg second, car last.

In case anyone is wondering, that used to be a '98 Nissan Altima. The safety features worked great and I'm convinced that the airbag saved my wife from far more serious injuries. Thanks Nissan.

Wow. I'm glad your wife is doing OK.

Ouch!!
I'm glad to read your wife is OK but
looks Aphrodite took a quite jolt.

I've been there, far too recently. Good to hear she's ok.

they could declare it totalled and haul it away.

Totalled? Naaah... a little rubbing compound and you could buff that right out.



tanstaafl.

You better hope his insurance company doesn't read this

Sorry to hear about the accident. I hope you're fortunate enough to get what my sister did when her car got totaled; more money for the car than you really felt it was worth to you. Then your wife and empeg will have a nice new place to ride around in!

Just happy to hear your wife is well....

I hope you're fortunate enough to get what my sister did when her car got totaled; more money for the car than you really felt it was worth to you.

I hope so. We got the car a year ago and put about 24k miles on it in the last year (she commutes to school and we use the car for trips.) We got a good deal on it when we bought it, so if we break even, I'll be a happy guy.

Ya know, one of the things his wife said to him after the accident was that the empeg was still in tact and unharmed. Talking about a wife with priorities!

And that install was so pretty too. I felt certain it was going to win best amateur install at the Cincy meet this year. Bummer.

Know the feeling...my daughter totalled her 2001 Mustang this morning..nobody hurt but feelings and the wallet!

my daughter totalled her 2001 Mustang this morning

Glad to hear she's ok and I hope the wallet doesn't take too big of a hit with the insurance!

OW!

NJ is ruthless.....so....may have to hock the Empeg!!!

Something that is somewhat depressing is that I have no idea what kind of car I want to get to replace it. So far I've come up with a few guidelines it has to meet:

1. I'd like it to be reasonably safe (airbags, etc..).
2. It has to get reasonably good milage.
3. It can't be a new VW Beetle (what my wife wants.)
4. I'm poor, so I'm looking in the used car $6-10k range.
5. I'm tallish, so anything too compact is out because I don't fit too well.

The amount of options as far as where to look and how to go about getting the best car for my money is somewhat daunting. If anyone has any advice regarding getting a good vehicle for a little money (Heather?), I'm all ears.

I bought a used Neon on eBay. $2k, because all cars I buy cost $2k. Mileage ok, airbags, I'm 6' and I fit.

Another thought: How about a used Prius?

Depending on the year, neons are really safe in my book.
I had bought my girlfriend a 98 neon which got totalled by her sister. She got t-boned on the passenger side by a old dodge
Daytona at about 50 mph. All (4) passengers walked away with minor injuries, well except the front passenger which suffered a fractured leg. Still, after the door was ripped off by the jaws of life, a slight oil leak, and the steering wheel being out of alignment, I was able to drive the car a good twenty miles or so from the accident back to my place with no problems, and it still drove straight!!!
Not to mention all the strange looks I got from people on the road.

I have a friend who is now in a wheelchair and his mother is dead from a Neon-related accident. Due to his hight, he ended up breaking his neck when his head hit the roof after being broadsided. Now he's a recovering quadrapalegic. Granted, this could happen in any compact car.

One of my ex-girlfriends had a brand new 99 neon and she slammed into the back of tractor trailor pulling a back-hoe totaling the car. She came out with a sprained ankle and a black-eye (which came from the airbag).

I've heard that neon's are pretty shoddy cars after a few years of use. No experience with this but I know a few people who had some problems 3-4 years later.

Like I said, depending on the year.
I remember looking at the 99 and 2000's in 2001 and saw a big difference in the way the were built. Both the frame work and body seemed cheap to me. We owned the 98 Neon for about 4 years before it got wrecked and had no major problems. The only thing was a stress crack on the windshield, which by the way they insisted was a crack from a rock or hard ball and did not want to replace while still under warranty.

I got a used 97 neon. It needed brakes, a belt tightened, some body trim clips (all dealt with), a few door weather strip clips (waiting til spring because I have nowhere dry to deal with it) and the door hinges on the passenger front door adjusted (it seems to be hanging slightly low).

Works for me.

Now, the previous owner was a slob about how they put aftermarket speakers in, so I need to deal with that, but it wasn't really a problem with the car...

A friend of mine had a Neon. I don't know what year. The paint was peeling off of the car, but was otherwise doing fine until one day the entire electrical system spontaneously caught on fire, apparently fusing the whole thing. He said that it would have cost more to fix it than the car was worth.

That sucks. I agree with your overall assessment, but I've only been in 2 accidents where the car was totalled, and I walked away both times, so I have no useful way to benchmark that (my wife's 85 Cavalier t-boned into a pole by someone while I was driving, an opposing driver falling asleep and mostly just sideswiping me in a 94 Spirit).

Neat.

Yeah, rewiring a car is pretty much a loss unless it's a high-5 or 6 figure car, and even then...

Was this car purple by any chance?

I think so. It's been about six months since this happened, and I never really paid that much attention to it anyway.

On second thought, it may have been green. I'll ask him the next time I see him.

I've bought my last two cars on ebay and if you buy carefully you can get a really good deal. But then I don't drive more than 3k miles a year - living in central London makes car ownership a complete luxury and only used for trips out of town - usually to France to fill up the wine rack!
£750 for a 1987 BMW 528i 6 months ago was a right result - only needed half an exhaust in that time and running really well with only 54k on the clock.
The 316 I bought before that was more of a mistake though - at least I only lost £100 when I sold it!!

I've only been in 2 accidents where the car was totalled

ONLY two totals?

I've driven more than half a million miles in my life, the worst accident I've been in (I got hit by a travel trailer. Really. My fault. Long story.) did $150 damage to the trailer, $250 damage to my Porsche.

Of course, there are more automobiles on the road within downtown Pittsburgh than there are in the entire state of Alaska, so maybe your driving environment is a wee bit less friendly than mine...

tanstaafl.

[q2]I've only been in 2 accidents where the car was totalled

ONLY two totals?

Well, um, yeah.

I've driven more than half a million miles in my life, the worst accident I've been in (I got hit by a travel trailer. Really. My fault. Long story.) did $150 damage to the trailer, $250 damage to my Porsche.

Of course, there are more automobiles on the road within downtown Pittsburgh than there are in the entire state of Alaska, so maybe your driving environment is a wee bit less friendly than mine...

Well, neither was downtown. The recent one was "wrong place, wrong time". The previous one I suspect the other driver may have been slightly careless, but I put myself in a bad situation, and I won't do it again. Why assume the other person is paying attention?

Just something to throw out never buy a new neon, resale value is the worse of any vehicle

Resale value? Why would I sell a working vehicle?

Because it's more of a pain in the ass than you're willing to deal with.

I guess I'm spoiled. I've blown up engines, had 2 transmissions rebuilt, I just don't care. (Not in the Neon, in the 210k mile minivan)