Miata Mailing List: December 1999, Message #40

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Greetings, Miataphiles!

I've had Lucille ('96 Base, Montego Blue) for 6 weeks now, 
and I've been hit twice now.  Both times I saw it coming 
and laid on the horn to no avail. (The air horns are on the 
way!)

The first time there was no real damage, aside from a 
slightly scratched rear bumper.  I was in stop & go 
traffic, and notice that the teenager in the car behind me 
was talking on a cell phone, tailgating, and not paying 
much attention.  I said to my wife, "That car's going to 
rear-end us."  Within a couple of blocks, traffic stopped, 
and I looked in the rear view mirror to see that the driver 
was looking down, so I started blowing my horn.  Bump!

Last night, I was stopped at a stop sign, a car in front 
and a car behind me.  I see the taillights and then reverse 
lights come on on the car parked to the right of my 
passenger side front fender.  I can't move, the car in 
front of me won't move, and the parked car slowly creeps 
back toward my fender.  Again I lay on the horn, and again 
the car keeps coming, until I hear a crunch and the car 
stops.

I've gotten two estimates this morning, one for $340, and 
one from the Roebuck Mazda body shop for $522.  The main 
difference between the two is that Roebuck's estimate 
includes blending the paint on the bumper, hood, and door.  
According to Roebuck, blending is necessary on any 
metallic paint to avoid an obvious difference in color 
between the repainted panel and the old paint.  It sounds 
reasonable to me, but I'm no expert in these things, and I 
fear that the insurance company might want to insist in the 
cheapest job.  Any comments from the collective.

Regards,
Tidmarsh
Birmingham, Alabama

PS-Thanks for letting me vent.