So long 91 Jetta ECOdiesel....

[compu_85]

Well, it's lights out for our 1991 Jetta GL ECOdiesel. It was parked out in front of the house in a quiet neighborhood when the 17 year old girl across the street slammed into the back of it while "swatting at a bee on the windshield."

It's been a great car. 429,466 miles on the original engine and body.

Caught it all on our CCTV security cameras... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqHxTOtHMtQ.













I talked to the adjuster... gave them some basic info. Hopefully I hear more today.

-Jason

[mstaton]

That's too bad. Those diesels run forever with good maintenance. I hope she(her mom) has good insurance. Don't accept the first offer they make. Just because it has high miles does not make it worthless.

[consoleguy67]

I think she should stop driving for a while. The next time, she may kill someone!

[mstaton]

I noticed she's texting in the pics. Wonder if she was doing it when she hit your jetta. Looks like she was speeding pretty good too!

[ChrisW6ATV]

Get your insurance company and/or the police to insist on seeing her cell-phone records for that day. Too bad about the car, it looks like it was in excellent condition, too.

[Sandy G]

Grrrrrrrrr....

[Electronic M]

Even someone working towards getting a license like me is smart enough to know that if you have a bee in the car you need to pull the bleep over and deal with it with the car parked, and not to speed in a residential area (if she was not speeding, to have done that damage that car must be made of tin foil)!

[jbivy]

Do you think she was texting and driving?

Pity about your jetta, those cars seemed to run forever.

[Tony V]

Thats a shame as by looking at the undamaged part of the car it was still in decent shape. Hopefully you can find another one.

[Sandy G]

Y'know, not to sound mean or morbid or anything like that, but I hope she at least got a fat lip or busted nose outta the deal.. Might teach to NOT text & drive, at least SLOW DOWN & pay attention to what she's doing..And it MIGHT save her from having a much WORSE wreck later.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by mstaton

I noticed she's texting in the pics. Wonder if she was doing it when she hit your jetta. Looks like she was speeding pretty good too!

From the video it appears that she was gaining speed driving uphill. I hope you can get her cellular telephone records subpoenaed.

[DaveWM]

no doubt about it she was swatting at a "b" on a cell phone key pad. dum arse.

I would rather people drink and drive, as at least some of the time they would be sober, texting while driving is epidemic around here. Its so bad you have to honk constantly to get them moving when light turn green, they stop 50 feet back (dont see the cars moving up) run red lights, swerve, run into curbs etc... I only know this when I have someone with me to observe, since I am too busy DRIVING to pay attention. I would love to have a 10 watt jamming device that could take out the stupid cell phones.

[bgadow]

A crying shame for a car like that to die in such a way. No glory!

As some may know, I own a body shop. I have one customer with a 97 Camry, maybe 230k on the odometer, I know I've fixed this car at least a half dozen times. They kept it up real nice. Got rear ended a week ago; it still runs and drives, you could take it to California and back outside of a couple busted lights. But, it's totalled. I'd rather see it happen to a 2012 model.

Study up on your rights, if you haven't already. If they lowball (and they don't always) tell them to find you that exact model at the price they offered.

[mstaton]

The more I watch that video, the more pissed I get! That stuff should not ever happen if you pay attention to your driving. I live in a school zone area and the rest of the street is 20mph. People speed constantly at speeds up to 60mph. really annoying especially trying to back out of my own driveway! Late getting their kids to school and late to work. HHMMM, maybe leave a little earlier?. Maybe a LARGE "lowered honda" eating speed bump is in order.

[compu_85]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Study up on your rights, if you haven't already. If they lowball (and they don't always) tell them to find you that exact model at the price they offered.

This is my plan. This was a rather uncommon model... only ~800 or so were sold (~750 for 91 and ~50 for 92. VW sold so few cars in those years they almost pulled out of the US market in 93).

I'm going to hear from my insurance company tomorrow... hopefully I hear from theirs too. I've been looking over craigslist to find one.

Regardless I will buy the wreck back and take out the motor and suspension. VWs are built like legos... if worse comes to worse I can find a clean gasser with a bad motor and swap the diesel in. The wiring all plugs into the back of the fuse block so it's literally plug and play.

I don't know what she was up to. I do know she was going too fast and neither she nor her boyfriend in the front seat were paying attention for at least 3 seconds before the crash. I'm going to keep an eye on the teen as she drives by... if I spy her running the stop signs more I think we'll have a little chat I don't claim to be the best driver in the world but I am 27 and have never been in an accident worse than a bumper bump.

-J