bummer

So I finally got my beater 91 miata registered after waiting for two months and was ready to start cutting out the rot. While sitting at a light on the way to my parents house to do the aforementioned work I get rear ended. The other driver apparently forgot to hold the brake pedal down while at a stop. He couldn't have hit me at more than 3 or 4 mph, but the trim piece between the taillights is fubar, the bumper which I had just given a $2 paint job is scratched to high hell, and the right taillight has some scratches. I've already contacted his insurance company and they are getting in touch with him, so everything should be cool.

At the same time the car is a beater and I'm really tempted to break the taillight and dent the back of the right fender to try and get a little more out of them. I could really use the money or some significant body work on the car.

Insurance fraud isn't cool. Is that what you're asking?

First sorry for the double threads hopefully that will be taken care of. On the topic of insurance fraud, kinda just venting because the only two straight parts on the car are now screwed up. Just a little frustrated.

That center trim piece is pretty pricy BTW, I think I sold a used one fore $150 on ebay....

Sorry about your luck, but karma is a tough mother to deal with, and the law is even worse. I'd advise against insurance fraud almost every time.

You might have been better off asking for 300 bucks (the cost of a reproduction finish panel and some paint) and leaving insurance out of it.

How much rot needs to be cut out?

I would have asked to keep insurance out of it, but based on the vehicle the guy was driving and his general mannerisms I think asking for $300 might have been a bigger hassle. It's what I wanted to do, but he seemed a little down on his luck. Plus by dealing with his insurance co. the bumper will most likely be replaced too, and if there is an issue it will be easier to go after them.

To address the rot, there is a 1 sq. in. hole on the left rear fender right above the bumber and a decent size chunk of the right rear side sill is non existent. I cut out everything that was completely rotten and ground down the surface rust. The repair will most likely be handled by a pro, besides the side sill being rusted away, I had to cut about 3/4in. of the inner fender away. The thicker metal that is part of the unibody had a little bit of surface rust but cleaned up nicely. To the best of my knowledge nothing structural is in to bad of shape. Fortunately a guy that moonlights with me at the pizza place is the service writer for one of the large dealerships' body shop here. He owes me a couple of favors, hopefully he can get one of his people to do it for buddy price or something on the side. I'm trying to keep the budget low as the car cost me $500 and hopefully could be a potential 200X challenger.

As a side note the really cheap spray paint at wallyworld is a perfect match for vintage burnt out faded miata red!