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Brand-new 2017 Honda Civic Type R wrecked on drive home from dealer

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For this week's entry in New Car Dreams, Shattered, we point you to the tale of Greg Ellingson, a man who flew from Philadelphia to Boston to pick up his sporty new 2017 Honda Civic Type R only to finish the trip home in a tow truck with a wrecked car.

No one was injured in the crash, which took place Sunday on Interstate 95 in Connecticut.

"Jackass not paying attention hit me full on and pushed me into another car," he wrote in a Facebook update that, unlike his badly damaged hatchback, has caught fire. The post, which also included photos of his badly damaged grey Type R, had been shared more than 4,000 times and had attracted more than 1,800 comments as of this story's publication.

Reached by phone Monday, Ellingson, said he was stopped in traffic on I-95 when he paused to change the radio station, was rear-ended by an older man and pushed into another vehicle. He said he didn't see the car coming.

"He wasn't on the breaks when he hit me, he was on the gas," Ellingson said.

I didn't even make it home....

Jackass not paying attention hit me full on and pushed me into another car.

Update: This has been quite an experience. After finally getting home and some rest and due to the popularity of this event, I should probably post more info.

First off I'm grateful to Mals towing for giving me a 5 hour ride home with the car last night.

I'm also grateful to Trooper Bozso of the CT State Police for his very quick response and his assistance. With all the bad publicity police have gotten lately, this man deserves some recognition. After making sure we were all okay, he was quick to collect all our information and get us what we needed to get off the side of the road as fast as possible. He stayed with me till the tow truck arrived, got me Gatorade and handled the situation text book perfectly.

So what happened?

Traffic on this highway isn't anything new. We were in the right lane, literally start and stop for some time. If you look at the photo of the front of the car, you'll see an off ramp in the background. I think that created an opening behind me long enough for the person to accelerate and hit me.

I was at least a full car length behind the person in front of me. We were stationary and waiting for some time. Long enough for me to reach up, change the radio station and put my hand back down onto the shifter.

I didn't even see the person hit me. He wasn't even on the brakes. After the initial collision it still took him time to realize he hit something. So his vehicle continued to push me all the way up the rear of the vehicle in front of me.

Immediately Honda Link Assist went off and asked me to pull to the side of the road. I looked around dumbfounded by what had just happened. The car in front moved to the side so I followed. As I'm looking around at all the glass scattered everywhere Honda Link then asked if I needed assistance. After 5-10 seconds of not responding, it called 911 immediately. A short time later my phone rang and it was Honda Road side asking me if I needed assistance.

Looking back, most importantly I'm grateful my Honda protected me. I came out without even a scratch. I've been selling new Hondas for almost a year now and I read about their safety, I've seen the crash test videos but experiencing it first hand is a whole different thing. The engineers who designed this car did a fantastic job. It took all the brunt and all 4 doors still open!

People keep asking me about the insurance. First off, you don't buy a rare collectors car and put "normal" insurance on it. That is asking to be screwed as they will never give you what the car is worth.

I've owned several rare cars and have them all insured through a company that limits your milage but covers you for whatever value you want on the vehicle. If this car is declared totaled (which it looks like it will) I will get back 100% what I have into it. It's called Declared Value Insurance (some call it collectors car insurance) and most insurance companies offer it. Call yours and ask them about it. It'll save you money too!

Thanks to all my friends and family for all your support!
Keep an eye out for another grey Type R for me too!

Text Source: Autoblog
 


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