I woke up @ 2am Saturday morning to a crash... I walked outside and found my car sitting on the sidewalk. A woman had hit my parked car because she "looked down." Now I am waiting for my 2009 clubman (13,000 miles) to be assessed...

The front end on the drivers side is pretty smashed in.. the front driver wheel and rear passenger wheel do not turn. My barnyard doors would not open no matter how hard I pulled. My passenger/driver side door windows do not align to the top of the car. I have a bent control arm, a ripple/dent in my roof, 2-3 rims are chipped/damaged and need to be replaced, need two new tires, cracked back break light, passenger side mirror is gone, etc.
Here are some pics of the damage:

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Chris/Pictures/2011-02-07/443.JPG[/IMG]

 

Ouch! I'm not an insurance adjuster, but with all of the various ripples, misalignment issues, etc., I'd venture a guess that it'll be a total. It sounds like she must have hit it pretty hard!

 

Hold out for the 'total'.... I wouldn't want to always be wondering what gremlin was going to pop-up a year or so down the road - as a result of some undetected problem that surfaces later. I just don't see how they could be sure of fixing everything short of rebuilding the car from the ground-up...

 

The Mini is constructed as a "unibody" or stressed frame.
When the body and chassis are subjected to a crash the chassis sort of folds up. This knocks all of the alignment out of the body. You can't open doors because they don't line up anymore.
This car is a "total".
The only real way to straighten it would to go back to factory specs.
Insurance company won't do that.
You don't want to drive something that has had to be cut apart to be put back to normal.

 

I'm glad you weren't in it at the time. I hope the car is declared a total loss and you are back to motoring in a MINI soon.

 

Poor Clubman :( that is a sad sight. I would agree with everyone else with the totaled assessment, but then I am not an adjuster either. Either way, I would definitely try to have it declared totaled. If somehow you can't have it totaled, make sure to be compensated for lost value.

 

she "looked down", crossed the center line and ran into a car at what looks to be 50mph+.... what a @#$%^

She could have ran over a group of school children, or nuns. She should have her license taken away.

Sorry to say, but that seems to be a total. That being said, the others are right, you don't want to drive a car that has been damaged to that extent.

 

With 30+ years in the collision repair industry I'll disagree that unibody damage causes a vehicle to be a total loss. Most insurance companies will consider a vehicle a total loss when the repair costs exceeds a certain amount. For example, in VA it's 75% of the actual cash value of the vehicle. Any vehicle 7 years or newer can't be repaired if it's over 75%. Other cars can be fixed if the insurance company decides to, even if the cost is over the 75% threshold.

A correctly repaired vehicle will be as good as new. I have a 04 MCS in my shop now with repairs over 6 grand. The unibody is back to factory specs and the 4 wheel alignment is in the middle of specs on all 4 wheels. So with proper training, equipment and material, factory OEM settings are surely possible.

Looking at your car, I'd have to say there is quite a bit of unibody damage. It's showing a good deal of side sway to the front rails. I just checked my 09 Clubman S, and your left rail must be shoved around a ton. Good pic of the door to quarter gap. That shows the cowl panel/hinge pillar has significant movement. I'd have to see the car personally, but I'd start doing some new car shopping. That ain't a happy Clubbie.

 

Go figure

 

I'm glad you weren't sitting in your MINI.


Let us know what the insurance adjuster says (if you don't mind).

Can you imagine if the driver who hit your car managed to leave the scene with her car and left you wondering what happened?? Geeez....

Best of Luck.

 

Thank you so much for all the input... I will definitely keep you posted on what they assess my car as. Hopefully I will have an idea by tomorrow.

 

Sorry to hear about the MINI. It just made me sick to see the car in that way. However just like some others have said, at least you weren't injured in that situation.

I was almost slammed into from the left when a driver didn't look to see that I was in the right lane in a turn. Some people just don't do their best when driving.

BTW, I suspect the driver "looked down" because they were texting or messing with their phone.

 

This happened not with my Clubman but with my wifes Lexus RX350, her vehicle is an 07 and in 08 I was T-Boned by a LARGE pickup 4X4 with a HUGH front bumper. The damage to the Lexus was $17800. I fought to have it totaled but they would have none of that. I sued the other persons insurance company because the vehicle is now worth $5000 to 7500 less than one not damaged. i recovered a whole $2000. So hope you can get it replaced and not repaired.

 

WOW sorry to hear about that. Hope things work out OK for you, "she looked down" yeah sure she didnt want to admit that she was Texting .

 

So far...

The preliminary estimate of cost to repair my Mini would be (drumroll....)
Now I am just waiting for my insurance company to receive the estimate and call me with their decision to either total my car or repair it.

Does anyone know what "Point of Impact: 15. Total loss" means on the preliminary estimate of the collision centers report means? It also says that "T/D (tear-down) need to determine if hinge pillar repairable".

Hopefully I will know by Friday what the final decision is. Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and support!

 

so sorry to hear about your mini. at 19500 and with your car as bad as it is i would seriously fight for it to be totaled if they decide they want to fix it.

I dont care what anyone says, a car that is in that bad of shape will never drive like "new" especially with a unibody car. My mom and dad were on the highway in there 2002 gmc yukon xl (the thing is a TANK) and a ford explorers spare tire cable snapped and flew and hit the yukon square in the nose and caused 9k worth of damage. They took it too a collision center that does amazing work (weve used them in the past) and it doesnt run quite right any more and my parents fought not to have it totaled. Not to mention that the ins company forced the repair shop to use used parts .

Make sure if you cannot get them to total it that the 19500 includes BRAND NEW PARTS. and if not insist you have it re-evaluated with new parts or declare it totaled.

 

I believe in california if it is more than 51% of the worth of the car they have to issue a total loss. Most likely they will look at the various mini's in the area and assess it from there.

 

For all those interested, my 2009 Mini Clubman (12,600 miles) was declared a total loss (with $19,500+ damage). Insurance estimate on its value ~$24-25k.

 

Sorry you had to lose your MINI like that, but look on the bright side... now you get to pick out a brand new one

plus, you weren't in the car when it happened and you don't have to drive a car repaired after extensive damage

 

Well its for the best, thanks for keeping us notified!

Look on the bright side, you get to order another Mini especially a 2011

 

Yeah.. I am going new car shopping this weekend to check out my options... not sure if I will be getting another mini but definitely not counting one out. Very thankful no one was hurt in this accident.. but sad that my mini will have to sit in a salvage yard after it has treated me so well.