My 2004 MINI Cooper S was towed a couple of nights ago (damn you, snow zones!). It was impounded at the 103rd st. lot. When I went to pick it up last night, the poor thing was barely drivable.

On the way out of the lot, a friend driving behind me noticed one of the rear wheels wobbling but after pulling over, we saw that it wasn't flat. But driving along, I had trouble keeping the car straight. It would seem to veer from one side to the other. And steering it straight proved elusive. My DSC light was on the entire time (I couldn't turn it off), and the flat tire signal was on, too.

Anyway, we made the attempt to try to make it back home with it, but gave up along the way, and left it at a gas station on 87th St. By then there was a screeching noise emanating from the car while driving down the Dan Ryan, and I could barely drive over 30mph with some control of the car.

Long story short, I got it towed to my home today. I'd like to find a non-dealer shop that's done work with MINIs to take a look and see sort of damage it suffered. Otherwise, I'll have it towed to the dealer in Schaumburg. They typically charge an arm, a leg, and your firstborn, however, so I'm interested in considering alternatives.

Thanks!


-Al

 

Sorry about the Snow Zones!!!!

Have the car brought to the dealer in schaumburg... They usually have all the parts in stock, and if you plan on using your insurance in necessary, schaumburg has all the car insurance estimators.. they'll be looking at your car possibly the same day. I've been down that horrible 'damage to my baby' road. I hate it, but I was able to get the car back asap -- lots to do with location...

 

That is a bummer, towed and damaged by the tow.

I encourage you to bite the bullet and Flatbed it to Dealer so it's fixed right the 1st time, be sure and ask for a loaner, you may very well get it.

Best Wishes and think of it has a X-mas gift to yourself and your MINI.

I would also like to know what all was damaged after you get it fixed. Did you have the E-Brake set? I know the owners manual says to only flatbed MINI's, I guess we know why now.

 

Ooh... yes, I did. I wonder how they managed to tow the truck in spite of the emergency brake.

I was told that they tow cars one of two ways. Either via a flatbed truck, or via a truck that can tow two cars, one on a flatbed and a second on a wheel lift. They say they don't keep records of how they tow cars, so they wouldn't know how mine was done. But with my e-brake set, I'm really curious to know how they even transported my car.

I filed a claim today with the pound. It was odd filling out the damage report, because I had no idea what kind of damage was done. I just described how undrivable (and unsafe) it was to try to drive it.

Anyway, I'm required to bring back estimates from three places within 30 days. Fine, but how do I do that? Tow it to three different shops?

Would getting an assessment done by the dealer suffice, and then pass along their report to two other shops to see how much they'd do it for?


-Al

 

Here's what I would do. Call them 1st thing Monday morning and let me know the car is not drivable, therefore can they work with the one number from the shop you want to have repair it.

You may also want to call your INS company and tell them the story and see if they will work with you and then fight City Hall for you.

The fact that you really don't know and will not know till someone gets under the MINI is going to be hard to get correct estimates.

You may want to lawyer up too.

Stand your ground.

 

Given that it's not reasonable to do this, I would let them know that you're taking the dealer report on the repair requirements and shop it around two other shop as you indicated. You might to talk to the other two shops ahead of time to see if they can work with you. Try a Goodyear, and NTB shops as they do suspension work.

 

as far as e-brakes... the winch on those flat beds can tug the car up
the slope with the tires screeching on the pavement.

 

Dealer still may be the way to go. Even though your maintenance package may have expired, aren't there still warrantee issues if you bring it to a non-certified MINI shop?

The tires can screach sideways too!
Saw this happen outside my house when a flatbed winched a car out of a parallel spot with about 6 inches to spare front and back. Not pretty. So I can see how there may be damage.

 

Thanks, everyone. I'll be taking it to the dealer this morning. In fact, I'm waiting for AAA's towing service to drop by. Should be here in the next half hour.

Will keep you posted.

 

The verdict is in: Bad tie rod!

 

Bad tie rod, was it from the tow?

 

Circumstantially, it would have to be. The car drove fine when I parked it. The following night when I picked it up from the pound, I immediately had steering problems as I drove it to the gate (but I initially thought it was because of the icy ground that it was misbehaving).

I guess I should ask them to show me how the towing could have caused the damage. The car's actually not yet repaired (took awhile for the tow truck to get here and then to transport it over to Schaumburg). They should be done by tomorrow.

 

A&L Auto Body does suspension, exhaust, wheels, tires, body work and more. This is a top quality shop and Anthony (owner's 20something son) is **** about doing a great job and a perfectionist. They are a BMW authorized body repair shop. I got a bumper for my BMW e90 from a member on a forum and he replaced mine with it for a $50 labor charge. see this link for more reviews about A&L, they are in Palatine
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64610

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96775

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90119

 

Errrr....sorry worng thread.