Hey Guys

My 5 month old F56 was rear ended by a girl texting on friday

The impact was slow, < 5mph. I took it to my MINI dealer who's repair shop quote $1440 to replace the bumper and re-paint some the lip under the bumper.

The girl's parents want to just pay for the damage. I have a few concerns:

I'm British in USA on VISA. I don't know how long I'll have this car, but if I go through insurance it'll be a blemish on the car's history, and will drop in value if/when I need to get rid of it. That could be in a year, or a few years - I don't know.

If I just let them pay, thats fine but there could be damage under the bumper we cannot see. Unlikely, but possible, and then I have to deal with them to pay for that too.

Then there's the DMV that says you must report an accident to them that costs over $700 to repair.

Anyone got any advice? I'd rather do insurance and let them deal with it, but I am kinda angry that her negligence effectively would put an accident report on my car history for something so minor.

Thanks for any opinions/help

 

Anything reported to DMV will show up on Carfax report and it will screw up re-sale value of the car. I would suggest two options for you ...

1. Go through insurance and get a clean job done at a Mini dealership. This will reduce the hassle of future issues being covered under warranty or not. I have faced one or two issues with my 2010 MCS where-in the issue was caused due to body shop undermining the damage from impact. Since the body shop was part of the dealership, they just offered to cover the repair under factory warranty. I am not saying every dealer would do this, but some of them do.
2. Body shops operated by Mini dealers are generally on the expensive side. See if you can find a MINI/BMW certified or authorized body shop and check if they can do it for a price of $700 or lower. This way you can avoid the DMV reporting ...

If you go with option 1, there is going to be a drop in re-sale value. If you go with option 2, your re-sale value is good but any issues caused due to bad body shop work will affect you.

 

I hope that you made a police report so that it's on her record. That might sound mean, but what's going to prevent her from doing it again? I think I'd go with the insurance company too, since problems could pop up later. I had a CRV that was rear-ended by someone with a smoke in one hand and a phone in the other. Months after the initial repair there were issues related to the exhaust system (she went under the CRV).

 

Go through insurance. That first estimate is just that, an estimate, it will go up and you don't want to have to fight the girls parents to cover the additional amounts.

Also don't forget about the rental car, will they cover that as well? Figure you will be without your car for 1 week per thousand of estimate. So 1 week so far.

If you go through the girl's insurance it will be less hassle, and I would ask to be compensated for the loss in resale value.

Also, I would stick with the dealer's body shop. You want the car fixed by someone more concerned about making it like new, and not a shop more concerned about repeat insurance company business.

 

Thanks all for the feedback.

Since my original posting, the father of the driver now says he is willing to pay the repair (which at this point is $1440, assuming nothing underneath), or pay me a lump sum to just deal with it ($850 at last offer).

Insurance is my preferred route other than the accident record. If I make a claim for loss of resale value due to the collision record, what sort of monetary impact can I look to expect? A 10% reduction on sale value as it is today? More? Less?

thanks!

 

10% reduction for minor incidents repaired properly is about right for nicer cars; and less if the car has high mileage and/or average. Less than very high quality repairs can drag the value down much more, and/or significantly reduce the potential buyer pool.

There is also the avoidance factor, where many potential buyers will not respond to a sale add for a car with accident history.

Obviously, it is best to document before repairing to show future buyers that the incident was minor.

If my daughter becomes an offender, I hope the other driver allows me to pay directly. To accomplish this favor, it seems reasonable for a parent to offer the repair estimate cost, plus additional expense if required and substantiated with receipt. I'd be willing to pay an additional 30% upfront at these numbers, with a promise to refund if additional expense is not realized.

The payout for the "deal with it" scenario seems like it should be attached to a higher number, not a reduced number. Quality full-service body repair companies do not charge much less, or anything less, than dealers for body work, because insurance companies have established and uniform cost/payment parameters. If the estimate was built on "Audatex" software, it should be pretty much standard and comprehensive. Audatex is standard in the northeast, but assumably there are others. I've saved 20%-30% by using reduced-service shops that are capable of completing quality repairs, but with inconsistent results. If the car was very nice before the accident, it makes sense to make sure a high quality repair is completed.

If the insurance is active and you have the information, you are in the driver's seat. Seems best to politely state terms to your satisfaction, and the parent can take it or leave it.

 

If the damage is the bumper and they replace the whole thing it shouldn't drop the resale value of the car much, but I'd ask for something from the dad to compensate for that. That's pretty standard with insurance companies, the at fault person's will allow for your drop in value when you sell.

 

Thanks again guys. I decided to cease communication with third party and go with insurance. It's too much hassle otherwise and I just want it resolved.

I can separately claim for diminished value with the third party. My insurance warned me though that it is a long drawn out process and usually a waste of time. Anyone been successful with it?

 

Yes, twice. There are a couple of resources online (google is your friend) to help you with it. It is a PITA, but it semi makes up for the hit you take when you trade/sell it.

 

I think that's a wise decision.

The original estimate was only for the visible damage. Once the bumper is off who knows.

My poor R53 has been hit 4 times, each time the original estimate more than doubled once things got taken apart.

 

if you have a dealer do the repair it will be on the service record regardless of how you pay.

 

Not sure how other BMW/Mini collision repair shops operate, but from my own experience here in Canada, the work by them is guaranteed for lifetime. You pay a bit more for the work, but at least they stand by their work. Make sure it is a certified collision repair shop for Mini/BMW.

 

Just be aware that just because a body shop is owned by a dealership that in no way means they do good work. I handled automobile insurance claims for 25 years and in most cases the opposite was true. If you're wanting good quality work done on your car check with you insurance agent. He/she knows better than probably any one who does good and who does bad body work. Don't be surprised if it's some little shop off a back alley somewhere. Good work is determined by the man doing the job, not the shop he works in.

 

I disagree, it would be a conflict of interest for the insurance co to recommend a body shop. I have been down this path before with my Mini you are on your own and nobody their to help when needed afterwards. End result, not happy and no recourse. Above all, no Warranty for the Lifetime of the Vehicle. An owner can take their car to any auto body shop that they want. It is their right. Only go to an Approved Mini/BMW Auto Body Shop.. This is actually approved and certified by BMW, their standards and certification and recertification gives you that peace of mind. They stand behind it.You will not go wrong..enough said....case closed.

 

You're probably over-thinking this a little. Modern car bumpers are designed to absorb collisions under 5Mph - so unless it was way faster you will probably not find crazy damage. Going through *your* insurance is a good call, that's what you got it for. Let them fight the other guy... Most of them guarantee the job for as long as you own the car, so *you* are OK.

You are gonna lose way more in depreciation on the car that you ever will from a little fender bender like that vs. a clean car (10% sounds crazy to me, I'd buy it used and not care), it's pretty minor and if it does end up on Carfax (which is not a 100% guarantee) - assuming the next buyer even bothers checking - it won't affect the resale terribly. We're not talking collectible exotic here, those things are parked on the streets.
The only time I'd consider avoiding the insurance is with a friend/family member/neighbor. Good luck ! And yeah, diminished value is not worth your time.

 

Hotrunner is correct that it is your right to take your vehicle to any auto body shop that you want to for sure. However, I wouldn't necessarily say that it would be a conflict of interest for your insurance agent/claims adjuster to recommend a body shop that they personally know to do good work. I don't sell insurance to customers in my capacity, but I work for an independent insurance agency and a lot of our companies that we represent will guarantee the work that is done at their network approved shops for as long as you own your vehicle too whereas they might not on an out of network shop (you would be dependent on them to provide that).

That being said, I would prefer to have my own collision repair done at the dealership too if the need ever came up. A lot of times what people are concerned about is the use of OEM vs. non-OEM (aftermarket) parts. Now this might not be applicable in your situation since you were not at fault, but say it was the other way around and you were at fault and your coverage is primary you always want to make sure your policy language specifies OEM parts replacement if that is an important requirement for you because depending on the level of coverage/type of policy you have many times the policy language will not include OEM parts coverage specifically, but rather aftermarket or OEM-equivalent parts. If you have a good agent they will make this clear to you when taking out the policy whether or not it includes OEM parts. Some insurance companies may not offer OEM by default, but as an added endorsement to the policy that extends coverage to repair or replace damaged property with new original equipment manufactured parts. I have an OEM endorsement on my policy for this specific reason and its pretty cheap at around $100 a year extra. So say you were at fault but didn't have OEM coverage in the policy language or via endorsement, just because you want the work done at a factory dealership it doesn't necessarily mean your insurance will pay for OEM parts in your repair. They may say they will pay for the cost of an aftermarket part and if you want the OEM you can pay the difference between the two. Again a good agent should be making this known to you.

Just my two cents.

Best of luck to you in your repairs. I hope your insurance company and the repair facility of your choice gets you back to where you were before the accident and everything is resolved to your satisfaction.

 

I could have easily given you the names of two or three shops that were known for doing good work without recommending any one.