My husband hit a deer with my 2014 Mini Cooper S 2 weeks ago. The nearest mini dealership to us told us they don't do body work. So, we went with the collision place our insurance company suggested. We picked it up today and noticed that the space between the hood and front bumper is wide. Wider than I remember it being. I have looked all over online and can't find anywhere that lists what the normal measurement is. I am taking the car back tomorrow but am anticipating an issue. Does anybody know how wide the gap should be?

 

Post a photo of the issue so we can see the gap you are describing.

Or try this:

Pop the bonnet open, lift it 12 - 16 inches and release it to let it close. If it latches properly you may find the bothersome gap has disappeared.

If this does not latch the bonnet properly, take it back to the body shop.

 

Here are the photos.

 

From the pictures it looks like the hood is not latched properly. Did you try the suggestion in post #2?

 

Yep. Twice and it didn't work. The body shop did not replace my hood - they reshaped it to fix the damage. I'm wondering if that has something to do with it.

 

.25 - .375" it isn't an even gap.

 

Thank you!

 

Looks like a latch issue. Does your model have the double-pull to release feature?

My bonnet on my 2017 Clubman looked almost exactly like that. Thought it was an alignment issue but once I figured out how to unlatch/latch properly, all was well.

If that doesn't fix it for you then it's back to the body shop, with a stop by the MINI dealer to take a photo of a properly latched and aligned bonnet to show the body shop.

 

Sounds/looks like only one latch is holding it. On the first pull my hood pops up about that much and the second pull releases it so it can be lifted. Are you hearing/feeling the individual latches operating? When my car was two weeks old a Tahoe backed into the front of it. New hood, bumper, grills, etc. to the tune of $3300. They had to adjust mine once because both latches weren't operating. Whatever you do, do NOT push down on the hood to try to latch it. Always results in dents.

 

May need to adjust the actual position of the latch if they can. Something does look a tad off.