I was parking my car in a county owned parking garage. When I drove over a storm grate it buckled and pop up and punctured a hole in my oil pan. Instantly all of the oil was gone. You have to drive over the grate to get to the upper parking areas. None of the grate pieces were bolted down. You can see where a couple grates were displaced after I was hit. You can also see one to the right that is lifted and is ready to pop up on someone else.

The motor didn't seize up but it took a little while for me to figure out what had happened and to turn the engine off. Who would expect that to happen.



Punched a hole in the oil pan, broke the oil pump, smashed the exhaust and damaged the frame rail.



No damage to front or wind dam



I went over to the county and tried to make a claim to them directly, but when they said they were going to pass the issue off to their third party insurance company, I called my insurance. I figured my insurance would be my advocate. Actually, it now shows up as a no fault claim on my insurance and my insurance is trying to coordinate the repair. I presume from the conversation that they in turn will bill the county insurance.

Now they say I should take $1,800 to replace the exhaust pipe, oil pan and oil pump. You can see in the picture above that the pan is off and there is a crack on the right side of the oil pump. I want them to guarantee there will be no long term impact on the engine. One time they told me there was no way short of installing a new engine to determine if there would be long term impacts. Now after the insurance adjuster has come by they are saying that if the engine didn't seize up that it probably should be fine. hmmm is the insurance companies and the dealer in cahoots? "should be fine" is just not sitting well with me. Because what do they care once the car goes off warranty. They did say they would take off a couple lower bearings during the repair to look at the pistons or the bearings to see if there is obvious scoring. I just feel uncomfortable about the deal they are proposing.

Of course the damage is now recorded in the BMW MINI data base under my VIN, and even though there was no body damage, it may show up on carfax too. Does the car have diminished value and how would I get compensated for that? Is there damage caused by me making a claim on my insurance?

Any advise?????

 

In all probability the engine is fine, especially if it was running normally right before you turned it off, as you were probably at idle and the internals were still coated with oil. Once it's fixed you can have oil samples taken.

How long did the engine run after you hit the grate?

 

Do not sign completly off the claim until you drive your car. I really don't think the engine has any damage but you want to really be certain it is not smoking when you drive it around for a day or two after the repairs are done. Get the repairs done at your Mini Cooper Dealer and check it our really good to be certain everything is back to new condition. Of course it will go to car fax but it will only matter if you try to sell it outright. If you trade it in it don't matter at all. You have pictures of the damage and keep the paperwork on what repairs were made to show any future buyer. I sure hope everything turns out all right for you.

 

Having been through it: You can only petition for diminished value on an insurance claim if its thru another persons company, not your own. There is a formula that i believe georgia uses to calculate the exact number. I got about 1,500 on my 05 Audi S4 a year or so for such a claim.

Good luck!
Erich

 

Thanks for the input...

 

Sorry to see my JCW's twin take a hit.

 

FYI - (I used to work with insurance companies) If your insurance company is covering it as an "uninsured motorist" claim then you are effectively claiming from your own insurance company as if they were the person (or thing in this case) that hit you. In that case you may be able to get some movey for diminished value.

And yes, your insurance company will go after the county for the money so don't feel bad getting everything you can out of them. The reason insurance companies handle everything this way is because dealing with government insurance companies is SLOW (at my old job it would be about 6 months for us to get paid with the gov, instead of 1-2 months with the commercials) and in the interests of customer service most companies would fix first and then persue later.

You pay your insurance company every month to take care of you in situations like this. Since you already have a claim and the damamge is noted by MINI then get everything you can from them and the county.

That really sucks man... I'm re-thinking my decision to park on the second story today...

 

oh my... hope it get fixed.. kepe us posted

 

:( I would be suing but thats just me... Sorry to see this happen thats horrible...makes me cringe

 

Diminished value is more for body repair than mechanical. The logic is if you have your car repaired at a bodyshop and the repairs aren't quite right, then it won't look the same as the guy who is trading in the exact same car that has never been damaged, right?

The diminished value should be based on the value lost because car A isn't in the same sellable condition as car B.

Many times diminished value is based on the "stigma" that the car has been wrecked, not necc. the fact of how well the repairs were made.

Having said that... I doubt very much you'll receive anything in diminished value since these are mechanical parts being replaced with new mechanical parts.

Not writing this in stone, just basing this from being in the bodyshop business for 26 years.

I may be wrong, it's happened once or twice....


Mark