My question is manifold, and I know there are a few 'accident' threads scattered around, but I was hoping to locate one thread that invited experiences across the MINI generations and models. I've been reading some threads about accidents in MINIs, and I began to wonder how many of us have been in accidents (fender-benders or serious), what kind of damage was incurred upon the car, and what repair costs totaled. I've seen a few 'i got rear-ended' threads and have seen repair costs ranging up to $8000. Yikes.

But in addition to the costs, I am curious about the safety of the MINI in the event of a serious accident like getting t-boned, a rollover, and that sort of thing. Yes, I could surf around online and find crush rates and the technical data, but I'm looking more for first- or secondhand experience. To this point, I have two (three, now that I think of it) questions: 1) how did the structural integrity of the MINI hold up, 2) was there personal injury involved, and 3) if so, how severe?

I don't mean to drag people's traumatic experiences out if they've had them; I am, rather, simply curious about the chances of bodily harm in the event of an accident and the associated costs of repair. Comparisons between similar accidents--heaven forbid--are welcome.

I know, it was a longwinded way of getting around to that. Thanks!

 

http://www.motoringfile.com/2008/05/...fe-is-the-r56/

Doesn't quite answer all of your questions and concerns, but I feel it does a nice job. As I am in the Market for an 09 MCS too, I have been looking around at how she fairs up in a accident. hope this helps.

-Jon

 

Thanks, Jon! Definitely provides some good info.

Hopefully some folks here will share their stories to add to the knowledge base.

 

If you poke around through the MOTD (MINIs on the Dragon) thread, there was an S that rolled down the mountain and the driver walked away with a scratch. Its a pretty impressive picture.

 

Wife hit a pole in our garage.



$2500.00

 

I Rear Ended an SUV the 2oth of Aug still being fixed as of today $15,000 worth of damage and it was low speed but didnt feel a thing. No Air Bag Deployment(sorry didnt get a better pic Cell Phone pic)

 

As much as I hate to relive this I think it's a good example of the structural integrity of these little cars, and I feel people need to know how well built they are so I'm more than willing to talk about my accident.

We were hit in the driver's door at about a 45 degree angle by a 90's Bonneville traveling around 40 mph (according to the driver). No injuries other than a couple of small-and I mean real small-cuts from the window breaking and, of course, a broken heart. I wasn't sore the next day, but my wife was a little sore and felt fine the second day after the accident. We managed to make a little lemonade out of the lemons, though. I got a bunch of great autographs from folks at MTTS 2006. We still have the door.

Repair cost was around $3400. I would say that the car is about 98% as good as it was before the accident.


Despite the damage to the outside of the door, there was no intrusion into the passenger compartment.

 

T-Boned by a Nissan Pathfinder @ 20 to 22 MPH on November 07. No air bags. Glass shattered. Repair shop quoted more than $5,000. Back aches, until PT. Whiplash on left arm, fading away slowly, still...

 

Wow...thanks for these contributions. It does look like they're pretty sturdy. I'm sorry for making anyone relive the experience. Looking at some of those pictures makes my heart skip.

 

If it makes your feel any better, the Pathfinder suffered more damage than the MINI did.

 

Hey There,
I had a 2006 r53 s. I was broad sided in the drivers door by a car that ran a stop sign at 50mph, never touched her brakes. Needless to say the car was totaled. I was cut from the car using the jaws of life, taken by the EMT to the local Trauma center and took a taxi home 5 hours later. That Damn Mini saved my life. My insuranse company gave me $24600 for a car that was over two years old with 48000 miles on it.

All airbags deployed, That damen car saved my life. I am still taken PT seven months after the accident, there was plenty of cuts and bruises, lots of bleeding, my eyelid came off(later superglued back on, and completely healed) and tons of back pain.....did I mentioned that Damn car saved my life.
I went out and got a new Clubman, and I hope it never has to save my life, but I also know the if it had to, it could.

Happy motoring,

Larry

 

Well, that's good!

Holy crap. That right there is good to hear. The durability and protection, that is, as well as you surviving.

 

I hit a garbage bag full of yard waste on the freeway at @60 MPH. Although the damage didn't look that bad (bumper wasn't deformed and not scratched due to clear bra), it shattered the drivers fog light, radiator mount, lower front bumper spoiler (black portion), punched a hole in my A/C compressor, and required the front bumper to be replaced.

$3000 later and after two weeks in the shop, good as new...and my A/C runs better than before the accident. Thank goodness that only my nerves were shaken! Thank goodness as well for insurance!!

 

Where to begin... Note: since repair bills are a sunk cost, I do not have values to report. Besides, records are incomplete.


I was rear ended by a huge dodge plumber's van.



Leave rally drifting to rally drivers.



Someone ran a stopsign, had I not turned the car sideways with the handbrake, I'd have t-boned her and totaled my car.

Not pictured:
-Curb incidents 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
-Rear ending someone at less than 5mph, two different times
-Backing into the trash can, sevral times
-Cutting too soon leaving the garage, ripping the front bumper off.
-Snow and ice damage to front end including killing my old oil cooler and destroying my modular front end.
-There is more but I can't remember.
-Enough tickets for various things that I almost lost my license.

 

I was just hit by a minivan 3 weeks ago. He locked his brakes going through a corner and hit me at a 45 degree angle with the front left of the van. It's still being repaired, but it will be about $8K in costs! What you can't see in the picture is the windshield is cracked and the wheel was pointing in the other direction before the impact. So I'll also need a new steering rack, quarter panel, and door (was jammed shut too). The impact wasn't pleasant due to the lack of crumple zone. Fortunately it was slow enough to not trigger the airbags and all I had was a sore neck the next day.

 

Cutoff by the Ferrari story - spun and hit a guardrail. $11,000 in damage mostly sheetmetal damage with no damage to the engine mounting points - airbags did not deploy.

 

So how did he manage to lock his wheels in a turn?
Anyway, how's the DeLorean? With a MINI, I'm sure you didn't get to drive it much untill now.


Krut, how did the ferrari fair?

 

More like he was going too fast and tried slowing down approaching a turn. Unfortunately it was raining for the first time in awhile and he started to skid forward and not exactly turn. I was in the other direction approaching the same turn when I noticed the van starting to cross the double yellow lines. I tried to turn right to avoid, but there wasn't enough time. Fortunately he slowed down enough as to not hit me really hard. The roads were so slick, a truck spun out nearby while I was waiting for a tow. I found out later from a friend that drove through there that another accident happened at the exact same spot just an hour later!

As for the DeLorean, it's only got 33K miles, so I'm not going to rack them up doing daily driving. So I'm driving a Camry rental for now. Not exactly driving excitement. But the DeLorean is still used for weekend driving. No way would I let a car like that just sit to rot in the garage!

 

I flipped a car into a creek and had to swim out. It sucked.

 

Wow. Yeah, that would suck! I take it you experienced no bodily damage...?

 

I'll let you know as soon as I find out.




The guy that hit me got off worse I think.

 

About 4 years ago, I hit a tree head on at about 70 mph. I'm ok and own another MINI because of their safety!

 

Some bruises but thats it.

 

I rolled my MINI on the Hellbender last spring.



We rolled it back over and drove it back to Fontana.



Had to trailer it back to Detroit.



My passenger and I were uninjured. Insurance company said damage was $17000. They gave me $19,500 for a car that was almost 5 years old. I had another MINI within 2 weeks. They are extremely durable cars.

 

So many painful pictures...

Uhm...can I ask how you managed to hit a tree head on...?