These cars are built so compact though, those strikes considered "minor" for other brands = vast amount of damage for a MINI, especially front hits.

I can say with reasonable certainty just in parts, I see at least $3,500.00 of just parts replacement, Front bumper cover, LF Axle, LF strut carrier, strut, wheel(+stem/mounting balancing) new front wall, radiator due to plastic attach points snapped ?, locking bridge, LF bumper carrier, hood, inside hood decals, hood latch, hood catch, bonnet stripes, xenon HD light, LF side marker light, chrome HD Light bezel, bottom grille finisher, LF side panel, LF fender liner, and about 50.00 in clips and alignment.

Add in another $1,800.00 for paint, and another $3,500.00 for labor and then tax.

Puts this fender bender closer to $9K.

 

The first estimate on mine when the shop tore it down was around $7900. The final "estimate" was $9600. In the diminished value settlement, the number was ~$11.5k which I assume included the rental car. It took nearly 3 months to really get the car back. It was 6 weeks when the insurance quit paying for rental and the body shop took over.

The body shop said they ate some of the repair. I know once when I went to see it, there was a $1200 invoice for an O2 sensor and a few other parts. Then they had to drop $200 more on the xenon that decided to burn out the day after I picked it up. They had to do some wet sanding on the bonnet since I complained big time about dust specs in the paint.

I kind of think there may have been some suspension damage on mine too. Having that looked at tomorrow. The ride is very rough. It's not like MINI handling, it just feels wrong. It's good I haven't signed off on the property damage form yet.

I really believe I would have been better off had they written mine off. But then again, I have had this MINI since it had 12 miles on it and I know all of its quirks.

 

Sometimes after an accident, there just isn't enough expertise out there to get the car back to spec. It's just a sad fact. Hope someone can get your Mini sorted back to its "normal" previous driving goodness.

 

Update:
Got a call my car was ready...yay!!...then an hour or so later I get another call my battery isn't holding a charge...ugh It is the original battery, so I guess it is better it happened at the body shop. Found Found the battery and had them install it.

So now I finally get my car back. The car visually looks stunning...you would never know it was in a crash, plus they detailed it. I start driving back to work...hop on the freeway and I can hear a lot of wind noise (that didn't happen before!) Then I decide to turn off the radio and air to really listen to the car while driving on the streets. I start hearing another weird sound like a scraping/grinding sort of sound. Looks like I'm going to have to return the car to the shop to get these fixed

 

Did they do the computer reset after changing the battery? I thought 2nd gens needed something to be done at the dealer when a new battery is installed.

 

Not that I'm aware of. For what reason would this need to be done? The car seems fine except for this little things above.

 

Not sure, but it's something I've read frequently on the forum about R56's and new batteries. It was just an FYI in case it mattered for your car. Here's a thread with some info, specifically post #7. There are other threads and different viewpoints on whether it's necessary

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-registry.html

 

I asked the body shop about this and they said that this was not needed. Fast forward a week later and I'm driving to work and my check engine light comes on. Luckily there is a Mini shop right down the street from work so I dropped it off. They ran the computer on it and it came up with 30+ codes...after doing the rest on the battery it fixed most of the codes. The remaining code was for the thermostat.

Here is my problem/issue now while my car was being fixed from the accident they replaced the radiator housing, which works with the thermostat (don't ask me how, but I was explained how). The car has 40k miles on it...is this a common issue that needs to be replaced? Should I take this up with the body shop that fix the car if they possibly cause this issue to happen?

This car is now becoming my new headache! I really wish that they would have totaled it!

 

Different car but my R55 had the thermostat housing replaced in the 65-75k miles range. I can't remember exactly when. Very common issue from what I have seen on the 2nd gen.

 

Codes are not a big deal at all. Should the collision shop have checked codes pre- and post- repairs? Yes. However, in most shops, no light on the dash means all is OK...its a bad industry habit. Should they have been knowledgable of MINI factory approved reset procedures? Yes. Plus Minis are notorious for codes and they are rarely reviewed or reset...accident or not.

Unless the thermostat housing can be verified as accident related (physically damaged), you may have a hard time getting them to take responsibility. Replacing a radiator would have little to do with that.

It's hard to justify much after a customer drives off. That doesn't mean they didn't do something wrong. It means additional wear and tear has been added to the car and items break with wear.

 

Yea, its will need replaced , was it triggered by the wreak ? , who would know as you would have to see damage or know there was this code before.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...rmostat-6.html

 

Keep after the Body shop. I just went thru the same thing. A 86 year old women lost and trying to get back to Manhattan T boned my 2013 Mini S and sent me thru a Cyclone fence and into the woods. After 3 hours waiting for the police the fire dept came by and i mentioned that my buddies son is a Chief at a local firehouse they all stood on the downed fence and pushed me out of the woods. Car started right up and the drivers door opened and closed with no trouble. I drove the car home reported it to the insurance company and took the car to a body shop i knew was in business for about 60 years. As i was going on vacation with my wife i told the shop to take their time. The total bill we $9,600.00 and the lady that hit be took full blame for the accident. The car had to have the rear quarter panel, drivers door, hood, front bumper and all the trim on both sides of the car replaced. The only problem i had was the certification on the door frame and other labels were destroyed. I was told it was not possible to get a dupl certification label from Mini but a fellow at my dealer knew an old fellow that restored old BMW's and he know of a place in the midwest. I tracked them down and they duplicated the label for $90.00. They are the only place in the USA that does this and they are legal. The rest of the labels i got from BMW so the car is like it was never in an accident. By the way the car is Spice Orange and the paint matches perfect. So far CarFax does not have a report on my car as the Police never showed to take a report.
Keep after the body shop and if the insurance company will pay have it doubled checked by Mini or a Mini Indie.

 

Monday bumpday