my '17 JCW got rear-ended after a zipper lane on highway when I was going about 5mph. Person behind me was too preoccupied trying to jump the white line going 40+ to get over to next lane to avoid the 'traffic' on the merge lane. Saw it coming in my rear-view and tried to shimmy over but did not avoid the mess about to happen.
Pushed my car pretty far and was a heavy hit. Neck is sore after a few hours.

Super crushed in quarter panel, panel seems pulled away from trunk area and nothing aligns. Not really a replaceable panel from what it looks like to me. Have after-market arms/exhaust./etc/ but I didn't look under the car.
Brand new PSS's so I was able to drive it off highway really slowly at least, but its all crushed into the wheel so it wasn't pretty sounding.

I am sad.

Because of the area of damage I am weary of this type of 'repair' for it being back to normal.

 

That is too bad. So sorry for your troubles. If I had to guess, I’d say repairing it won’t be a problem. When they design vehicles, they factor in that they may be damaged and require repair. You should be fine. The worst part will be not having it for awhile. I wish you luck.

Kat

 

Best advice I can offer is do not file a claim with your insurance. You have more leverage with the at fault drive's insurance company.

When you have it in writing the other driver's insurance accepts responsibility find a highly regarded repair shop in your area that specializes in MINI repair. Maybe your local dealer can help with a recommendation.

Take the car there and have an estimate done of the damage. The shop will probably remove the wheels and put the car on a special alignment bench to check for chassis/tub deformation. In some cases this can be put right but it can be time consuming and thus expensive. Often the insurance company if it can will not pay for this, and in some cases one's insurance company has the fine print in its favor in this regard -- which is one reason why you want to avoid filing a claim with your insurance company -- but the at fault driver's insurance company is on the hook to make you whole again.

Once the damage has been determined an estimate can be produced. At this time the insurance company will decide whether to fund a repair or declare the vehicle a total loss.

You want to insist the car be repaired to MINI standards and any remaining warranty remain in effect after the repairs. You want this in writing from both the body shop and the insurance company.

Even the other driver's insurance might push for used or salvaged parts but the body shop can help you by rejecting these. In my experience -- with other cars -- is the used/salvage parts can be in worse condition than the damaged parts on the car.

An approx. 40mph hit in the rear of the car is a pretty hard hit. While the damage may not look bad just looking over the car once the car is on the bench (Celette is one brand) the body shop will have a better idea of just how bad it is. The damage may be so bad it can be "pulled" straight. There are extreme repair methods but these are complicated and have other cons and expensive and if the body shop is on the hook to warranty the repair as long as you own the car it may balk at such a repair. And good for you.

It is best to have pics from full on of both sides and from the rear but from what I can see the door gap doesn't look even, which suggests the car's sheet metal was pushed forward some. This is serious damage and hard/expensive to repair. In severe cases the car is cut in two and a replacement "clip" (a rear "clip" in this case) is attached.This involves some serious sheet metal work and unfortunately the result is not quite "factory".

For a car capable of the performance like a JCW I would offer the car's structural integrity would be sub-par.

 

I would consult an attorney. I would file with my insurance because your state may have a statute of limitations on filing, and failure to do so may have consequences if the other driver has a flaky insurance company. I would also document your injuries and consider seeing a doctor for your neck. There could be soft tissue damage that will leave you partially disabled and you may need to file a claim for that too. DO NOT WAIT TOO LONG!!! Some states have a statute of limitations of less than a month for auto accident personal injury and you could end up on the hook for your medical expenses. If you do need an attorney, get one with a good reputation. The cost is the same in most states as most states set a statutory maximum an attorney can collect as a percentage of what is recovered. Just be careful of the other fees since many of them pad their income with those fees and some states let them.

The damage to your MINI is not very concerning to me. The car looks driveable as is and likely needs a quarter panel, tail light and bumper parts. It may need one or two other minor panels as well, but a good body man would not have any trouble fixing it properly. The suspension pickup points do not appear to have been impacted, so the damage is likely just superficial.

 

Not totaled. Repairs should be less that $10k. Since you are not at fault, you should considering filing an additional claim for diminished value.

 

Yea, insurance adjusters would favor toward junk yard parts, which can be of questionable quality.

Are there any body shops run/owned by a BMW or MINI dealer, in your area? You have a right to have it repaired at a facility of your choice; exercise this right carefully. Since the accident isn't your fault, a facility noted for lowest cost should not be your choice.

Diminished value can be a tough sell, especially since it is based on merely speculative rather an actual damages.

 

The car is replaceable, your neck is not. You don't want to have daily neck pain when you are in your senior years. Trust me on that. See your doc right away, insist on an MRI. Physical therapy after that. Don't just swallow a bunch of advil!

The car will never be the same, get what you can for it & get another.

 

If it was an older MINI, I'd say totaled. Being only a couple years old, maybe not. What others say about diminished value, that accident and repair will most likely show up on a carfax..