Now that I have your attention… indulge me, if you will, with a story.

My day started off good, finished up the GT4 cup races for MG and Aston Martin. Almost 50% done with the game, sweet.

Then I go fishing with my Dad. Good times. Catch only a 4” white perch, but still a good time. As we’re pulling the jon boat out of the water big ol’ summer thunderstorm starts to roll in. Freddie, The Wonder Beagle, starts to get a little skittish so I hustle him into the car, and leave. The skies open up and it starts to pour. No biggie, just cut on the headlamps, and the front and rear fogs (you know, for extra visibility.) The windshield wipers are making a damn awful racket, but it’s ok, ‘cause I ordered some of the PIAA silicone ones and they should be showing up anyday now. Besides, the rain’s starting to slack off now, kind of a hard drizzle (if such a thing really exists.)

Well, I’m on Rt. 10 going toward Rt.1 at the base of a long hill with a stop light at the top. There’s along line of cars at a crawl or a dead stop ‘cause of the light. I’m in the right hand lane and there’s a small truck, Dodge Dakota, stopped in front of me with about 6’-8’ clearance between us. I look up in the rear mirror and see a blue car ~50 yds. behind me friggin’ flying at me. Now remember, at this point, I’ve got 3 brake lights and a rear fog on. (shouldn’t be to f-in hard to figure out what the status of my car is.)

I get enough time (barely) to check my distance to the car in front, get hard on the brake, and look right to see if Freddie is situated in the seat well for a hard impact. Thankfully he was, and he was wearing his doggie seatbelt harness. I hear a weak attempt at braking and then I get hit harder in the rear than fresh fish at the penitentiary. I hit the dude in front, who luckily got away with just bumper damage, and then stop. The car behind me hit me flat across the back and flies into the median on the left. A ~20 yr. old girl gets out absolutely bawling, but luckily all she had was a scuffed knee. Her Nissan 200 SX, on the other hand, is A.F.U. Everything from basically the middle of her front tires forward is stove in. Amazingly, none of my windows broke and none of my airbags deployed, but I picked up some damage in the rear (obviously) and some in the front. The Dakota’s bumper mount punched through his bumper and cut into the front of the Mini like a hot knife through butta, but thankfully missed the right edge of the radiator by about an inch. I tell you what, the Mini took it like a champ! A really hard hit with not a lot (I hope) of damage. And the pup is fine, though he did give me a “WTF?!?” look after it happened!
Here’s the pics…
















Now, for anyone who had experience in this, is this likely to result in a “total”, or is this fixable? I have no idea whether the frame is jacked or not.
Oh yeah, and those PIAA wipers, they’re sitting in my living room now, as well as the MiniCarParts.net catalog that came in the mail today too.

I hope I can get fixed, but if not… well we kinda like the Oxygen Blue.

 

that farkin sucks!!! i hope it's fixable too

 

ouch, sorry to hear or you bad situation. If I were to guess I would say its totaled. If it were my car I would hope they total it because it will show on a carfax that it had extensive dammage.

Good luck and I hope everything comes out ok.

 

Wow - glad no one was hurt. If that's not totaled, it's going to be very darn close. Who's the upset-looking redhead?

 

That gets my vote for line of the day.

Sorry to see the carnage, though. Glad to hear you're okay and good luck with fixing it or replacing it.

 

Go figure, I had just put the M|U sticker on the day before!

 

There's a sort of irony to be felt in the pictures of your MINI's boot proudly proclaiming it as a Dragon Slayer, only to be felled by the actions of another driver.

But it is good that you are all right--the MINI did its job protecting you. Hope the car sitch turns out well.

 

thanks man. I was thinking the same thing, but I doubt I would sell it, even before all of this "recent unpleasantness."

Scott- that would be the wife, she was happy that I was ok, but she knows how much I love the car...

 

Ouch! Start replacement shopping now. The way the rear floorpan is buckled, combined with the quarter panel buckled by the door edge says the frame rails are toast. Add in the front damage and it's bye-bye time. No question the MINI is Hell-for-stout! Glad you are able to share this with us and that no one was seriously injured. Go see a doc. You'll be plenty sore tomorrow.
Oxygen Blue is pretty, isn't it?

 

Insurance companies typically write-off a car when the cost-to-fix exceeds about 75% of the value of the car. What year is yours?

MINIs hold their value well, but there appears to be is extensive damage

If I had to guess, I'd say it will likely be written off...

 

Afraid I have to agree with 3 cocinas, if it's not totaled, it should be...........

Glad you're OK, hope she has insurance too.............

 

I'd say the car is totalled. When those rear quarterpanels bend, there's really no fix: they're actually part of the chassis and indicate that the car's fairly well bent. It'll never drive right again, even if they don't total it.

Dude, that sucks. But at least you've got a good sense of humor about the whole thing...

 

First...thank God you are alright, and GO MINI at doing it's job!

@ that damage.

at the young driver, in wet conditions, and a hard impact.

at your attitude. You are handling the situation very well. I respect that, and I doubt I'd be in your frame of mind so soon after the incident.

Best wishes for a good outcome, whatever that may be. I know how attached we become to our MINIs, but I think I'd be hoping for a total.

 

That's one tough River City MINIs grille badge!

 

oh sheesh...what a bummer. Tüls and I are sending warm fuzzies your way. Fingers ccrossed it gets fixed or you get a spankin new one and then you can come down here and brake it in all twisty like with us on some fantabulous Carolina roads.
as always; pet the wonder pup for us

 

Ugh, Sorry to hear about your accident.

Glad you and Freddie are safe and no one was seriously injured.

I think Your MINI will be found to be "totaled".

Oxygen Blue it is.

 

I am glad to hear that you and wonder-beagle are safe and sound! Although it's depressing to see the aftermath of collisions involving MINIs I never cease to wonder at the excellent job they do of protecting their occupants.

Based on the buckling of both quarter panels, the compression of the rear floor pan around the forward portion of the battery well, and the closed door-quarter gap on the driver's side, I would expect that your repair facility will find significant movement of the rear unibody structure once the car is torn down for inspection and measured. Although you car shows several indicators of unibody structral damage, only a complete inspection after disassembly will reveal the full extent of the operations required to perform a proper, high quality repair.

If the car is deemed to be repairable, be sure to ask for before and after printouts of the unibody structural measurements. If suspension components and/or mounting points are affected, also ask for suspension alignment sheets. A proper collision-repair alignment should include measurements of items that are often skipped over in "set the toe and let it go" alignments of the sort featured in car maintenance ads. The reason for asking for these is that it is possible to make adjustments to suspension parts in a way that masks unrepaired unibody damage, such as shifting of the tops of strut or shock towers relative to the rest of the car's structure. A good alignment sheet will show not only things like total camber/caster/toe, but individual LH and RH measurements relative to reference lines or points on the vehicle and SAI (steering axis inclination.) The printout should also list the nominal specifications and acceptable tolerance ranges for each measurement (if a spec for that dimension is published.)

I wish you, beagle, (and, of course, MINI , if possible) a speedy and safe return to the motorway!

 

Glad your Ok didnt seem to hurt your sence of humor any.Good luck with the insurance process.

 

Sorry to hear about this. We're glad your MINI protected you so well, and that you are able to keep a bit of a sense of humor about it. Good luck on repair or replacement(hopefully).

In the interest of keeping a sense of humor: Would you say that the girl who hit you was taking your Euro plate literally?

 

Good lord Ashley, I am glad you and the dog are OK!! I know how much you love that car, so it's good to see you've got a good sense of humor about the whole thing. See my message over on the RCM board for more comments.

Funny how much you and the wife were commenting on the Oxygen Blue yesterday. And hey, be sure to get that RCM badge offa there!

 

Glad you are okay.

My question that I ask on these crash threads: was the bonehead on the cell phone? Ask for a phone record if you must.

Looks totaled to me. I would love to strip it and prep for 1/4 mile track duty!

 

Looks like it is totaled to me also. Glad you are OK.

 

Another Mini performs its job of saving its loved ones....

Glad you and your "best friend" were not injured.

 

May your MINI R.I.P.

 

Your MINI kept you safe, so you and your friend can be safe. It's sad to say that the MINI might be totaled, but on the brighter side, you'll have a new MINI to motor around in!