Hi everyone, sorry that my first post is a negative one but maybe things will change in the future. This will be long, please don’t get bored, and forsake me! LOL

My fiancé bought me a 2010 MINI Cooper Clubman PW/S 6 speed manual on June 18th... all was great and I fell in love with her at first sight, I named her White Lightnin, not the sky to ground kind but the southern beyond the legal limits of fun kind! LOL

WELL, one month to the day, July 18th and 1800 miles later, I was sleeping in and he went to GA to buy lottery tickets on the trip back a dog ran out in front of him and hit in just in the worst spot possible (I guess), never going under the car, but hitting right into the lower grill. Upon first inspection you could only see cosmetic damage, front bumper covers, and a hose showing under the bottom. We discovered the air conditioner didn’t work so the decision was made that it shouldn’t be driven and MINI road side assistance was called and they towed it to the nearest dealership which was Tom Williams MINI of Birmingham, AL.

The first assessment was $3,000 of damage, the radiator, compressor, condenser, front bumper covers and scratch on the bumper that would be refinished. THEN… a week later a call with more damage discovered and insurance adjuster called back out. More needs to be replaced, Headlamp assembly - right and left, radiator panel frame, fan assembly, lower front spoiler, hoses and pipes, AND the wiring harness! NOW $5,000!

Okay, more damage than first thought and nagging little thoughts of “what the heck else is wrong that they are not finding, is this car going to be reliable?”

Yesterday, THREE full working weeks later, we go to pick her up and small little things start to happen and I start feeling that sinking feeling in my stomach that this guy knows nothing about a MINI. Things like… are the fog lights supposed to only be lit on the top? Hummm… we don’t have “fog lights” those are the parking lights! LOL Then… why is one side lit and not the other… well, from what I’ve read in the manual that’s how European cars are designed, did you leave a blinker on when you turned the car off??? LOL THEN… when I started to voice my opinion was when he said “We took it though the carwash”… I snipped OMGosh, she only gets a sponge bath, I can’t believe y’all did that! He replies, well it was a soft one! I voiced that I wish they hadn’t done that.

THEN the bonnet sticks when trying to open it and I start looking around. THE WHOLE bonnet is out of alignment, way off in the grill/bumper section that is very obvious. He says it looks fine to him and I start showing him where things are just not right. Okay, he says, I’ll get the guys to look at it and adjust it.

He comes back around with her… it is still not right and he says well, sometimes they come to the dealership not aligned perfectly. At this point I’m losing my cool inside but controlling it. I show him AGAIN where alignment with bonnet to bumper is VERY off, such as the bonnet touching one headlight and a large gap on the other… well, it looks like it’s in “tolerance” with the manufacturer to me. I lose it then and walk away as I say “NOT to MY tolerance with a new car that was in perfect alignment before”. I then take out my phone and show him a photo of what the front end looked like new and then one AFTER the accident when it was brought to the dealership collision center! He looks and says we’ll see what we can do. I THEN ask… with a Southern Belle tone and a smile on my face… This is only cosmetic and the bonnet not opening properly is not good but the big question is… how far did you test drive it for mechanical testing? He says: just down this road and back… so I comment… about a mile or so… he says “yeah, about that”. Comical (ONLY if it wasn’t happening to me)!

They take it BACK to the shop… as I tell him that I will not “tolerate” them charging the insurance company further because this is obviously something that they caused during the repair. He doesn’t respond to that but gets in the car and takes it back to the shop… only to come back out with it looking better UNTIL we open and close the STILL clunky bonnet that we have to basically force open a few times then low and behold it’s worse than before! I just laugh and say UNACEPTABLE! Did y’all just go back there and twist and torque the bonnet to make it look better for a minute?

LONG STORY LONGER, we leave it there and he says his “MINI GUY” will be there Monday and he’ll get back with us. THE QUESTION now is… where do we go from here, the insurance company, vehicle warranty, our original sales person who is the manager of MINI of South Atlanta? This is obviously not an accident related issue but an issue they caused during the repair. I have no confidence that the mechanical repairs were done properly since they tried to force us into accepting a car, three times, that obviously had problems!

I’ll only use the letter “d” in the alphabet since my name starts with that letter.

Disturbed
Disgusted
Disapponted
Disenchanted
Deceived
Demeaned
and
MOST of all: Disrespected and de-MINI-tized!

Deborah

Photo before it was put on the flatbed and taken to them:

 

How's the dog doing?

 

Better than the MINI I hope, but I suspect not. :( The owner wasn't very compassionate and said "he's broken up inside, I'll take care of it. Very sad! Thanks for caring!

 

This is all accident related. The car has not been restored to the pre accident condition. What you have there is part changers, not body shop profesionals. Take this up with your insurance agent.

 

Contact your insurance company and let them know that you aren't happy with the repairs. If you make enough noise they'll send an adjuster out to inspect the repair.

Since they're paying for it they should want to make sure that it's done correctly. They may not actually feel that way, but you need to convince them that this could be a long and painfully expensive journey for them if it isn't done right the first time.

When all else fails… lawyer up.

Hope everything works out ok in the end.

 

First off I guess the federally mandated MINI Cooper "face lift" requirment worked wonders.....Some 5K dollars in damage from striking one dog ? You didnt say what breed but must have been a very, very LARGE dog. How is the dog btw ?

Contact your insurance company. Often times they will contact the repair shop. They have a very long arm with regards to having your MINI repaired to your satisfaction, including but not limited to: Placing a hold on the payment for repair/services, a charge back to their account, and ultimately the removal of their shop from their approved list.

Hopefully a few of those "D's" will soon be off your next post Good Luck !

 

I'd call the Insurance and insist on repairs being completed at another shop. This shop obviously does not know how to work on MINIs.

Thank god we have Mike Marzo of Lion Collision and Service Center, 262 Titus Avenue
Warrington, PA 18976-2443
(215) 343-5900

PhillyMINI's most highly recommended MINI bodywork repair facility!

 

-=gRay rAvEn=-, the dog wasn't very large at all, I'd say around 15 pounds. Evidently it just hit in the worst spot to do damage. It was 50 miles away from home so we really don't know how it is doing.

Thanks for the advise everyone, I'll call the insurance company Monday morning. I guess I was a little heavy on the rant becasue I'd waited 3 weeks to get it back then it wasn't right.

 

Why did the headlamps need to be replaced? Did you mean the foglights?

 

I have no clue... it says on the insurance statement we recieved: Headlamp Assy, Halogen LT and Headlam Assy, Halogen RT. We actually discussed that this morning that we had no clue why that had to be done, it was on the second report after they had the adjuster back out to approve more repairs.

MAYBE it was just them taking the headlights out and putting them back in?

 

Sounds like the body shop was trying to make money off parts that did not need to be replaced.

I would be worried that they replaced two perfectly good FACTORY OEM headlights with cheap AFTERMARKET crap headlights. You should look into that and ask if the replacement headlights are OEM.

 

Cast another vote for getting your insurance company to be the hammer..

That repairer counts on getting money from the insurance companies, and the insurance company needs you to pay them.

Your second call on Monday should be to the MA at the dealer you got her, tell them the story and let them know that you may need to meet with the insurance adjust and that you would like to do it at the MINI dealer.

When talking to the MA let them know how much you lover your Mini, and want to see her back to normal. But if this is typical of how they handle hitting a dog, well............

Good luck, and I will have my Mini say a prayer for Whitelighting and my dog to the dog.

 

What is really nagging at me the most is this is not just a neighborhood body shop. This is Tom Williams MINI of Birmingham (Alabama) collision center that MINI Roadside Assistance took it to. They seem so incompetent, not knowing anything about a MINI, and trying to get us to accept the car three different times when it definitely wasn't right. He even said that MINI hoods were the hardest to adjust. I'm beginning to think it's other stuff not installed correctly, not the hood (bonnet).

So.... that leads us to question what the heck are we going to run into once we take the car if/when they get this issue solved! It's definitely cut the new car excitement short! I had it for 4 weeks now they've had it for 3 weeks and counting. LOL

 

good grief I hit a white tail deer going 65 mph 250 miles from home in a 2009 Ford Focus dead-center and the damage was only $2400. Even drove the car the 250 miles home, all I had to do was take damaged clip, put it in the trunk, and bungee the hood shut. Headlights even still worked.

Hitting a dog = Over $5K? Something is not right here.

 

How tall was the dog, because 15 lbs is very small. We recently adopted a puppy, and at the time (3 months old) she was already over 15 lbs.

I cannot imagine that much damage from a small dog except possibly at highway speeds. How fast was the car moving? The damage assessment doesn't make sense.

 

I believe that Birmingham is a fairly new MINI dealer, just opened about 6 months ago or so, they probably are not the most experienced when it comes to repairing these cars.

That's no excuse mind you.....

If you want to take it to a more competent place, call around to the Porsche, Mercedes, Lexus and Jaguar dealers and ask them where they take their new cars to have transportation damage fixed - that'll be the shop you want your baby fixed at too.....

I also agree to let your insurance company apply the heat, let them tell the dealer that if they can't fix it right it's going to another shop and they'll be paying the bill. It still might not help if they think they've done a "good enough" job.

It's going to be up to you to get this right tho, if you settle for a substandard job because you get frustrated or tired of dealing with it, you'll regret it and never trust your car again. That's no way to own a new MINI, is it?

So be strong and keep your foot on their neck till they do it right!

 

The dog was hit at 55 mph, it bumped the car then slid forward down the road on it's back, never going underneath the car. You can see in the photo I posted that the car didn't show cosmetic damge except for the trim pieces that were knocked off.

MINIdave, this is Tom Williams in Birmingham, Alabama who owns many dealerships clustered together in one place they include: Lexus, BMW, MINI, Land Rover, Porshe, and Audi. He, Tom Williams, also owns the collision center where the MINI is being repaired.

Believe me, I'm not going to tire of dealing with them because I DO want my baby back in pre accident condition, it's just frustrating being without a car and knowing I was told by they person we are dealing with, Adam, that "that's just how a MINI is". He made me feel like I was being totally unreasonable, yet I smiled as we got into the MR2 and drove away leaving her behind.

 

I have owned several body shops. Your recourse is back to the insurance company. It would not work out well to move the car to another shop even if the insurance company would let you, which they won't. Simply call the adjuster assigned to your repair and report that at this point the repairs are unacceptable.

Your insurance is not going to pay for anything that is not needed. Evidently, by your description, an adjuster has looked at the vehicle and authorized a supplement for the additional repairs found while working on it. They will force the shop to repair it back to new car standards. That is what you pay premiums for and I would quit worrying about it and let them handle it. Just don't take it back until it meets your criteria.

 

Are you serious? If you got your car back numerous times from them and they think it's "done" but there are fitment issues, you wouldn't worry about it?

 

He's just saying that the adjuster should be "worrying" about it, not her. That what she's paying her insurance premiums for......

He's not suggesting that she not be concerned about her car.....

 

No, he said "I would quit worrying about it and let them handle it." Whether he means car or situation by the word 'it', either way....

He is telling her to stop worrying about the car and let them handle it (ie, the insurance company and the body shop.)

What I am saying is, if I was in her position, I would be worrying about the car because of the incompetence displayed thus far.

 

Actually, I am not "kidding". Just trying to give you some friendly advice from someone who has been through this hundreds of times and not their first rodeo.

I understand your emotional attachment. I have a new MCS myself. By your account, you have made one actual visit to pick the car up and it was not properly done. You can get emotionally distraught, or you can have the problem fixed. Call your insurance company Monday and report your experience. Ask them to solve your problem or replace the vehicle. They care, someone at the dealership besides the fool who tried to convince you cares, and the problem will be taken care. You can treat it as the business issue it is or get emotional and compound the problem.

I certainly appreciate your feelings and wish you the best of luck. I would simply point out worrying yourself sick about it will accomplish little.

 

lol, I'm not the OP.

 

The ONLY way that applies is if the OP went to a pro shop for the insurance company. ie. Nationwide=Blueribbon, etc, etc.

If the shop chosen to do the work was chosen by the customer, the insurance company can't force the shop to do anything.

Having said that...

If you did indeed go to your own shop and it wasn't a pro shop for the insurance company, you need not waste your time going back to them. Anyone that starts off a conversation with "sometimes they don't line up from the factory" obviously doesn't care.

Again, if you did use a pro shop, definitely go back to the insurance company. Tell them you've gone back more than once and you are not satisifed. They will send you to another shop and get the money back from that shop.

If you chose the shop, then contact me. If you want to bring the car to NC, I'll fix the car correctly for you for free. (if it needs add'l parts, I'll get a supplement from the insurance company) but I'll make it right.

I don't like bodyshops that don't fix cars correctly but I hate it more when it's a fellow mini owner.

Let me know if I can help you. I'll make it right.


Mark

 

The car was taken to "the nearest MINI dealership" as required by MINI's Roadside Assistance. I thought that was the way it had to be done? Yet, if I had not used that option I still would have taken it to them since they are a MINI dealer.

I don't care how many new parts they replace, I only want it done properly. IF they use $10,000 to make it right it will still only cost us our $500 deductable, that is not the issue.

My orginal concern was/is if the guy expected me to accept the car with the hood/grill misaligned and hood not opening properly. There seems to be no pride in the work and I'm conerned that something else might not be done properly either.

He made me feel so bad that I had to keep pointing out the issues over and over with him trying to explain to me that "sometimes they don't line up from the factory" and "that's just how MINIs are". The THREE times of expecting us to accept the car was on the SAME visit, he would just bring it back out with different or even worse issues, not to mention the hood not opening properly (he also said that was a MINI thing, which it's not because we went straight to the dealership and opened a few hoods.

SO... the bottom line question was "where do we go from here", meaning what course of action to use to get it done properly.

I dread the two hour drive and anticipation of having to face the same person again when they call and say it's ready again! I know I'm not going to be happy to see him and he's not going to be happy to see me even though I did appoligize for being a bit short with him a few times yet said as a side note, I don't think you would accept it either if it was yours. LOL

I plan to call the insurance company, AllState, Monday morning just to explain what happened, just in case it still isn't right next time or if something else shows up later (remember no road test yet except for about a mile around the body shop by them, not us). I will take things as they come and see what happens.