Hello dear NAM friends, last night I crashed the front end of my 2 week old R56 to the side of the road ( to the protection metal stuff, dnt know how its called) passenger and driver airbag where deployed. all internal electronics function (radio, cabin lights etc) however the front engine support took all the force. Hood is a bit smashed front lights also. The engine itself seems not to have taken any damage except the radiator and the fluid expansion tank.

Anyone had any similar accident? Did your car got fixed? I am waiting till monday to take her to the dealer and see what the engineers will tell .

 

Have you called your insurance company?

 

Call insurance right away! Why did the crash occur? Black Ice? Deer?

 

Yes I have called my insurance however am only third party covered so it doesn't really matter. I was going with speed and it was a very hard right corner which is followed by a left, it was late at night and I did not realize that i couldn't make the corner. 100% my fault. I braked hard, road was a slightly wet and off i lost control. I live in a RHD country btw.

 

Yup, had the same thing happen to me.... see the link in my signature.




Mark

 

Oh your door also got hit. mine did not ill post some pics tomorrow. I am finally relaxed and calm and i hope that the dealer will give a reasonable quote
When the airbags where deployed the mechanism kept the horn going for about 20 minutes. Most devastating sound of my life

 

got a call from the dealer today, told me that the chassis may need some fixing and that its gonna be expensive, very expensive. Exact price will be given in the evening, will update with the news:( tnx for the support guys

 

Sorry to hear this, but good luck.

 

I bought a crashed Cooper S that had rearended another car. It had broken both the engine and transmission mounts, along with the turbocharger housing, radiator and condensor. Fortunately the frame was not bent. After $3500 in parts, it is back on the road and I am having a blasst driving it. Orangecrush and Way at Way motor works were helpful in getting it back together. If you have the time and are mechanically inclined, it could be a fun project.

 

Thank you for the info
I dont think that I am mechanically inclined enough to fix what i broke , I dont even understand if the frame is bent or not, thats why I am still w8ing for the dealers report. Due to xmas and stuff dealer was on holiday tday therefor the report is postponed to mondey :( hopefully mine will also be resurrected from the dead

 

The lady that I bought the car from gave me the insurance estimate from the accident. 13850 dollars. They were going to replace thing that had small scratches , like the washer bottle. I reused that kind of thing and saved a lot of cash. (You can't even see the washer bottle) I will also tell you that I ordered a brand new hood for 507 dollars, and they screwed up and so had to order it twice. For my inconvenience of having to drive 115 miles twice to pick it up, they gave it to me for dealer cost of $285. I was shocked at that much markup, but they were very apologetic, and gave me a good deal , so no complaints here. These things are VERY expensive to fix, and you have to look for deals and search salvage yards to get the cost down when you do it yourself. It was worth it to me because I got the car cheap to begin with.

 

Yep i agree with you, i think that my estimate is going to be of that range. btw i got no washer bottle it, well, exploded is a good description (makes me lough to thing of it now:P). If the estimate is out of reach I will give a chance to some independent shops as the car is practically new, 0.7k miles on it, selling it for parts is going to put a knife in my heart. I've heard some stories about dealers replacing scratched parts as you described and giving extraordinary estimates due to the above. I honestly dont know how my case is going to come out.

 

I would be interested to see a picture. H

 

I don't know, focus4fun. I've tried real hard to see how putting together your crashed two week old MINI could be "fun" and I'm having a lot of trouble finding the "fun" part.

 

It could be fun if i was a real mechanic with some engine mount removal, radiator fixing, airbag replacement skills but too but I am not. I can do electronics but not metal work. Also as the airbags and stuff are so delicate, i am afraid to trust any independent shops except the dealer. whats out view on that?

 

Here we go estimate came .
total labor 2700eur ~3400dollars
total parts 7keur ~ 9k dollars
add some tax and stuff and we are at 11500eur ~ hmm 14k dollars

parts include airbags , wheel hub, output shaft,panels, radiator ,condenser , fan housing, headlight and hood.

in the report they also included the Front axle support (http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...=31&fg=05&hl=1) is this an easy replacement? or they need to mess up with the rest of the chassis to replace it?

The price is high isnt it?

 

Just curious, did you let them know you weren't going through your insurance company? Lots of times folks just want their car totaled through insurance so the dealer will make the repair cost as high as possible to allow this to happen. Like above, some things don't necessarily need replacement so they can leave them off and lower the cost. If you haven't been clear with them on this it might be a good time to do so. Odd that the parts are so much more than the labor to me, usually the labor outweighs everything else from what I've seen in the past.

 

This repair is going to be a lot of work, no doubt about that. The great thing about these cars is that lots of the components are bolted on, instead of welded. What you have to remember is that when it gets fixed with all of these new parts, it should be as good as new. When they put that new support on, it will realign your front suspension, putting it back to original. If they are a good shop, they will put it on a frame machine and check the alignment. All of the other components should be easily replaced, and then it is all about the paint and body. The important thing is to watch for any loosness or pulling to one side in the steering, and any funny noises when you get it back.

About fixing these crashed cars being "fun", it is more about 'bringing the dead back to life' and seeing that broken hunk of metal actually run and drive after I spend many hours with it. Kind of like the little bird with the broken wing that flies away after you mend its wing and nurse it back to health. Of course in your case, you were the one to break it, so that does kind of suck.

Your estimate is about the same as the car that I did, but mine didn't have the damage to the front wheel, so I would GUESS that it sounds about right. Remember that I am no expert on these cars, I just know what I have dealt with.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Yep i let them know that I am not going through the insurance, but i thing they probably are trying to make me sell them the broken car so they can fix it, how knows. (they already made me an offer to buy it)

focus4fun
so what ur saying is that the front subframe/cross-member is bolted on to the chassis? if so thats gr8 now its all a matter of sourcing a but cheaper parts

 

ouch I am really sorry to hear that but if your in the metro area I can def give you a recommendation. its not going to be cheap at all but they do AMAZING work. Always see messed up cars come out looking new ...

 

I hope there is such a place where i live, in the middle of the ocean (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cyprus...en&sa=N&tab=wl)

 

ooo wow lol ... so like i said, it would be REALLY expensive to get fixed by my house in that case ... hope someone out there can help ya out buddy !! best of luck

 

Well i am willing to drop around 8k dollars but 14k is just too much for me

 

Here are some pics for those who are interested :