My 2006 R53 was parked and got slammed by an 84 year old driving a Buick Regal (AARP Staff Car). He tried to correct, but alas, took out my left rear quarter panel, then his front left tire struck my right rear tire hard enough to FLIP THE BUICK upside down. Luckily, everyone is pretty much OK.

http://westfield.patch.com/articles/...wo-to-hospital

Except my MINI, of course.

Now, the insurance estimate is coming in around $4200, which looks too cheap to me. I'd like to know what the community thinks.

They're specifying a "recycled suspension assembly" ? really? $225? The guy hit my wheel hard enough to flip his car and leave my wheel perpendicular to the side panel. I don't need shocks or a wheel hub or a new brake? Should I trust this?

They spec'd a new quarter panel, but no rear tail light. The tail light is gone. Is that included with the quarter panel?

Isn't the battery in the back left quarter panel? I'm wondering about brake & DSC electronics at the wheel. What else should I be challenging? While the car will "never be right again," - this is my only window to fight for everything I should. I trust the body shop, they are solid folks, but I don't trust the insurance company at all...

All thoughts welcome. Especially anyone with repair experience on this type of damage. Thanks folks.

 

Buick probably flipped by hitting the curb, after hitting your Mini. Do you have any pictures of your car?

 

No, no pics of mine. Basically I have a crushed left back quarter panel and a shattered rear wheel that permanently points toward Philadelphia.

But it's pretty clear what happened. Other driver was over in the parking lane, tried to veer left to correct, connected with the rear corner of my car, then rode his front left wheel into, and over, my left rear wheel. Like on the track, rubber to rubber contact usually lifts the faster car... he's a lucky old man, as is his passenger. 2:00 in the afternoon on a clear day.

 

The offending party's insurance company can estimate whatever they want. That's how they save money. The actual cost of the repair is their problem, not yours and that's the attitude you should take when speaking with the adjuster. No need to be rude but they will low ball everything on the car. Tell them the car will be repaired by a Mini dealer using OE Mini parts period. They will pay it but will never give you a straight answer throughout the process.

 

Sorry to see that, and sorry about your car... but relieved that the other folks weren't seriously injured.

Funny though, for a long time I've included "Fear the Buick" in my signature, with this sort of thing in mind. And now your MINI has taken the brunt of a Buick attack. Ouch.

Anyway, best of luck getting things sorted!

Spridget

 

I'm assuming the estimate is coming directly from your insurance adjuster and not from a repair shop? My experience is that the insurance adjuster gives you the initial estimate, then you select a repair shop that does an estimate based on the adjuster's initial findings, and then the repair shop deals directly with your adjuster to revise or adapt the initial estimate to reflect real-world prices. My adjuster and repair shop dealt with each other to work out the cost, repair, and coverage. They contacted me with updates, but the numbers game went between those two. The total repair cost for me was more than double what the initial estimate was, so I would expect the estimate to be just that--an estimate and not a hard and fast number.

Who's your insurance carrier? Are they requiring a specific shop to do the repairs?

 

Resell value is significantly lower now (right?). No one wants a car that's been in a collision, regardless of current shape and severity of collision, at least as far as I've seen. Hopefully you get a couple of bucks for that as well. Best of luck dealing with the sharks.

 

To me, honestly, that seems pretty low... I was rear ended (and in turn I rear ended someone) so they had to replace my front and rear bumper, and the crash bars n such, along with paint and bodywork, it came out to around $7,000.

The adjuster gave me an estimate of around $4500 in the beginning, from his first inspection, then they went back and did another one and found more broken things, so that raised it up to $6700, and even then there was stuff that needed replacement, because I went around the car with my mechanic and found that my control arms were bent on one side where the exhaust hit it, so they had to replace/install those as well...In the end it came out to around $7,000, and they didn't replace any significant suspension stuff... Mostly replace body mouldings and such, (they did have to pull the battery box back into square shape, that added a bit as well)

 

Sorry about your car...
Send a PM to NAM member orangecrush and see what he thinks. Pictures of your car too. He owns a couple of body shops and several threads documenting rebuilding "crushed" MINI. He follows NAM pretty well and just might show up with some advice. Good luck with your car.

BTY - not all AARP members drive the "staff car"; some of us are "out of the box". But I know what you mean.

 

Just found this one for you:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...006-mcs&cat=22

 

My 2006 was also a victim of an inattentive older driver. She was backing out of her driveway and sped backwards across the street, hitting my parked car.

Doesn't look too bad, right? That'll buff right out, bolt a new mirror on, bam, all set.



New door, new powerfold mirror, spray all three panels, take the whole fu**ing car apart and put it back together, five trips to the body shop before the door closed properly... and it cost the insurance company about $3000 by the time it was finished.

 

CR&PW&JB may be able to help you on the insurance side if he decides to pop in.

 

You are quite on target, thus far. My insurance = State Farm. Here in lovely New Jersey, The Landfill of Opportunity, my insurance carrier covers my claim and then settles with the other driver's insurance carrier. The State Farm adjuster has looked at the car, worked up an "initial" estimate of parts, labor, etc. at appx $4200. The shop manager says "it's preliminary, subject to change when we 'open it up,' and will get adjusted if we see more issues." So, NJ sounds a lot like your CO experience. BTW, State Farm apparently has "two levels" of body shop relationships. Top level is a shop that they explicitly work with, and that can fast track a claim. Second level is "on their list" and for this they send their adjusters. I have no idea what they do for a shop that's not on their list... probably don't play nice in that case. Thanks for the perspective.

 

that's really useful, thanks.

 

wow. crazy.

 

Depends on what shop is selected.

Insurer's program shop = shop does the estimate.

Not a program shop = insurance rep estimates.

No second estimates, no comparisons. The estimate is the estimate.

 

Like I said, the insurance adjuster came first. He provided me with a typed estimate sheet and told me I had the option of having the repair done at a shop of my choosing. He provided me with two local shops that the insurance works with regularly. I chose a different, dealer-recommended shop. I gave that shop the adjuster's estimate, the shop called the adjuster when additional costs or items in need of replacement arose, and both of them called me with updates during the process. The adjuster changed the estimate two times to reflect feedback from my non-insurance-company-approved repair shop.

 

Those are supplemental estimates based on new damages found. Not a change to the original estimate based on "real world" prices as you stated in your earlier post. Big difference.

 

A good distinction, but the fact remains that the later estimate was an adaptation of the original one. Yes, it was primarily a result of the discovery of new damage, but it was also adjusted based on the shop's cost to repair the damage, which differed from the estimated hourly rate in the original estimate.

Thus, the original estimate was changed to reflect the shop's hourly rate, which differed from the estimated rate in the original estimate--hence, a reflection of real-world prices.

Given that the OP requested experience with similar damage and repair, that's what was given. Your knowledge as someone employed within the industry is much appreciated.

 

Do your self a favor and print out the Kelly Blue Book and NADA value of your Mini pre collision. Give a copy to your insurance agent for the file. Run another value post collision, showing car was in a collision, and add that to the file. Keep copies for yourself. Explain to the agent that you expect the diminished value of your Mini to be added to the settlement. They may or may not do it, but it is worth a shot even if you have to argue with them.
I had a Mercedes CLK500 that was rear ended. I sold the car and took a $1,500 loss. Due to the collision. The attorney told me if I could have proved what the vehicle was worth right before the collision he could have asked for the loss to be included in the settlement.
Good luck and I hope your Mini recovers soon!

 

Not sure how I can make this more clear. A non-program shop cannot and does not change the cost of labor or parts on an estimate completed by the insurer or one of their program shops. Period.

They can submit supplemental estimates for damages not detected during the original estimate.

 

You're talking about a Diminished Value claim.

1. Not all States require insurers to honor a DV claim. But even in those States, an insurer can, and often does, honor a diminished value claim if documentation is provided to prove the claim.

2. A diminshed value claim for a rear corner impact on a 2006 vehicle with an estimate of $4200 is not going to be worth much. But yes, worth pursuing. Might get a few hundred bucks out of it.

 

I love these insurance threads. They teach me everything I need to know in case anything this unfortunate happens to me.