this last friday evening in downtown orlando, i was sitting at a stop light waiting to go home when Mr. Ta'Von Grayson comes out of nowhere and plows into the back of me, GTA style rams through several others while being shot at by police, later crashing into more cars before being sent to the hospital for multiple gunshot wounds.

this is the state of my poor mini :(


that back wheel is cocked forward and twisted out some; steering wheel is jacked to one side, rear quarter panel is boned. hoping they can fix my baby, and that she drives the same as before

 

Holly crap! I'm glad you were only hit by another vehicle and not flying lead! Sorry to hear about your MINI, I hope you are ok! I'm happy to see that they caught the suspect. You probably will not get anything out of the suspect monetarily and your insurance will end up having to cover your loss. The bad guys never have any money to pay for this stuff or any property that you can take to help soften their stupidity. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

 

thanks. yes, my friend and i were ok. many shots fired, 15-20 right in front of us. the guy was going at a fair speed too, 20+ mph if i had to guess, when he hit me. drove over my back tire basically. looked like that video of the aventador hitting that little blue car in europe; the rest looked like GTA the game.

looks like the mini absorbed the impact nicely, no neck jerking or anything; but probably at the cost of the suspension and who knows what else.

heres one of many links to the story...

http://www.wesh.com/news/man-shot-by...043318#!bjlg7V

as of now, im out a cool grand through my deductible. you are right, little to no chance of getting that money back. chances are this assh*le is joke broke. lawyers dont want the case either since there was no bodily injury. go figure.

 

Hey astro black...that's horrible. I am shocked they fired shots with all those innocents in the area. I would not be surprised if your insurance totals it out. It's more work than you think (almost always).

As for what probably broke down there...read my thread on lower right sitting lower. At a minimum the control arms are toast (stamped steel). I would think that the hub and any mounting points are cooked too... Be happy you are safe - it could have been much much worse (not talking about the car). Keep us up to date on the progress.

 

so its getting fixed. next friday at best.... so 2 weeks without my mini! :P or any car for that matter.

they tried to save that quarter panel, but to no avail. its getting replaced.

rear trailing arm was also bent, along with the hub being in pieces (if i heard correctly). so all thats getting replaced.

tried to get them to do my windshield too (large crack going up from the center) but they said it "looked like a rock did it". while it didnt happen in the accident per say, it def wasnt a rock. morons. oh well, i just have to file a separate claim for that, free replacement under fl law regardless.

just wanted it all done at once since im down my vehicle.

hope they can get the paint matched proper!

 

ouch. i saw that story the other night. glad you and your friend are OK. thought the same thing- something out of GTA. crazy! I live by seaworld so i installed a dashcam to catch some of the less crazyness near here.

 

it totally was real life GTA. first cop that fired was 10 ft away from me. i saw the bullet hole appear in that dirt bags rear window. he probably got him then.

immediately after, 5 or more cops were shooting i think, i got down when i heard multiples of gun shots.

later after he crashed, i guess they shot him some more? dunno. but he was hit at least 5 times.

hes prolly un-insured as well, and no i dont have that coverage either. saving money on cheap insurance past 4 years has finally caught up with me. its lose lose isnt it?!

 

You're alive. That's the win right there. The rest will be a story to tell your grandchildren.

 

...there I was, sitting in my MINI.....

 

Glad to hear that your MINI can be repaired and you're ok.

 

+1,000,000 -

 

Hey sorry to hear about all that excitement and now the headaches that will begin.

Is that a real name? How do you make up something like that? No wonder the poor dear turned out like this.

 

ya. thats apparently a "real" name... go figure.

so, estimates in, $4100 dollars. here is text version of repairs: 2nd number after description is cost... not sure what "Subl" means...

1 REAR BUMPER
2 O/H bumper assy 2.0
3* Repl LKQ bumper assy +20% 1 360.00* INCL. 2.4
4 Add for Clear Coat 1.0
5 REAR LAMPS
6 R&I LT Tail lamp assy INCL.
7 Repl LT Marker lamp 1 26.96 INCL.
8 QUARTER PANEL
N 9* Repl LT Quarter panel 1 326.24 11.5* 3.2
10 Add for Clear Coat 1.3
11 Deduct for Rear Bumper R&I -1.4
12 Repl LT Wheelhouse liner 1 60.67 INCL.
13 R&I LT Belt molding INCL.
14* Rpr LT Reinf panel 3.0*
15 Repl LT Wheel opng mldg 1 71.07 0.3
16* Subl LT Qtr glass Mini w/o navigati 1 78.00*
on sys. +20%
17 Repl Fuel door S model 1 50.65 INCL.
18 WHEELS & FRONT SUSPENSION
19# Subl Wheel Alignment 1 59.95 T
20 DOOR
21# Rpr Unibody-Setup and Measure 2.0
22* Repl LKQ LT Mirror base w/folding + 1 73.48* 0.7* 0.4*
20%
23 Overlap Minor Panel -0.2
24 Add for Clear Coat 0.1
25* Rpr LT Door shell 2.0* 2.0
26 Overlap Major Adj. Panel -0.4
27 Add for Clear Coat 0.3
28 R&I LT Handle, outside 0.4
29 R&I LT R&I trim panel 0.4
30# Rpr Pull on Unibody 2.0
31 PILLARS, ROCKER & FLOOR
32 Repl LT Rocker molding w/o aero pkg 1 100.46 0.5
Mini Cooper S
33 R&I RT Rocker molding w/o aero pkg 0.5
Mini Cooper S
34 REAR SUSPENSION
35* Repl LT Hub & bearing 1 152.55* mINCL.
36 Repl LT Trailing arm 1 431.42 m 2.5 M
N 37# Repl L/R Tire +20% 1 139.20
38# Subl Mount and balance 1 12.00
39# Repl Screw 1 10.63
40 WHEELS
41* Repl LT/Rear Wheel, alloy type 8, 7 1 189.00* m 0.3
x17 black
42 OTHER CHARGES
43# E.P.C. 1 2.50
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotals ==> 2144.78 26.7 10.1

so 2 grand in parts, 2 grand in labor.

 

Pm sent

 

The rule we had when our children were born was that their names must look good on College Applications and resume's.

 

I got hit in a similar place and the total repare was $5,100 so your's does not sound out of line.
Rear qtr, wheel, bent suspension.

I just got hit and did not have gunfire.

 

Sorry for your loss. Even if he did have insurance they probably wouldn't cover this loss because insurance covers 'accidents' and this was not an accident. His manner of driving was intentional at the very least. I'm happy you came out of it o.k.

 

Damn, sounds like a movie... good thing there's no bullet holes in it.
Glad you guys are safe, cars can be fixed (even though it's a crappy deal you got taken out)

 

The Subl is short for 'Sublet'. Meaning they don't do the work they 'sublet' it out to someone else or another company to do that work, most likely because they don't have tire and alignment machines there. Also, most body shops don't do glass either. Everything looks in order there.




Very glad to hear you're ok and free of bullet holes.

 

I was boarding a couple years ago and some visitors arrived with a 3 year old boy. I looked down at him and said, "Hullo, what's your name then?" His mom said, "His name is Queazy (sp?)." The response, "Nah, I said what's your name, not how you feelin," was apparently inappropriate. Not to me, I laughed hard and left.

 

 

So! i finally finally got my car back this past friday.

wow. i am NOT happy :(

talk about zero attention to detail (pics later, sorry). what could have gone wrong? well, lets see what i mean about zero attention to detail....

1. they ripped the headliner from the front to the back of the car, left it hanging like a f-king curtain for me. they managed to do this when re-doing the rear glass and taking off the door gasket.

2. they damaged the OTHER quarter panel (passenger side) by using a screwdriver(?) as a f-king pry tool to get the bumper off, right under the tail light. a nice new bend in the metal, plenty of paint missing.

3. nobody bothered to line up the door; it doesnt sit flush when it closes.

4. the rear quarter silver trim (connecting the window to the body) is loose / misaligned. i can SEE the plastic holders of the trim; basically, its not even close...

5. gas cap assembly is quite loose; nobody put the rubber cord thing back correctly; instead they shoved it into the hole that holds the gas cap itself.

6. my driver rear view mirror looks like it used to be RED!... but why the F they changed that at all i dont know... it wasnt damaged in the accident. oh, and the gasket between the side mirror and door is half assed; its half pinched under itself all the way around. also, the red, i mean black mirror cap is loose as hell.

7. the new body pieces they got arent quite right... (bumper, side skirt, aero kit). the wheel arch portions of these new pieces are NOT textured?! (why? not a mini part?). so they just painted the entire pieces the color of the car. so the whole profile of the car is different now.

8. they broke my rear lower fog light. its all cracked from where they pushed it in / out or something.

9. they left the car open in the shop and its full of dusty crappy shop dust; caked on everything almost.

10. they scratched my rear quarter panel glass; the inside of it, about 6 inches.

11. they really didnt put the door gasket back on right; and in taking it off, ripped out my wiring for my rear view camera (they were nice enough to tuck that under the floor mat for me not to see it after jacking my seat all up)

12. not sure, but it feels like something is missing under the rear bumper... its just too flimsy; when i look, i cant see any foam or anything; its like just a bumper attached with 2 screws... (also, no clear coat on the "new" bumper either i dont think, ive managed to somehow already scratch it? its white underneath).

can someone look / take pics of under their rear bumper, like if you were to lay down and look up; i swear something is missing; it looks like there is no support or anything there now; no metal bar, not foam, nothing. just my bumper, 8 inches of air, and the body of the car... id swear if i got rear ended, there is nothing there to absorb any impact of anything...

so basically, they had the car for 3 full weeks and it looks like they did all the work in 2 f-king hours. i was able to point out enough issues and extra damage to my vehicle and politely tell the shop guy they did a **** job that the shop is now buying me a rental so i can take my car BACK in and have them re-f-king do almost everything. i can only imagine what else they will F-up the 2nd time around...

*(paint looks "ok", but its not even close to factory; it looks like they didnt prep anything; has some of that orange peel look to the paint under the clear coat; looks like a real amature job IMO)*

 

FWIW, stay away from Gerber Collision and Glass in Altamonte, FL....

instead, take the check from the insurance and find a reputable place to have your car fixed; dont be an idiot like me and let a "geico affiliated shop" do the work for you.

 

I feel your pain. Finding a good shop is one thing, finding a good body shop is even that much harder.

I have had my MC40 in a shop for some paint repair work ... Going on 3 months now... I'm at the point I suspect them in having it finished a month ago and they wrecked it during an unauthorized test drive and having to rebuild it from scratch.

 

Do not F*&^%$G accept that car if yo are not satisfied 101%.
Do not accept it sub standard the second time around.