Yanno, I always see threads on NAM regarding fellow members that have experienced the PAIN AND SUFFERING of being rear ended...feeling sorry for them and thankful that I had been fortunate that it had not happened to me....UNTIL TODAY. There must be something magnetic about our Mini's Rear, something, dare i say it, Bootylicious, that everyone wants to literally kiss our butts.

Yep, today I was rear-ended by a college kid who told me he was on his way to a 'Honor Society' Induction. Wonderful. Congratulations. You still rear-ended me kid.

Here's the thing that was a surprise..I didnt sustain too much damage...a broken tail light and relatively small dents on the right hatch and right below the tail light....whereas his 4x4 (nissan) with a GRILL GUARD was all bent in and a pretty substantial dent on his quarter panel.

The Police officer that came to the scene was really impressed with how little damage Winston (my mini) compared to how f'd up the truck was.

In any case, I'm hoping for a 'friendly' assessment for the damage - new hatch, quarter, and yes, there's a wee scratch on the bumper so i want a new one of those too, lol...and will use the check that my insurance sends me to get a new body kit (orciari). I'd like to think of it as taking lemons and making lemonade.

So the moral of the story here is : dont get rear-ended.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your accident, but I'm glad you didn't have too much damage. It's interesting, I was just thinking about that today. It seems cars are always following behind me so close, I feel like I'm constantly being tailgated. Is it an illusion because the MINI is so short or do other MINI drivers notice that cars are always tailgating them as well? Today on my way home from work, a pickup truck was on my tail the entire time it was behind me. Annoying to say the least. I made a few "GET OFF MY TAIL!" hand gestures, but he was sitting so high, I doubt he saw me wave my arm. What's up with this tailgating stuff? (Sorry if I hijacked your thread, I was just wondering if so many MINI's are rear ended because of this tailgating thing, if it does exist).

 

I'm with you in the club! I was rear ended late one night a little over a year ago.

Some kid (yeah, I'm only 26 and he was early 20's ish, but still) whom I think was a little intoxicated driving a Camaro hit me after not stopping at the stop sign I was at.

When he got out he was bleeding really bad, I couldn't tell from how, but he apparently just got a tattoo and it was still dripping. When his mommy and daddy showed up, they were more concerned about me reporting it to insurance then anything. He had just got a job that drove some delivery truck and this accident could get him fired. NOT MY PROBLEM!

They then wanted to have their body shop fix it (first that was, does this happen to them often??) and I told them "HELL NO!" ... After that, I've never heard anything from them and isurance took care of everything.

My MINI's rear bumper was all f-ed up and the right tire was tweaked. After $6k of repairs, MINI was all back to normal!

(This isn't really a happy club to be a member of, but its more of a support group). :smile:

 

Oh no, I completely agree with you about the tailgating. It seems like they're trying to prove that they can keep up, especially in the curves (good luck, lol)

I've found one 'counter-measure' that works about 98% of the time...and works like a charm. I hit my "FOG LIGHT" toggle switch, which turns on the really bright red fogs in the rear...that gets them to slow down immediately. Then I accelerate. Wait, i do that anyway. lol.

 

I'll join this little club. Sorry to hear about your A$$ kissing. My rear end was not so fortunate. I was turning left going about 5 MPH and then BAAAM!!! They hit me at 70 MPH and through into a spin on the other side of the street.

They were also illegal imagrents with no insurance.

 

How about rear ended and front ended too

 

WOW! You are lucky to be alive. There is no way to get away from that. It just goes to show you how durable and safe the mini is.

 

Yup, I'm a card-carrying club member of the REMC. I was RE'ed just 4 days after getting my new S. I was in stop and go traffic on the highway, and the girl in the Civic behind me missed one of the stops, whacking me but good on the old bootay. Rear bumper cover was damaged a bit the the JCW exhaust tips were knocked askew, but nothing major. Realizing that it was no big thang, I immediately offered to settled outside of insurance. Her father called me within hours to accept my kind offer and basically indicated no estimate would be refused. Two days later I had a check in hand for $1200. Found a perfect replacement cover on eBay for $150 and installed it myself. Getting RE'ed can be profitable.

 

Omg... Rear-ends are my biggest fear!

My Mini is only two days old and I REALLY want to be careful with him going over bumps and potholes but I'm always scared the driver behind me might not stop or slow down and rear end me.

 

Actually I did way more damage to their van than they did to the mini. I wish I still had the pics.

On the MINI they dented the left 1/4 panel pretty good But I was still able to drive it in to the gas station that I was pulling into to begin with.

Thier van on the other hand was totalled. It looked like they hit a 500 year old oak tree at 70 MPH. The front end looked like this (>)

I went by the name MINI tank for a while

 

The somewhat frequent rear-endings have made me wonder if this was a subtle reason for the change in the rear light assembly. I've noticed the '05 cars are much more noticable from the rear at night and when the brakes are applied. The brake-light-mod definitely seems to help in this regard and I personally consider it mandatory on any pre-'05 MINI...

I also wonder if the frequency of SUV's and other larger vehicles hitting MINI's might have something to do with the sight angle of the 3rd brake light and the rear spoiler... I've noticed this when following spoiler-equiped MINIs in my full-size van. Remember that 3rd light has been around for almost 20 years and drivers subconciously look for it. I've considered getting a spare spoiler and seeing if I can mod it to fit some high-intensity LED's...

We know of one MINI-friend who was rear-ended, but the driver was drunk so I doubt if hit-ee being a MINI had anythign to do with it. He was ok, but unfortunately, his MINI was not driveable after the incident and was in the shop for about 8 weeks..

 

Related suggestion: Carry a disposable camera with flash with you in the glove compartment, one that does 24 or more shots. Replace it once a year if you haven't used it (the batteries fade from the heat/cold).

I have kept disposables in my cars for about 4 years. I've used them 4 times - once when I was hit and the other three times when I witnessed an accident. In at least two cases the photos became the deciding factor on what happened and whose insurance company paid.

When you take the photos don't just shoot the damage - shoot the intersection, pavement, surroundings, etc. I also take shots of the insurance certificate, license plate and VIN of the other car.

/gary mc

 

Another REMC member here - my wife was turning into a church parking lot when a kid (who was going to his wedding!) nailed her on the left rear spinning her into the church's front lawn. The da*n cop took the kids word that she stopped right in front of him and not the TWO witnesses that told him that she was stopped there for 10 seconds or so while waiting of on coming traffic to clear and he hit her WHILE she was making the turn. The cop gave her a ticket for an illegal left turn as there was no turning lane and there was a solid yellow line down the road! She went to court armed with many pictures of solid yellow lines in front of left turn areas including one in front of the police station and another in front of the DMV inspection station. Her ticket was thrown out - BTW the cop still believed the kid even though he lied about having insurance too! Progressive paid over $10,000 for the repairs and rental car and if they get their money back from the kid (who was driving his parents car), I get my $250 deductable back too! The shop that did the work did a SUPER job (I was real happy when I saw the THREE Ferrari's, several Porches and Audi's and one Bently in their "waiting" area to be fixed!!!) and I cannot even find any indication that the car was ever hit. I also got a spare wheel and tire and a exhaust system out of the deal.

Lee

 

I'm a compulsive bumper-sticker-reader, who also happens to be paranoid about "the other guy" driving carelessly behind me...

To reduce the chances of other sticker-checker-outers crowding your car to read the small print on your sharp-witted, clever, original and generally good looking decals, find alternate locations such as the side windows, from which to show them off :smile:.

I never imagined I'd be espousing the virtues of a "boring" rear-end ...

Now if I could just figure a way to NEVER again accidentally start from a stop in freakin' REVERSE, I'd be set. (If I back into someone as a result of doing that, I probably won't come to the REMC thread to post about it ). And, why is it so hard to find 1st again, once you figure out you're in Reverse??

Tatt

 

I know that pink ties calm angry people at meetings. Is there any kind of reflector or some other means that neurologically induces people to stay away from Mini backsides?

 

Here's mine from 2004...a total loss. Thankfully I wasn't even in the car.

 

I am a member. Rear ended at slow speed. The brake light mod was not done but was shortly after......

 

Sitting in a traffic backup waiting and guy decides to hit the lady behind me and she plows into me.

Big crack in my rear bumper - only a week and a half old!!!

Looks like I'll need a new bumper...this sucks

 

Rear ended on the highway in traffic, 2 months after getting my '03. Since there had been another "fender bender" in that location, there were 2 vehicles and a cop on the shoulder. My guess is that the guy in the Porsche Boxter who hit me paid a little too much attention to them. Anyhow, the cop blocked traffic, pulled us over, and wrote up our report along with the other one. Mr. Boxter's insurance paid.

Have long since done the brake light mod, thanks to IanF for helping me with that!

 

Ummm .... I think that belongs on another kind of website....

 

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