So I have my first battle scar. My daughter didn't put her bike away last night, and I backed into it coming out of the garage in the dark when running to the store for some late night groceries. It smacked the rear tail light, putting a nice little spiderweb crack in it, and then slid down the rear, scratching the paint a bit on the way down.

I don't think the paint was scratched much deeper than the clearcoat, so that should hopefully not be too much of a problem, but does anyone have experience with a cracked tail light? Does the entire assembly need to be replaced, or can just the clear plastic be switched out? How much does it cost?

I am coming up on my service time, so I think I'll just call and schedule an early appointment to give it the once-over in addition to making the small repairs. It was a painful experience, but I had to expect something like that to happen sometime.

whole housing needs to be replaced. its an easy fix, one nut and it pops out. If the dealer wont give it to you on a waranty fix (they most likely will), look on ebay, they are very cheap.

Hope you went ahead and completely ran over the bike so it would be a painful lesson for your daughter as well. . . .

Just kidding. . .

I remember when I was a kid and was told to put my big wheel away and not leave it in the driveway. My lesson was learned when I looked out from breakfast to see the garbage men tossing my beloved big wheel into the truck. I ran out there just in time to see the huge hydraulic jaws crushing my big wheel into pieces!

I'm not sure how much a new tail light assembly costs, but you might likely find a used one if you post a want ad in the marketplace forums. Enough people have switched to aftermarket lights that you could replaced it with a used piece rather cheaply.

he has an 05 tho, it might be harder since few of us 05 owners have put in pre04 lights yet. when i put my lights in, i'll have a set of 05 lights ready and waiting for ya.

Ouch!! I guess it could have/would have been worse if you ran the bike over and it somehow got stuck UNDER the MINI....wowza - I can't imagine... sorry to hear this but glad it wasn't worse...

Donna
02' CR/W MCS (gone to MINI heaven - burned up)
05' Cool Blue MCSC "Ariel"
05' HB/W MCS

As has been said, the whole assembly must be replaced. It's VERY easy to R&R the lense - one connector, one bolt, and a few pressure clips. The individual lights are ~$85 from the dealer. Haven't seen any '05s on ebay, but (if you want to save money) you can also look at any online wrecker - there should be a few crashed '05s() by now.

Great suggestions, I really appreciate it. I have my 10K appointment at the dealer on Friday, so I may just have them take care of it.

I'm glad I didn't run over the bike for a number of reasons. She felt bad enough about damaging the "super cooper" as my kids call it, when she woke up this morning. I just kept thinking how horrible it would have been if I would have backed up into someone rather than something - although that is pretty unlikely at 11pm.

It was sad to see the scratches, but I think that after all is said and done, I really would have felt worse if I had ruined her bike, she really loves it and it would have broken her heart. As much as I love my MINI, I love my daughter infinitely more!

Just out of curiosity, when do you think that would be? I checked eBay and all they have are either pre-05, or altezza or clear type lenses, which just aren't for me. I'm all about OEM.