Wow. That is pretty amazing. Glad to hear you and Rob are ok.

The MINI did its job and saved your life!

*Nice Pic btw!*

 

So glad you all are OK! Please keep us posted on your future plans and the outcome of the Camaro owner's responsiblity.

 

thanks everyone for all the well wishes! we are lucky, it could've been a lot worse. and i'm very happy that the wreck happened in my MINI and not in my Honda Civic (that's still hanging around). I think my father, who also has a MCS, is happy too and it proved to my mother who was always worried that the MINI was just too small and unsafe. That was also the worse phone call that I ever had to make, for my parents were an hour behind us on the road. Luckily, they showed up just as the wrecker did and were able to get the dog home and us to the ER. (Note - ambulance will not take you if you have a dog in hand!)

a few more wreck photos for y'all.
the glass in the front seat is from the driver's door. it was lying as a sheet in the middle of the lane. the wrecker service threw it in there. so now i have bits of glass everywhere when previously there was none.

Also, since it was raining for 24 hrs staright, the interior is SOAKED. there was a puddle in the driver's door.


As for the passenger side windshield - when the airbag deployed, the plastic cover hit the windshield. that's the lower part of the windshield. as for the other 2 spots, that might've been me hitting the airbag and the airbag hitting the windshield.


think that scratch will buff right out?

close up


surprisingly the engine looks fine. this concerns me greatly for insurance might not total it out. i think that the frame is bent though. the sunroof popped up (safety feature?) and won't go back down.


Bitchin Camaro: He wouldn't talk to us after the accident. I now have pictures of his VIN and Tag info. I'm betting that that car spends the rest of its life in this impound lot.

 

Was the driver of the Camaro ticketed for anything? His unwillingness to speak to you makes it sound like he knew he was doing something wrong and didn't want to incriminate himself.

Keep us up-to-date on what happens with insurance, your boyfriend's recovery, etc.

(My 2 cents - your car should be totalled out)

 

Wow . So glad you both made it out OK with just minor injuries. Sorry for your MINI . I'm sure it will be totaled.

I have to say I am somewhat relieved and happy to see how well these little cars protect their passengers when in accidents. There have been a few of these lately and it's good to see that most people make it out without major problems.

 

I'm going to carry this pic (and others like it) in my wallet so that the next time I'm talking to someone and they say; "I really wanted one, but I drive alot -- like, 60 miles a day -- and it just wouldn't be safe enough for that kind of travel" I don't even have to roll my eyes at them. It's going to save me TONS of eye energy!

Seriously; glad that you and the bf made it out ok. Good show, Gunnar!

 

Amazing to see how the MINI does in an accident. Thankfully all of you are Alive.
Must have been a big shock to the parents to see your MINI wrecked on the road.
GodSpeed on the recovery on the broken hand.

Can an Administrator crop down / resize the pictures so that we don't have to scroll side to side to read the replies?

 

After seeing Gunner, I'm glad to hear you guys are okay. When will you hear if Son of Gunner is going to happen?

 

I am so glad you guys are OK.

Sadly though, I fear that the car probably will not be totaled.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve - that's my fear too. Insurance told my father that 40% of the value (approx $10,000) of repairs is what we have to beat to have him declared totaled.

Has anyone else out there had a wreck like this that they did or didn't total out? I'm curious, and want to compare damage.

thanks!
Hallie

 

Glad to hear that you both came through the accident in relatively good shape. With the amount of damage I see plus the fact that the airbags deployed, I'd think that there is a good chance it will end up totaled.

 

I agree, the amount of structural damage on there should be enough to have it totaled. You said the frame was bent, and it looks like your axle is bent, too.

But more importantly, glad to hear you two (and the dog) were okay! It's really reassuring to know that the MINI is still safe even at high speeds.

 

Yeah with the side smashed in, and the front end with probable frame damage (sunroof issue, and the drivers side door probaly wont close properly...or seal perfectly), plus multiple airbag deployment, im 99.9% sure thats a write-off. You said the engine looked fine, but chances are it has shifted in the impact and therefore cracked the mounts in the bay...
I cant remember what the formula is, but basicly if you add up all the things that it will take to fix the car (good thing its a "BMW"), plus labour...To me it looks like it will cost way more to fix it, than to replace it...so...

On a lighter note, atleast there is one less camaro on the road!

 

I had this one. Not quite as bad, imo, but both airbags went off. Wound up w/ a new windshield, too. I'll check the repair cost when I get home tonight. Frame was not hurt, but I took it more on the corner, so the doors were fine.

 

I hope they write it off as a totaled vehicle. Otherwise its going to be a long and painful fix.

 

wow... what happened to lotta?

 

Please! I'd be really interested in knowing. PM me or post. Who was your insurance?

The MINI is now at Magnum, the preffered vendor by State Farm and Atlanta's best repair shop for MINIs. Magnum will make the decision for the State Farm on if to repair or total out. My fear is that Magnum will see it as $$$ in their pocket, and choose to move forward with the repairs.

 

In car rides, she lies down in the back, seats flat. During the wreck, she just slid around on the blanket. We also had given her benedryl for her itchy dry skin that morning = sleepy puppy = not freaked out.

Once we got her home, she was fine. we gave her a favorite toy and she was bounding around the house. She did sleep against the front door till we got home from the ER 8 1/2 hrs later.

 

fill...

Ouch! Glad to see that you were both able to walk away from this.

Hope the repair/replacement process goes the way you want.

 

It's my understanding that the MINI is of unibody construction, meaning there is no frame (this issue came up in another recent accident thread where a MINI was rear-ended - the MINI at a dead-stop, the offender doing approx. 55mph). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. If that's the case, and important structural pieces are damaged, it's a total. Looking at the damage, I don't see how that couldn't be a totalled vehicle. Heck, the xenon headlight alone is a few hundred.

 

There are very high tech machines designed to fix the unibody, just like frame machines of old.

I had a 1997 Mitsu Mirage LS Coupe, 4 months old, 3,000 miles, sandwiched between two cars at 55 MPH, both airbags, $9k damage to a $16.5 MSRP car, and it was not totaled. Yes there was unibody damage, that was fixed.

Steve

 

UPDATE:
Rob's hand is confirmed broken, but will not require surgery. He's getting a much smaller splint and it should heal perfectly on its own. YEAH!!! I was much more worried about him than the car.

The main reason that the Camaro driver didn't speak to us is that most likey he doesn't speak english. Luckily the Officer that helped us spoke spanish.

In Georgia, you do not have to speak to anyone else (except the Police) when involved in an accident. And it's probaly best if you don't. The wrong words, like "Sorry" could come out of your mouth (sorry that you're hurt, etc), which would admit to guilt.

The Camaro's driver was charged with not having a licence (not having it on him or just not having one?), failure to maintain lane and driving too fast for conditions. The driver also tried to change his story, saying that we were the ones that were driving wrecklessly. That made the officer laugh and slapped him with something else. I'll get the whole report on Friday.

 

Yep, the MINI does have a unibody. But it's not frameless. If I'm not mistaken, the front suspension/motor is "hung" on a subframe that is mounted to the uni-body, as is the rear suspension. I'm not a mechanic, nor am I a mechanical genius, but I believe that if you bend either of these, and you/ve probably bent the unibody, too.

 

As father of the daughter, and a fellow MINI owner as well, no one is happier about the outcome of this accident than us, the parents! Until Hallie gets Gunner replaced with Son of a Gunner, she and I will still remain the "temporarily-displaced, only father-daughter dual owners/members" of the Atlanta MINIs club. Thanks to all of you for your wonderful support and kind words... they have reinforced the true soul of who MINI owners really are.
Continued Happy Motoring to all of you.
TerryF
03 MCS CR/W

 

WOW im glad everybodys okay, i mean good stuff for gunner especially with a camaro the pre 90s ones were freakin rock hard to, my brother had one, so thats pretty amazing