I guess 7-7-7 wasn't the luckiest day of the year for me. I got rear ended. Here is how it happened. I was driving down wincester blvd, near campbell blvd, I saw a bunch of cars pulled over in the street and some cops waving/yelling something. I moved into the center lane to avoid whatever was going on there. Suddenly a cop popped out from behind one of the pulled over cars, and said "STOP." So I followed orders. I stopped pretty short. The guy behind me couldn't stop, ended up embedding his bumper into mine. He was driving a 98 honda civic that was slightly lowered. The front of his car was completely screwed, radiator dripping, hood crumpled, bumper detached etc. The following pics show what happened to the mini. As far as I can tell the exhaust wasn't even bent. It seems mostly to be cosmetic damage to my car.

Also as an aside, I called the local mini dealer and they recommended Sunnyvale Auto Body.. Just wondering if any south bay people had any feedback on that body shop!!

 

sorry to here that..........hope it gets put back together real soon!

 

OH NO!!!! So sorry this happened but, given the scenario, I could see how easily it could have. Did it help (in the aftermath) that a cop was there??? It sounds like his presence didn't help w/ the cause at all!!

 

The cops were actually the cause. I had to stop short since they were stopping people to give them warnings about speeding. The officer was standing in the middle of the street yelling stop. I didn't at first know what was going on, I figured they were doing something else with the other cars that were already pulled over. The guy behind me couldn't stop in time then plowed into the rear of my car.

It was good that half the police force were there. Seemed like 6-8 cops. One spoke spanish so he acted as my interpreter. One of the others filled out a full report.

 

Sucks !

The good thing is, the liability decision is an easy one. The other vehicle's insurance company should accept liability as soon as they speak to the driver. That means no collision deductible for you to pay and they should put you in a rental while your car is in the shop with no out of pocket expense for you.

 

I hope the the officer said he was sorry?

uhhh, how about a sheepish whoops?

 

Heh.. no sorry from the cop, but two others came over just to look at the car. They both said they were thinking about buying one for commuting. Asked me about gas mileage, also how I liked the car. Asked me about the power with the turbo. I told them I liked the car better before it got rear-ended.

 

Ha....now that is funny. And surreal!!!

 

Sorry to hear. Good luck with the repairs. Sounds like you should be free of any liability though!

 

Noooooooooooooooo, not another rear-ender I'm sorry this happened to you. Cheers to a speedy recovery for your MINI, and be sure to watch for any delayed stiffness/soreness yourself. Sometimes accident injuries don't present for a couple of days.

 

Sorry to hear of the accident but at least the person didn't flee or something. I probably wouldn't have expected the officer to say he was sorry. I didn't even get a Happy Birthday out of the one that gave me a speeding ticket last year on my birthday in my wifes '05 MCSa as we were coming back home from my birthday dinner. They take your license write the info on the ticket and didn't even say Happy Birthday when giving it back to me. I thought he could've said something....Oh well.

I'm glad your OK. Happy motoring!

 

Very witty of you. Hope your car gets better soon!

 

Your poor MINI, I hope it gets all fixed soon!

 

It hurts just seeing that. I can imagine how bad I'd feel if that was my MINI. Hope they have the little guy up and running soon.

 

Hey, Fjork- first off, sorry for your bummer day!

On another note, I used SV autobody a couple times, once for my car, once for my wife's. Awesome job both times. Lifetime guarantee on the paint job...

In fact, on my Taurus SHO, I had sold it to my dad, and the paint did start to get the flaky white disease. (clear coat problem, seen it on a lot of fords), anyways, my dad brought it in and they repainted it. Like 5 years after the original repair. My niece still drives that car, still looks good and drives well 12 years after the accident! The Taurus had structural damage they repaired- it was like new and never shimmied or rattled... My wife's car repair still looks great too, after about 6 years.

Anyways, I thought S-V autobody was awesome!

 

oh man sorry to hear about that, at least you werent hurt

 

OUCH! Those pics make me cringe. Seems that lately there is a rash of rear-end accidents going around. Glad to hear that you are OK and the MINI's damage is minimal.

 

I guess the mini gets so many rear end accidents because the brakes are so good.

So anything I should look out for? Any specific issues from getting rear-ended?

 

Just brace yourself for the repair estimates. It may appear to be "just cosmetic", but my husband got rear ended recently (at a stop light - very slow, low-impact, collision)....over $1100. Thank goodness for uninsured motorist insurance, because the fool that hit him had none. Then, right before AMVIV, a "road gator" was airborn and hit him. That was the front bumper. $3200+ repair bill. It's crazy.

You can barely even see a "rub" mark on the back bumper. It seems with MINIs, real damage isn't known until they get the bumper off (I see in your case it already is), and assess what happened underneath.

 

Expect some muscle stiffness in the shoulder, neck, or back. You may be sore for a day or so. If over the counter pain killers don't relieve it you may want to get it checked.
Persistent pain in the arms or legs, any numbness or tingling in the hands or feet....go see a Doc, sooner than later.

Sorry your little guy got dinged so hard. Hopefully the repairs are quick and painless for you.

 

Agreed.....Pay attention and ask the body shop to check the supension components.

Sorry to hear your accident though. I got 2 accidents last year and before that I was a good boy for long long time.

 

So it's day 2, and it doesn't seem I have any neck/back/shoulder/arm pain. I had some slight stiffness last night but today I feel pretty normal. No pain killers required. I don't think the guy was going THAT fast when he hit me. I poked my head underneath the car and didn't see any frame damage. The suspension from visual inspection seems to appear OK as well. I'll make sure I tell the bodyshop to check that out.

 

Nice to know not everyone who gets hit in the rear goes running to the ER/PCP/Chiro/PT and runs up medical bills of $3,000 or more.

In my line of work, nearly every day I see a rear end "collision" where there is NO damage to either vehicle but the claimant is filing a Bodily Injury Liability claim. :impatient

 

Ok so I have my car back, but my exhaust isn't right. I went to the dealer tonight and measured factory fresh R56 MCSs. Seems like my exhaust now hangs a 1.5cm lower than a factory fresh MCS. I told the guy that the exhaust hangers looked bent but he didn't believe me. Now I've confirmed it by looking at a brand new car. Back to the body shop

Has anyone honestly ever had a car fixed with one visit to the body shop?


Also as an interesting aside it seems almost all pipes I looked at slightly hang to the right or left. Not 100% on center.

 

*hint...if you can umnn somehow put a crack somewhere on the piping*...
Well umnn you can say hi to adam :P...Probably aftermarket is less than OE