We stopped in heavy lunch time traffic at a red light. I looked in the rear view just in time to see a Grand Am coming up pretty quick. The young lady driving was on the phone and looking left. She hit us pretty hard.
I was very impressed with the ratio of damage between our vehicles. Pics of both are in my gallery.
Percy's wheel skirts were rubbing the back tires. Both were caught on the lowest section of the rear bumper, the tow truck driver gave them a wiggle and popped them back in place. We drove about 3 miles home and garaged Percy. The alignment felt OK, but we aren't driving anymore until after Percy is repaired.
Her car's front end is toast. Hood folded up. Battery was busted and it knocked one headlight assembly completely off the car.
We have been planning a vacation to Reno for months. Santa Fe, Mesa Verde, Mooki Dugway, Highway 50, Lake Tahoe, The Extra Terrestrial Highway, the Dam Tour, Meteor Crater.....we was even gonna stay at a Wigwam Motel. We are really bummed that it may not happen, now. *Snif Snif*

 

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm so sorry about Percy! I hope his recovery is quick and that y'all return to motoring very very soon.


@ distracted drivers with cell phones.

 

That's a serious bummer. I feel really bad for anyone that has an accident. I feel worse for anyone who has an accident that is not their fault. I feel even worse for you because this may mess up your planned trip.

If there can be a silver lining in an accident, at least this is a clear case of liability and there should be no feet-dragging by the other driver's insurance company. That makes the process MUCH faster. I would expect your car to be fixed and back in your hands in a week or so.

Edit: after looking closer at pic 3 in the gallery, might be just a few days longer. That damage to the rear is fairly extensive. Depends on what they find during the teardown.

 

My sincere condolences for Percy, but it sounds like P done you proud. It truely amazes me how sturdy these little wonders are in a nasty one. The other day, I went to a demo\test drives of the new Mercedes Smart City car. They were the European versions, that will be comming here, next year, for sale. Now those are "really" small! Almost no front or back. It feels less secure compared to the Mini, like your in a phone booth. I don't feel insecure in my Mini.
The last 3 close calls I've had, were due to people talking on cell phones while driving. The 2nd day I had my Mini, a guy in a fancy suburban almost re-ended me as I was making a turn down a side street. I was watching him come up fast, talking on a cp, and at least had an opportunity to quickly pull up, before he could hit me.
Using cell phones while driving is as bad as drinking and driving. They can very easily make cell phones inoperable inside a car, but they won't.
They should treat the girl on the cp the same as a DWI, mandatory lose of liceness for six months for the 1st offense, etc.

 

Nasty little love tap. I feel for you and the MINI. Can you delay your trip about 3 weeks?

Phone in ear, small MINI in front, what was she doing about 15-25 mph? The tap looks light.

I bet they can have your MINI in and out in a week, if they get on it right away.

You are all ok, no aches, headaches, sore neck?

 

How pitifully unecessary IMHO, the bane of the roads these days are, excuse my perchance political uncorrectness, the younger girls driving with cell phones planted to their ears, oblivious to all around them.

The silver lining is that Percy's little rump looks like it handled the impact very well. Those rear enders are what I worry about because they are so often unavoidable by the car who gets whapped. These MINIs are little tanks.

Hope you get your road trip in as it sounds like a grand jaunt across beautiful territory. I just love road trips

Good luck to ya'll, and Happy Trails.

 

You have my condolences. My MCS is going in for a new rear bumper after a parking lot encounter, but nowhere near as serious as yours. However, it is encouraging to see how well the MINI holds up.

I wish they would completely outlaw cel phone use while driving.

 

Believe it or not, the rear-end collision is the 02-06 MINI's worst rating from the IIHS. Only achieved a "Marginal" rating from them. All other impact areas were rated "Acceptable" or "Good".

The R56 fared better... it rated an "Acceptable" for the rear end impacts.

By the way, they give out four ratings:
Good
Acceptable
Marginal
Poor

 

I'm so sorry to hear this...

I know you asked for the other drivers cell phone so that you could crush it into little bitty pieces in front of her eyes.

 

I feel for you. Its been a baaad week for R56s. Be sure to check out the Official R56 Accident Support Thread. Good luck.l

 

Sorry to hear about your car. Unfortunately most people are bad drivers only made worse when they have a cell phone glued to their ears. Hopefully that girl has learned her lesson. Hopefully Percy will be back up and running soon and youll still be able to make it for your trip!

 

Your mini was like "back that *** up, ya'll" and it clobbered that grand am. Speaking on cell phones needs to be illegal whilst driving.

 

Sorry to hear of Percy's accident - hope the repairs go quickly and are done well.

 

Soo Sorry 4X ! Only 2 months old and crushed already
You seem to be taking it exceptionally well.
The price of motoring sometimes includes idiots on the road.
Here's to Percy being up and running again soon ! Good Luck

 

Oh man, glad you're ok, and deja vu. Same thing happened to me earlier this spring. I got it from a Nissan Maxima which was low enough that damage was limited to the rear bumper and skirting, and front bumper when I was shoved into another car.

Mine ended up a bit over $2000.00 which my insurance paid and they in turn are working on the other insurance to get reimbursed. Contrary to CR&PW&JB's post, this apparently isn't that straight forward. It's been about 3 months and I haven't gotten my deductable back yet so my insurance company hasn't gotten any money either.

Anyway, I'm sure they will fix it good as new , bummer about the vacation though.

 

Oh, noooooo--are you the fellow who emailed me about MOTW a few months back? As I recall, you were going to place your order at the end of April, right?

So sorry to hear an unattentive b**** had to interfere with those travel plans...

 

CR&PW&JB's is "in the biz" sotospeak and knows what he's talking about when he says that you'll get your deductible back once the insurance companies are finished in subrogation.

Sometimes it can take 6 months or more.

 

Yepper's, that would be me. We have had Percy for a month, now we is cryin'.

 

My wife and I understand what you're going through. We had our MCSa for 3 months and then found ourselves in the wrong place at the right time in Jan. 07. A little bit of snow and ice on the interstate, other folks driving too fast for the conditions and we have a close encounter with a Toyota Tacoma. (See our gallery).

Good news is these little beasts are designed well - we took one hellacious hit from behind and walked away unscathed. Granted $4K+ worth of damage but Greeley has been back on the road since February and still runs like a champ.

Find a good body shop and you'll be back on the road soon - keep us posted.

 

I'm sorry to hear about that! Her car was in much worse shape then yours, by far. I'd say you were lucky there!

I was in a similar situation a few months ago. A teenage girl was backing up to let someone parallel park and she didn't even see my car- took out the bonnet! (SUV).

 

I wasn't at all questioning CR&PW&JB's veracity concerning insurance matters. His first post sort of implied that everything would be hunky dory in about a week, and the at fault insurance company would settle quickly. In my case, my insurance company has turned it over to another company, the "subrogation" you mention. I would have thought mine would also be a clear cut liability case but since 4 months have now passed apparently it isn't always that easy (straight forward?) to get the other insurance to pony up. In any case, I did want to point out to the op that his car will probably get fixed quickly and the final insurance deal will work out on a different time table.

 

it gonna be ok Percy owned it and he will continue to own the roads after he leaves th ehospital

 

Pendergast, Was your accident a very straight-forward liability case like 4xAAA's ?... were you rear-ended ?

If so, and the other insurance company didn't accept liablity, I'd really like to know which insurance company the other driver had... just out of my own curiosity and for future reference when dealing with them.

I can understand a few days delay. Geez, sometimes we have a really tough time trying to get our policyholder's to call us when they'be been in an accident where they know they're at fault. But when that happens, we leave a message reminding them of the policy contract which says failure to cooperate in a claim investigation will result in policy termination.

Anyway... very odd that you had a clear-cut case of fault in an accident and the claimant carrier took 4 months or longer to accept liability.

 

Oh yeah! +1


So sorry to hear about what happened to you and Percy.

Glad to hear that you are OK. Percy did his job admirably!

Maybe after Percy returns from the hospital you will still be able to take that road trip... Sounds like a good one!

Good luck & Motor On!

 

Should have been fairly straighforward. Here's a link to the thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=96883

She was insured by State Farm and I have American Family. My insurance covered repairs (less deductable) with no problem and promptly. I'm not sure what State Farms problem could be.