I was attending the MTTS session in Philadelphia @ the Sheraton hotel with a friend.

Left around 8:00pm, drove Kelly Drive home.

Was in the slow lane; right lane doing about 35-40mph.

All of a sudden, the two SUV's in front came to a full stop. I was like 'yo... wtf?'

Hit the brakes moderately hard. Can hear the 'crr...crr...crr...crr...' and I stopped with about 1-2 feet away from the SUV in front. So I thought to myself 'good. broke in time.'

About a second or two later, screech go 'errrrrr....' then crashing sound. Then I was thinking like 'hmmm.... I just got hit, didn't I? Do I want to see how bad it is?'

Fast lane; left lane traffic was going smoothly. I couldn't figure out what was holding the two cars in front. Turns out there were traffic cones closing off the right lane... there was no prior notification beforehand either of the right lane closing.

Anyway, parked on the grass curb to assess the damage.

The entire ordeal took 75 minutes to wait for the cop to get there, write up a report, blah blah.

My camera ran out of battery, but this is the last picture it took of the back panel.

My friends' camera was working, but I didn't get the pictures from that yet. Will post more details shortly after I obtain those pictures.

In any case, anyone got in an accident yet? This is my first ever. Learning experience for both the guy who hit me and myself.

The other guy was driving a 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix I believe it was.

 

I haven't gotten rear-ended before, but have unfortunately done the rear-ending .

Yeah, it really sucks. The car will get fixed. Damage is always way more than what it looks like on the outside. Probably the most frustrating of all is the hassle you have to go through. Just a frustrating experience to deal with insurance, rental car, repair shop, etc. And perhaps even worst than all that, you will be without your Mini for a while until it gets fixed!

Sorry to hear about this - good luck!

 

I've rear-ended someone before, and been rear-ended as well (in my friends car, he was driving).

Overall, the fact that you stopped cleanly and he hit you makes him at fault. His insurance will cover it. Though, is there any actual cracks on there? Almost looks like you could wipe off the bumper and it'd be all good.

Edit: Nevermind, saw the bent grille. Get it fixed.

 

For sure. Plus, you never know the real extent of the damage until they take the bumper cover off. The shocks underneath could be damaged, or something else could be bent. It's much worse when you're dealing with front-end damage, because you have all the engine components, rad, a/c, etc.

 

Yes, been rear ended by a red Audi convertible driven by a mother and daughter (which I was watching earlier) in very heavy stop and go traffic. Was trying to merge to a right exit lane when traffic hit a stop and had to stop and merge quickly. Guess she was not paying enough attention or she was following too closely (common error in my area).

She hit my center rear bumper and hardly damaged her car but the license plate holder left indented marks in my mid rear bumper and the estimate to replace the whole bumper and the foam underneath and repaint everything was $960.

He husband was the supervisor for my car insurance agent. We settled outside of insurance.

My wife got hit while stopped at an intersection by a elderly man in an old lincoln town car. He was disoriented and left the scene, ends up not having car registration or valid license but never paid for damage to the rear bumper. Police report was filed and nothing after that.

 

Now you guys have me worried... If you look at the bottom right of the hood, you will see a spike from the bumper sprout up... Minor aesthetics, but the rear right tire, the carpetry is pushed against it now. I didn't notice until I was parking at work... There was an odd grinding sound and that was what it was.

Hopefully, only the bumper needs to be replaced. Worst case scenario, more damage that needs repair.

In either case, the resell value of this MINI is now crippled. Thanks, CarFax. ::sniffles::

 

My 2 cents:

This may not help but keep all photos of the damage and maybe even a parts list from the repair if you can manage it. If you decide to sell (God forbid) you can show any prospective buyers it was truly a minor hit and not severe damage where the entire back of the car was replaced. If somebody like me were looking to buy, it would make me feel a lot better about the deal. It's nice to have pics to look at and not just somebodys word.

 

Depends, I had a woman roll her Chevy Caprice backwards into my Neon at an ATM, and the cop decided it was her fault (duh), her insurance just wanted to know the estimate ($900) and I got the check in the mail. To date, nothing has shown up on CarFax about it and it was literally a month after I purchased the Neon 4 years ago. So you never know... Another reason to not necessarily trust CarFax 100%

 

Never rear ended anyone, or caused an accident (over 20 years of driving).

Yet I've been rear-ended about 3 or 4 times ...all w/ my Jeep (owned for 15 years). Nice thing was, every honda and Toyota that rear-ended me was damaged and my Jeep had nothing but a scratch. Steal bumpers on Jeeps are great!!!

I had one lady run into my jeep's rear in a parking garage. I was stopped and she was going about 7 mph. I felt her hit me and I said "oh ****". I got out and so did she. She was saying over and over "I didn't hit you, I didn't hit you" (I think she didn't have insurance or something). I took a look at the rear of my jeep and noticed that it was fine ...not even a scratch. I looked at her Honda and saw that it's front end was buckled up ...bumper, hood and lights were cracked or buckled (looked as if she was going 35 by the damage). After looking at my Jeep (and seeing all was fine), I looked back at her and said, "yes, I guess your right, you didn't hit me, -have a nice day" ...I got back in my Jeep and left. I hate to say it, but she was on her cell phone when the incident happened (I still maintain that cell phones impair your ability to drive).

 

Sorry to hear about your accident, luckily it wasn't worse though. Your damage doesn't look too bad.

I have never been rear ended, but I unfortunately have rear ended someone, my only accident. It totaled my R53. Airbad messed up my wrist too, it wasn't fun at all.

I'm normally a very alert/defensive driver, but looked to the left for a split second and bam. That'll teach me.

 

I've been rear-ended 6 times in 30 years. Five of those times were minor with little damage to my vehicle. The 6th time totaled my Explorer and caused me a year and a half of physical therpy. All over a jackass dropping his cell phone.

 

Amen to that! Cell Phones ought to be outlawed in cars. Pull over and talk. Seriously... I HATE cell phones in cars.

 

They will be July 1st in CA. (I think...that's what I was told...)

Sales of Bluetooth accessories are going to go through the roof!

 

Most definitely on the front-end damage comment. My last car was my college car that my Dad gave me... a Dodge Neon. I rearended an SUV in rainy conditions. Probably only actually hit her at 20mph after skidding a bit... but TOTALED the engine. Wasn't worth repairing... been driving my wife's Jetta since then (last year). Can't wait to order my Mini.

 

I wish that cell phones (including using handsfree stuff like Bluetooth) would be completely banned while driving any motorized vehicle. It's just plain stupid, and there are so many studies out there that prove that your attention wavers significantly when using a cell phone.

And before anyone gets on their high horse about me needing to "get with the times" and such... let it be known that I'm 26, a Systems Engineer, and a tech geek at heart. It's not a matter of technology... it's a matter of paying attention to the road.

 

But, but, but, I don't WANNA pay attention to the road! The road is boring! My Treo has Bejeweled on it! C'mon!!!

 

LOL, I do hope your kidding.

 

Mayyyyybe...

 

No. I won't let my wife anywhere near me with that thing....

 

What kills me is when people make a lane change with the phone to their ear. They never pull the phone away for a second and do a quick check over the shoulder to make sure it's clear. They just keep the phone to their ear and blindly move over.

 

It is illegal to use a cellphone without a hands-free kit while driving here in South Africa. At a traffic light you are likely to have your window smashed and the phone stolen out of your hand. People still do it though. Sorry about your accident Qingdom.

 

Last rear-ender I had nearly totaled my 68 Cougar. I was stopped, waiting for the guy in front of me to make a left, when some kid in an 80's era Camaro smacked right into me. I was P*#!D! I don't think the kid had his seatbelt on because he cracked his head on his windshield. Fortunately for me, he did have insurance, and they very nearly totaled my cat, but when the adjuster saw what good shape (the rest of the car) was in, they paid to fix it. Found a body shop that specializes in working on old cars. Took something like 3 months to fix it, but you'd never know now that it had been hit. $12,000 worth of damage. (parts for 68 cars aren't necessarily easy (or cheap) to come by)

Good luck getting your MINI fixed!

 

If drivers were trained properly in the US we wouldn't have to cover up all their inadequacies with stupid laws about no cell phones and the like.

Anyone read the recent report on American's failing driving tests? Startling statistics... http://digg.com/autos/American_Driving_Test_Pass_Rate

Driving while on a cell phone is distracting, but it isn't that hard if you're using a headset and actually paying attention to the road. Unless you're doing complicated geometric equations in your head while on the phone there's no reason why it takes so much of your attention span to talk that you can't properly control a car . If you lack the mental focus to do both, DON'T!

Tests like what they did on Mythbusters are pointless, if someone's about to get into an accident they're not going to try to do math in their head, they DROP the phone, and take care of whatever they need to... Or simply stop talking if they're on a headset. Doing a slolom around a parking lot trying to avoid cones while holding a cell phone to your ear and having someone ask you complicated math questions isn't exactly a real world representation of talking on your phone while driving (As I watched that I had to think pretty hard to do it in my head while sitting on my couch...).

Lets face it, our driving test here is a joke... I got my license when i was 16. They had me pull out, make a right turn onto a side street, pull next to a curb, back up 5 feet, pull out again, make a left down a side street (Residential neighborhood) then a left at a light, and another left, and pull back into the DMV. The whole process took all of 3 minutes, and I got a perfect passing score. How this evaluates peoples ability to drive I'm not sure.

As for the laws, despite the fact that new laws get placed on the books yearly, there is NO mandatory retesting required. I see people all the time cutting off pedestrians in crosswalks, running yellow lights and almost crashing into cross traffic not paying attention to no-turn signs, etc. Until people become more cognoscente on the road, banning cell phones isn't going to help anything.

Covering up poor driving skills with laws like this is like putting a band-aid over a severed artery. Eventually we need to address the root cause of the issue, instead of legislating laws around people's inability to develop proper driving skills.

 

My rims!

 

I could be wrong on this, but I don't think CarFax would have a record of this unless there was frame damage. I was rear ended pretty bad when I had a Mazda Protege, they had to replace a panel in my trunk that held my spare tire...they actually welded in a replacement part probably 3' x 3' in size. I thought for sure this would be considered frame damage. When I took it into Carmax to have it appraised, they didn't show any accidents on their report. I guess it's possible the body shop didn't report the damage, but I did have it repaired at a dealership. Could you consider small claims court for loss of value?