Hi Everyone,

Yesterday, a cool but sunny spring day in PA, I was rear-ended by a '93 BMW. Until then, it was a great day for a ride! I was stopping behind other cars for a traffic light and the guy behind me was distracted by police that had stopped another car and slammed into the back of me. He told the police he was doing app 40 mph and stood on the brakes just before hitting me. Unfortunately I didn't think to get pictures of his car, but the front-end is completely wiped out!
The Mini really stood it's ground well. The bumper took a major hit, the hatch is bent at the bottom and popped out in the middle, and the exhaust has some damage. I had to pull the beamer's grill off my tailpipe and we thought I could drive it away. Unfortunately, there's some type of grinding when I tried to move it(rubbing sound), the airbag light is on(red), and the seat doesn't sit right. Decided to have it picked up. Waiting to see if the seat is broke or somehow the body buckled.
The car took a very hard shot, knocked my Phillies hat into the back seat and my I had to search for my glasses, but other than a little soreness in my neck, no injuries for anyone.
I was wearing my seatbelt, the airbags did not deploy, and the Mini did a great job.
Tomorrow, call my insurance agent!

 

Interesting. I had my drivers rear corner hit while I was parked outside my work. it bent the rear wheel in and messed up the suspension, but no real body damage.

 

Hope you are ok ! It hurts a few days later (body parts human ) .
Looks like your mini did its job !
Hope both of you recover fast .

 

onetigerlsu, thanks for your concern and yes, we'll see how the next few days go.

Black56S, I do see your point. However, I was hit hard and the passenger compartment help up very well! If someone was with me, even in the rear seat, they might be a bit stiff but otherwise OK.

As far as the mini goes, as I tried to say in my title, the Mini "appears" to do well. Until the car is checked out closely, maybe even repaired, I will not know the true extent of the damage. Right now, it looks pretty good for what happened, but that could change.

 

Glad you're ok and nobody is injured. Mini does have very stiff chassis, so there should be nothing major to worry about. However as I personally found out 3 month ago, Mini OEM body parts/engine parts are in deep expensive .

 

Definitely glad to hear you're ok. Have the Advil handy tomorrow, though. As for your MINI, I would not be surprised if the damages turn out to be a lot worse than they look. Fronts and rears are built to absorb an impact -- exactly what yours did -- and that's about it. If your seat doesn't seem to sit right, either its mounting got dislodged or something sprung pretty far forward of the rear end, or both. Either way, it sounds like it took a pretty hard hit. I do hope it's not too bad ... I know I'd be heartbroke if it were mine. But be prepared for a shocker after the body shop has a look at it.

Good luck ...

 

If he was doing 40 when he hit you I would expect some frame deformation, fortunatey he will be paying the bill. I woud look for a strong number for loss of value for resale. I know I would never buy a car that had been given a real whack in the rear end.

 

Been ran into twice. Both at red lights with distracted idiots.

Be sure to get a 4 wheel alignment pre/post repair.

Our MINI took both hits well. The first one was a much harder hit. We drove home, she had to get towed. If it didn't total her car, it wasn't by much. Her radiator got pushed into the engine bay a good ways.

New hatch and bumper, little paint....

 

I was in an accident this winter, take it from me, the damage never "looks" that bad. Just wait til you get the estimate from the body shop.

 

By the sound of it I would have a very very good body shop look at it. Because the chasis might have been warped, which in that case it might be totalled out but, hey I am just some guy on a forum so my word is not gold.

 

it pains me to see MINI in a crash...glad they hold up and protect us

 

I was hit by a guy who backed out without looking, he only scratched the side moulding and paint of the rear wheel area and I felt like the whole world was going to fall on me, I felt dizzy, got weak at the knees, I think I even cried inside. Nothing major thou and the cop was like where is the damage? I could see it and the shop too. A week later and 700 bucks poorer the car was back.

Im glad you are ok.

 

Hi Guys,

I appreciate all the posts and advice. I was at the body shop and got the estimate. Nothing really surprising, new bumper, new hatch, various molding and parts, w/tax $4,160.
They can't find anything as far as the seat or the body being distorted.
The one thing that was mentioned was matching the paint. My car is mellow yellow, which might make this more obvious than other colors, but the plastic parts are a little deeper yellow than the metal body parts. I told them to make it like it was with the same difference in the new parts and repairs.
My buddy is the paint shop guy and he says he can do it.
Now having second thoughts, since all the damage is in the rear, why not match all the parts to the metal?
Oh, and my stiff neck is fine now!

 

You should take the opportunity and buy the JCW body kit

 

I suspect you need to look at your seat frame. You may find it distorted or perhaps even broken.

 

PRinTX: great idea and yes this would be the time, but my position at work was "eliminated" a week before the accident, so I think I'' pass.

Herleman: thanks, that is a great idea, I will check it out very closely.

I had thought about buying the pulse kit for the center brake light. I think this seals the deal. I talked to the police officer at the accident and asked him if it would be legal in PA and he said he had it on his Harley. So I think I'll check that out!

 

GREGSMINI'

Sorry to hear that.

 

my wife was rear ended just like that the day before thanksgiving. actually, our car looked identical with the damage as yours. about 4 grand to fix it. the body shop did a great job, but we have noticed that the drivers seat back is a little loose, and the body shop said to bring it by. glad you are ok.

 

Hey, that's not bad. I just ran up a $6,500 tab after sliding my wife's Vue into a tree on nice fresh icy snow. In my own %@# driveway. I hit it in just the right spot in the front corner, where it missed the main bumper support but took out a lot of bodywork supported by basically nothing. Unbelievable how many broke parts they found in that one little corner.

Anyway, glad there's nothing seriously wrong. Tough little buggers, these MINI's.

 

I have the third brake light pulsar, with the long series of pulses instead of the short. Unfortunately, from your description, I doubt it would have helped you in this situation. The pulsar comes on and pulses the third brake light right after you press the brakes. If he hit you more than a second or two after you came to a stop then the pulsar would have stopped working by then and your third brake light would have been completely on without flashing. It sounds like the other driver wasnt paying enough attention to see the flashing light, especially on a bright day. But I still think it is a good idea to have the pulsar.

 

I got "Sunny" back on Friday. He looks good and drives fine. Unfortunately the sunroof now sounds as air is rushing in when going above 40 mph. If I crack it open, the rushing sound goes away. It was open with the glass tilted up when I was hit. I guess the impact caused something to shift or twist. I'm not sold that the seat is OK either.

When I stop quickly, the seat back moves forward. I never experienced this before the accident. When I push the seat back and then pull it forward I notice that the driver seat has more free play than the passenger seat. I'm thinking that when I was hit I was thrown forward and then back. This could have stressed a stop that normally holds the seat back in place. Does anyone experience the seat back moving? Could someone comment on this?

Lastly, boy did the estimate change. The original estimate was $4,160.50 and the final amount was $7,112.61! Almost 3 k higher! The bulk of the change was that originally the insurance company wanted to have the exhaust repaired. Once that was attempted, it was determined the whole exhaust system needed to be replaced. Additional exhaust parts alone was $ 1,700!

Well, "Sunny" looks great! I want to drive the car a bit more before making any decision about the seat. I think I would like to find another Mini to see how their driver's seat is and then go back to the body shop and have a little discussion about it.

 

Hold your ground until the driver's seat and sunroof are better than new! It's his insurance company's responsibility to get your car repaired to spec, and "rushing in" air noises and a loose driver's seat certainly are not. I'd wager the loose seat could be a safety issue in (knock on wood) a subsequent collision.

 

The seat backs do have a lot of play in them, I find it terribly annoying...And all the loaners I have had do the same thing. They move at least a quarter of an inch when hitting the brakes for me. You can try adjusting the angle of your seat back to compensate. My gut feel is that your seat is probably okay, just that you are overly sensitive to the little things now, I know because that is exactly how I am!

 

Strobeyprobey, thanks for the reply!

You hit the nail on the head. I want the seat to be right, but at the same time I don't want to look for a problem that doesn't exist. The dealer is about an hour away but I thought I might take a ride later this week and see what the Mini's on the lot are like. Maybe they even have some used Mini's that I can compare.

 

i concur on the sturdiness claim. my wife and i were rear-ended hard about six weeks ago. we stopped for a pedestrian


the guy behind us didn't


the car was going to be repaired, then it wasn't, then it was again and finally while on holiday we got the word it was a write-off. it was a bummer considering we'd barely had the our mini a year, but at the same time i dreaded the inevitable back and forth with post-repair niggles.

we're going to pick up our new mini tonight.